My First Road Trip!

A random thought, a longing desire, a traveller’s dream: winding roads and a ruling the asphalt with rubber.  If you are a traveller, a rider, a nature lover, you always want a chance, a reason to get out and adore the enthralling beauty. Live amidst the nature and gulp its beauty down the soul. Face the winds, the rough terrain, drag the mountain and conquer the peak. I did it. I did all of it and much more. Touched the heavens, met the cry inside me, alienated self, conquered my fears, I lived.

I just had to do it. I was dying to ride, experience the thrill, and empty my adrenalin, and burn the rubber, fly, And RIDE. I received a blessing and I caught it with the force the winds hit me. It was a 120kms journey on the very coveted trip in the Sahyadri Mountains, those Ghats I had only witnessed through the window pane of the AC bus and a few pictures. Now was the time to experience it with a bare nature. Two major cities in the state of Maharashtra, Mumbai and Pune, connected via an Expressway, curling between the Ghats.  My stuff was loaded on a black stallion, a 220cc Bajaj Avenger with all the horses roaring high. There I was, all set to conquer and carried some fear inside me, a fear I had been holding since long, a fear I had to conquer: Me. A few prayers and a lot of guts, I set out. Nerul, Navi Mumbai to Kothrud, Pune.

The evening had masked the surrounding in a light closer to darkness and the calm before the storm (literally). In the very first 10kms of the ride, the rain clouds overwhelmed over me, making me dripping wet in the emotion. With not even the city crossed and a tank longing for some fuel to satisfy the thirst, I faced the very first hurdle. To cross it meant finding a petrol pump and let the bike have its share of liquid. A slippery, muddy, rocky path with heavy vehicles around, I managed to reach the petrol station a few heavy meters away from the highway. With a little exercise with the wallet in the dripping wet condition and a half full tank of shining liquid I left the place with a little content inside me.

Getting outside the city limit was another task, which took a lot of time of accomplish. The expressway as mentioned in the rulebook was meant for heavy vehicles and two wheelers were strictly not allowed on it. So it was time to take the State Highway numbered as 4 on the Nokia Map I was referring to. Officially the journey began when I actually felt I had hit the highway. Green all around me, black strip ahead of me, and a colourful sky above! It was the first time I was travelling on a bike all by myself with slight issues in the machine. It made me a little scary as well, but the excitement took over.

As I got ahead, the huge and beautiful mountains glittered in my vision with snake-like asphalt trails on it. A huge flow of adrenaline gushed in my nerves and I revved up the road. In just a few minutes, the glory showered us in a huge magnitude of raindrops, hitting the skin, the soul inside. Quickly I halted to cover up my body with a raincoat and be ready to face the unexpected wrath. The drops began to tear the sky and fall with a bigger company slashing every being on the path. The force only made the breathing heavy and let a little more fear creep inside. As I began the upward journey, it began to get darker and the rain got heavy, quite enough to scare my insides.

I had a small halt at the Tata Power station. What a beautiful view from that spot! I grazed more, fuelling the horses at a steady pace, with an autowalla driving past me. Now there is a certain point on the mountain where the State Highway and the Express Highway meet. This is a place where anyone can get lost, anyone, including me. The expressway has a significant colour to its roadside borders, a band of yellow and blue. If you are driving beside one, it is no harm to conclude you are on the Expressway. The heavens wanted me to, and I was on it! The rain had left no soul left to ask directions to and all that was ahead was the road. The rain kept on increasing its volume and force and on one corner turn I noticed a small hut, a chaiwalla, and a hope rose in my heart. I just slowed down and hoping to get a nice sip of tea in the heavy downpour. The dripping wet body was expecting a little warmth but was subtly let down by the man who quietly said he ran out of tea. Highly disappointing. The next phase began, fear in my heart and power in my wrists, and a determination to break this hurdle. A little music in my ears helped to take my mind off the hell I was going through. Prayers inside the throbbing heart and search for hope in the eye are all that I can remember. I knew this was going to be terrible, but I had made my mind, I was going to get through.

