[Bapu]

Great Intro. Absolutely lovely reading.

Welcome

I have a feeling, it will be great to read your travelogues.

[vrprabhu]

Hey - I am not much older than you!! No offense taken & none meant!! BTW, I was born and brought up in Chennai - can understand Kannada though and mam means respect!! Did you mean ma"m - by off chance?!!

Didn't mean about the typos literally - I feel that you had so much to say, that you wanted to hurry up - I am waiting patiently for each episode, anyway!!

Like the style and how each episode is left with a hint of suspense!!

This has the makings of a "Chass bhi kabhi dahi thi" ("Saas bhi kabhi bahu thi")!!

My first appeal to all the MODS to make this great intro to the hall of fame at "A Collection of Best threads"

[Roameo]

Originally Posted by hillram

Vishy...Never imagned you were so good with words.

Ramki, may be I am a late bloomer.
Btw, I am still going around with 28 teeth. Keep this to yourself!

[vrprabhu]

Originally Posted by Roameo

Btw, I am still going around with 28 teeth.

Which are the missing ones - the wisdom teeth or ........

[Roameo]

Originally Posted by vrprabhu

...mam means respect!! Did you mean ma"m - by off chance?!!

Prabhu is a popular surname in the Konkani speaking community in Mangalore and I thought you were from this community. Yes, 'mam' means respect and is often used in conversation in a casual way between youngsters of my age. No offence meant from my side either.

[tarunt]

This is a brilliant intro buddy. The character sketch of Hanu is immaculate :-). Anyway, keep it rolling sir. We await the next update with baited breath. Almost reminds me of the time when the FIP blog was at it peak. Take care!

[vrprabhu]

I was just kidding!!

You are right, of course - about my surname & the konkani connection! Thanks for making it, you know - a personal touch!

BTW, this "roaming clearing house" - what does it do? I work in a bank and reconciliation is a pretty tough job - so I was intrigued when I read about your background! I also thought that companies giving services offshore usually had atleast someone on the job 24x7 - so happy that you let your creative streak prevail despite the daily dose / grind!

[Roameo]

Part 9
RAPID REACTION

I now had one final barrier to cross - CGH.

So that my predicament may be better appreciated, I would like
the readers to join me in briefly considering the physiological,
intellectual and social components of driving.

PHYSIOLOGICAL:
As ace motorists, I need not impress upon BHPians that good Reflexes,
are necessary to be a good driver.Almost the whole human body has to be
seriously engaged when driving and whole heartedly submit its energies
to the service of the Eyes, Hands and Feet. It would perhaps help
to have a closer look at the complexity of the term 'Reflex'.

re-flex (rēfleks):
'A reflex is a response to a perturbing stimulus that acts to return
the body to homeostasis.Reflexes require a minimum of two neurons, an
sensory neuron (input) and a motor neuron (output).' (see Figure1)



'To consider more carefully the events which results of in the
"sensation" of muscle stretch, we have to define a few more muscle fiber
types. Muscle spindles, called intrafusal fibers, are innervated by
sensory neurons and are arranged in parallel to normal muscle fibers
(extrafusal). Intrafusal fibers respond to tension by depolarizing a
sensory neuron. The sensory neuron synapses with a motor neuron in the
spinal cord that innervates extrafusal fibers. The contraction of the
extrafusal fibers releases tension on the intrafusal fibers, decreasing
stimulation to neuron. The extensor muscle of the knee (quadriceps
femoris) is attached just below the knee to the anterior part of the
tibia by the patellar tendon.'(see Figure2)



INTELLECTUAL:
In additon to excellent eye-hand-foot coordination, driving needs one
to make continuous hypotheses, plans, computations, and fine-tuned
judgments so all players present on the road- driver, car,vehicles,
pedestrians, animals and trees - can co-exist with a certain sense of
tolerance, if not in peace and harmony. Every day, Bangaloreans are
witness to the sometimes amusing and sometimes disastrous consequences
when syncronisation between these simeltaneous processes and is lacking
in some motorists, and provide ample
fodder to our daily newspapers
to fill in their pages. This also
explains why we encourage our children to read newspapers so they may
substantially increase their intellectual quotient.

I hope the above details albeit a bit long winding and heavy worded,
will help me to win the readers sympathy when I touch upon the final challenge
I was hard put to overcome, namely Clutch and Gear Handling or CGH.

But I will reserve that for Part 10 of my narration.

