Apple:Hype::Poteto:Potato

The more I spend time drooling about a Macbook Air or similar apple laptop, the more I realize that it's more hype and less substance (in comparison). Of course Jobs had a taste and Apple has added some quality tweaks in the hardware-software parts, apart from the synergy between OS and the underlying hardware, since they own both. Everything is sleek and chic and minimalist and beautiful and perfect and top class etc etc. Or so they say. They? who? Apple fanboys mostly, and then some people influenced by sheer deluge of oh-so-awesome reviews, many of which are posted by those who buy Macs because (they think) it makes them look cool and sets apart. I was/am partially influenced as well. Jobs was afterall one of the sharpest and shrudest salesman of all time.

Macbook vs Others

The hinge of my netbook got broken recently, and that was enough of a reason for me to get engrossed in one of my favourite-most pastimes - looking for a new netbook/laptop. I came across and was impressed by the specs of this ultraportable - Lenovo (previously IBM) Thinkpad X220 - when I was looking for something powerful, yet small and light. This 12" 1.5kg intel core-i3 runnning laptop fit the bill perfectly. It felt like exactly the thing I was looking for. Feature-rich, small and light-weight, yet very rugged, lots of ports, verry good battery life for such a loaded configuration and less than $888 (starter). There was just nothing wrong with it ... but for the dated looks. But even my Palio's dashboard has dated looks, so I have learned to dig under the show-off elements. It came across as one of the most practical ultra-portables ever. So out of curiosity, I checked what people were saying about this. And lo behold, I came across this Thinkpad X220 review on Engadget.

More than the scintillating review, which was equally all agog with the performance, the best part on the engadget review post was the comments section. There was a hillarious war that took place between Apple fanboys and IBM old-timers. And the later literally destroyed the Apple fanboys. There were some very informative, some very hillarious and some highly scathing remarks from both sides, mostly from the IBM'ers and I found their views very sound and balanced. The conclusion I found was simple, Apple is not the only company which makes well thought out, one of its kind machines - a view smartly propagated by their fanboys. But even IBM also makes some really really well thoght out, rugged products, catering to the needs of a different creed (the programmers, the engineers) that I identify with more, than I do with the Apple crowd.

While Apple gadgets are excellent and well designed beyond doubt, what I have started to realise is that they are also subjected to some real high marketing hype, which is like some kinda (unintended) FUD, generated through those users who "want to buy laptops which matches with their clothes and shoes". Or sometimes through those who are switching from Windows to Mac platform, and have obviously got impressed.

Mac OS X vs Ubuntu

Taking a clue, I tried to find out how someone who has switched from Linux to Mac, finds the new envioronment. And I was so lucky, I came across this blog-post by a programmer who switched from Ubuntu to Mac out of curiosity. If I had gone on to switch to Macbook, it would have been a Deja-Vu vis-a-vis this blog. So very similar a condition. I read with interest. And there I came to know that I wont have much to expect from Mac, except for some jazzy new UI luxury. Till the novelty wears out, that is. The fact that a long time Ubuntu user who was a programmer and hence a power user himself, finds Ubuntu to be the ultimate programmer's OS, after spending time on both sides of the fence, and returns back to Ubuntu, was enough of a testimony for me to start removing Macs from my wishlist, slowly but certainly.

CKRT: Day 01 - Murud Janjira to Shrivardhan

Continued from CKRT: Prologue ....

Finally the day for which I was going crazy waiting for, arrived.

On Friday evening itself, Pravya had made it to Pune and we had completed our "pre-deployment" checks. Equippment, plan, maps, stay strategy, distances between different locations, time estimations, plan-Bs etc etc. Things were in order and the only thing that was giving me those llibbitaajeebees (borrowed from the awesome King Julian of Madagascar), was - well, self doubt. Time and again, that old notion that we had not planned anything this long before, and had no inputs from anyone experianced, was giving rise to that self doubt. And then somehow it had got dissolved into thin air, with the electric atmosphere that autmatically manifests when old buddies get together after a long time.

Vile Bhagad MIDC en route Nizampur

We got up early in the morning, got ready and left home at around 6:15am.

Odometer Reading: 24937km

The haversacks that we were carrying were bulky enough to make an elaborate arrangement for us to sit comfortably. So Pravya took the bigger one on his back, while I took the relatively smaller one in my front, resting it on the petrol tank, such that I can see the tacho and speedometers just barely. For 8 days we carried on like this.

