Honda Shine - A 20,000 KM Review

2 years after I bought this wonder machine called Honda Shine-125 I felt its worthwhile I pend down a review note on my (not so active) blog. And yes, there is a good reason for me to consider spending a few hours on this as I compete 20,000 KMS of riding on it and I feel a proud owner. This machine has been performing glitch free for over two and a half years now.

She came into my life  on the 20th of Oct 2007 (I would rather call it she as I am no fan of masculine bikes and their muscular looks... Sorry Pulsar fans.) Making the choice wasn't an easy task for me. My first requirement was that I need a 125CC bike, as I am not someone who settles at the entry level. So all 100CC bikes were ruled out. My obvious choice was Bajaj Discover 125. Unfortunately (later i considered this fortunate) Bajaj had discontinued the vehicle the very same period when I started looking out for one. Discover was upgraded to 135CC and a new Bajaj  XCD DTS-SI had hit the segment. The showroom folks were too keen on promoting the new XCD, however the sheer look of it repelled me from the showroom itself. Its reptile like look, cheap workmanship to keep the price low and the ugly tail lamp were highly discouraging to me. I was not at all convinced with the cover-less chain guard and the new shape of the Discover 135. The answer was obvious that I move out of the Bajaj showroom and look for better options. Bajaj was lacking quality and their new bikes looked to be some cheap Chinese toys, although the new digital instrument panel was still an attraction.Yamaha in those days had very few models to offer and was prone to problems with poor dealer/service network. The Gladiator was a good bargain otherwise. I was quite happy with the hero-honda I previously owned but my quest was for something better. I started of test driving each of the vehicles and Shine was the first one to attempt as the showroom was the closest here to my residence. The smoothness of the vehicle was amazing, though it was not a well maintained vehicle that the show room offered for test drives. I decided on this bike without even test driving any of the other brands.

Shine was aimed at a niche crowd, who usually thought beyond the Hero-Honda's and the Bajaj's. They had proven their credibility in India with the Unicorn and not to forget the popularity of the Activa. I picked up the top most model in black with alloy wheels, self-start and the disk brakes. Although, the disk brakes didn't seem to be of great help, it certainly was a distinguishing factor for the 125CC segment. The build quality is excellent and the Discover could come nowhere near to this. Gladiator scored almost equally in this regard. The engine is fantastic, amazingly smooth even to this day. Its feels as easy as sliding on butter :) as u drive away. The efficiency is best in class. Shine has been consistently delivering 55-60 KMPL since day one. My usage includes city and highway driving. My hero-honda wasn't this consistent as I had seen the numbers drop very soon with age. The Discover though claimed to be more efficient, it wasn't consistent across all users. I did come across several people who recorded efficiency in the range of 30's.

But no creation so far claims to be perfect. So did this vehicle too. The journey was extremely smooth up to a speed of 50-55kmph. The vehicle starts to vibrate beyond this, especially the foot rest. This makes the drive pretty annoying. I have made several visits to the dealer's service center and all their attempts to work on it have failed miserably. I see the lack of 5th gear in the vehicle to be the main reason. Gladiator offers the 5th gear and performed better here. To my surprise the problem almost vanished when I was speeding beyond the 75hmph mark. I could reach upto 105kmph with no problems!

At the time of purchase I did not bother much to the claim of ergonomic design. However I later realized over the last two years that the design is really ergonomic. Many of my friends with Splendor/Pulsar did complain about back pains and I never faced an issue with Shine though I have been driving 30-40 kms every day for the last two years. The sitting posture for which Shine is designed is really elegant and ofcourse ergonomic.

Apart from the vibes seen at speeds in the range of 55-75 kmph there has been no negative remark on this bike. Though Honda tried to fix this with the 5th gear included in Stunner, it failed to capture the market. The absence of a trip meter is sometimes annoying. The maintenance cost of the bike is extremely low too. Though the spares are expensive compared to the other brands, Honda spares rule in quality. In the last two years, all I have replaced is a head lamp bulb and a pair of brake pads. Obviously the air filter is the only other candidate for replacement.

Over all, Shine is still the best bike in the 125 CC segment and has proved its credibility over the past three to four years since it was released to the market.

Milana – A movie that touched my Heart

Its been a while I have made a post here and I want to blame God for it !! I know its not fair on my part… but I wish there were 48 hours a day, so that I would get ample time for all my activities J and adequate recreation too… For many, life itself is recreation. I remember my mom telling “Having fun should be like having a pickle per meal. We cannot have a plate full of pickle.” I believe so is recreation too.

I am not a person who can stick to a chair and stare at a colourful screen for 3 long hours. A movie once in a couple of months is what seems to be a perfect balance and there are so many other recreational activities to try otherwise. Music is another favourite pass time, I would love a silly nap on my bed with a pleasant music to the rhythm of which my thoughts can dance. Movies are one of my last choices for recreation and until recently Kannada movies were the lastest of the last I could think off. In the past one year, music is what is attracting me to movies. Songs from “Mungaaru MaLe”, “Hudugaata”, “Nenapirali”, “Gaalipata” are some of my hot favourites. However “Milana” is what I liked for something just beyond music.

