[noopster]

Sunday started lazily, with no specific plans in mind. We ordered a movie on Tata Sky after breakfast and were just about to start watching it when the missus suggested a drive in the rains.

Now this is not a common occurence, mind you. I am the suggester-of-drives in this family, so imagine my delight. I suggested Mulshi- supposedly awesome in the rains- and then lunch at Lavasa. We got dressed and just before departure the plan morphed into a drive along old NH4 into Lonavala instead.

Fraulein was raring to go:





The day was wet and the greenery around amazing:





Guess who's really enjoying this drive!


Spotted this SUV-looking Indica. Pretty neat, I thought! The fat tyres and external spare tyre gave it some character:


More shots of the verdant surroundings:



Despite an unruly queue at the Dehu Road toll both and quite a bit of heavy traffic, mostly bikers, we made good time to the edge of Lonavala town. Got a MID-reported FE of around 14 kmpl before we hit a traffic snarl.



People are so incredibly indisciplined in this country it's not funny. In the picture above I am in the rightmost lane (you can see the dividing line to the left of the Jazz and M800). There are two lanes of vehicles blocking the oncoming traffic .

We took about 25 minutes to negotiate the last kilometer or so, before turning off near the ST stand (A1 chikki) for a sumptuous Gujarati thali at Chandralok. Sorry- no pics, after all the effort we were just too famished!

The missus remembered that we'd ordered a movie we hadn't yet watched. It was past three and the next show was at 4 pm. Would we make it All the ingredients of an edge-of-your-seat thriller .

Was feeling a little ferverish, so stopped for a Crocin en route. Traffic towards Mumbai was still heavy:



We took the e-way back. Left Lonavala town at 3.19 pm. A surreal-looking shot at one of the tunnels on the way:


Voila! Home in time for the 4:00 show. Credits flashing as we reached home:


Monsoon drives are the best! I was keeping my eyes peeled for fellow BHPians but didn't spot any. Am sure there were plenty around, though!

[dot]

After watching morning show Transformers 3, suggested a drive to Kamat (lonawala), family said otherwise :(

Originally Posted by noopster

Spotted this SUV-looking Indica. Pretty neat, I thought! The fat tyres and external spare tyre gave it some character:

The sticker is very interesting, like a Parsi/Iranian/Syrian motif.

[naveen.raju]

The roads looks inviting. How much did you touch here? Saw clocked 6600 clicks uh. Me gearing up for the service. Almost touched 11k.

[noopster]

@naveen-yup, am at 6663 km now. Trips to Mumbai have reduced now so it's mostly the 150 km/week of commute only plus the occasional weekend drive. Will take it for the monsoon checkup soon.

There are some plans being firmed up to attend the Metallica show in Bangalore or Delhi in October. That, plus a couple more monsoon drives should get me on track again!

On the old NH4 thanks to the bike and truck traffic, can't really do more than about 80-90 kmph. Expressway of course ripped it to 100+ as usual.

@dot- you should have hit the road, man! Incredible weather today.

[mdsaab]

Looks like you had a delightful sunday drive bro.
and again want to point out, look at how happy Noops is behind the wheel of Fraulein.
even though he was feeling feverish he could not keep that grin at bay.
Seems like the Movie gods saved you, and you only had to watch the credits.
Keep driving, the scenery is beautiful these days.
Drive Safe!

[vb-saan]

Excellent pictures Noopster!

On second thoughts, you shouldn’t have posted those pictures. I am so missing the Kerala monsoon now

Edit: From the rolling credits (Rohan Sippy) on the TV, assume the 4pm movie was Dum Maaro Dum

[souravc]

Originally Posted by noopster

Sunday started lazily, with no specific plans in mind. We ordered a movie on Tata Sky after breakfast and were just about to start watching it when the missus suggested a drive in the rains.

Now this is not a common occurence, mind you. I am the suggester-of-drives in this family, so imagine my delight. I suggested Mulshi- supposedly awesome in the rains- and then lunch at Lavasa. We got dressed and just before departure the plan morphed into a drive along old NH4 into Lonavala instead.

Fraulein was raring to go:


Monsoon drives are the best! I was keeping my eyes peeled for fellow BHPians but didn't spot any. Am sure there were plenty around, though!

Nice drive and pics Anoop. I love the drive from Mumbai to Lonavla during the monsoons , once had a surreal experience of driving into thick clouds - it was simply awesome . Your post reminds me that I got to do my drive this season.
How did you find the grip of your tyres on the wet roads ? I am presuming here that your Fraulein still has the apollos and have not been upgraded.

[Guderian]

Originally Posted by noopster

Sunday started lazily, with no specific plans in mind.

Hi Noops,
A real nice way to spend a Sunday and good snaps.

Pity, I was at Khandala for a reunion and we could have met up. I left that place back for Mumbai at around 3.00 pm.
Next time perhaps.
On the way back saw a TBHPian with a dark blue SX4 festooned with LtD and other TBHP stickers. Saluted him and moved on.

[noopster]

Originally Posted by mdsaab

even though he was feeling feverish he could not keep that grin at bay.
Seems like the Movie gods saved you, and you only had to watch the credits.

. No, mate- those were the opening credits of Dum Maaro Dum.

Originally Posted by vb-san

On second thoughts, you shouldn’t have posted those pictures. I am so missing the Kerala monsoon now

Am sure you do, especially since the alternative is those blink-and-miss thundershowers in Singapore!

Edit: From the rolling credits (Rohan Sippy) on the TV, assume the 4pm movie was Dum Maaro Dum

Good catch! Watched the whole movie. Not bad, actually.

Originally Posted by souravc

How did you find the grip of your tyres on the wet roads ? I am presuming here that your Fraulein still has the apollos and have not been upgraded.

