నాదిర్దిన్నా ...

Nadirdinna from Okariki Okaru

I finally figured out why I like this song very much. The male and female voices of the song are in perfect harmony. It is as if two close friends are jamming. The voices alternate very smoothly, sometimes midline. When one voice joins the chorus for the other, they flow together beautifully. Neither voice dominates. The accompaniments stay in the background for the most part and let the voices take the centre stage. Its probably the most balanced duet I have heard so far. If you like slow songs, you just might like this one.

Bus Shadow regions

Bus shadow regions: describes arterial roads that are not served by public transport

e.g. HAL airport to Old Madras Road in Bangalore.

I coined this word out of sheer frustration. I live on the HAL Airport road which is fairly well serviced by BMTC. My office is on the way to Old Madras road. Everyday there are a large number of folks who travel from the airport road to Old Madras road via Suranjan Das Road. However BMTC does not serve this route. Share autos make a killing and office goers crowd the street with their cars usually with single occupancy. God I hope BMTC adds buses on this route.

I am sometimes frustrated by Bangalore's public transport system. The whole system seems to be based on buses plying long routes with interconnects few and far between. As long you are travelling on one of these routes, you can find a bus in 15-20 mins. However if you need to travel two routes to get to your destination, you are in for trouble. The interconnects are more distant than the destination or you need to walk a fair distance get from a stop on one route to another.

Sometimes I dream for a hubs and spokes public transport system in Bangalore. Minibuses could run to/from any area to the nearest hub and the large buses could ferry folks between hubs. Add a multi-storey parking or a cycle rental at each hub and BMTC could have a significant revenue stream. I can keep on dreaming I guess.

TFNTen: The summary post

In December 2010, I rode on the Tour of the Nilgiris along with 100 other cyclists. It was an amazing experience and a completely different way to experience nature. Below is a journal of my experiences during the tour.

• TFNTen Day 1: The longest ride yet
• TFNTen Day 2: A ride in three parts
• TFN day 3: Bandipur to Ooty
• TFNTen Day 4: Nature Walk in Ooty
• TFNTen Day 5: The two puncture day
• TFNTen Day 6: Short ride in Kerala
• TFNTen Day 7: Day of the scary downhill
• TFNTen Day 8: The last day of the tour

I should thank my colleague Pramod for all the encouragement and effort he spent in getting me to the starting line of the tour. Without his support, I would have dropped out and completely missed on this great experience.