[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by subodh

Ninja dude, you travel quite nicely and quite a lot. whats the odo count as of now?

Thanks. Got quite a few more plans but unfortunately don't have holidays any more!

Currently the odo's at 6600+. So all ready for the first servicing huh?

[Swanand Inamdar]

Ninja, have you driven down to Chennai as well?
Heard about the need to go to TN all of a sudden. Sorry to hear that man!

When are you back?

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by Swanand Inamdar

Ninja, have you driven down to Chennai as well?
Heard about the need to go to TN all of a sudden. Sorry to hear that man!

When are you back?

No dude, this was by flights only.
Thanks, I will be coming back this Sunday.

[ninjatalli]

Ok, there's no other way to say it. I am in a full-fledged relationship with my car.

It takes only a few days to be away for me to start missing her. Even during the recent Ahmedabad trip, for most of the trip, I was actually driving another car, yet all I could think of is the Vento. Out here in Chennai, there's a Polo parked right across the street, and all I could think is how it resembles my car. Two days back, when Pawar supporters were doing vandalism activities on the streets of Pune, I immediately called up my neighbor's son - of course I could not directly ask to keep a check on my car, but I get the clarification that nothing's up in our area, and everything's normal.


And talking about relationships, I have to talk about Chennai. One thing's for sure, I can not ever come to terms with this city. I am in a constant love - hate relationship with this city. I have spent close to one fourth of my life out here. As a kid, I used to spend three months of vacations (two months of summer, one month of diwali holidays) dedicatedly out here, year after year. Even during the hot and humid summers, I used to love it out here. Those days we used to take these mammoth 40 hour journeys from Gujarat in sleeper class, passing through the hot areas of Maharashtra, MP, AP and TN, yet I used to go crazy, full of energy. But I can not see myself living out of this city, ever. I have an open offer from my manager to work from Chennai, I have my entire family out here, yet I choose to live at Pune.

The reasons, I cannot fathom.

Now, Chennai might be famous for its hot & humid temperatures, but thankfully the weather gods have been good to me, it has been raining heavily over the past few days. Especially with the situation at home, they help improve the overall mood. A few snaps of the rains, and the beautiful Marina beach during the rains.

The views from my house verandah




My parents' faithful Alto


The lighthouse at Marina beach


Deserted and with hardly a few souls around, the beach looks lovely




The rain waters carve a natural course into the sea


Can you see the harbor at the end


Kids having fun - I almost joined them


Vivekananda House, also known as the Ice House. This was used to store ice for the Britishers, and hence the name


One of the best juice centers of Chennai - the juices are out of the world, and better than any I have had in Chennai, Pune or Mumbai

[ninjatalli]

120 minutes. Three buckets of water. One cap-ful of car shampoo. One sponge. One micro fibre cloth.

One sparkingly clean car.

One dead-tired fella.

Who says black is the toughest color to maintain? The blue of the Vento can definitely give it a tough fight. 3 days, and I get all kind of dirt on the car. Including the kind that doesn't get off on a good scrub with soap filled water. So I have to do it again. Hence the extra bucket of water.

Generally my car washes are quite simple. Dust the car first, then spray around with a hose, sponge away the dirty areas with shampoo-ed water, and spray again with the hose, and finally wipe away with the micro fibre cloth. There is one more step that needs to be added - polishing the car with wax, which I keep postponing. Hopefully I'll inaugurate the wax polish before we pass its expiry date. This used to be a bi-weekly affair, till recently, when I read in one of the threads, one of the mods commenting about not using a hose to save water. That rings a bell. Out goes the hose. In comes the bucket(s). One bucket of water with shampoo, one bucket of clean water. That's all it requires.

My neighbors are happy. Atleast now, the road doesn't become a swimming pool. My room-mate complains. He feels he shouldn't be sharing the bucket with the car. Especially as my morning car washing periods clash with his bathing time. And so it goes. Sigh.

[samarjitdhar]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

3 days, and I get all kind of dirt on the car.

Ninja, thats a pretty nice description of cleaning up the blue lady. Have you considered getting a car cover? If you get a nice top end one and are careful with it, you can minimize any risk/damage of scratches while cutting down on the dust accumulation problem drastically.

