Finally a Team-BHP member!

philipmathen · 12th February 2020, 15:56

Hello everyone

Philip here, as evidenced by my handle. Truthfully, i could not come up with anything interesting, i was rather focused on getting in!

I came across teambhp when i casually asked my cousin where i could read honest opinions and actual issues that manufacturers tend to hide. That was almost 10 years ago, and i have always been an active reader. A couple of years back, i decided to join up, only to be told my membership was not approved. Would be an understatement to say i was disappointed. As time went past, the bug bit again, and long story short, i am in.

I am 34, married, and we have a one year old son. I am a banker by profession, more specifically, i am a trader(yes, the wolf of wall street type, only not remotely as successful)

I am a Keralite by lineage, but born in Bombay. Moved to the KSA or 'Gelf' as we call it, when my dad got a job there.
That is where my love for all things automotive started. I trained my self to identify different marques and models, across generations, when growing up there.
My father helped by acceding to my repeated nagging to take me to all the showrooms, where i hoovered up all the free literature, on an annual basis. I was introduced to solid japanese reliability
courtesy our first car, the Toyota Corona circa.1992, then to the brilliance that is the Landcruiser circa.1997(birthday surprise from my doting dad), to the mellowed tectonic brilliance of VW Passat circa.2002. Of these, the Landcruiser and the dune bashing, with it's amazing 4WD is something i credit for my enduring craze for all things mechanised. It is also the car i learnt to drive on, at a definitely not road legal age. How did we manage that? My father made a deal that he would teach me to drive in the desert, on the condition that i would drive only in the desert, under his strict supervision.Heady Days!

I did break that promise after i got my Learners in India though, and managed to ding the family Amby, but was kindly lent Rs.100 by a driver who took pity when he saw me sweating bullets having damaged an indicator lens.

Cue my move to India for higher studies, and i went through the lovely TVS Scooty, 2 stroke 2001 model, Fiat Palio circa.2001, and a Karizma, 2003 vintage, that the dealer claimed was part of the first batch. Still have the Karizma, but sadly she is in a very bad state and restoring her will probably have to wait a bit.

My move to india also brought me the wondrous world of Overdrive and Autocar, that, in my opinion, were absolute tour de forces from 2000-2008, when i slowly lost interest owing to a feeling of disillusionment with regards to what was written and what one actually heard about the cars/bikes they tested. I still remember a stunning pull-out centre spread that Overdrive had, of the Yamaha XJR-1300, a part of my dream garage, alongside the Ford GT and the 250GTO

After i managed to land a job(wonders!), i moved to bombay, where i put down money on my first car, the figo tdci 2011. Cut my teeth on actual road manners and cornering on this gem. Gave her up last year for a Baleno automatic(a decision which left me more surprised than anyone else),post moving to chennai a few years prior.

Finally, decided the daily grind of corporate life was simply becoming too much to bear, so went and dipped in to my savings and bought an interceptor when visiting my folks in Kerala, and happily turned up at work and handed in my notice. i know, definitely not the ending to this introduction i foresaw. I still can not believe i actually went through with it. The icing on the cake is the membership here, where, while i figure out what i plan to do with my time going forward, i hope to write in detail about my personal automobile milestones i mentioned above, and hopefully post an ownership review of the Interceptor and the Baleno. My only regret is the lack of pictures for most of them because it was not a thing at the time, and who would have thought i would actually write about them on teambhp one day?

Excited to be here, and really looking forward to building friendships here, as this is the one place where i can come and be my crazy self, and not be judged. I have lost count of the times i have come across some really obscure information here(no offense, mean it in the nicest way possible), that has helped me when the time came. I can only hope i can add my bits of obscure information for someone else to chance upon and use.

P.S- Other interests- Reading(anything and everything), travelling, football( ManUtd fan since i saw a match on tv in '95, and more recently kerala blasters, because, well someone has to root for them),F1(was absolutely F1 mad, especially the technical side, although my technical knowledge starts and ends at my commerce degrees. Lost interest post the whole debacle when they started getting NASCARed, and we lost VJM from F1)

Mods- Apologies for the long-winded post, tend to write in bursts when the bug bites and can never really find an off button till i have written myself out.

Reinhard · 12th February 2020, 16:08

Hi Philip, welcome to the forum! See you around mate. Loved reading your introduction. And really admired your confidence & judgement in decision making from what I could make from the short write up.

Yes its quite a bummer when the membership gets rejected indeed! I have been through that too.

But the attempts are worth it once on this side.

Indeed an interesting turn of events - Figo TDCi to Baleno CVT petrol! Wow.
Keep writing!

philipmathen · 12th February 2020, 16:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reinhard

Hi Philip, welcome to the forum! See you around mate. Loved reading your introduction. And really admired your confidence & judgement in decision making from what I could make from the short write up.

Yes its quite a bummer when the membership gets rejected indeed! I have been through that too.

But the attempts are worth it once on this side.

Indeed an interesting turn of events - Figo TDCi to Baleno CVT petrol! Wow.
Keep writing!

Thank you for the kind welcome and the encouragement to write, rather feared I had overdone it in my excitement.

ChiragM · 15th February 2020, 16:08

Welcome to the forum philipmathen.

I must say, I thoroughly enjoyed reading your introduction. Nice writing style.

