Guwahati High Court ban sales and registration of all small cars weighing below 1500kgs

On 2015-08-20, Guwahati High Court has ordered to ban sales and registration of all small cars, weighing below 1500kgs, that fail to meet crash and safety tests norms in the state. The car models that are banned include Maruti Suzuki Alto, Maruti Suzuki Swift, Hyundai i10, Hyundai EON and the newly launched Honda Jazz among others. The ban won’t impact SUVs and other higher capacity vehicles that can absorb the impact of a crash.
“The Centre is directed not to permit the auto manufacturers to release and sell the small four-wheelers with a mass up to 1,500 kg and quadricycles without putting them to crash test and emission test,” the court said.
The petition said that the Global NCAP-like crash tests are required for the cars sold in the Northeast state to ensure that the vehicle is safe to be driven around on hilly terrains.
As of now, all the cars in India have to pass only the front crash test norms aka steering impact test. Though more stringent offset crash tests are under consideration and would start from the year 2017 onwards.
Whether the ban remains on these cars or not, will get clear in the next hearing that is scheduled for August 27, 2015.

Bangalore - Vizag - Chandipore - Kolkata - Baruva - Hyderabad - B'lore in Audi A6 in July 2015 (Day 2 - 12)

The cutest member/ fan of Indian Roadie, Ms. Caramel, only 2 years old and hailing from Bangalore was on a 12 days ‪roadtrip‬ from Bangalore to Kolkata to Santiniketan to Kolkata to Bangalore with her parents Sujoy Guha and Jhuma Guha in their Audi A6. Her siblings Indian Roadie, Indranil and Tanushree were there with her to give her company.
After leaving Bangalore on 2015-07-10 at 6.30 am (Day 1), they checked into Best Western Hotel, Visakhapatnam at 10 pm after a cool 1300+ kms in about 15 hrs 30 mins, via Hyderabad, Vijaywada, Rajahmundry.
(Details of Day 1 on http://indian-roadie.blogspot.in/2015/08/bangalore-vizag-chandipore-kolkata.html)

Day 2 (2015-07-11), the family left Visakhapatnam at 11 am and checked into the Orissa Tourism Development Corporation ‪OTDC‬ Panthnivas, Chandipur-on-Sea at 7 pm. The Panthnivas authorities had no issues about Caramel staying in their premises.
Day 3 (2015-07-12), they left Chandipur-on-Sea at 11 am and reached Kolkata at 2 pm.
Day 6 (2015-07-15) was reserved for a to & fro drive to Kolkata.
On Day 9 (2015-07-18) at 3.30 pm, while having lunch at a mall in Kolkata, the family suddenly decided to start their return journey to Bangalore.
That being the day of Rathyatra, prior accomodation was not available in any hotel in Orissa.
I, Deep Banerjee advised them to drive upto ‪Baruva‬. Confirmed bookings of two luxury suites at the Aptdc Beach Resort was made by me over the phone.
They left their residence in Kolkata at 5.30 pm. However, they managed to cross the Vivekananda Setu (2nd Hooghly Bridge) at 7.15 pm and Dhulagarh toll plaza on NH6 at 10 pm, thanks to innumerable Rathyatra processions which merrily blocked the main throughfare.
Besides heavy road traffic on NH5 in Orissa, they also had to drive through blinding rains throughout the night. I remained awake upto 5 am keeping tab of their progress. It was Indranil Guha who was there on the wheels of the Audi A6 during the major part of the 680 kms hectic drive.
Day 10 (2015-07-19) at 6 am, they checked into ‪Aptdc Baruva Beach Resort‬.
At 8 am, Sujoy and Jhuma woke me up to express their immense joy on being recommended this unheard of virgin location. They were pleasantly surprised by the warm hospitality of Trinadha Rao, the short & stocky caretaker of the beach resort and the cleanliness of the well appointed sea-facing suites in the cottages.
Their day was spent lazing around on the beach or inside the comfortable air-conditioned rooms. The car received a well deserved bath.
The neighbouring lighthouse incharge, an employee of the Ministry of Shipping resides with his wife and a very well mannered and loving GSD in the housing quarters within the lighthouse campus. I had made good friends with the couple during my visit in early April 2015.
Sujoy, Jhuma, Indranil, Tanushree spent quite some time atop the lighthouse capturing the beauty of Bay of Bengal and the dense coconut plantation.
Day 11 (2015-07-20) at 8.30 am, they left for Visakhapatnam. At 11.30 am they were at the Aptdc Haritha Beach Resort, ‎Rushikonda‬, Visakhapatnam. However, the staff at the resort were adamant that Caramel (the pet) will not be allowed inside the rooms. At 4 pm they were on their way to Hyderabad. They checked into a service apartment in Hyderabad at 2 am.
Day 12 (2015-07-21), after leaving Hyderabad at 5 pm, the family was back home in Bangalore at 11.45 pm. Poor Caramel must have been overjoyed to be back home after days of being confined for long hours in the moving car.
P.S: Guided on road real-time by Deep Banerjee (fellow Indian Roadie - cum - schoolmate of Sujoy Guha).