All around me where huge vehicles, SUVs, Trucks, mostly carrying those huge containers and the most dense rainfall I ever had witnessed. With near zero visibility and scary fast vehicles, this joyride had now become an endurance test.  The Ghats had a few tunnels which provided a little shelter from the rain, but the condition was you cannot stop in between and the minimum speed to be maintained was 80kmph. Also, the magnitude of the terror was realized when I could actually see the size of the vehicles around, and among them was this puny motorbike. Each of this moment was filled with fear and a thankful soul being reminded of how awesome and fearful the Almighty Father was. That expanse on the top of the Ghats filled the heart with the light of the creative and destructive powers of the heaven. The transition from the tunnel to the open weather was so quick that the body shivered with amount of rain crashing all over the body. I so well remember that one moment when a white Toyota Innova ran past me and splashed water all over my entity with some of it making a way through the raincoat and over my chest. Chilling!!!! Filled with rage, I yelled out a few foul words to that insensitive driver.

As the road continued with all its twists and turns with literally rivers flowing on that asphalt, I gave a few glances to the highway police posts only to find no bloody man there.  It was getting dark, time flying, and now a pursuit began, to catch the city. I throttled more and reach the highest ‘safe’ speed I could. The heart felt a little light after the Ghats end and the straight road became visible. That stretch was like another 40kms. I slowly started losing myself, the chill inside the body, mind filled with the scary moments from the mountains and a steady body started to give in to fatigue. There were moments when I wanted to talk it out to someone and the moment not allowing that to happen, made screams to escape my throat. Those moments still move my very core, unable to express myself, screaming was the only option left. At least that got a little warmth in the upper body which was trembling with the cold. Shouting gushed blood in my head and jaws and the lungs felt a little free from the ribcage that had been dominating the internals. After a little stretch I suddenly felt if I drove more, I’m sure to lose control of the speeding vehicle. Gently pausing to the left the disc brakes worked well on the slippery path and the machine halted. I got off the bike in the fastest stroke like it had been eating me. I shrugged myself; let every emotion drain away like the water from the entire flesh.

That once small moment and eliminating the fluids holding in and on my body made themselves one with the streams flowing off the road. I was near to the city. Some 40 kms more were left to be burned. I was dripping wet, exhausted, scared and had huge amounts of adrenaline gushing through my glands. The mind pushed the body back on the bike and I again roared the engine to 70-80kmph. The city lights welcomed me soon and some peace reigned inside the heart. Soon I reached the toll post and the guy there was shocked to see me driving on a two wheeler (which aren’t allowed) on the Expressway. I told him I was lost and he asked me to take to the left on the State Highway. Buzzing ahead in the darkness between mountains the road was still confusing. It added to my fears already breeding inside. Heaven’s grace shined and a couple of men guided me to the right path and I set off. I was the darkest patch I’ve witnessed at 8pm, lone roads, daunting surroundings, it was depressing. Soon I found myself connected on the State Highway and took of the known path from there. Zooming past men, machines and wandering cattle, the road felt like an acquaintance.

One of my favourite spots on the road arrived, an intersection which had two ways, one to the suburb of Aundh and other to the suburb of Kothrud, where I had to go. That place also had a tea stall and my insides were screaming for a cup of that hot liquid! I stalled near it, shrugged all the left over water over me, and walking between faces staring me; I reached the stall and satisfied the want for tea. It was then; I called up my friends in Mumbai and told them I was about to reach and safe till now. The city was all dry with no sign of a rain cloud over it, with me drenched in the spell on the Ghats! I continued again, bit refreshed and with a clean and less scary road ahead, I pondered over all that happened in the past few hours. It was exalting. With a less traffic of thoughts inside the mind, I calmly reached my resting place. Carrying the water from the mountain top all over me, I entered the room, changed, and dozed off!

