This time though the airline which I planned to use, our very own Air India Express were having there own website problems. Due to the problems I had to use Makemytrip website.

On the final lap on their rather lengthy format I finally managed to reach the point where I had to give my card number. On first attempt I got a message that my Card has been declined, please contact your issuing Bank. I Tried a second time; same message. Now at the edge of my nerves I contacted my trusted HDFC bank, who informed me that there is no problem with my card. When on the third attempt also I got the same message I got the same message I tore my hair and took deep breathes before trying my luck with Air India Express website again. Lo & Behold, I got my booking in the very first attempt.

The problem was noticed  few days later, when I checked my statement and saw three debits in the name of makemytrip.com….. Bloody hell, the guys are pure thiefs. Three times my card was declined and still my account got debited all three times. I immediately shot of a mail to their contact mail id.

Two of the debits were reversed after a couple of days, but the third one remained. On further enquiries I was told that actually one of the booking was successful and I have a valid ticket from transaction which was declined !!!. So now I ended up havng two seats on the same sector.

The saga does not end here. On trying to contact any customer service for refunding the amount I suffered following insults.

1. Go through tedious IVR menu, and when you get a guy/ girl, the persons pretend as if they do not understand the problem. After spending 10-15 minutes explaining them the issue, either the call will be dropped or they will place you on hold indefinitely.

2. If you call them again, and ask for the person whom you have spoken with earlier, they will not transfer the line. You again explain the issue to a different person, who will give another mail id, on which if you send an email, you will get another complaint registration number, but never a response or a solution.

3. After all this if you still have some stamina left and ask for senior persons mail id phone number, they will flatly refuse.

SInce I landed up with two tickets on the same sector, I cancelled the one fraudulently booked by makemytrip and ended up with a loss of Rs. 2500.00 on cancellation charges.

You would think that the guys lose money if you cancel the trip. Dont kid yourself, they have their own cancellation charges of Rs. 500.00, which is more than the commission airline pays them.

The web is full of complaints of their shoddy treatment of customers. Reader can visit http://www.mouthshut.com/product-reviews/MakeMyTrip-com-925031929 for further tales of woes.

I had great respect for Deep Kalra, how he made millions out of online travel business. Now I know, where acutually the Millions came from.

The best way to use their site is as a comparator. You will get the relative fares and timings of all the airlines on one page, and then you can visit the respective airline site and book the ticket. Even the humble Air India Express did not debit me for a failed transaction, which these crooks did.

Unlimited Memories….Indeed, who can forget a ripped pocket.

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads This blog is doing awesome!.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 3,700 times in 2010. That’s about 9 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 3 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 26 posts.

The busiest day of the year was October 17th with 41 views. The most popular post that day was How to get Maximum Mileage out of your Fiat Palio.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were google.co.in, mail.yahoo.com, en.wordpress.com, bigextracash.com, and student-loan-consilidation.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for fiat palio mileage, fiat palio 1.2 elx mileage, maruti swift diesel maintenance cost, palio vs swift, and fiat palio 1.2 mileage.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

How to get Maximum Mileage out of your Fiat Palio November 2007
29 comments

Fiat Palio Mulitjet Vs. Swift DDiS March 2008
32 comments

Ownership Report on Maruti Swift Diesel July 2008
17 comments

About Me October 2007
5 comments

Corporate Bloopers 2 : Marketing Overdose : Parachute RDF February 2008
8 comments

The  thing that I have noticed about Tata cars is that their smile is becoming bigger with every passing model. While first Indica just grinned at you the Manza is positively laughing.

Another thing that strikes you about Manza is the Name. Most cars are named in obscure Spanish and Italian sounding words or are plain numbers, or do not mean anything at all. Manza seems to be in the last category but seems to overtly suggest its ‘Manly” affiliations, as in ‘Man-za’. The advertising tagline also exhorts you to move straight to the top, which by the way may not be the best way to move to the top at all.

This was a car which I got into my hand by accident as I was without a set of wheels for some time and my dear friend asked me if I can use his Manza for the time being, to which I gladly agreed as this was one car which I was meaning to test for a while.

The drive in the car gave me a lesson in what a decent saloon should not be. The fully loaded version comes around 7.5 lacs in Jaipur, which is actually jaw dropping, for Fiat Linea with the same features and near identical creature comforts retails at well over 1.5 lacs more. The more you drive more it becomes clear why cheap is some times actually cheap.

The looks of this car are pretty unconventional as you might have realised by now. The massive Boot overhanging the rear wheels and the overly bulging bonnet over the front wheels actually make the 15 inch rims appear too small for this car. The whole design is somehow disproportionate and irritates the eye. The older indigo comparatively had more symmetry and proportion. The lumbering body rides on thin 165 mm wide tyres which makes the whole package look like an elephant with polio.

Given the bulging proportions of the boot we would have expected it to be over 500 ltrs but somehow the specs only tell us that it is 460 ltrs, which by the way is adequate for all common uses.

