The Story of my Ford

December 2010.

Ask any Production/Mechanical engineer to name some great contributors to the Manufacturing industry in the 20th century. Henry Ford would certainly top the list, not only for building the Ford legacy but also for introducing the Assembly Line technique for Mass Production of his cars. 

1994: 
My association with Ford (read it as the brand "Ford") evolved in 1994, when I noticed a key-chain of my school buddy Ranjay. This key-chain was oval shaped housing the signature Ford logo and I was simply awed by the Ford logo. I asked Ranjay what it meant, and he said it was one of the largest car manufacturers in the world and that his dad worked in Ford Muscat. 

It was about the same time that Ford had setup a huge manufacturing base in Chengalpattu about 40 kms south of Chennai. It became an important landmark for me every time I travel to my dad's village towards Gingee. From the road I could see hundreds of cars glistening brightly in the Ford campus. Ford was then manufacturing its Sedan - Ford Escort. It was a neat car for the time and every time a Ford escort passes by, my head would turn and I would stand in awe. Well this was India a few years post liberalization and terms like Hyundai, Ford, Coke and Pepsi were just registering in our minds. In my case, Ford registered deep inside too.

8 years later (in 2002):
I was a graduate trainee at a small sized software company and was in conversation with my company Vice President - Ms.Vandana. She asked me what my financial target was for the future. I thought for a few seconds and quoted whatever first struck me. It was "to own a Ford when I turn 30" She said fair enough, because it implicitly meant a lot of other things including Financial Stability, a genuine need for car etc, etc. I still had 8 years to go.

4 years later, (2006):
I found myself in Bangalore. One of my colleagues Ganesh was shifting his base to the Silicon Valley (Santa Clara to be precise) and wanted to give away his Ford Ikon at a relatively cheaper price. He was keen on giving it to me, because in one of our earlier conversation I did mention that I wanted my first car to be a Ford. I was tempted to buy this car, but as a young chap, with no permanent base in Bangalore and travelling between Chennai and Bangalore every weekend in train/bus, a car with a Karnataka registration made very little sense, so skipped the thought of it. 

2007:
A year later, I saw myself in Chennai in a posh room being Interviewed by the Testing Vertical head. I had cleared couple of earlier rounds. This round of interview was just to know something about my life outside of work. It was more like a rapid fire round, the interviewer reading out a bunch of questions from his list and I trying to answer each one within seconds (although it wasn't demanded of me). One of his questions read, "Name one personality whom you admire". My reply went this way, "Henry Ford, for his contribution to revolutionalizing the Manufacturing Industry". I still don't know why this popped out of my mind then.

1 year later (2008):
This time I genuinely needed a car for office commute. My work hours were extended and incessant Chennai rains weren't helping either. But this time logic overtook all emotions and I ended up buying a second hand Alto (manufactured by Maruti Suzuki). I didn't even consider other options and life went on. One of these days, I caught up with Ganesh and he asked me if I indeed bought a car. I told him about my second hand Alto, and he jokingly asked me about my Ford dream. I was instant in my reply quoting "My first NEW Car Will be a Ford", inserting the NEW into my earlier quote. We ended the chat with a smile.

2 years later, (December 2010): 
It was now time to upgrade my car. I had parking constraints, so restricted my search to hatchback variants. Thankfully (or not thankfully) this time around there were a gamut of options but luckily I had an extended budget too. As of this day, I had the following options to evaluate from -  Maruti Suzuki Swift/Ritz, Fiat Punto, Volkswagen Polo, Chevy Spark/Beat/UVA, Hyundai Santro/i10/i20, Ford Figo and even Nissan Micra (which was yet to be launched). Being the more practical guy this time, I was keen on going for a Maruti-Suzuki Ritz, particularly for its looks and good reviews too. My sister Deepika though loathed the very looks of it. Hesitantly I entered the Ford showroom to learn more about their new hatchback variant - Ford Figo. As the salesman demonstrated every feature of this car, I was all the more sure that this would be my next car. After some payment formalities and a 5 day waiting period, I drove my Figo or rather my Ford home.

I have turned 30 now and as told to Vandana, bought a new car. Just as I told Ganesh, my first brand new car is indeed a Ford. And the best part is, I get to see the Ford logo everyday which once awed me as a kid. What was a casual classroom discussion 16 years ago, happens to be what I'm driving today. 

Call it destiny or as Paulo Coelho quoted in Fifth Mountain - "when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it" ; I managed to get my Ford at the right time and in the process connecting all dots !

