Thought's, Opinions and Travel

Since the East Coast Ride with IBR, life has been a pack of mixed emotions, did few interesting projects, learned new skills and met new people. This blog is more on my experience of finding a partner through matrimonial sites and family connections. So I have entered into the 30's my professional life started falling in place, the big question that was in my parents and relatives mind is “ Yeh ladka shaadi, kab kare ga? ” Interestingly my parents were so overwhelmed with the above question that one evening while a close family friend was home my dad decided to spend around 30k on matrimonial site subscription, he was certainly overthinking which is why he probably ended up buying subscription for 99 years, not just for me but the next two generations that follow. Obviously I was not amused considering I could do so much with that money. But his insecurities were justifiable. Still 30K?? Coming to the entire process of finding a partner and starting a conversa...

I am a strong proponent of paying electronically, don’t quite know the reason to it but I enjoy the experience of be paying by cheque or cards, I have often walked away from a purchase if the merchant refused to accept card. Electronic payments have now become mainstream, so much so that, food contractors within large offices display Paytm QR codes as a mode of acceptance and people like me pay INR 10 for a coffee using Paytm. This week though I was faced with a peculiar situation, after the never ending East Coast ride my bike was due for service, having dropped it at an authorized RE service center earlier in the week, I was expecting a significant bill but was happy that effects of demonetization had resulted in acceptability of cards at the service center. So I get a call on Tuesday, saying the bike will be ready by evening and the rear caliber needs to be replaced hence the bill amount is approx. INR 8000, I was a little surprised at the amount but, having owned an RE ...

Having lived away from home for a year I missed some key events -  a close friend’s wedding, travel to Leh - Ladakh, Bulletiyappa, RE Rider Mania, and just the sheer joy of riding. Once my return date was confirmed I began planning a 10 day ride. Initially I had planned to explore the southern state of Kerala; it was around the same time a member of my riding group India Bull Riders posted a ride which was being planned on the East Coast of India. I signed-up for the ride, hoping I don’t get pulled into a new project. Final Ride map D -3 Three days before the ride, I fell sick, picked up a stomach infection, hurriedly rushed to my family doctor, explained to her what I was about to do, she thought I was crazy to be riding for so long, she gave me meds and asked me to take care. D -2 Meds began to work, stuck to a strict no spice diet and had begun to recover. My bike was also ready, after having spent the weekend with the mechanic as there was paint p...

It has been six months in Boston and after a harsh winter, it was time to explore neighboring towns and cities. Initially I was hesitant to travel around mainly because I was not sure if I will be able to drive on the right side of the road. But having been a side passenger for the past 6 months I observed my friends who were driving and for the first time rented a car in the US two weeks back, only to end up jumping from 14,000 feet. This weekend I rented a car from National, they have a user friendly app that offers features such as extend your rental, which is extremely useful as you need not call a customer representative and spend a few minutes navigating the IVR. What has disappointed me is that their cars do not come with a toll radio tag, which means one has to carry cash, and wait at toll booth. For rental cars I believe this must be a standard feature, considering they already have our credit card details toll fee can be charged at actual on return. That said I ...