Once inside the cabin you are greeted by vast expanses of beige and tan plastic with a golden powdered center console. The power windows switch housing is also similarly golden powdered. All  give a feeling that the Tatas tried very hard to appear BMWesque with as little money as they could possibly spend. The seating is high with very little lateral support for the thighs so it is not possible to rest your thigh laterally while operating the A pedal. The steering wheel is adjustable for reach and rake, but I was unable to find a comfortable setting even after much trying.

The clutch pedal is too close to the center console/ exhaust well so that your feet actually rest below the clutch pedal and if there is any need to quickly reach up and press the clutch, the foot actually fouls on the pedal first, thus delaying the response. When almost all cars worth there nuts can have such a basic sense of purpose, how did the Tatas miss out on this.  Oops sorry they were busy fabricating the “cheapest car” in the world.

Once you turn the ignition, Fiat takes over and you leave the Tata experience far behind. The 1.2 Ltr Variable Geometry Turbo charged engine is a breeze to drive. It is not pushy and do not expect to win drag races at the red lights, but is adequate for all civilised driving situations. Due to variable geometry the turbo-charger kicks in pretty early and the response to throttle is nippy. Gear changing speeds are touched at mere 1500 rpm and engine does not need to be pushed at all. 80 kmph can be touched at engine rpm a shade less than 2000. Talking of rpms, the instrument cluster carries the same Laurel & Hardy theme of the whole car. In that huge dash board Tatas have gone and stuck a instrument cluster that would have made a bike feel proud. The indicator/  headlight switch combo is sticky and sometimes the headlights switch off if you give the indicator. Maybe a problem with this particular model, but very disconcerting and dangerous at night. The audio controls on the steering are on the right side, which again fouls with your hands as you turn with one hand and manage the gears with the other.

The gear lever is not spring loaded at all and does not return to center of neutral if left free. If you lightly shift from 2nd to 3rd it is expected that the lever comes and rests at the gate of third and fourth on its own. This does not happen. You have to manually move the lever to the middle of the gates and push for finding the 3rd gear, which can be a very notchy experience if you are used some of the better Marutis and Hyundais. Push too hard and you can  end up engaging the 5th. With sufficient practice it is not too difficult to do it, though again it reduces the response time and can be tricky in expressway over-takings.

The car is not the one to be pushed around. A large bulk sitting on bike tyres ensures that even a slightly hard cornering will unsettle the rear end. God help if the corner road is potholed and patchy. If the vehicle is fully loaded expect it to roll a bit more and even lose the grip on the rear if pushed too hard. Each and every rut in the road can felt as the 165 mm wheels get stuck in them and  try to take the vehicle in the direction of the rut and and not where you would like it to go. This is felt in frequent direction changes and jerks on the wheel while driving on the well used roads of Indian cities.

The build quality is trashy with cheap switches and levers all around. Even the power windows housing was coming lose. Odd clicks and clacks can be heard from all corners of the car on encountering any pothole or speed breaker. This in a car which had covered only 10000 Kms in 6 months.

On the whole the only saving grace of this car is VGT 1.2 Ltr Multijet engine. Only those who cannot wait to move up in life should buy this car. I would really save 1-2 lacs more or if you are financing it would not make much of a difference to your down payments and EMI and buy a car in 8-9 lakh bracket. I would buy a linea or any other model in that bracket than just buy a three box sedan because the  marketing wants me to “move straight to the top”. As if moving up in life only meant driving big assed lemons.

 I never did meet him nor had a close encounter of him still I can safely say that in-spite of all that the people have to say about him, in-spite of his being at the helm of affairs for of West Bengal 23 long years, he had to die in a Private Hospital. Nothing wrong in that, except that Lenin & Marx must be squirming in their graves, and that he died without making any difference to the lives of people of West Bengal. I am not talking about individual acts of offiicial or unofficial benevolence here and there.

He died in a private hospital because in his 23 years as chief minister he could not ensure that government hospitals are fit to take care of him (and his comrades) when needed. West Bengal remains one of the poorest states in India and Calcutta (Kolkata to be politically correct) is still one of the filthiest and most chaotic cities of its size anywhere in the world. Move out of Calcutta, things are even grimmer.

Yes there has been progress, but maybe that has happened in-spite of him. If you let lose a bunch of guys (and gals)with money and ideas, they will do something. That’s why he had to die in a private hospital, as some enterprising individuals came in to fill the void, which he could not in his 23 years. Yes he did something of a land reform in his early years, but then what?  He did not even manage to emulate the model of other communist governments around the world of at least ensuring quality health care and education for the citizens of West Bengal. But since that is the story of most of India, it’s OK  with me if the man is applauded just for his sense of humour, integrity, leadership, walking speed, longevity, sagacity, sophistication etc, etc, because as I look around there are not many who can lay claim to even these qualities.

 Yes I also liked the fact that he donated his eyes and his body for medical research. 