Bangalore - Vizag - Chandipore - Kolkata - Baruva - Hyderabad - Bangalore in Audi A6 in July 2015 (Day 1)

The cutest member/ fan of Indian Roadie, Ms.Caramel, only 2 years old who hails from Bangalore is the youngest daughter of Sujoy Guha and a sibling of Indian Roadie, Indranil Guha.
On 2015-07-10 at 6.30 am (Day 1), she left her home in Bangalore for a long drive to Kolkata with her dad, mom, elder brother and elder sister in their Audi A6.
Indranil, the chief navigator was also guided real time by me, Deep Banerjee sitting in Kolkata.
I had advised them to take the Bangalore - Hyderabad NH7 route. They were then directed to drive on the Hyderabad Outer Ring Road (which resembles an airport runway). They took Exit 11 to drive on NH9 to Vijaywada, then proceeded on NH5 to Rajahmundry and onwards to Visakhapatnam for the night halt.
They stopped for 45 mins for a fast lunch immediately after exiting Hyderabad ORR on NH9.
At 4.45 pm the family crossed Vijaywada. They had missed the Vijaywada bypass and travelled through the city to reach NH5.
At 5.55pm they crossed Tanuku and at 7.00 pm they crossed Rajamundry.
At 10 pm, Ms. Caramel, her parents and siblings had checked into Best Western Hotel, Visakhapatnam after a cool 1300+ kms in about 15 hrs 30 mins.

Resting moments of riverine Jeep safari in central ‪Dooars‬, North Bengal

Resting moments of riverine Jeep safari in central ‪Dooars‬, North Bengal. The safari is limited to driving on the dry riverbeds during the winter months with occasional patches of flowing water enroute.

(Photo & content credit: Prof.Arunava Das, Indian Roadie)

Kolkata to Baruva, Barkul, Konark, Puri & back in 6 days by Saikat Bishnu in August 2015 (Day 1 - Kolkata to Baruva)

‪Kolkata‬ (West Bengal) to ‪Baruva‬ (Andhra Pradesh) ‪solodrive‬ of 725 kms by Indian Roadie ‎Saikat Bishnu‬ (with wife Mou and 18 months young daughter Samriddhi) on 7th Aug 2015 in his new generation ‪Mahindra Scorpio‬ registered in April 2015.

Trip log of Day 1:
1. Saikat left his residence at Sodepur in the northern fringes of Kolkata at 4.40 am on 2015-08-07. Tripmeter was set to 0 and odometer reading of Scorpio showed 4564 km.
2. Dhulagarh toll plaza - 5.18 am - 34.9 km.
3. Kolaghat bridge - 5.39 am - 74.1 km.
4. Debra toll plaza - 6.40 am - 115.20 km - small break.
5. Belda toll plaza - 7.15 am - 149.4 km.
6. Hotel Aahar, Amarda (breakfast break) - 8.22 am - 231.7 km.
7. Seragarh toll plaza (near Balasore) - 9.29 am - 279.8 km.
8. Panikoili toll plaza - 10.50 am - 376.7km.
9. Manguli toll plaza (entrance to Cuttack) - 11.53 am - 432.4 km.
10. He had barely travelled 5 - 6 kms after the Manguli toll plaza while approaching the Mahanadi River bridge before Cuttack. He was stopped by a team of policemen and was interrogated for about 90 minutes. He was suspected to be the perpetrator of a fatal hit and run case by another white coloured WB registered Scorpio at the Manguli toll plaza minutes ago. He was about to face the wrath of an unruly mob when certain instructions given to him by me (Deep Banerjee) over the phone saved him from further police harassment and also from being assaulted or even worse.
Witnesses from the accident spot were also summoned. Fortunately, they managed to convince the police & the unruly gathering that Saikat's Scorpio was not the killer vehicle.
11. Gudipada toll plaza - 3.28 pm - 533.9 km.
12. Gurpali toll plaza - 4.32 pm - 603 km.
13. Delayed by 30 minutes at the Icchapuram border check post because both flanks of NH5 were blocked by Orissa/ Bengal bound trucks and an overturned sand laden truck. Some amount of negotiation with the police and a bit of offroading helped him to move towards Andhra Pradesh.
14. Balupada toll plaza - 5.54 pm, trip 690.2 km.
15. Though every possible details were provided by me to Saikat, he still made a mistake of exiting NH5 and entering a wrong village road for Baruva resort. After negotiating a total of 7 kms on muddy village road he was back on NH5.
16. However, soon he found his way to the right point from where one has to turn left from NH5 and proceed towards the Baruva branch of SBI and onwards to the lighthouse after crossing the manned railway level crossing of the Howrah-Chennai railway line.
17. Reached ‎Aptdc Beach Resort Baruva‬ (sharing a common boundary with the lighthouse of Ministry of Shipping, Govt of India) at 6.38 pm. Tripmeter reading 725.4 km, odometer reading 5254 km.