When I think over it, it sure blew me, tested my spirit, mind and body, but it gave me a story to tell. A story which has just been completed, it was an experience of a lifetime. I won’t be able to have those moments again, and frankly I don’t want to go back to that situation. Maybe, I cleared a level of life; I reached higher state of being in that entire journey. Something better and bigger waits for me. It was a great lesson; the hardest times surely teach you a lot!  

    

Eurotrip (Part I)

[First part of the series of posts to follow.]

 

‘Planning every step of life will only make you become completely lost.’ Khan.

I’ve a huge craving to travel. I always want to be travelling, meeting new people, seeing new places, experiencing the adrenaline of being lost and the joy of finding yourself. There was another big feather that added to my journeys in 2012 was my first international trip, as titled by my friends, my ‘Eurotrip’ ;)

My research paper got selected in the European Satellite Telecommunications (ESTEL) Conference in Rome, Italy. It was the second time of having an opportunity to get myself out there and meet my dreams. This time I had enough experience how to deal with my college and get the permission to get to the conference. Also, by God’s grace the invitation came almost 6 months before the conference date and I had enough time in my hands to plan everything. There was a lot to plan out, the travel dates, and the places to visit, the college exams, finances, visa process, travel plans and so many minute details. I have a habit of planning every detail of my travel when I know from my experiences that it will never happen the way I have planned. It has been good so far with no bad experiences and under God’s care and the blessings and prayers of family and friends I know it never will go wrong!

The big deal of the trip was returning back and appearing for my semester exams in just 2 days time! Thankfully, the college had made arrangements for my practical exams to be handled after I return. *blessing* The entire staff was highly supportive. Things were tough from day one, managing finances was tough and the biggest hurdle was the visa process! I got my visa approved 12 hours before my flight departure and I just can’t explain the nervousness as the embassy had rejected the visa twice in a period of 4 days. I was SCARED. The two days before the journey, I had to be in Mumbai for the procedure and thanks to Mehul, who was highly supportive in the entire process.

This needs to be mentioned. The kind of help Mehul provided was simply beyond words.  This night, the last day of registration of the conference, I had to transfer €350 (28,000 INR) to be registered for the event, after which I would have incurred €150 additional late fee. I was online for 6 hours trying to do the payment and nothing worked! 3-4 cards, 2 bank accounts, all failed to transfer to the PayPal account of the organization. I was hopeless and then I pinged Mehul on Facebook chat in desperation asking for help. Without another word, he went ahead and voila! The payment was successful! I still cannot thank him enough! Just not that, he helped in the visa process, gave me a shelter before I left and also was there at 0100hrs to see me off at the airport with Gaurav sir. This guy is the man behind the world’s largest Batman community, Official Dark Knight Rises Community on Facebook.

Getting back, I was at the VFS collection center to get my passport at 1400hrs on 27^th September, and my flight was 15 hours later. Thinking of all possibilities, I waited there for a couple of hours and was handed the package around 1600hrs. Even my visa agent was surprised to see that I had been approved the visa within 24hours! I was filled with joy! I sat on the marble seat just outside the center, overwhelmed, calling all the people who were waiting to know the status. I was a huge moment! The last hurdle was cleared. I was going to board that plane to the city of love, Paris!  

Next post - Coming Soon!    

Lost

Lost in the space engulfing me,
In the mild narrows shadowing sea,
Drifting paths lead to thee,
On the journey to the lost key.

Scattered thoughts in the emptied mind,
Wandering in them like a child,
Gaping wounds ease deeper pains,
Scars they leave like charred stains.

Unknown and uncertain is this phase,
Caught in tangling grip of the ways,
Storming inside are many of me,
Lost in the chaos is the true being.

The sights scare the very core,
Depths of emotion have now worn.
Held down by the gravity around,
Is there a way to break this bound?