I speak from my own experience when I was away for around 10 days and the car cover did its job pretty well. On top of that, I have found stray cats finding my Vento in the semi-open parking area a comfortable resting place leaving their nail marks and/or poop depending on their mood . However the car cover did its job effectively this time.

Of course getting a car cover will definitely cut down quality time spent cleaning your blue lady .

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by samarjitdhar

Ninja, thats a pretty nice description of cleaning up the blue lady. Have you considered getting a car cover? If you get a nice top end one and are careful with it, you can minimize any risk/damage of scratches while cutting down on the dust accumulation problem drastically.

I speak from my own experience when I was away for around 10 days and the car cover did its job pretty well. On top of that, I have found stray cats finding my Vento in the semi-open parking area a comfortable resting place leaving their nail marks and/or poop depending on their mood . However the car cover did its job effectively this time.

Of course getting a car cover will definitely cut down quality time spent cleaning your blue lady .

Till date, I didn't need to - as I was using the car on a daily basis. Thought it would be quite cumbursome to put & take off the cover on a daily basis. But going ahead, yes, definitely that the workaround. Btw where did you get the cover? From the dealer? I did look around to find a Vento-specific cover at the nearby auto-shops, haven't found one yet. Not sure if the covers are that car-specific.

As for the cleaning, my friends have waged a bet on how long I'll continue the self-cleaning activity. The longest they have bet is till the start of the new year. Hope to beat that atleast!

Btw I have four cats/kittens (one mine - three neighbor's). Thankfully they choose to sit on the under-carriage than the car top.

[samarjitdhar]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

Till date, I didn't need to - as I was using the car on a daily basis. Thought it would be quite cumbursome to put & take off the cover on a daily basis. But going ahead, yes, definitely that the workaround.

No not on a daily basis. Even I do not have the patience for that, but for long periods of time say 3 days and above, it serves as a good insurance policy against dust and stray cats that I don't own.

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

Btw where did you get the cover? From the dealer? I did look around to find a Vento-specific cover at the nearby auto-shops, haven't found one yet. Not sure if the covers are that car-specific.

The VW dealer has wickedly expensive car covers. I picked one up from an auto-accessory shop and it cost me around 2 grand. The material is good and soft which most importantly shouldn't cause any scratches on the car. The guy who sold it to me sources it from Mumbai (I forget the brand, will let you know in the evening after having a look) and he said that this is a universal cover for the City and the Vento (no branding though). It fit perfectly and also is designed to cover the open ORVMs.

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

As for the cleaning, my friends have waged a bet on how long I'll continue the self-cleaning activity. The longest they have bet is till the start of the new year. Hope to beat that atleast!

I think you are going to beat that by many "miles" given the way your odo is running. When is your next road trip with the blue lady, BTW?

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

Btw I have four cats/kittens (one mine - three neighbor's). Thankfully they choose to sit on the under-carriage than the car top.

Dang the strays in my neighborhood somehow find it princely sleeping on the roof of a black Vento. It doesn't happen daily but when and if the car is stationary for extended periods as happens when I am on vacation. Then they have a tough time trying to get off the roof clawing all over the place . The car cover should do its job from now on.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by samarjitdhar

The VW dealer has wickedly expensive car covers. I picked one up from an auto-accessory shop and it cost me around 2 grand. The material is good and soft which most importantly shouldn't cause any scratches on the car. The guy who sold it to me sources it from Mumbai (I forget the brand, will let you know in the evening after having a look)

Do check and tell. Will get one for myself.

When is your next road trip with the blue lady, BTW?

Long trips might have to wait. But planning to do a short all-night drive this friday - the plan is to just go on towards (one of) nashik/ahmednagar/solapur/kholapur/konkan, stop at dhabas and return back in the morning/afternoon. Still not finalized, have to work out the finer details

[Rachit.K.Dogra]

Wow!! Well well my story is also slightly similar.
The moment somebody steps in my car, All I think of is whether the person sat properly or dusted the door sills. Every night when I park the car I take a cloth and clean of this dust from the door sills. I have also trained my wife to sit properly and be conscious of not dirtying the car.