A Stranded Biker, Karma and An Irony Called Life

Wednesday, 23 March 2011

A Stranded Biker:

This was like any other weekday evening where I had to ride the 12 km back home from office. Having started around 7 pm, I had to wade through heavy evening traffic and drive through a 5 km stretch of National Highway before I reach the area where I live. This was around one of the days my pulsar (Motorbike) needed a service, so I was running it on a limited ration of petrol. I knew the current stock would last about 15 kms so rode around like everything was cool. It was exactly when I diverted from the main road to the highway that my bike gave me a jerk indicating I might be running low on fuel; well I was still sure it would last the distance till the gas station. 

It was exactly 1 km later that my bike gave up and wouldn't accept to continue. The nearest exit from the highway was 1.6 km ahead and I had no idea how far the gas station was from there. Started doing the only thing I could under these circumstances, push my bike for the 1.6 km journey towards the highway exit. Now it was befitting to call me "A Stranded Biker".

Karma:

Well, I'm a person who would offer anyone a bit of help if it was within my bounds. I would'nt hesitate even if it was a stranger and even if I have to go out of my way to do it. Like today on 2 occasions, I offered a couple of strangers a lift and drop to their destination. It does feel good to help a random stranger, try it sometimes. I do have a problem in seeking help though, but none of that mattered now while I was on the highway pushing my bike towards the exit and the next gas station. A thought did cross my mind if someone would stop by to offer me help of any kind, but who would be stupid enough to stop cruising at 80km/hr on this highway just to help a stranger. So this thought didn't stick around for long. It was after sometime that I finally exited the National Highway and was now asking directions to the nearest gas station. One gentleman suggested it was around a km further down this road. I stopped by to inform my sister about the delay in reaching home and was about to resume pushing the bike when another young man came by; he must have been in his mid-20s casually dressed. This is how our conversation went:

Mr. A: Any Problem sir ??

Me: Yep, I ran out of gas.

Mr. A: Do you need my help, I could lend you a few ml of petrol

Me: Why not, but I ain't carrying any container to transfer the petrol.

Mr. A: Don't worry about it, I have a bottle. 

He leaked a few ml petrol from his bike into a small bottle, and offered to drop it into my pulsar's tank. Looked like he carried the bottle just for this purpose, needless to say I was surprised. He assured me that this amount of petrol would last another couple of kms just about enough to reach the gas station. I didn't know how to thank this gentleman, so decided to pay for the petrol. He politely declined and requested me not to price-tag his favour. I felt a little embarassed and just verbally thanked him and shook hands. He introduced himself as Anand and told me to return his favour by helping strangers in future and parted by quoting; "It's a good feeling to help strangers and you'll like it, I make it a point to help 1 stranger per day". Today I was his stranger :-).

I have helped countless strangers in the past, even if they were all trivial things and today my Karma paid off. A stranger volunteers to help me and bring me out of my misery; this is an event that reaffirmed my belief in kindness unlimited and I will continue to do it even more so. In a way adding on to my "Karma".

An Irony Called Life:

So my bike took off, thanks to the little ounce of petrol Mr. Anand offered, and I was on my way to the nearest gas station. After a few minutes ride, I did spot a gas station at a distance and had a smile on my face that I'd finally be making it. Here I was riding my bike into the gas station and asked the gas station guy to fill in some petrol. He smiled, politely declined and said "This gas station serves only diesel !". Now I had a wry smile on my face that quoted, this is "An Irony Called Life".

The week that was crazy

It's crazy enough to be doing an MBA while having a full time job, but what's crazier is breaking down your course activities and having to juggle it between your Job and Family life while meeting a deadline that MBA imposes.

This was one such week that went crazier by the day. Apparently I had to cover over 180 pages of writing my MBA II semester assignments by hand. Thankfully someone else had done the painful task of collating the answers to the assignments. All I had to do was hand-write each of these 180 pages within my self-imposed target of Friday, Dec 17th  to submit it to the college. Noone could have predicted what lay ahead.

Sunday, Dec 12, 2010: Started writing my assignment. Completed 4 pages. Pushed rest of the assignment to the remaining days of the week.

Monday, Dec 13, 2010: Continued writing from 7:00 pm and slept around mid-night. Completed around 25 pages and yet to find my writing speed. Not to mention how horrid my handwriting was.

Tuesday, Dec 14, 2010: Began writing at 8:00 pm, dined and wrote till 01:30 am. Completed 70 pages in total.

Wednesday, Dec 15, 2010: Had my friends brother-in-laws wedding reception to attend in the evening. Began writing at 9:00 pm and wrote till 1:00 am. Completed around 130 pages. Still had over 50 pages to be completed in a single night. Fatigue set in and took a 15 min nap at 11:00 pm.

Thursday, Dec 16, 2010: Began writing my assignment at 8:30 pm, and wrote straight till 2:30 am. Looked like a dead duck by now. Physical condition: Fingers close to fracture and refused to straighten up not to mention the bad backache and the darkcircles too. Handwriting was a little short of a shorthand scribble.