God let his soul rest in peace.

I bought this nice 17′ widescreen monitor from a local vendor a couple of years ago, who sold it to me on its low price and life-time warranty.  True the price was ridiculously low for a 17′ inch widescreen unit, which was comparable to an LG 15′ unit with only a years warranty.

Anyway the unit conked off on 7th Dec, 09 without any warning. It was working in the night but it would not turn on when I tried in the morning. I contacted the vendor, who gave me the all India tollfree number, which is 1800119999, and also the cell numbers of the local company rep. I contacted the company rep, who told me that he cannot attend the complaint unless it is logged in at the tollfree complaints number.

I started calling the tollfree number, which is nearly impossible to get during normal working hours. I could manage to get thorugh only on 12th Dec after 5 days of trying that too at the fag end of the day by around 5 PM.  An artificially concerned and polite voice took my call and generated an alpha-numeric ‘RMA Request’.

The number INAFS091200211 was also promptly sms’d to my cell number. Next day I called the local rep, and to my surprise he told me that he has not recieved my complaint from the ‘complaints office’.

I called the tollfree again at by 5 PM and got another voice who told me that the complaint will be attended to shortly. After 5 days, on 17th Dec, a guy called me ask my address. I requested him to come and repair the monitor the very next day, which he said he was not able to, and promised to come on monday 21st Dec. On 21st Dec, the rep informed me that there is a problem with the power card and since the spare part is not available with him, it has to be sourced from Chennai, therefore he can come only after Christmas.

He came again with a spare power card on 28.12.09, but he found that this particular card is not suitable for the unit. When I registered my complaint I gave the model serial number to the dumb voices on the other end, still they managed to get an unfit spare part.

Anyway I am still waiting for the correct spare part, which is supposed to come from ‘Taiwan’ as per my most recent conversation with the dumb girl at the ‘complaint’s office’ today on 06.01.2010. The girl promised to ‘escalate’ the complaint to her senior if not attended within two days. I asked her if she can ‘escalate’  it now. Predictabley after putting me on a hold for a long period she scould not locate her senior.

I will not stoop low and ask the readers not to buy the viewsonic monitors. They are good while they last, only thing is that they dont seem to be lasting more than a couple of years. My vendor has several of them piled up in his storage still awaiting spares. Now we know how they manage to sell the monitors at such a low price. Lifetime warranty’s are no big deal as theycome with really short lifespans.

Incidentally I also visited there website and left a complaint refering to my ‘RMA Request’, but no one has bothered to respond.

Why cant this company who is going all guns blazing in the monitors market put up a decent service network. Supply spares to local vendors and let them repair the units as and when required. What is the need for this cumbersome system, with company employees rushing around here and there not knowing what to do.

Please make your own decisions.

Thanks & Regards

I was also extremely angry to begin with therefore I have not written anything for some time. I have allowed it to subside before actually putting my hand to the keyboard.

Indians are by and large very peaceful people and the resilience of Mumbai actually stems from the resilience of Indians in general, who are probably one of the most flexible people anywhere in the world , being able to put up with almost anything and continue with the business of life. It took our royals nearly 100 years to realise that the rug is being pulled from under their bottoms before they could put up a rag-tag coalition for 1857 revolt. It took the general population another 60 years to start doing anything about the humiliation and degradation they were being subjected to. After starting the process it took us another patient 40 years before we could hoist our own national flag and have our ‘tryst with the destiny’. This ability of ours to take shit and still be able to get up, dust up a bit and get along with the grind of daily life is sometimes mistakenly portrayed in the media as being resilience. This our ability to compromise and weasel through a situation without having to make difficult choices, which puts our life and limb at a risk for another day has helped us being very successfull in business field, which is dominated by people who exploit such situations.

At the time of independence the architects of our democracy made a big mistake by not jettisonning the british systems with them. So the police force with its ethos of subjugating and keeping the masses under control was retained and continues in its same role even to this day. Otherwise, where do you see in a democratric country police openeing fire to kill its own people with the impunity that it does here. The Indian Civil Service , whose sole aim was to fill the coffers for the british, was also retained and continues to dominate the country having resisted all attempts at specialisation and having subjugated all other government services.

The british system of indirect democracy works in their country, which is very small and is guided by very well entrenched value systems and traditions, whereas Indians with their tendency to compromise, take shit and cut corners could never be relied on to faithfully implement such a complicated system.

The system under the ‘leadership’ of Nehru quickly degenerated into personal fiefdoms and family hierlooms. With Nehru himself taking lead of ensuring that the power stayed in the family, by entrusting the reins of power into the hands of his daughter. Other more principled leaders like Sardar Patel and Shastri who were naive enough, allowed everything to happen right under their noses.