It takes me also around a couple of hours to propely clean the car. Would have loved to see some pics of the clean blue lady!!

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by Rachit.K.Dogra

Wow!! Well well my story is also slightly similar.
The moment somebody steps in my car, All I think of is whether the person sat properly or dusted the door sills. Every night when I park the car I take a cloth and clean of this dust from the door sills. I have also trained my wife to sit properly and be conscious of not dirtying the car.

It takes me also around a couple of hours to propely clean the car. Would have loved to see some pics of the clean blue lady!!

Was planning to do that but was too tired. Next cleaning session to be scheduled this weekend, hopefully with the waxing too - will be posting pics then.

[samarjitdhar]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

Do check and tell. Will get one for myself.

Gaa. The cover doesn't have any brand printed on it so really can't help much apart from the fact that it has a sticker saying that it will work for almost all known sedans sold in India like old and new city, old and new verna, aveo, logan, verito, yada yada. Curious why they decided to leave out the Audis, Mercs and the Beemers. Anywho it looks like its kinda locally made generic cover and I am pretty happy with it since it fits pretty snug on my Vento. Maybe you could pay a visit to your local car accessory dealer and check some out. Stay away from ones with rough inner linings which will definitely mess with the car paint and finish.

On another note I had been meaning to ask you if you work with an IT company with whom I used to work with previously. Pardon me for being intrusive but one of your earlier posts had mentioned NSS and I have had some bitter sweet experiences with that group .

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by samarjitdhar

Gaa. The cover doesn't have any brand printed on it so really can't help much apart from the fact that it has a sticker saying that it will work for almost all known sedans sold in India like old and new city, old and new verna, aveo, logan, verito, yada yada. Curious why they decided to leave out the Audis, Mercs and the Beemers. Anywho it looks like its kinda locally made generic cover and I am pretty happy with it since it fits pretty snug on my Vento. Maybe you could pay a visit to your local car accessory dealer and check some out. Stay away from ones with rough inner linings which will definitely mess with the car paint and finish.

Aha. That had to happen, innit! Anyway, next accessories on the list are seat covers & a puncture kit. Until I seem to be going for a short/long leave, the car covers can wait. Will check up with you later when I go for the covers eventually.

Originally Posted by samarjitdhar

On another note I had been meaning to ask you if you work with an IT company with whom I used to work with previously. Pardon me for being intrusive but one of your earlier posts had mentioned NSS and I have had some bitter sweet experiences with that group .

Bingo. NSS, you can them but can't survive without them. Still they have improved a lot recently. And no, not at all intrusive.

[samarjitdhar]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

Aha. That had to happen, innit! Anyway, next accessories on the list are seat covers & a puncture kit. Until I seem to be going for a short/long leave, the car covers can wait. Will check up with you later when I go for the covers eventually.

I am actually going the whole hog and getting an automatic tire pump, an electronic pressure gauge and the tire puncture repair kit. Planning a nice long trip over the GQ to the heart of India on my stallion.

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

Bingo. NSS, you can them but can't survive without them. Still they have improved a lot recently. And no, not at all intrusive.

The less said the better about them. At the end I was practically fed up of them having web(non)sensed the hell out of all possibly useful web sites on the Internets. But then out there, there were even more dangerous groups that I had to deal with . Which group are you in if you don't mind my asking and I know this is totally

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by samarjitdhar

I am actually going the whole hog and getting an automatic tire pump, an electronic pressure gauge and the tire puncture repair kit. Planning a nice long trip over the GQ to the heart of India on my stallion.

Is this similar to what you are looking at? Actually need feedback on puncture kits - not sure if the above one is good enough, although the price is not bad!

The less said the better about them. At the end I was practically fed up of them having web(non)sensed the hell out of all possibly useful web sites on the Internets.

So far TBHP's out of their purview. That is all I need, they can ban the rest of entire internet for all I care.

Which group are you in if you don't mind my asking and I know this is totally

Not sure, what do you mean by groups. Part of the banking unit, if that's what you are referring to. But then, that's 70% of the company I'm referring to. PM me if you want more info on this.