They were good gripwise, a little noisy though. I have every intention of swapping after 2 years when the warranty expires. 16 inchers would look awesome on this beauty, with a set of evil black alloys, what say?

Originally Posted by Guderian

Hi Noops,
Pity, I was at Khandala for a reunion and we could have met up. I left that place back for Mumbai at around 3.00 pm.
Next time perhaps.

Damn. We should get one of those iphone app thingies that shows you where your buddies are. Though I don't actually have an iphone hehe!

Had a pretty runny nose and heavy head by the time we got back. Working from home today trying to recover. Effect of the wet windy weather no doubt.

Wifey asked about the mileage and was pleased when I showed her the 13.7 (for entire trip) on the MID. She remarked with a satisfied smile that Fraulein is happy that she got to stretch her legs and run a little on the highways after ages. I was suprised because I'd assumed that, like a lot of my car-related comments, this one had also gone in the one ear and out the next. Looks like T-BHP-mania is catching! (not that I'm complaining)

[charthom]

@noopster,

Sorry I read your excellent review only today!Pardon me-but the loss has been mine!! What a miss. I thoroughly enjoyed each word.

Your nice writing style,frank and honest presentation of the situation,your German spirit,everything and anything in your write up is absolutely lovely.

I saw many of those nice snaps,still busy devouring the missed pages.I will come back with more irresistible tidings of appreciation. Really well done.

Your lady is very stylish in white-could not believe it was not your initial choice of colour. But I personally found the blue colour most attractive on the Vento.

[souravc]

Originally Posted by noopster

They were good gripwise, a little noisy though. I have every intention of swapping after 2 years when the warranty expires. 16 inchers would look awesome on this beauty, with a set of evil black alloys, what say?

I think there is already one example of evil black alloys on a Vento on the forum and it looks awesome - if you can do it quick, you would have the bragging rights of being the first BHP-ian having evil black alloy on a white vento How would the 16" alloys fit into the wheel well? Considering the screwed up pot holed state that Mumbai roads are always in, I am a bit wary of likely interference. 16" with low profiles would of course do the trick but then I am forced to do offroading everyday while on my way to office and back which rules out thin profiles.

Have more or less decided to replace the stock tyres with Michelins at first service i.e at 15 k - 7k more to go for mine.

[Swanand Inamdar]

So Noop, was this after the morning walk? Hmm, the Gujrati thali must have been less guilty after the walk .

Loved the way you describe the shortest possible drive with such flair.

EDIT: Dotty, that motif indeed is Parsi/Iranian. Something similar to the Zoroastrian god of fire, or something like that. Remember a Parsi friend explaining that motif once.

[noopster]

Originally Posted by souravc

I think there is already one example of evil black alloys on a Vento on the forum and it looks awesome - if you can do it quick, you would have the bragging rights of being the first BHP-ian having evil black alloy on a white vento

There are more than one. @Mikon's red-ringed black alloys (have seen these in person and they are sexy!) and the new guy's review- forget the name.

How would the 16" alloys fit into the wheel well? Considering the screwed up pot holed state that Mumbai roads are always in, I am a bit wary of likely interference. 16" with low profiles would of course do the trick but then I am forced to do offroading everyday while on my way to office and back which rules out thin profiles.

There seems to be enough room in the tyre well- @bhagwan has fitted 17 inchers on his Polo hasn't he? Pune roads are OKish a least on my regular commute, but not so good that I can risk a too-low profile. Let's see.

Have more or less decided to replace the stock tyres with Michelins at first service i.e at 15 k - 7k more to go for mine.

Why so early? You won't get anything for tyres that have run for 15k km. I would suggest wait another year and dump them at 30k.

Originally Posted by Swanand Inamdar

So Noop, was this after the morning walk? Hmm, the Gujrati thali must have been less guilty after the walk .

Loved the way you describe the shortest possible drive with such flair.

Thanks! And no, I didn't go for a walk Sunday morning. I skip weekends, but had to go on Saturday since I woke up late on Friday and missed a day!

[mdsaab]

oopsie, missed the just in time for the movie.
you can use google latitude on your BB for tracking friends.

[noopster]

Since Swanand let the cat out of the bag a few posts up, I thought I'd take some pictures of my daily morning walk. Especially since Fraulein is an integral part of them: the walk from my apartment for a km or so is pretty slushy with no proper sidewalk and traffic that tries to assasinate the hapless pedestrian. But then comes a lovely cantonment area where I can walk to my heart's content. So Fraulein faithfully lugs me along there, where I park by the side of the road and do a reasonably brisk long walk. It also helps to have a place I can store my water bottle for some much needed refreshment afterwards.

Today I woke up at the usual time but it felt much darker than usual. Peeped outside: it was raining lightly! Remembered that my rain jacket is in the Swift, which is being driven by a friend then remembered that my daughter's brolly was in the car.

Parked in my usual spot, but the day was cooler (and wetter) than usual. MID shows 20 deg C.


Wet Wet Wet




My walk route takes me past some amazing parkland, all owned by the Armed Forces (that's how it survives being reduced to a rubble of construction sites!). Looks even more beautiful in the rains:




I usually strike up a brisk pace but today was just too awesome weatherwise, just did little more than a leisurely stroll. I must have been quite a sight in my strawberry-dotted baby umbrella, walking shoes and Blackberry!


But I forget- there was hardly anyone about!


I turned back well before my usual milestone and by the time I returned Fraulein was nicely glistening, seemingly enjoying her unscheduled shower.






One last glimpse of the highly useful brolly!


I badly missed my camera, since these pics were taken on impulse and the only thing handy was my Blackberry cam!