Unbound

Flies roll and paths fly,
living life on a new high!
Winters blood and the heart's cold,
life takes an incomplete sigh

Depths write and fingers pause,
chaotic mind finds no sweet spot,
Blood flows and rivers run dry,
words stop at when the feelings rot.

Sights reach horizons and laughter halts,
a deeper thought injects the stance,
Fights with the soul and hugs to death,
leave the faith at a dangling dance.

Swallowing darkness and grains cease,
satisfying feeling come with the last,
Breaths lose beats and beats knock th sky,
its like a movie running super fast.

Faith faints and belief sets absence,
that sharp shard surfaces the presence,
Growth limps and cages walk,
its runs the cycle, weaving a web of nothingness.

Bounded in the Nothingness

Happy in-Dependence Day!

The Illusion.

How many years have passed since we got a signed draft copy assuring that the subcontinent of India was granted freedom, currently home to 3 different countries? 65 as I count it. India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and if I am able to count the state of Kashmir partly occupied by Pakistan makes it three + a partly owned state. It disappoints me by the state we are in even after being in the 6^th decade past the ‘gifted’ independence. We tend to curse the English on this ‘auspicious’ and ‘celebrated’ day for every ‘Indian’. (Tip: Take every word in quotes sarcastically.)

Today, I wish to praise the English for ruling us. For if you think, you will agree that they are the ones who helped us learn the basics of administration of the entire country as a whole. If not for them, we would have been existed today as 28 countries and not states. We communicate in English, get education in a highly advanced manner with obsolete technology thanks to the recent non up gradation of the curriculum. If you know that Indian Railways is the world’s largest employer, it is the British that ran the first railway in India. Mission Hospitals, again initiated by the Brits, got proper medical care in India and making the Indian nurses and doctors highly valuable for their skill in the First world. The highly disorganized, highly illiterate, divided by caste (still is but a little less) ancient India was given a way to the modern world we live in today was given by the British. So, at this moment, thank them!

Coming back to the present, I am tired by watching the video of Jawaharlal Nehru giving a speech at Delhi with the words, ‘When the world sleeps, India shall away to freedom (?)’ Good one there Mr. Nehru. I wish to see news of progress. I am saddened by the state we are heading to. The ever rising prices, a highly failing government with the last ‘leader’ being a Lady President, who made it in the news for hijacking army property and a Prime Minister who had made his mark in the humor shows, than in development is the kind of Nation we live in. I see a man taking a stand against the political system and then entering it. The very same people agitating against riots in one part of the country then fall to violence creating chaos and destruction with adding a communal tag bringing back the hatred that has crept in the hearts of the countrymen thanks to a few terrorists brought up in the neighboring country.

The recent news has been highlighting the ‘majorly worshipped entity called, the Woman’ being molested and raped in several parts of the country. In a country with 63% population following the Hindu religion with a stunning 2 crore gods and goddesses, in which the major national festivals are celebrated for the goddesses, have women raped and molested on a regular basis. ‘Kudos’ people! I hope you can don’t the same things with your daughters and sisters. We have shows airing on the silver screen promoting the nation to voice against female feticide, my question stands, “For this??”

We are done ‘celebrating’ the success of the players who excelled at the Olympics and we are so ‘satisfied’ with the Bronze medals. But we trash our cricket team if they land in the second place. We call processions with a city wins the IPL but the Asian Cup winners of the ‘national sport’ of India, Hockey have to spend time outside the airport calling for a taxi. For the record, Michel Phelps, the renowned swimmer has bagged more Gold medals in a single Olympic than the country has won till date. Shame? Not yet. We organize the Commonwealth Games only to welcome the guests with leaking ceilings and later find out the entire web was worn around a huge financial scam. Now, shame.

I am so not able to comment more as my heart truly aches. I am an engineer and hope to promote to the development of this country through the educational system. For if knowledge is power, education is what we need at its optimum level. I can write, I can make people think by my thoughts, and if I am successful, change their mindset. We need revolutionaries like Mahatma Phule, Savitri Bai, who brought education for the masses. Dr. Ambedkar who possessed such a vast knowledge that he was able to draft the Constitution we follow today, single handedly in a prison cell. A President like Dr. Kalam who is highly educated is what we want. A system which needs educated minds to administrate and not the ones who can make their name in comedy shows.