Route: Pune -> Tamhini Ghat -> Nizampur -> Mangaon -> Indapur -> Murud-Janjira -> Dighi (jetty) -> Diveagar -> Shrivardhan

Pune to Nizampur was quite a straighforward ride. At Nizampur, we asked for a shortcut to Indapur, but people suggested avoiding it, since it's an outside area and we maynot get help if required. So we went via Mangaon. Mangaon to Indapur was on NH17, towards Mumbai, and within even those 10kms, we got the taste of why the highway is one of the most dangerous. My cursing had no bounds. But it ended shortly. 

Indapure to Tala was a road of excellent quality. It was a biker's paradise, with smooth surface and twisty ghats, covered with dense tree canopies. One of those roads, where you leave everything behind, just take your bike, put on some sticky rubber on the wheels, and get your adrenaline rushing while cornering at high speed. Someday.

In the Murud town, on the way to Janjira, there was this very historic-looking architecture that caught our eye. 
There was no information there, apart from an ASI notification board that it was a historical monument and govt property and that vandals will be prosecuted. We spent some time clicking and moved on.

Over time, by around 11am, made it to Rajapuri, from where sailing boats leave for Janjira fort. Odo was reading 25107km when we parked. 

JANJIRA

Going to the fort, in non-motorized, (seemingly) unstable sailing boats, is a nice experiance. And if you get comfortable with the wavy boat, you keep wondering about the entrace to the approaching fort. It's not clear unless you get close. The entry gate is very well hidden. One of the characteristics of these sea forts and even some land forts, that we observed throughout this road trip.

Our Sailing Boat - Moving toward Janjira

Janjira Fort - Entrance Gate

We had taken a guide to the fort. Janjira has a long and proud history. It's the only fort in Maharashtra (maybe even in India), that remained invincible till as recently as India's freedom in 1947. It was built way back in probably 15th or 16th century by Siddi Jauhar - an Afrikan! I was unaware of the Afrikan roots of this Jauhar clan.

Their kings used to be of quite romantic kind it seemed. And they had imagination. There was one large circular pond, which was, we were told, used only by the Begums (queens) of the kings for their bath and relaxation. There was a circular dome like structure built around it, which, as we were told, in the olden times, used to have glasses of 7 different colors. When the sun would rise, and these queens would enter the pond for their bath, due to these 7 colored glasses surrounding the pond, it would glow like a rainbow! Interesting!

Then there were the regular features - like the cannons. The biggest one here, which, as we were told, was immobilized and sealed by the Jauhars before handing over the fort to Indian government, was named कलाल बांगडी (Kalal Bangadi - meaning unknown). It was prepard by sticking together rings created of पंचधातू  (metal prepared by mixing 5-elements together). The result was, despite staying in the hot sun for all day long, the cannon would always remain cool. As soon as our guild said this, everybody touched the cannon in a reflex, to verify. And boy, our clothes were hotter than that metal! The cannon was built over several years, by bringing one बांगडी (metallic ring) at a time from  Afrika. The कलाल बांगडी cannon and it's long range, was one of the reasons behind the fort staying invincible throughout. 

	कलाल बांगडी तोफ

All its details and features aside, I loved the name कलाल बांगडी. So much so that, right then and there I decided - I am going to name our cat कलाल बांगडी, if we happen to get one again in future, that is. And if a dog, then it will be फाजिलखान. It's a name taken from N. S. Inamdar's magnum opus in Marathi - शहेनशाह - (Shehenshah), which, by the way, is a novel which is a living proof that we as a society, still have the capacity to consider and portray opposing and troubling point of views, without keeping biases. Anyway, better to keep it for some other time.

Another wonderful story about the fort is the way its fortification was constructed. It's a fort built into sea, and there is a continous 6 hourly cycle of high and low tides in the sea. The construction was done very smartly. During high tides, the workers would come inside the fort, and carve out stones and prepare other material required for the fortification. During low tides, water would recede, and the workers would use the carved out stones and materials to lay the fortification further into the sea. They were following Agile Practices for building (constructing) a product! Back in the days of Siddi Jauhar! Brilliant!

Rest of the fort, though mostly in dilapidated condition, was large and loaded enough to give a fair idea about its bygone glory and importance in history.

BIKE AND THE FERRY BOAT

We were hungry by the time we returned, and were told that the ferry to Dighi, out next destination, would arrive in an hour. We had our relaxed lunch by the sea side till then, and got ready when we saw the boat approaching the jetty.