ICS meanwhile went around systematically denigrating one force that has stood by the country at all times, under the Nehru, who was deeply afraid of the Military, pushed the Army Chief out of the Teen Murti Bhavan and made him equivalent to the cabinet secretary, from his earlier exalted position of being second only to the prime minister. Not to speak of stripping the Military from all positions of decision making related to security and the running of the establishment itself, these days the generals are not even on the panel to advice the prime minister on security related matters. Compared to USA where the National Security Advisor is going to be a retired Marine general, we have a career Police officer on extension. The generals themselves were bought by the political establishment by the lure of gubernatorial and diplomatic assignments post retirement and have casually allowed the powers to slip from their hands so that now they are reduced to a status of beggars and have to go with a bowl through the IAS establishments to get their meagre salary hikes. On the operational front they have been reduced to a level of foot soldiers, who press the trigger when they are ordered to with no role in deciding on the security posture of the country.

The political establishment and the bureucrats have resisted all efforts by the supreme court to reorganise the police and make it a more speacialised and apolitical force. We have more agencies dedicated to gathering intelligence than any other country but with none of them having given clear roles, all of them keep fighting little turf wars, which results in confusing signals and lack of any accountability by anybody. Many of them are actively engaged in clandestine spying work on political enemies on the directions of their political bosses. So while the general population gets to face the bullet, the brokers of power use meagre intelligence resources to settle scores. ( Refer MK Dhar’s Book, Open Secret)

And mind you the bureaucrats and the police officers are supposedly one of the best that the country has to offer. They come through a very stringent even though outdated selection procedure, which ensures that only the best are able to make it through. Though most succumb to systematic rot that has set in and are overwhelmed by the daunting task of overhauling the system and making any structural/ systemic changes. Most prefer to go along with the tide and make hay with the politicians, while the sun shines.

The end result of systemtatic rape of this country was starkly visible through the 5 days of trauma caused by a bunch of hoodlums from Pakistan. The political bosses have consolidated their powers in increasingly narrow consituencies so that you see first families in almost all states. Not to speak of the first among the first families the Gandhi family. The whole set-up is even better than Monarchy or Dictatorship, which appears to be what it is. This comes complete with a very large fig leaf of ‘democracy’.

So much so that president of the Congress party now carries almost an Extra-constitutional authority, with even the prime minister and all congress chief ministers taking directions from her. Maharashatra chief minister offerred to resign to the party chief and not to the prime minister, which means that he, a people’s representative is reporting directly to an unelected authority. What can be a bigger slap in the face of democracy, which MK Gandhi was hoodwinked into supporting.

The rot can be assessed immediately by the way politicians confronted with the enormity of the challenge started shooting of their mouths. Maharashtra home minister called it an attack on Maharashtra. He conveniently forgot to mention that many non-marathis came to defend ‘Maharashtra’ in those gruelling days.

The lack of preparedness and lack of flow of information can be assessed by the live television reporting. When enormous amount of CC TV footage of terrorrists was available, and anybody could make out that they were prepared for a long haul resistance. Not to undermine the sacrifce of ATS chief Mr Karkare, it is hardly a role of a chief of a unit to go on a recce mission and get shot casually. Somebody may call it leadership, I’ll call it lack of preparedness, foresight and standard operating procedure under these circumstances. Didnt anybody clarify whether ATS is supposed to investigate the terrorists or actually take part in shooting wars with them. This lack of clarity of purpose plagues almost all agencies.

The much vaunted NSG came in with their modern weaponary, but also could not do much for next gew days due to lack of basic information such as floor layouts, exits and a painfull lack of night vision devices and gas masks, which would have enabled them to finish the job much earlier. Any modern Special Force does not go out without night vision devices, which is standard issue for ordinary American soldiers. Americans as a philosophy dont go out to fight on an equal footing, they go out to overwhelm the enemy. Our political leadership, throws under-equipped men at unknown threats and later goes out to malign thier deaths. ( VS Achuthanandan & earlier Amar Singh). The proposal for night vision devices no doubt would be hanging fire in some echelons of bureucracy.

Through out the drama, and even post events, the media is unusually obsessed with security at 5 star hotels and hardly a sliver is being shown of what is being done to increase the security of VT station, where many innocent and poor people have perished. The media in their zeal to be the first to report any development actually went ahead and compromised the operation with their obtrusive presense and giving live pictures to the handlers in Pakistan. The security establishment also did not cordon off the area, and everybody could be seen doing their own thing without any coordination.

When I was a kid, punjab was on a boil and terrorrists used to regularly attack targets of high value. During those days I used to wonder and thank god that nobody is enemy of the general public till now, otherwise there will be nobody protect the us. All my nightmares seem to be coming true.

With such systemic rot, it will some time before the killing will stop, as Pakistanis are prepared and motivated to ‘bleed India through a thousand cuts’, to quote Bhutto or some other dictator that they have had. With our short sighted foreign policy, none of our neighbours can be called as true freinds of ours. Even the country which, we have fought to liberate is our arch enemy and keeps shooting across the borders at BSF, and is involved in turmoil in Assam.