We are singing ‘Saare Jahaan Se Accha’ but I don’t agree. I am not proud to be an Indian, but I want to be in the near future.  To my fellow Indians, Happy in-Dependence Day!

In my opinion, Freedom is:
To be able to walk without fear.
To roam around without being molested.
To befriend without being raped.
To be able to voice without going to prison.
To not practice corruption.
To be treated as a human and not as a follower of a specific religion.
To share food with a beggar and not treated as 'unclean'.
To be trusted and trust a stranger.
a long list continues,
In my opinion, India isn't free yet.

In the above article, I exercised my Right to Speech/Expression of Thought.

The Truth

The Great Indian Power Failure

While the Power System Operation Corporation Ltd (POSOCO) scratches its head about the power grid trip in the north India affecting millions of people, and most of the brains working otherwise, there is a little fact we all have ignored. I found the Zee News India take on the matter to be most informative. The fact that most of us ignore is the power source for the entire Solar System, the Sun. If the yellow star has power to provide energy to the entire system, it does have power to affect planets in a harmful way too!  Some facts and figures from NOAA, NASA, and other sources.

The Sun follows a regular 11 (±1) year cycle from a minimum to maximum state of changing magnetic field marked by change in the number of sunspots. The Sun performs a cycle from a minimum to maximum solar activity which is observed using the basic and simplest parameter, the number of sunspots visible. During the maxima of this cycle, a high solar activity is observed. High radiation storms from the Sun consisting of super charged protons and other sub atomic particles occur in the space. Ground currents induced during geomagnetic storms can actually melt the copper windings of transformers at the heart of many power distribution systems. Sprawling power lines act like antennas, picking up the currents and spreading the problem over a wide area. The most famous geomagnetic power outage happened during a space storm in March 1989 when six million people in Quebec lost power for 9 hours:

http://science.nasa.gov/media/medialibrary/2009/01/21/21jan_severespaceweather_resources/quebec.jpg

There's a surprising conclusion of a NASA -funded study by the National Academy of Sciences entitled Severe Space Weather Events—Understanding Societal and Economic Impacts. In the 132-page report, experts detailed what might happen to our modern, high-tech society in the event of a "super solar flare" followed by an extreme geomagnetic storm. According to the report, power grids may be more vulnerable than ever. The problem is interconnectedness. In recent years, utilities have joined grids together to allow long-distance transmission of low-cost power to areas of sudden demand. On a hot summer day in California, for instance, people in Los Angeles might be running their air conditioners on power routed from Oregon. It makes economic sense—but not necessarily geomagnetic sense. Interconnectedness makes the system susceptible to wide-ranging "cascade failures." 

To estimate the scale of such a failure, report co-author John Kappenmann of the Metatech Corporation looked at the great geomagnetic storm of May 1921, which produced ground currents as much as ten times stronger than the 1989 Quebec storm, and modeled its effect on the modern power grid. He found more than 350 transformers at risk of permanent damage and 130 million people without power. The loss of electricity would ripple across the social infrastructure with "water distribution affected within several hours; perishable foods and medications lost in 12-24 hours; loss of heating/air conditioning, sewage disposal, phone service, fuel re-supply and so on."

"The concept of interdependency," the report notes, "is evident in the unavailability of water due to long-term outage of electric power--and the inability to restart an electric generator without water on site." India has five electricity grids -- Northern, Eastern, North Eastern, Southern and Western. All of them are inter-connected, except the Southern grid. All the grids are being run by the state-owned Power Grid Corporation, which operates more than 95,000 circuit km of transmission lines. NTPC's six plants -- Singrauli (2,000 MW), Rihand (2,500 MW), Dadri (1,820 MW), Auriya (652 MW), Anta (413 MW) and Badarpur (705 MW) -- stopped generating following the failure. 

