Zen and the Art of Driving.

I was just wondering about what to write when my brain, which looks for Anagrams in every single word, went a step further and looked for anagrams in this title itself. The actual title is what it means... an exposition on the not-so-common skill of driving, especially among Chennaiites. But it also anagrams to (or nearly), A Driving of the Zen Art, which would become an exposition on the wonderful art of Zen and the control and composure and skill and mastery that Zen brings to one's life. OR, it could anagram to The Art of Driving a Zen... which would be a subset of the original title, except that it would be limited to driving only this particular make of car called the Zen, made by Maruti Udyog Limited. OR, it could anagram to Of Driving a Zen the Art, which would be total rubbish and indicate that I better get on with the topic...

The Driving itself:
Now you may wonder why me, an average human being who's driven only three powered vehicles all his life, bestowed upon himself the right to lecture others about such an expert thing called driving... I'll tell you why, 'COS I CAN!!! This is MY blog and no one can stop me from doing it, Ha ha ha ha ha ha (evil laugh).

A non-geared two-wheeler is no big deal. The only two things you have to know ABSOLUTELY accurately are it's weight and braking ability. The weight helps you to determine how much you can bend over doing turns and the braking ability obviously determines how long you get between stopping and a meeting with Yama. As you drive more and more, these two things will integrate themselves seamlessly into your driving, that at times you can just stare straight ahead, think of what's cooking at home, and brake exactly at the signal or pick the perfect line at a corner... but mind you, THAT takes a lot of time, till then CONCENTRATE on the road...

A geared two-wheeler is simply a joy to ride. The click of the gears falling into place, the low rumble as the engine revs try to match the gear ratios and the oh-so-smooth ride in the highest gear... ah, after a Kinetic... a bike, ANY bike, is such a wonderful machine. In a bike too, the same two parameters hold, and you'll probably be able to brake later, what with the disk brakes and all. However, the thing to perfect here is the gear-shift- hold the clutch, shift the gear, hear it click in and THEN let go off the clutch...took me quite some time, as i also had to remember which gear to which gear I was shifting. But once you do, it's the most natural thing in the world: Clutch-gear-accelerate...

A car... a car, a car, a car. After the above two, THIS defines power... Don't let go off the clutch in first or the engine will die on you. Get past first and second quickly, caress the vehicle in third to get it warmed up, then get it into fourth and hear the engine... or rather NOT hear it, work at it's highest rev. Again, practice holds the key. The more miles you get under your belt, the better you get at getting off the line in first, the faster and more appropriate your gear-shifts (I've seen people do 20 kmph in fourth!!!, Please...) and the smoother the ride. As time goes by, the car and you feel so close that at points, man and machine integrate into one and it's just like one mind and two bodies interwined in a beautiful expression of power and grace...

The Records:
Well, I'll start with the Kinetic. Thought there are not much empty spaces and Long, empty roads in our Singara Chennai, I've managed to push the needle JUST past that mark of 70k. I mean, there's no MARKING per se between 70 and 80, so let's put it at 72.

Of the two geared bikes I've driven, I've pushed my friend's Victor to 75k... ONE DAY after he bought it... After the exhilirating ride, (he was behind me) we stop at a signal and gently leans over and says "Maccha, you're not supposed to go above 50 for the first 5000 kms... but what the heck! THAT was great!". The other one, a Yamaha, has been at around the same level, 75k I guess.

The CAR is a bigger machine. I gotta be more careful with it, as it is costlier too. So you all thinking I went slower on that right??? WRONG! See, I just had this OPEN, EMPTY road ahead of me one day, I was already in fourth, and that's when i set this record... not much to speak of, but in a city road, I think 80kmph is impressive...

So... that's about that. Dunno why I wrote all this, just felt I had to... mebbe I'll become an auto-journalist one day.