Is there hope?  I would love to think that there is, but I dont think so. As an ordinary Indians, we can die suddenly anywhere, anytime. If not to some brazen Pakistani, then on the hideous roads, in police firing, under shoddilly constructed buildings, due to food poisoning and hundreds of other reasons.

It is not a surprise that even though we have one of the biggest list of millionaires, we remain one of the poorest contries on the planet, with life expectancy and literacy levels comparing with some sub-saharan countries. These are the things, which the media, which is conveniently hands-in-glove with the political establishment forgets to highlight. They had no compulsions in shouting occassionaly about the ‘systemic’ problems facing our country. but none have  carried a sustained campaign aganist the rot, ‘political monarchy’,corrupt civil services and politicians. The media and intelligensia some days ago was actually out on the limb praising one of the most vicious and corrupt Politicians, Lalu Yadav as saviour of Railways.

Time has come for a 2nd freedom struggle. The british have left but have left behind a system and a plethora of leeches, who look like us but are differrent. They feed on our blood and their hunger knows no bounds. They need to be pulled out and crushed.

The Ant and The Grasshopper
 
 
An Old Story:
The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and laying up supplies for the winter.
The Grasshopper thinks the Ant is a fool and laughs dances plays the summer away.
Come winter, the Ant is warm and well fed. The Grasshopper has no food or shelter so he dies out in the cold.
 
New Indian Version:
The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and laying up supplies for the winter.
The Grasshopper thinks the Ant’s a fool and laughs dances plays the summer away.
Come winter, the shivering Grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the Ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.
NDTV, BBC, CNN show up to provide pictures of the shivering Grasshopper next to a video of the Ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.
The World is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be that this poor Grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?
Arundhati Roy stages a demonstration in front of the Ant’s house.
Medha Patkar goes on a fast along with other Grasshoppers demanding that Grasshoppers be relocated to warmer climates during winter .
Mayawati states this as `injustice’ done on Minorities.
Amnesty International and Ban ki Moon criticize the Indian Government for not upholding the fundamental rights of the Grasshopper.
The Internet is flooded with online petitions seeking support to the Grasshopper (many promising Heaven and Everlasting Peace for prompt support as against the wrath of God for non-compliance) .
Opposition MPs stage a walkout. Left parties call for ‘Bengal Bandh’ in West Bengal and Kerala demanding a Judicial Enquiry.
CPM in Kerala immediately passes a law preventing Ants from working hard in the heat so as to bring about equality of poverty among Ants and Grasshoppers.
Lalu Prasad allocates one free coach to Grasshoppers on all Indian Railway Trains, aptly named as the ‘Grasshopper Rath’.
Finally, the Judicial Committee drafts the ‘ Prevention of Terrorism Against Grasshoppers Act’ [POTAGA], with effect from the beginning of the winter.
Arjun Singh makes ‘Special Reservation ‘ for Grasshoppers in Educational Institutions in Government Services.
The Ant is fined for failing to comply with POTAGA and having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes,it’s home is confiscated by the Government and handed over to the Grasshopper in a ceremony covered by NDTV.
Arundhati Roy calls it ‘ A Triumph of Justice’.
Lalu calls it ‘Socialistic Justice ‘.
CPM calls it the ‘ Revolutionary Resurgence of the Downtrodden ‘
Ban ki Moon invites the Grasshopper to address the UN General Assembly.
Many years later…
The Ant has since migrated to the US and set up a multi-billion dollar company in Silicon Valley,
100s of Grasshoppers still die of starvation despite reservation somewhere in India ,
..AND
As a result of losing lot of hard working Ants and feeding the grasshoppers, India is still a developing country…!! !
 
 

I wanted to write something about owning a Swift Diesel. Now whenever one experiences anything it is coloured by the persons previous experiences. My motoring experience is coloured by the fact that I owned an Esteem for some time, then I went for a Wagan R, then drove Fiat palio for 4 long years and then have now bought a Swift LDi. In between I had an opportunity to lay my hands on a Santro, Indica, Alto and even a Maruti Omni. Since most of life on wheels has been spent behind steering wheel of a  Fiat palio 1.2 ELPS, naturally I will tend to compare my experiences with the very superior performance of the Fiat in almost all departments.

I purchased Swift Diesel, because I wanted more mileage and Fiat was sleeping on its Palio MJD and Grande Punto Launches and also I have had some very bitter experiences with the Fiat Service. I was a bit apprehensive about Swift as Most Maruti Cars tend to be flimsily build with very little tolerance for bad roads and rough driving.

Now that I have driven more than 6000 Kms since 25th March, 2008. I have had some good surprises and some of the prejudices about Maruti have remained.