A coronal mass ejection (CME) produced by Saturday's (28^th July) M6-class flare head toward Earth. According to analysts at the Goddard Space Weather Lab, the cloud delivered a glancing blow to our planet's magnetic field on July 31st around 1930 UT or 0100 IST. The northern transmission grid collapsed at 2.35 AM, plunging Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, J&K, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chandigarh into darkness. 

<-- The Sun captured during that time.

Doesn’t the time overlap? Aren’t the facts pointing towards a much bigger hurdle than we are concluding? If you read the entire thing again and maybe it shall strike you. Some of us are focusing on these effects which most of us are ignoring. Kevin runs a website SolarHam.net which is the best source for solar data on the internet. The Sun is being monitored by 24 satellites, SOHO, ACE, GOES being the major ones. The data from these is available to the public and Kevin does a huge job of bringing all the data in one place. While on other end, Pamela Stiegman from Tonawanda, NY is collecting data about the transformer failures around the world, we are trying to relate these events with the solar events happening on a regular basis. I have a published research paper, titled Communication Blackout: Causes and Effects in IJAEST last year which focuses the effects of Solar Flares on the telecommunication system. An extension of the same research has been selected at ESTEL Conference, Italy due presentation this October. This article aims to educate the general public about the possible effects and to be ready for more such events in the coming days. August 2012 marks the start of the solar maximum for the 24^th cycle; a request to the scientific community to kindly look into the grave matter. 

 

 
contact me at: abhijeetkhan@gmail.com

My Grave

Yet another path found,
between life and death,
tread these paths with a lamp,
and a song in my head.

A few unknowns reached,
a few knowns visited,
overwhelms me this road ahead,
turns and burns, they remain.

Tools are ready for work,
they begin to clear the land,
a spot quite fertile to grow,
some greenery and colours around.

For people who might visit,
may leave with some glare,
for these may provide them peace,
who pass by me and offer a word.

I shall look to that place upon,
and a fathom under it keep eyes,
sweat and blood flow and eyes tear,
ye, I have dug my grave.

Cemetery View. Self Captured.

Not Me

Each morning I rise up,
open the doorway to self,
curse a hundred things,
this is so not me.

Begin writing about pain,
hardly feeling an emotion now,
chasing the lost self, running,
is this me?

Criss-cross paths swindle dreams,
a sojourn to darkness and back,
finding peace among the pothor,
who is he?

Treading, hitting back and forth,
living to be someone here,
nights have forgotten rest,
who is he?

Gulping the sorrows within,
some numen around searching,
to prorogue the pain that lives,
is this me?

Failing and not rising,
becoming a self that's false,
sitting idle to let it pass,
this is so not me!

Rapunzel!

One fine day and one right moment,

That some point when all this is written,

a rhyme of few words, a small sneak,

The tale of a girl, called Rapunzel!

Its hard to tell what she is,

She’s a closed flower,

A burning rage of an artist,

A little girl trapped in this world.

She’ll steal your eye, that corner look,

As she walks in her own might.

Never will she drop you with the least,

Of her attention, always ahead, that lioness.

Being one of the crowds has never,

ever been her way, yet she does,

Long to have been belonged.

But hyenas, a lioness won’t stand with you!

She can smack truth on your face,

And with a gentle smile, lovely,

She can hurt your core, truly deep.

You’ll love the way she does it!

But what she hides within will rarely,

you discover; that core, hardly understand.

She’s an inspiration, if you can look deep,

Those eyes, they haunt you in sleep!

Close yet very far, you live from everyone,

that little devil is called an angel by some!

A proud daddy’s girl and a sister’s gem,

I’m blessed to have you as my friend!

For words shall never be able to express,

Completely the emotion, they sometimes hurt,

The silence that goes between those breaths,

The world around it constrains.