Friday, Dec 17, 2010 4:00 pm: Managed to successfully submit my assignment at the College. Was proud I could make it within my self-imposed deadline.

10:00 pm: Finally I hit the bed early after a hectic crazy week and was planning on an 8 hr sleep. Now came the bomb when Raj a close friend called up. He had a family emergency and requested me to take his parents to Bangalore and bring them back to Chennai all within a day and that's tomorrow. With so less sleep the whole week, I wasnt physically ready for this 700+ km one day drive, but it was something I couldn't refuse for a close friend. Made a few calls to arrange a car and confirmed the plan with Raj. Time of Sleeping: 12:20 am.

Saturday, Dec 18, 2010: 04:10 am: Woke up to my phone's alarm. Was a sleepy head after a 4 hour sleep. Got ready and left home at 4:30, and executed all my plans on time. Reached Bangalore at 12:00 noon successfully. Physical condition: Tired, dead tired.

3:30 pm: Started my travel back to Chennai. Was a race against time because I wanted to cover the most distance under daylight. Loaded myself on energy bars and a large Red-bull that gave me an alert mind all the way till Chennai.

10:30 pm: Reached home after dropping Raj and his parents at their Chennai destination covering a total distance of 748 kms and driving for 15 of the last 18 hours. Hit the bed at 11:30 pm. Now I AM a dead duck !

Sunday, Dec 19, 2010: 8:00 am: Woke up to a perfectly good Chennai winter morning feeling good that the crazy week finally ended. Later that morning rode to college for a class and planned to return home for lunch. Here's my fate, a couple of kms before home my bike skids and I fall off my bike. I scratch my hands and a big bleeding bruise on my left leg.

So how crazier can a week get. Five straight nights of less than 6 hrs sleep, fingers close to fracture point, Driving 748 kms on the sixth day and now a bruised leg on the seventh day, I didn't ask for this... !!!

Kollywood actress in a London daily

Well, not an Indian but she can be labelled as a Kollywood actress for her performance in "Madrasapattinam". Yes, that's Amy Jackson for you. I got a chance to see this movie recently, and her acting is definitely commendable.

Here's an article in a British Daily "METRO" on August 17th, 2010 publication. The newspaper has categorised Amy as a Bollywood entrant which is technically not right, but outside India, all Indian movies apparently fall under Bollywood. So all you Kollywood fanatics, please pardon this daily and enjoy this read.

(click to view the complete image)

London Diary - Chennai to London, 04 July 2010

This travel turned out to be "just another travel" between Chennai and London and I'm glad it was this way. Here's how I recount the events of my travel to London.

It was a morning flight but my day began even early. Woke at 2:45, added 5 minutes to the snoozer and finally got myself up to get ready. The cab guy arrived with no delay. Since all packing was done last night, just had to bid a bye to my folks at home. Quarter stayed overnight and came along with me to the airport.

I had a heavy hand baggage (including laptop) and was skeptical about it but the guy across the counter gazed at it and let me go. Thanks Mr. "Across the counter guy"! Nothing special about the low-grade Chennai to Muscat flight. Surprisingly, they played a tamil movie, I mean I didn't expect this from Oman Air atleast. Watched the "Tamizh Padam" and it surprised me too. Infact I found it extremely hilarious the first hour or so, then it got a little boring, so took a quick nap. Had a 4 hour transit in Muscat. Rushed out of the plane like the rest of them, only to realise that I left my copy of "The Tipping Point" in the plane itself. Cursed myself for it, cos I just had another 50 pages to complete. Dammit, will have to buy the book again. And what's this thing about people rushing out of the flight when it stops, no-one's gonna miss their next flight or their ride back home. Hope people learn to show more patience (including me).

Happened to meet a guy from my plane at the Muscat airport who was travelling to London as well. He was travelling to London to pursue his higher studies in animation. He gave up his IT  job to realise his dream in animation. Another guy from the same flight too tagged along. He was on his way to Paris to pursue a 1 year programme on International Business. Amazingly, he just knows the ABC of French and was on his way to complete a course on International Business in French. Now that's what we call "confidence". Whether it's a foolish confidence, time will unwrap.

Munched a late breakfast, bought a calling card, made a couple of calls to India, Couple of calls to UK to inform the manager and landlord about my arrival, and tried calling Ranjay countless times, but in vain. Made 2 wrong number calls to Shema and gave up. By now boarding announcements for my Muscat-London flight had begun, and we guys went along.