[straightdrive]

Roameo, welcome to the forum. Your intro has livened up a dull day.

Originally Posted by Roameo

.........During the first few months of having a new car,whenever I visited the Jayanagar 4th block complex , Spar ot the Forum Mall, many car owners in the city must have deeply regreted parking their vehicle next to mine. Perhaps some of them were BHPians.

Especially the above.

Roameo,

Sitting infront of the laptop on a saturday night when its heavily raining in Bangalorevand going through your intro thread is so cool and lively.Awesome experience documentation.Can't wait to read the details of your narration.

-Arun

[McLaren Rulez]

Just took a look at this thread to wonder what was making it go to five pages. Great stuff man! Can't wait for the next installment.

[amith.2974]

Just took a look at this thread to wonder what was making it go to five pages. Great stuff man! Can't wait for the next installment.

Thats exactly why I'm here, saw this thread always on display in the Introduce yourself topic, great intro, Roameo, you're like the Shakespeare of this forum

[venkman]

Some BIOLOGY gr8 chemistry


Note from Mod : Please take the time to type out your posts in full words as per Team-BHP rules. Avoid the use of SMS language (gr8 = great, dat = that, etc), and please take the time to re-read your post for typos before submitting.

[Roameo]

New readers to this thread, Welcome and thank you for your support.

I have been busier than usual this weekend. Will take some time off later this evening to post part 10 of my story.

[Roameo]

Part 10
Of Clutch, Gears & Algebra

A couple of months ago, after prolonged suffering from a tooth decay
and as a consequence of my wife's insistence, I had occasion to fix an
appointment at the Bangalore Dental Clinic in Jayanagar. We arrived 15
minutes too early and had to wait my turn with a few others with
distorted looks of pain on their face. I noticed that for reasons best
known to himself, the good dentist had provided the last 4 or 5
editions of Women's Era and a couple to outdated science magazines to
keep his patients occupied in his waiting room. I naturally opted for
Women's Era ( June09 edition,if I recall correctly). A particular
article caught my attention the author of which waxed eloquent about
the mystique of the mammary glands and I was soon engrossed in its
contents. When my wife noticed what I was reading with such rapt
attention,she severely reprimanded me in hushed tones. I had no option
but to put away the feminine publication and ruefully reach out for one
of the old science magazines.

I am not entirely sure if it was purely coincidental or more an act of
providence, but from the page I randomly turned to, I learnt that a
well rounded driver would test well in the following areas:

Rapid reaction time to a visual and auditory stimulus
Rapid gross motor movement response to a stimulus
Eye hand coordination
Anticipation timing
Precise sequencing and rhythm
Proprioceptive memory
Kinesthetic response
Good dynamic visual acuity
Rapid visual processing
Binocular vision
Occular motor movement,saccadic accuracy and speed.
Rapid accomodative facility
Perceptual size and space consistancy
Peripheral awareness
Balance and integration

Some of these terms although not part of my active vocabulary and
completely beyond my frame of reference and scope of understanding, I
could gather from the elaborate list that driving was a far more
complicated skill than what it appeared to be on the surface. The
article left a deep impression on me and set me thinking. I found it
rather incredible that people simply take a dozen driving classes and
in due course of time develop all the above listed complex qualities
required of a good motorist.The author of the write-up being of foreign
origin and alien to our urban conditions, I was unsure if these
qualities alone sufficed to drive in Bangalore or any other
bustling metropolises of our country.

Time is of essence in modern day life and calls upon the desi urbanite
to conduct business both official and personal while on the move.This
has been made possible by the rapid advances in the mobile network
technology. He/she concludes sale deals, supports customers in UK,
Australia etc, holds heated arguments with spouse, falls prey to
promotional calls for alluring credit card offers or personal loans.
All this while negotiating what are probably the deepest craters on
Earth and the deadliest road humps in the world, and without ever
missing Prithvi give his morning dose, Ghanta Singh make his crank
calls, Chamrajpet Charles crib the sky down and Prof.Ulfat Sultan
explain the true meaning of words from the English lexicon.

Although I had already been driving for 8 months,to add to my molar
woe, a surge of self-doubt disturbed the equlibrium of my cerebral fluids.
I instantly put away the volume. I silently thanked my stars that
the publication was not in the range of my vision before I enrolled for
driving classes which would have most certainly created a major
mental road block in my forced resolve to learn how to drive.

I haven't visited the dentist thence although I have another tooth
requiring his urgent attention.

( to be continued)