The looks are pretty unconventional and the reactions also are on extreme side. You can either love it or hate it, there is no middle path for this car. Some people like me even though they do not like the looks, have bought the vehicle, only goes to show the superior characteristics of the vehicle compared to others in same class. By same class I mean similar size, engine and seating capacity. Pricewise this vehicle is much more expensive than the competition, with almost Rs. 20000.00 lead over the Palio multijet and more than Rs. 1 lakh on the Indica. The looks are further spoiled by the thin 165 size tyres on the otherwise very chunky profile. It looks like a Sumo wrestler suffering from Rickets. Maruti has tried to squeeze maximum out of this vehicle. Thats why you get see such cheap cost cutting measures. I wonder how much more does it cost to put a 185 size tyres than 165, when bought directly from OEM. Some basic equipment like Tachometer and Prismatic rear view mirror are not available on the LDi model.

Swift like all Maruti’s is delicately built with lot of plastic staples holding the inside door panels and the carpeting. The plastic staples invariable start coming out after some time, especially if your door panels have been opened for fitting the remote locking and power windows. This reults in very annoying door rattles, while driving on rough roads and when careless co-passengers slam in the doors. The bumpers have started to come loose after driving on some rough Kerala roads.

Leg room is adequate for medium sized passengers, but reduces significantly if the driver is above 6 ft and uses all the available back slide. The drivers seating position was difficult to get used to, as the seat itself is flat and the lumbar support is not exactly where the lumbar vertebrae are, and is located slightly higher up, which results in very awkward seating positions for the driver, which has actually caused some back-aches during slightly long drives. Now after much experimenting I have arrived at a relatively comfortable driving position. In this postion the AC & Stereo controls are too far off and I have to bend forward to reach them. Of course in Fiat the seat encloses you in its embrace and no position is bad for your comfort.

The switches and knobs are high quality and have soft luxurious action.  Gear throw is short and crisp and makes this vehicle a delight to handle on quick overtakes.

The engine is the same 1248 CC Multijet that the Fiat uses albiet Maruti uses a different gear box, which allows it to have Overdrive ratios in 4th and 5th Gears. For the mechanically challenged Overdrives are gears which allow the drive shaft to rotate faster then the engine, therefore theoretically being more fuel efficient. Maruti Swft also has larger wheels, which means that it covers more distance for same number of rotations, which also makes it more fuel efficient. I am normally a very placid driver and therefore get more than average mileage out of any vehicle that I drive. In my first tankfull I got 20 kmpl, and after that the figure has been progressively on the rise and the car is now consistently delivering around 24 Kmpl. The driving is a mixture of town, open highways, winding roads. AC is on during day time.  You can read further on getting more mileage out of your vehicles here.

The engine is enourmously torquey and allows me to take-off in first gear with full AC, without pressing the A pedial. Initially when the vehicle was new it was quite noisy but now it has mellowed down quite a bit. As the A pedal is pushed it is possible to make out the slight whine of the turbine as it spools up, when you leave the pedal the turbo whines down. It is much fun to push the pedal to varying degrees and hear the different sounds that the turbine makes. Just around 1500 rpm the turbocharger becomes effective and the results can be heard in sudden increase in engine clatter. In first and second gears the turbocharging does not result in back pushing acceleration, but as the driver pushes 1500 rpm in 3rd gear and beyond the acceleration is phenomenal. Enough to overtake anything blocking your view on the road. The torque with turbocharging is such that I can climb gradients in 5th gear, which in a similarly powered Petrol vehicle I would have struggled in 3rd. Of course a small momentum has to be built up before attempting any high speed climbing.

The engine noise does go up with turbocharging but at high speeds does not intrude much into the cabin. In 1st and 2 nd gears you know that its a diesel motor. 3rd gear onwards the sound & vibrations progressively reduce. in 5th between 60 and 80 kmph you wonder why people buy petrol vehicles. It is very easy to get addicted to the torque after 60 kmph. Just a tap of Acc pedal and the vehicle lunges forward. Sometimes absent mindedly I try to shift into the non-existent 6th gear. There is so much of torque. The top speed compared to the petrol variant  I think is limited by the gear box and the fact that Diesel motors are low revving compared to Petrol ones.

It is possible to feel the high torque and the Engine Management System, if you try to stall the vehicle at low speeds say in 3rd gear. The computer tries to maintain a constant rpm of around 900 and pushes the vehicles and you can actualy feel the vehcle accelerating hard without pressing the A pedal.  It is also possible to idle at 50 kmph in 5th gear. The combination of high torque and computers does not allow the engine to stall, though it should not be practiced as the vehicle vibrates a lot.

My complaint regarding poor road holding and stability when compared to Fiat remains. The vehicle bounces on rough patches, and is decidedly nervous when turning on a rough road. With full load of passengers it is Ok though.

The nice small cubby holes in the dash are good for storing knick-knacks, but a larger glove box is sorely missed. The dash itself is very chunky and when opening the glove box, you would expect a larger storage area but you are greeted by a small sliver of a drawer, which can hold your service booklets and very little of anything else. The boot is only 35 ltrs less than Fiat but feels smaller as the usable area decreases sharply due to tapering profile of the vehicle. It is difficult to put large suitcases in the boot, but more stuff can be forced in if packed in smaller and softer luggage.