It was a boring Sunday afternoon and I blasted back at one of my friends who popped up with an Idea of trying out a movie. Just then I started rolling out the news paper to check out some movies in town and see if he was not too bad at his suggestion. “Milana” was celebrating 150 days of show. It was a foolish idea to try out such an old movie, but we decided to go for it and I will never repent for it. I am not a fan of any star and especially I would hate to watch any of Puneeth’s movies and this was the first one I dared to try out. (Sorry if you are one of Puneeth’s fans out there).

Milana was something I would rate 10 times more than Mungaaru MaLe for the story and direction. It’s a different story line. Starts with twists right in the beginning and is very well narrated. Love, Sentiments, Emotions, Relationships and its impact on life is all that the movie revolves around. I had always loved the songs from this movie for the meaning and the touch of emotions that is blend into the lyrics. If you are sensitive to emotions and can understand the gentle binding that emotions can bring to relationships, then this is a movie made for you. Forget just the music and listen to the song “MaLe ninthu hoda mele…” for its lyrics, it just tickles those sensitive emotional buds in your mind. Hats off to the lyricist, Jayanth Kaikini and Shreya, she’s sung it to the best to bring out all the expressions Jayanth has put into the lyrics. Apart from this the naughty little songs “Kaddu kaddu nodo kalla yaaroo…” and “Anthu inthu preethi banthu…” are addictive too and the sweetness in the Kannada language are best exploited. Not to miss out “Ninnindale…” which would have greeted you already as a hello tune on several mobile phones, makes this movie a perfect mix and match for youth today. This is one of the very few movies that I would hit my favourite lists and would love to watch once again. And for now, if you haven’t watched this movie yet, plan for it soon…

Cheers !!
Chethan

Train No. 6517 Mangalore Express

Travelling is such an inevitable part of life on Earth. Imagine life without wheels... Isn't that hard?

Bengalooru and Mangalooru are two of the most important cities in South India and unfortunately were not connected by rail for the past 12 years. Reason being political bureaucracy. Let it aside, the green flag was finally waved in December 2007, for the Mangalore-Bangalore Express train.

Having spent my life in both these cities from birth, i am a regular commuter on the National Highway 48. It was only 12 years back that I did travel by train and of-late I had forgotten even the feel of a train journey. Ever since the train services resumed operations, I was waiting for my first journey after the huge break and the experience was different and quite interesting than the 40 seater bus journey. I usually choose the Rajahamsa/Airavatha class of buses where I see only a decent polished crowd. That's what sounded most different to me, as there are people from all walks of life and all possible social and economic background, rather less polished crowd than you see in the bus. Moreover people sit face to face and easily tend to talk to each other, starting with an introduction the conversations went to all possible aspects of life. Unfortunately there were 4 ladies in the compartment I was traveling and their discussions seemed really weird. Starting with as trivial a topic on how to bathe their kid up to which is the best bank to open a Savings account. And there was no one who agreed upon another's opinion. Very strong ego problems there ! I had to stay all to myself as a silent listener, though pretending to be deeply engrossed in reading a magazine that I had in hand.

I thankfully managed to doze off not more than one hour of getting into the train and woke up to the Mangalore weather the next morning. It was definitely a comfortable journey as compared to the bus but isn't worth spending 12.5 hrs on a 503 km long rail journey while you can reach your destination well within 10 hrs for a 360 km journey on road.

Life...

What’s "LIFE" all about..?

Its not just four characters in English put together. Well, that’s a strange question that often triggers my thought process and bothers me so much, to ensure that I have a sleepless night. Such is the intensity of the meaning behind LIFE.

I still remember those days of childhood when I looked up to parents or teachers to think when will I be equally matured and independent to take up life’s decisions as they would. The answer I got whenever I tried to dig into their decisions was that I would understand all that when I grow big. For them it was just a consolation to evade my questions, but for me it was something more. So when will I grow big… The only thing that was making me feel small was that I was still going to school. So the obvious answer that I found to myself was that I would have grown sufficiently big when I finish my schooling, when I become a graduate. But did schooling really meet my expectation in making me feel Big..? The most obvious answer you would also agree upon is NO. Most of life’s lessons are never thought in school. Now that I am a graduate and have started shaping my career have I grown big? I’m confused to answer this question. Now I realize, my idea of “BIG” was wrong. Its not just graduation that makes one matured. Learning seems to be a life long process and now I am disappointed that I wouldn’t be here on earth when I would succeed in having fulfilled my dream of growing Big.

The idea is to visualize the past to the best resolution, anticipate the future and act the present. Well isn’t that pretty complex… This reminds me of one of Einstein’s statements, “There are two ways to look at anything in this world. One is as if everything is simple and the other that everything is complex.” When you think of everything to be simple you are comfortable and when you think of the latter, you become restless. I’m sure many people are sailing in this boat today.

But so strange is this world, I have seen a huge crowd of people who have never bothered to even think of what life is. For them life is routine and are driven by “Take it as it comes” attitude. May be the thought needs to be inculcated in one, through his childhood environment. That does not mean parents can force their ideas on the child, rather the child will gradually absorb it from what he/she sees day in and day out. Not all can grow up to become a Newton, Einstein or Bin Laden!

Set your goals, know your limitations and be ethical in marching towards your goals. There is no reason for us to have a single goal for Life, but have multiple of them staggered through out and you have an opportunity to implement your previous learning. Along with achieving your goals, co-operate with all people who come across your life and make Life on Earth a pleasant experience, a joyful journey and not a race towards death. Live and Let Live.

Cheers,
Chethan.