NH5 to the resort = 5 kms.

Note: Saikat had to take number of small breaks enroute to feed his 18 months young baby daughter.

Route: Kolkata - Kharagpur - Jaleshwar - Balasore - Bhadrak - Cuttack - Bhubaneswar - Khurda - Barkul - Brahmapur - Ichapuram - Sompeta - upto 1 km short of Korlam - turn left to exit NH5 - proceed 5 kms to Aptdc Baruva Beach Resort.

Indian Roadie, Deep Banerjee provided Saikat Bishnu every assistance, starting from suggesting Baruva as an ‪ideal ‎'Indian Roadie Splash Drive 2015'‬ destination to planning the route, booking of accommodation, periodic enquiry of his progress on the road, etc.

How safe are the ISI marked helmets being enforced by the Indian lawkeepers?

Early afternoon on 2015-08-15, I (Deep Banerjee) was getting some minor repairs done in my car opposite the Mani Square Mall, EM Bypass, Kolkata. Suddenly, there were multiple loud screeching noise which drew my attention to the north (Ultadanga) bound flank of the high speed corridor.

There was a person lying right in the centre of the road or more towards the median divider where there are the pillars for the East - West Metro Railway corridor. His Bajaj Pulsar 150 motorcycle lay on top of him. Mechanics from adjoining automobile garages rushed to his aid. By the time I crossed the road, the tall & well built guy in his early thirties had been hauled to the roadside. His trouser below the right knee was torn and both his shoes were spoilt. He was visibly shocked and in pain.

A young man in a blue Maruti Alto 800 stopped his car about 15 mtrs ahead and also rushed to his aid while claiming that he himself was a doctor at R.G.Kar Medical College & Hospital. After a lot of efforts people could free the victim of his helmet. And that is when I realized that the person's head hit the road. The impact had actually cracked/ split the ISI marked helmet at various points.
Once the dark complexioned well built victim was freed of his Acron helmet, I noticed prominent bruise marks all over his right cheeks from below the eyes to the chin.

Some assistance from the doctor & pep-talks by the group of mechanics did wonders. The victim steadily managed to stand up on his own feet.
Thereafter, the doctor coaxed the victim to accompany him in his car to the nearest hospital or nursing home for some first-aid which he felt was necessary, while the neighbouring roadside garage guys assured the victim of the bike's safekeeping.

I shudder to think of the consequences if the man was not wearing a helmet at all or if he had been riding a more powerful/ heavier bike!

With more & more people riding faster and heavier bikes in India, the outdated ISI specifications related to technical and safety aspects must undergo a drastic revamp. No wonders, conscious riders are preferring DOT approved headgears and accessories.

In recent weeks superbike riders in Chennai & Mumbai have complained about police harassment for wearing expensive imported DOT helmets which have the capability to withstand greater shocks during accidents. And why? Because the imported helmets obviously do not carry ISI mark with outdated safety and technical specification standards.

Will the police realize their mistakes after seeing the pictures?

Fury of ‪Damodar River‬ at Maithon during peak monsoon on 2015-08-03

The fury of ‪Damodar River‬ at Maithon Dam during peak monsoon on 2015-08-03.

The photos remind me of those great cycling rides from my hometown ‪in Barakar‬ to ‎Maithon‬ via. Victoria West Colliery, Ramnagar Colliery (home to the late legendary theatre personality ‪Ajitesh Bandopadhyay‬), ‎Kalyaneshwari Temple‬ and back via. ‪‎Kumardhubi‬, Chirkunda, old G.T.Road bridge over ‪Barakar River‬, a whopping 11 - 12 kms each way to get a glimpse of the water gushing out of the open sluice gates.