AC is a delight and it chills immediately. Infact it is better to use it with thermostat slightly above the full cool setting to prevent freezing. Power steering is soft and razor sharp. The vehicle goes precisely where pointed to and does not need constant adjustment. the 4.7 mtr turning radius, a full 40 cms less than Fiat helps in tight parking lots. A 20 cm shorter length also aids in easy maneuverability.

The service at Kottayam Popular was professional and courteous. A far cry from Fiat service. A service supervisor comes and takes over the vehicle, asks and checks for problems. He himself delivers back the vehicle, washed and nicely cleaned, after confirming that the problems mentioned earlier have been corrected. Though they love to profer useless services and stuff such as underbody coating, fibre floor mats etc. Dont listen to them if you dont want to. Overall good service. Maruti recommends oil change every 10000 kms, which further reduces the cost of maintenance. Although they could have done better with finer oil filters, thereby increasing the oil change period to 30000 kms as they do in Europe.

Maruti has gone ahead and built what they have never done before. A Car that actually drives and feels like a European vehicle, though they still fall short on many parameters, but they have improved the model with each passing year. If you drive the first batch of Swifts and then drive the current models then the differences are immediately apparent. The body rattle is significantly reduced. Clutch action is much better and softer.

Verdict, Buy if you have spare cash and drive at least than 800 Kms per month otherwise the fuel economy of diesel is quickly eroded by interest costs of alomost Rs. 80000.00 that you pay extra for the diesel.  Buy if you are a crazy drag racer.

I had never known Maneckshaw, I only saw a glimpse of him as he was being whisked away with sirens blaring in an old Plymouth, complete with his own flag and  5 star plates on the bumpers. The grandeur and pomp of the ceremony surrounding his renk was enough to give me goosepimples. His presence and influence was all pervaiding during my childhood and adoloscence spent in Army Cantonements. During my teenage days when it was time to choose a career for myself, I was all fixated on wearing the uniform. We were living in Mhow those days, which is most military of all military cantonements. Nearby was an awe inspiring institution of The Infantry School, the mecca for all Infantry officers and soldiers who need to be trained in finer arts of destroying the enemy. My friends were young officers, doing what they call as Young Officer’s course. Our converstions after hours of football or squash used to be around wisdom and acecdotes related to Sam Manekshaw and Military leadership in general. Thats how I learnt about Maneckshaw.

Maneckshaw was what most of the YO’s wanted to be, though a cynical few, who could not be moulded by the years of indoctrination in the IMA and a few years of fighting in Kashmir, did not share the same viewpoint as most of us did.

As an officer of Indian Army a person holds almost Godlike power over the lives and destiny of men under command, especially in combat situations. It takes a great amount of power and self control  not to misuse the power and enjoy it too much that it gets into your head.

Maneckshaw stood for integrity, bravery under fire, chivalry (now a dead virtue even in the Army), love for his men, and plain old sence of humor. I was influenced by the force of his personality  through folklore transmitted through generations of officers. Bieng there I obeserved how a person had achieved God like status in the minds of men, who had not even met him, while still being alive. I spent hours daydreaming of bieng like him some day.

Of course reality is different and I never got to wear the uniform in the end, and my friends in the Army who wanted to emulate Maneckshaw are a disillusioned and a frustrated lot.  The values that he held dear and stood for are long out of style, though while he was alive we could still remember them and sigh out aloud while remembering good old days. Now that he is gone I dont know how long we can hold on to the vestiges of the decency, humanity, class and dignity that he brought to the uniform.

Maneckshaw Rest in Peace.

I have read many different papers during my days and here’s what I make of them.

The Times of India, the grandaddy of them all, was once my staple when I was in Mumbai, and the day could not start without one. Then they went and reduced the size, ostensibly to conform to some notion of international style (whatever that means). To me it was simply cutting on paper expense, saving on the news that they have to write and proportionately increasing the advertisement space, though the reduced size did help in handling the broadsheet in crowded locals.  They also went all colour, which was a nice touch. Along with all the superficial improvements, they have decided that tabloidesque is how people like their news. So you have crisp headlines, sharp photos and racy language but brainless content. Reporters who are factually incorrect while going breathless trying to be readable, amateur analysts with short memory and an irritating bias towards all things Congress. Capitalist mouthpieces telling us how we are so successful growing at 9% and all that. Then there is entertainment news and spicy snippets, whose sole aim is to find a lame excuse to publish a semi nude photo and tell us moron readers how people in other places are enjoying their sex.

INDIA TODAY was another venerated magazine that I grew up reading and I was very young in 1984 when I started reading it and have been hooked to it since then. But over the past few years since they have gone weekly, the standard is also going down. The problem is same affecting the times of India and print media in general. Every now and then they publish some or the other Sex survey. I am not against such surveys and am definitely not against any healthy discussion on the topic, but should some very adult discussion on a very adult matter be dished out in something as acceccible as a News-Magazine? I cannot help but pity them. What news can a weekly news-magazine bring in the age of 24 hour news channels and a plethora of newspapers, who have already dissected the issue beyond recognition. They have to ensure their survival and therefore seem to be trying to re-invent themselves as a regular dose of inane surveys.