This time my partner was a young brit girl, guys I know you are cursing me, but then don't worry. She was too loud, I mean really loud,embarrasingly loud!! Wished her a Hi, and her reply "Hi" would have been heard ten rows behind ! Looked around if anyone did indeed hear that, all seemed busy loading their cabin baggages. Good for me. By now, I gave up the idea of striking a conversation and left me to myself . (I'm sure you guys must be gloating with a wicked grin now!). Later I noticed these Brits are generally loud people which I got used to a few days later. Ate loads of flight food, watched 3 movies during this 7 hour journey. ("500 days of Summer", "2012" and "Hurt Locker"). Surprisingly I did not take a nap in this leg at all.

The flight was 30 minutes early and went around the bright London skies for a while before landing. Immigration was peaceful with no questions. Then came the medical check-up; luckily I followed my company's travel team's suggestion to carry a chest X-Ray along with a medical report. That saved me an hour atleast. Here's a tip for all guys travelling to UK on a work permit - Carry a chest X-Ray along with a medical report saying everything's fine and the airport authorities would let you out with no fuss. The Heathrow exit I thought was little confusing with many exits, but my manager spotted me easily. He had also booked a "sardar" taxi for me. Guess what, this was a Merc and the first Merc I've travelled in my life. So here's London welcoming me with a Merc, great I love this place ! Reached home after a 15 min drive and checked my room.

Rest will follow in my first week summary. Keep reading !

10 Special songs

Here's a list of 10 special songs from my playlist. These songs are special because everytime they play on my ipod/media player, I end up replaying them countless time before moving on to the next number. The fact is, I never get tired of these songs and they'll always remain evergreen to me. Just thought will share these songs with you too:

1. Alan Parson's Project - Eye in the sky

2. Metallica - Unforgiven 2

3. Creed - Higher

4. Coldplay - Yellow

5. INXS - Beautiful girl

6. Stone Sour - Silly world

7. Death Cab for Cutie - Marching Bands of Manhattan

8. Blue October - Into the Ocean

9. Nickelback - Photograph

10.U2 - New York

(p.s.: These songs are in no particular sequence)

The mother who had no name.

Sunday, 22 Nov, 2009, Chennai.

She was always a mother since I moved into "Arumugam Oni" my Mogappair house in April'09. She was sheepishly wagging her tail the day I first saw her. Her two daughters shying away. We had no plans for the little family, but seeing us being kind to them, mother let her daughters come close to us but maintaining a distance herself. The kids seemed to grow quick and we already began making long term plans. Fate had other plans though.

The weaker among the two daughters was found dead one morning on the road in front of our house, she was hit by some vehicle in the early hours. I helplessly watched it, my sister gathered enough courage to place her away. May be we should not have let the daughters out of home, may be tying them up was a good idea. The mother seemed to move on with life, but with extra attention to the remaining daughter.

We took extra care of the only daughter, now gaining weight and height quickly. Again fate had it's own ways of unravelling its ruthlessness. The little one which otherwise would run to greet us even if we were a 100 mts away, didn't seem to turn up to my calls. She was under my car, seemed frantically scared of something. The mother knew it soon that the little one needed no help. I tried calling the daughter, but her snarls were fierce enough to scare me off. I thought the mother would have scared her off in an attempt to drive her away, but that was not the case. The daughter was out of sight the next day. I was way too happy to see it in my garden the following morning. She was just too weak to even stand. I fed her some water and milk, it managed to sip a bit but could not take more than couple of strides before falling down. Mother didn't seem to near the daughter, may be she wanted to stay away from the sickness the daughter might inflict upon her. An hour later I found the daughter dead in my front porch, but not before she put up a mighty struggle to reach the 20 meter distance. This time I took the daughter away from home. Mother was nowhere to be seen. I could hear her weeping howls every night thereafter.

The mother turned its affection on us, and we on her. She would follow my bike or car till the end of the road. She would welcome my sister and me with a song every evening when we returned home from work. A couple of month ago we realised she was pregnant, we were glad we would be getting a new set of pets and we planned to retain a couple atleast. Finally on 7th Nov 2009, mother gave birth to 4 beautiful small puppies, 2 boys and 2 girls. We ensured the mother and kids were fine in the Chennai monsoon by giving it special make-shift shelter and regular supply of food. Again fate unravelled something unexpected.

Mother hasn't eaten anything for 3 days now, and lost weight to the extent she is all bones now. She would occassionally cuddle with her kids only to walk away to the grass for sometime. She would not eat or drink anything we offer. At 4:00 pm today, she requested me to open the gate for her and I obliged. May be she didn't want to pass on her sickness to her kids, instead closing her eyes and bidding us a good-bye far away from home. She has not returned home since and it's midnight already. May be she never would. Christening her was just a formality, she was a part of our family anyway, so we never considered that. I am still willing to go out and search for her in the dark not knowing what to call her, after all she was the mother who had no name.

(Epilogue: I managed to leave the 4 puppies at Blue Cross, Chennai on 24-Nov-2009. Felt it needed some expert care for now. The mother never returned.)