The descent that was steeper than it looks 

This is a small ferry boat, and takes only 2-wheelers. 4-wheelers have to take a long detour to reach dighi and diveagar. I was told to park the bike near the docking spot, and I realised the problem only when I got near it. There was a steep descent, only couple feet wide, that connected the jetty and the parking lot. And I was supposed to ride my bike down that 2-feet wide accident-trap. Even a small loss of concentration/balance, and I would go hurtling down alongwith the bike.

I positioned my bike there, looked down at my predicament, and looked around. Many faces were staring at me. Many of them with a - boy-am-i-going-to-witness-an-incident-here - kind of expression. But thankfully, nothing happened and I took the bike down without an incident. Bringing it up, would have been a different story altogether.

Eventually the bike was loaded on to the ferry boat, manually, by lifting it! This was a motor boat, and was quite smooth on its way. 

Loading the bike at Rajapuri

Unloading on reaching Dighi

THE TWIST

We reached Dighi by 3:15pm. Since we were a bit ahead of the schedule, which we had set for ourselved, we took a detour and went to Adavane beach on the way to Diveagar. A calm, small, unexplored, and unfrequented beach. It has a long sea-side drive, which we took, and then got back on the way to Diveagar. 

Adavane Beach

A rocky part along the drive

The Diveagar beach, is a featureless beach, and I dont like it due to the touristy rush and the garbage that follows. We were out of there in 15mins straight, and were moving towards our desitnation of the day - Shrivardhan.

A Cattle Egret settling on a branch of a tree

En route, we saw a large group of egrets (in their breeding dress) feasting on dead fish in a dump yard along the road. It was a large group, and we were tempted by the photo-op. Carefully off-roading the bike, I tried to get as close as possible, but the birds, as usual, got nervous, and before we could get even a single shot, all of them flew away.

Cursing them, I got the bike back on the road, and started back. But that was not the end of the story. In fact the real story started only in next few moments.

Within a kilometer, I started getting an ominous feeling, and stopped by the roadside. My fear had come true. The rear tire had sagged. There was a puncture.

It was a beautiful spot. We were on a mound, overlooking the sea from a hill. The sun was about to set in sometime. Cool sea-breeze was flowing across. And there we were - having a ~20kg each of luggage on us, with a punctured bike, and clueless as to what to do next.

A passing 6-seater driver suggested to remove the wheel and and have it repaired. We didn't have experience in so much as removing a wheel. I had only once observed a mechanic do that. That's about it. All our future predicaments flashed in front of my eyes. Stranded in an unknown area, during evening time, uncertain about getting any help at all, lack of hands-on about bike mechanics and uncertain whether it will be possible to get it repaired before it gets dark, even if we manage to get the wheel out.

There was no point in wasting even a second. I rushed to get the toolkit out. It was a struggle to understand what in the toolkit fits what on/in/around the wheel. Then it took some time to figure what all should be removed to get the wheel out. I didnt want to end up breaking open something that will need elaborate tools to get it fixed later on. It would put the whole trip in jeopardy.

It was a big struggle before we could pull the wheel out. Since it would get dark very soon, we quickly decided on a future plan of action, considering lots of ifs and buts. I left the bike and luggage with Pravya, on the roadside, and waited on the other side of the road, for a lift till Diveagar. I was a little relieved to see Pravya calm and composed. I had brought him into this, and was a bit restless with the thought of the nightmare that this situation can turn into.

An M80 rider had stopped by, and he didnt need me to explain him the situation; he told me to hop on even before I finished. In next 10-mins I was standing in front of a puncture-repairy shop, while the puncture was being attended to. I didnt even get a chance to ask the M80 rider's name and say thank-you to him for being so nice. He had already turned back and had left while I was handing over the wheel to the mechanic.

I was expecting to be charged at least Rs.100/- if not more. After all, I was in big need, I was looking like a tourist, and I was having 2 phones with me. He charged me Rs.30/- that's it! Boy, was this world different from the one in Pune!

I paid him, and was asking if there was a way to get towards Shrivardhan, since my bike was lying in the midst, on the roadside, when even before I had finished, he let out a loud whistle, the one which required him to put his 2 (dirty) fingers in his mouth. Next moment, I was running towards a 6-seater, which had stopped on his 'signal', and was on my way towards the bike.