Less said about Outlook and Week the better. The Reporters seem to be sitting on the web and gathering information from Wikipedia.

One news magazine that has retained its character is the ‘Frontline’. I loved this magazine but the availability was limited as it was published in far of Chennai. The incisiveness, the issues, the analysis, the humanity of the subjects chosen are still there,  but it is difficult to stand up to Machine Gun chatter of 24 hour news channels. I think Frontline is also in its decline.

The other papers that I read are The business line, The Economic Times, both are out and out business dailies, with very little interest for a lay reader, but I want to be informed about the world of business, therefore I take them with a pinch of salt.

Sometimes I get to  lay my hand on the Indian Express. Well the anti establishment tirade is still there, but the edge is gone as all the best columnists of their times.

Print I think is losing its journalist talent to TV. But when I watch TV and see all the greenhorns trying to speak serious English, while trying to give opinions about issues and events which they know nothing about, I wonder where all the talent is going.  With the IT boom I think best of Indian Talent including people who could have been journalists are writing code for TCS and the likes. Even celebrated TV journalists (I hate to name them) are trying to go for the TRP and appear more as Programme Anchors of political debates, where couple or more of second rate politicians try to tear each other to pieces.

Some channels, who have invented and given themselves multiple awards, rape and murder the hell out of any incident involving such a thing. They themselves play the role of police, judge, jury and the executioner. The way Aajtak, one of the most unashamedly idiotic, opinionated and self aggrandised channel on the air, went about dramatising and pronouncing the guilty verdict in the Noida twin Murder case, complete with fake actors and blood splashing on the screen, gave me bouts of nausea.

Another English news channel called Headlines Today turns girly magazine after 11 PM. Its no surprise that both Aajtak and Headlines Today are owned by the India Today group.  Then there are other insignificant news channels trying to ape and out do each other in the department of sleaze and un-invited, un-informed opinions. Some news channels actually air clippings of Reality shows running on their sister channels as news, complete with a voice over describing the latest nuances that have been played out while singing and dancing. I wonder whether they should atop airing any one of the channels to save Electricity and prevent ‘TV Remote Thumb’, which is a cramped thumb resulting from furious channel switching.

In the total chaos that the news media in India has become a few of news channels stand out. The old and respected NDTV, which still retains some of serious TV journalistic traits imbibed into it by Prannoy Roy and the original gang.  Rajdeep Sardesai though could not play second fiddle to old Prannoy and has left for CNN IBN where he is now anchoring his own shouting matches. NDTV also has been bitten by the TRP bug but thankfully they are launching other channles to cater to the baser instincts.

Then there is another new channel on the air by the name of NEWS X. I think they are affiliated to the 9X group. They have yet to come up to the standards as far as news and its presentation is concerned but they do it with a very stylish and sophisticated BBC manner. No  dramatisation, no shouting and shrieking anchors, no breathless reporters, not much of partisan opinion. Hope they improve and stick around and not get affected by the TRP race.

Then lastly the most revered member of the news media in my opinion ; ‘The Hindu’. The Hindu as the name suggests is not a communal paper and was published from Chennai for a long time before technology allowed it to publish more city editions. Now this is one serious paper deriving its style and line of thinking from the Left-of-Centre ‘The Gaurdian’ of England.

The paper is old broadsheet, not the abbreviated paper towels that the Times and HT have become. It is mixture of colour and Black and White. To prevent early morning head aches and death due to severe envy, there is NO Page 3 content. There are very few colour supplements to distract your chain of thoughts as they are formed by the deep analysis. Friday’s are a day for literary and art review, which would have put Old Illustrated Weekly to shame. News is crisp, headlines attract but don’t scream. Mistakes of spelling, facts and opinion are there but the  Managing Editor acknowledges every one of them pointed out by the readers on Mondays. Columns are big affairs as they have more space than any other paper. The columnists are people like P Sainath, Ramesh Thakur, Shashi Tharoor, Joseph Stiglitz, Paul Krugman etc. And then there are syndicated pieces from ‘The Gaurdian’ and ‘USA Today’. Letters to the Editor are more than a couple of lines, and reflect more than one line of argument.

Its a joy to hold a ‘Hindu’ in your hand. It is difficult for someone used to the Times of India or Hindustan Times to immerse themselves in the sheer seriousness of The Hindu. I also found it very boring initially, but it grows on you like and acquired taste.

Not that I am one serious character. Just that I like my things to be pure. If I want to be titillated and thrilled then I have other means, which do just that.  News papers, magazines and channels should deliver just news and not try to be playboy, filmfare and BBC at the same time, because at the end of the day they become just a lot of ‘Raddi’ and a sore thumb from switching channels.