Thursday 30 May 2019

Hyundai Venue launched in May 2019


Hyundai Motors India launched mini SUV brand #Venue in May 2019 at a very attractive price.

Wednesday 22 May 2019

Wednesday 8 May 2019

Glenmorgan to Masinagudi via Kalhatti - Indian Roadie Preferred Route

There is no road from Glenmorgan to Masinagaudi other than the regular road via Kalhatti. There is only a winch for Tamilnadu Electricity Board employees from Glenmorgan to Moyar Power House.

There is NO road as shown by Google Maps.
https://www.google.co.in/maps/dir/Masinagudi,+Tamil+Nadu/Glenmorgan+View+Point,+Sholur,+Tamil+Nadu+643223/@11.5412426,76.6208702,12z/data=!4m8!4m7!1m2!1m1!1s0x3ba8baaca284ce8b:0x2ceed85ec3bb0562!1m2!1m1!1s0x3ba8a4f39cd6bbe1:0x1d1ee7e0fcf406f4!3e0

Google can get you in trouble in places like these.

That winch is restricted to travel by only TNEB employees. Public not allowed. In yesteryears, one could always talk sweetly & get in.

There is a TN state run lodge for stay in Theppakadu.

You can yourself see in the Satellite Images the winch - and that is where the G maps has drawn it as "Singara Rd". Ley me tell you how G Maps works:
1. They have lots of fools turning on their locations in their phones
2. G  Maps tracks those who have turned on their locations
3. The employees of TNEB commute daily on this winch
4. They have their locations turned on in their phones
5. G Maps spies on them, sees them "driving" daily on this "route"
6. It sees their speed is >10 kmph, so it concludes they are on a vehicle, and hence, the "road"
7. Some johnnies in G Maps look at the "track" images, sees the path of the winch, concludes it is a road
8. They draw it as a road,. christens it "Singara Rd".

It is one of the steepest winches in the world at 40 or 45 Degree gradient. This is a restricted area. Driving/ riding/ cycling is strictly prohibited.
One can examine the images in Satellite and conclude the same. One can also see the sluice pipes carrying water down to the power house running parallel to the winch.

What if there's heavy rains in the Nilgiris. Do the roads still remain in good shape, at least the stretch from Pykara to Glenmorgan?

https://goo.gl/maps/S1wJjWqjNcaYyTyj9

Road to Glenmorgan rarely gets disrupted due to rains. 

Sunday 5 May 2019

Singur was abandoned by Tata Motors in early Sept 2008, farmers in despair





A frustrated Mr. Ratan Tata abandoned the Tata Motors Nano plant in Singur, Hooghly district, West Bengal in early September 2008. Mamata Banerjee declared herself victorious. She addressed Mr. Tata as Tata Babu on that fateful evening and whole of Bengal cheered. That marked the doom of West Bengal in every sphere of life.

Fast forward to April - May 2019. Years after the Tata Manufacturing plant was shifted out of West Bengal’s Singur to Gujarat’s Sanand, the farmers involved in the agitation against the Tata behemoth have expressed their regret for the agitation that led to the expulsion. Though they got their land back, the farmers feel cheated as the land is uncultivable and the town doesn’t have enough jobs for them says a report in DNA.

According to the farmers who took a march to Kolkata in 2018 to demand setting up of industries in the region, they were used by political parties in the agitation that culminated into Tata leaving Singur district for their Nano car production. They asserted that if they get a chance to atone for their “mistake”, they would eagerly give away their land for setting up industries in Singur.

However, today the disenchanted farmers, having realised that they had been used as cannon fodder by the politicians have expressed remorse over their decision to agitate against the Tata conglomerate. One of the farmers, Ashok Maity said, “We got nothing out of the agitation. We were used and later dumped to fend for ourselves by the political parties to serve their own purposes. No industries came up in the region, nor the land which was returned to us in 2016 is cultivable. We are living in extreme poverty.”

The farmers in the region had to fight a long and enervating legal battle to get hold of their land. Ashok and his brother got 60 kottah of land. However, the land they got was converted into concrete or covered with wreckage. The agricultural experts believe that with the concrete pillars and slabs on the ground, at least 7-8 inches of topsoil will have to be removed to make it arable again. It is a costly measure and the farmers are not in the position to bear the expenses. Without this procedure, it might take 10 more years for the land to turn tillable.

Many farmers in the district echo Maity’s sentiments. They claim that they were influenced by the political hysteria around the anti-land acquisition movement and got duped by it. They believe if they had provided their land for the industries, Singur would have turned into a teeming industrial town, creating and offering jobs to many and their children wouldn’t have to forage other states in search of jobs.
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# Indian Roadie
# How India Travels

Friday 3 May 2019

Goa - Mysore - Kodaikanal - Valparai - Mangalore - Murudeshwar - Goa: Indian Roadie Preferred Route and Itinerary in March - April 2019


A friend working as GM - Sales in an engineering company in Goa completed an epic road trip with wife and teenaged son during the school sessions break in March - April 2019 in his Ford Ecosport Titanium Diesel.

It was a pleasure cum business trip.

The route was:

Panaji - Margao - Karwar - Ankola - Kumta - Honavar - Jog Falls - Sagar - Shimoga - Tarikere - Arsikere - Channarayapatna - K R Pura - Srirangapatna - Mysore - Nanjangud - Chamarajanagar - Dimbam - Sathyamangalam - Annur - Coimbatore -Karumathampatti - Coimbatore bypass - Pollachi - Udumalaipet - Palani - Kodaikanal - Palani - Udumalaipet - Valparai - Athirapalli - Chalakudy - Thrissur - Kunnamkulam - Edappal - Kottakkal - Kozhikode - Vadakara - Mahe - Talaserry - Kannur - Payyanur - Kasargod - Mangalore - Udupi - Kundapura - Baindur - Bhatkal - Murudeshwar - Honavar - Kumta - Karwar - Margao - Panaji.