There was still some time left for the sunset, there was light around, and the puncture was repaired. We got down to fixing the wheel back in its position. And it turned out to be even harder a job than taking it off. Of course, breaking down stuff is way easier than putting it back together. We struggled for almost half an hour before we figured out how things attached together. In the process we had taken the drum, of rear drum break, apart, then had put it back together; we had tried, in vain, to fix a bolt inside the drum, while it was meant for the outside. That half an hour was a time of total dispair. I was loosing hope of fixing things before dark. And then something flashed, and just around the sunset time, we had the wheel fixed, and bike was ready to go after a test drive.

The setting sun, over a roaring sea, had an orange glow around. Some fluffy clouds were flirting with it, and birds were returning to their nests. There was a cool but strong and pleasant sea breeze flowing around. The world looked more beautiful than it actually was. It was a perfect consolation for the trouble, struggle and mental harrassment of the past hour.

We were quickly on our way to Shrivardhan, hoping we had fixed everything correctly, and that nothing would come off out of the blue. If it had to, I prayed for it to do that near a garage next time round.

SHRIVARDHAN

Finding accomodation in Shrivardhan was a quick job. Got a very decent room for dirt-cheap rate in the heart of the town. Everything was clean and well arranged.

Depositing our luggage there we roamed around the town exploring the markets and other bustling areas. By 11pm we were well-fed and were deep in sleep.


Next: CKRT: Day 02 - Shrivardhan to Anjarle

Coastal Konkan Road Trip: Prologue

Something like this hadn't happened before. Nobody had a planning and execution experiance. But everything has a first. So did this. And like all firsts, it needed people, willing to take risks and cautious enough to be ready with a plan B, in case something doesnt go as per the plan. First setback was on day-1 itself. But more about that later.

It started with a close friend, staying in Bangalore, getting a long leave for about a week and keeping the whole week open for some adventure, if a plan happens. When he checked with me, I had just been from Alibaug and Kashid, and Konkan was the first thing that flashed in my mind. So the first plan that struck was to go in Konkan. But since there was one full week at disposal, it had to be something more elaborate than just going there and lazying around here and there like those 'typical' tourists. So in about 5-10mins a plan to do a road trip along the full coastal length of konkan, that too on bike, started taking shape.

In about 2-days of the weekend, the plan was ready and I had tried to consider all possible details - where do we start from, where do we go, how much is the distance, how long it might take, does it have ferries in between, is there a need to allocate more time to travel due to ferries, what time of the day will we be travelleing, what all will we be doing at a particular location, what all will we be visiting ....... etc etc. It took a lot of time, but this was one of the best, and most involved plans, I had ever prepared. Time allocation was also done for our main important activities, and based on this time allocation, a schedule for all the days and travels during those days, was planned.

Initially, the full plan for the road-trip was - to start from Pune, go to Alibaug, and then go till Terekhol in a combed pattern. Then turn back, and return to Pune in a combed pattern as well. That way, we wouldnt get exhausted travelling either ways. But then everything doesnt work out as you expect it to. Due to various time constraints, we had to let go of the combed pattern, and adopt a start-at-murud-janira-and-end-at-terekhol type of linear pattern.

In all, the plan was prepared for a whopping 9-day touring, hopping from one place to another every day - with no two nights being spent at the same place. A new place to stay every day. This mode of travel and stay, was ofcourse totally new to us.

By the time the plan was prepared, it was clear that not many people would be able to join us, owing to various problems like - getting a long leave granted, to not having a craving for such road trips. There were many monsters to scare people away -

1. No one had any previous experience in planning and executing such a long road trip
2. No bookings were to be done, and a place to stay at, was to be found when we enter our destination for the day
3. Total uncertainty about electronics charging points. No guarantees. 
4. On the return, it was going to be all NH17. Twisty, curvy, scenic, but equally dangerous. Infamous as the most dangerous highway in MH, owing to it's accidents and death counts. 
5. It was May, and was bound to be hot. Despite planning travels on early mornings and late evenings, you cannot guarantee sticking to the plan all the time, and travelling during hot afternoons would become inevitable some times. 

Not many are willing to travel in such conditions. The end result was as expected. Only two of us were going - me and Pravya.

The plan was finalized in couple of days. Expenditure projections, equippment checklists, electronics/photography gear requirements, maps, availability of petrol pumps and ATM enroute, risks, plan B's ...  etc etc was all thought about and finalized.


