Pouring over maps double checking everything to ensure its all good. List of things needed on the trip. I’d like to share mine with everyone. You might call it eccentric but my motto is “Be prepared” for the worst. My list includes Rain-X and even a separate cloth just to clean the windscreen & headlights so that it does not leave any oil stains. Basic medication, lots of water, biscuits & emergency rations. Raincoat,  Umbrella, torch-check, cell, camera, laptop chargers, hmmm Pen, pencil, markers, maps, cello tape, WD-40, disposable bags so we don’t leave a trail of garbage from Bombay to Bombay.  Basic tools, alarm clock….its seems endless but very very essential stuff. Its easy with me as I have a separate Travel kit which is ready to go.

A good pair of soft comfortable driving shoes for those long hours in the drivers seat, loose comfortable clothing and if it was my own car a new set of wipers, spare bulbs, fuses, spare tyre-check,  compressor-check, puncture kit-check, jack & tools check, battery jumper cables and tow rope.

Personal stuff - Don’t forget the insect repellents & sunscreen.
Take care everybody and all the best getting to the Top 3. Good day.

Can you really connect page three to the real world?  Both are about people, living and life itself.  And yet, they are so far removed from one another.  Page three lives for the day; the real world lives by the day.  Both are beautiful but there’s a difference…
There’s beauty in the gnarled hands of the potter who coaxes life into a mound of wet clay that sits lifelessly on his wheel.  There’s beauty in the exuberance of a village child getting a drenching in the rain on his or her way back from school.  There’s beauty in the toothless smile of a village elder who sits in his doorway watching passersby.  There’s beauty in a new mother.  I saw such beauty on a tribal child’s face as he looked with awe at a real elephant for the first time.  And yet none of them are on page three.
What do we have on page three? Wine tasting evenings, fashion shows, art shows, plays, book readings or simply happening dos and people having fun.  So does that mean that page three is not the real world?  Not by a long shot!  Page three is just as real as the other world.  Actually there’s beauty in the model who showcases the latest trends of the season, there’s beauty in the work of the artist who will quote for his work only on request, there’s beauty and enjoyment in the giggles shared by friends over a glass of wine.  Which is more beautiful?  Where is the connect?  Why does one go unnoticed, while the other gets incessantly written about? 
Is it possible to find a way to connect the two? Does the connect even exist?  Bingo! TGDC seems just the right platform to find that connect.  A Cedia sports, a great driving challenge, actually a page three event, but also miles of exploration, people to meet (page three and otherwise), and an opportunity to bring back and showcase stories of the ‘non page three’.  And life can go beyond page three…

Went for a short drive last night just to remind my self what fun actually is in a diminutive, humble, turbocharged Maruti 800.
This is actually my very first car which trickled down from my father to me. After using it for over 18 years it lay parked up with infrequent use and when it was time to sell we got a measly offer and so I decided this is the car that I would race as I was planning a comeback anyway.
So we stripped away the old engine and gearbox and procured a MPFi 5 speed M800 engine and gearbox at an exchange value of Rs. 16,000 including the ecm & wiring and got to work. On its first outing a week after she was ready at the 2007 Speed Run at Mumbai she clocked 16.9 secs with me sleeping on the line for a second. At that time she was Nitrous powered and carrying her full weight with no lightened panels. She wowed everyone with her potential and there was no looking back thereafter.
She was then upgraded with a turbo charger, still runs stock lowered suspension, stock brakes and yet no lightened panels and clocked 1m25s at KMS in the 2007 season. Navaz Bathena in her J Anand Track prepared Baleno was clocking 1:20s at that time. Loads more potential was realized as we could add an inter cooler, uprated brakes and suspension and use lightened door, fender, hood and boot panels all round. Unfortunately this never happened as the 2008 season never took off due to various reasons.
This year she did a 1:41 at the Race to the Clouds Hillclimb at Nandi Hills but for a glitch in the timing equipment I’m sure it was closer to 1:36. this event was exactly 20 years since the last time I drove there clocking 1:57 in the very same car!
My quest for the fastest M800 may never end as today she gives the BIG guys in their esteems & Baleno’s a run for their money with a 0-100 time of 9.0secs.
I will never stop pushing her to new limits and newer pastures and ultimately wish to turn her into the Concept you see below. Maybe a 1.1lt engine from the Wagon R. Maybe. Soon. My humble 800.

TGDC’s got my grey cells on overdrive!! I’ve been thinking of the way India holidays. Not the minority HNWIs (high networth individuals), but the majority. So I asked the vegetable vendor, the flower seller, the household help and the average 9-5er who can afford only one holiday per year. And they were all consistent in their replies. When they vacationed, they invariably went to a temple. That got me thinking. Was it something with the culture in India, which never really allows us to let down our hair and holiday unabashedly? When one ties it to religion, it all falls neatly into place. Conscience appeased, holiday taken, everybody happy all around. Think about it, seriously… Centres of traditional Art and Craft have flourished in and around temple towns. Kancheepuram is home to the world famous Kanchi Kamakshi temple as well as the absolutely gorgeous Kanjeevaram silks. Varanasi has the Kasi Vishwanath temple and the beauty of Benares silks needs no endorsement. Madurai down South again has the Madurai Meenakshi temple besides also having a thriving tie dye industry. The Srirangam temple near Trichy has a traditional bazaar built all around it stocking wooden sculptures, household items, clothes, toys and possibly anything else you can think of. This goes to show that people combine their pilgrimages with shopping and actually build a holiday around it. I call these the Great Indian Holidays and even as I wrote this, my household help asked for three days leave. I asked her why and she said she was going to a temple!!