Wish you can find some pictures of the Landcruiser and dune bashing with the car.

Quote:

I did break that promise after i got my Learners in India though, and managed to ding the family Amby, but was kindly lent Rs.100 by a driver who took pity when he saw me sweating bullets having damaged an indicator lens.

I am sure all of us have been through this at some point or the other.

Looking forward to reading all the posts from you and also the ownership reports of the Interceptor as well as the Baleno.

12th February 2020, 15:56	#1
philipmathen BHPian Join Date: Jan 2020 Location: - Posts: 102 Thanked: 192 Times	Finally a Team-BHP member! Hello everyone Philip here, as evidenced by my handle. Truthfully, i could not come up with anything interesting, i was rather focused on getting in! I came across teambhp when i casually asked my cousin where i could read honest opinions and actual issues that manufacturers tend to hide. That was almost 10 years ago, and i have always been an active reader. A couple of years back, i decided to join up, only to be told my membership was not approved. Would be an understatement to say i was disappointed. As time went past, the bug bit again, and long story short, i am in. I am 34, married, and we have a one year old son. I am a banker by profession, more specifically, i am a trader(yes, the wolf of wall street type, only not remotely as successful) I am a Keralite by lineage, but born in Bombay. Moved to the KSA or 'Gelf' as we call it, when my dad got a job there. That is where my love for all things automotive started. I trained my self to identify different marques and models, across generations, when growing up there. My father helped by acceding to my repeated nagging to take me to all the showrooms, where i hoovered up all the free literature, on an annual basis. I was introduced to solid japanese reliability courtesy our first car, the Toyota Corona circa.1992, then to the brilliance that is the Landcruiser circa.1997(birthday surprise from my doting dad), to the mellowed tectonic brilliance of VW Passat circa.2002. Of these, the Landcruiser and the dune bashing, with it's amazing 4WD is something i credit for my enduring craze for all things mechanised. It is also the car i learnt to drive on, at a definitely not road legal age. How did we manage that? My father made a deal that he would teach me to drive in the desert, on the condition that i would drive only in the desert, under his strict supervision.Heady Days! I did break that promise after i got my Learners in India though, and managed to ding the family Amby, but was kindly lent Rs.100 by a driver who took pity when he saw me sweating bullets having damaged an indicator lens. Cue my move to India for higher studies, and i went through the lovely TVS Scooty, 2 stroke 2001 model, Fiat Palio circa.2001, and a Karizma, 2003 vintage, that the dealer claimed was part of the first batch. Still have the Karizma, but sadly she is in a very bad state and restoring her will probably have to wait a bit. My move to india also brought me the wondrous world of Overdrive and Autocar, that, in my opinion, were absolute tour de forces from 2000-2008, when i slowly lost interest owing to a feeling of disillusionment with regards to what was written and what one actually heard about the cars/bikes they tested. I still remember a stunning pull-out centre spread that Overdrive had, of the Yamaha XJR-1300, a part of my dream garage, alongside the Ford GT and the 250GTO After i managed to land a job(wonders!), i moved to bombay, where i put down money on my first car, the figo tdci 2011. Cut my teeth on actual road manners and cornering on this gem. Gave her up last year for a Baleno automatic(a decision which left me more surprised than anyone else),post moving to chennai a few years prior. Finally, decided the daily grind of corporate life was simply becoming too much to bear, so went and dipped in to my savings and bought an interceptor when visiting my folks in Kerala, and happily turned up at work and handed in my notice. i know, definitely not the ending to this introduction i foresaw. I still can not believe i actually went through with it. The icing on the cake is the membership here, where, while i figure out what i plan to do with my time going forward, i hope to write in detail about my personal automobile milestones i mentioned above, and hopefully post an ownership review of the Interceptor and the Baleno. My only regret is the lack of pictures for most of them because it was not a thing at the time, and who would have thought i would actually write about them on teambhp one day? Excited to be here, and really looking forward to building friendships here, as this is the one place where i can come and be my crazy self, and not be judged. I have lost count of the times i have come across some really obscure information here(no offense, mean it in the nicest way possible), that has helped me when the time came. I can only hope i can add my bits of obscure information for someone else to chance upon and use. P.S- Other interests- Reading(anything and everything), travelling, football( ManUtd fan since i saw a match on tv in '95, and more recently kerala blasters, because, well someone has to root for them),F1(was absolutely F1 mad, especially the technical side, although my technical knowledge starts and ends at my commerce degrees. Lost interest post the whole debacle when they started getting NASCARed, and we lost VJM from F1) Mods- Apologies for the long-winded post, tend to write in bursts when the bug bites and can never really find an off button till i have written myself out. Last edited by philipmathen : 12th February 2020 at 16:12.
	(4) Thanks

12th February 2020, 16:08	#2
Reinhard Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Pune Posts: 4,908 Thanked: 18,120 Times View My Garage	re: Finally a Team-BHP member! Hi Philip, welcome to the forum! See you around mate. Loved reading your introduction. And really admired your confidence & judgement in decision making from what I could make from the short write up. Yes its quite a bummer when the membership gets rejected indeed! I have been through that too. But the attempts are worth it once on this side. Indeed an interesting turn of events - Figo TDCi to Baleno CVT petrol! Wow. Keep writing!
	(1) Thanks