Route and Time Details

S.No.	Day	Date	Route	Total Travel	Stay At
Day-1	Saturday	28/04/12	pune -> tamhini ghat -> mangaon -> indapur -> agardanda -> murud-janjira -> diveagar -> shrivardhan	210km	Shrivardhan
Day-2	Sunday	29/04/12	shrivardhan -> harihareshwar -> bagmandla -> bankot -> velas -> kelshi -> anjarle	95km	Anjarle
Day-3	Monday	30/04/12	anjarle -> harne -> dapoli -> dabhol -> dhopave -> guhagar	70km	Guhagar
Day-4	Tuesday	01/05/12	guhagar -> velneshwar -> hedvi -> jaigad -> ganapatipule	60km	Ganapatipule
Day-5	Wednesday	02/05/12	ganapatipule -> jaitapur -> vijaydurga -> devgad	120km	Devgad
Day-6	Thursday	03/05/12	devgad -> kunakeshwar -> mithbav -> malvan -> tarkarli	50km	Malvan
Day-7	Friday	04/05/12	malvan -> vengurla -> terekhol -> vengurla	70km	Vengurla
Day-8	Saturday	05/05/12	vengurla -> pavas -> ratnagiri -> chiplun	250km	Chiplun
Day-9	Sunday	06/05/12	chiplun -> mangaon -> tamhini ghat -> pune	220km	Home Sweet Home

Just to make it clear in advance, though this was the plan, quite a few changes were made on the go, and in the end, it ended up being an 8-day road trip, with me skipping the Day-8 Chiplun stay and doing the whole Vengurla->Pune 500+km patience testing journey in a single day (11 hours with breaks).


Expenditure Projections

Primary daily expenses were going to be in eating and stay. Assuming standard daily charges, and even overestimating it a little bit, I arrived at a figure of around 6-8k for eating and stay arrangements for two of us.

Apart from these, petrol would be another big ticket expense. Assuming a Rs.2/km, for around 1200kms of travel, as per our estimate, would require petrol of around 2.5K.

That meant, our expenditure was going to be around 5-6K per head for the whole of the trip.


Equippments

Day-5 was identified as risky, due to few reasons. First, the travel for the day was quite lengthy. Second, there was no clarity about availability of ferries or new bridges to reach from Ganapatipule to Vijaydurga. Third - the time table was so tight that there was a possibility that we would get too late at Vijaydurga itself, and would end up in no man's land. We would need a plan B if there happened to be no place available to stay. I decided to take my 2-person tent and sleeping bags for the eventuality.

Then other miscelleneous items like toiletries, medicines, clothes, couple of 6-feet sections of 6mm rope (boy, did they come handy!), chargers, extension board, head torch, extra pair of shoes ... etc etc made it to the kit.


Photography Gear Considerations

9-days of trip was going to consume my 12GB of cards in no time. I (over)estimated 4GB of RAW shooting per day, and collected enough class 4,6,10 SDHC cards to go the distance. By the way, class-6 SDHC are more than sufficient for a 450D. It's the internal buffer on the DSLR that matters when it comes to 'firing the machine gun'. Speed of data-transfer to SDHC cards has no say in that. 450D has a buffer for mere 6 shots, and no matter whether you have a  class-4 or a class-10 SDHC card, you are going to end up losing moments after first 6 quick fires. Class-4 is good enough, while class-6 is optimum for an entry level DSLR like 450D. Alas! I had to pay from my own pocket for this learning.

Battery was another concern, but from experience I knew it wouldn't die before 2-3days of use, and I was banking on getting a charging point during  stays on alternate days. So no expense on a new battery, I told myself.

And since Konkan is all about scenary and beaches, well, my tripod had to be with me. So I carried that 3kg beast all around, with me, through out the road trip.


With all this considered and taken care of, the only thing remaining was to wait for that day when this highly ambitious road trip would begin, and somehow grab hold of yourself before you go crazy with excitement, while you wait for the day.

I have maintained a detailed account of the road trip in my travel diary, and it's that day-by-day account, along with some photos, that I plan to present here on my blog gradually, with two intentions in mind. First - as a possible help in planning, for those adventurous bikers and travelers; and second - as a travelogue, for these are some of the golden memories in my life, and few years down the line it will be a hell of a treasure trove for me, even if it doesn't interest anyone else.

Chao till I post day-1.

Next: CKRT: Day 01 - Murud Janjira to Shrivardhan