Steed

After a long time, I'm mobile again ! I bought a Hyundai i10 Asta towards the end of May and God, what a relief it is to not depend on auto-wallas again :) I've been meaning to jot this down for a long time, but finally getting around to writing about how I finally zeroed in on the i10.

Since mom and dad were absolutely hell bent on not allowing me a bike (YZF R-15 ?), I decided to opt for a set of two extra wheels. I was quite sure I wanted something small for my first car that had a petrol engine and definitely didn't want a Maruti. The Beat was just too radical for my taste. Finally, the hatches in consideration were Hyundai, Punto, Figo and Polo. While Figo is probably the best VFM out there, I wasn't sure about the quality of the build and the petrol engine. Ford has always been associated to the oil-burner in my mind and it was difficult to break that link. Looks-wise, I loved the Polo, but reviews have noticed a lethargic 1.2L and was expensive for its bracket. That left Punto and Hyundai. I really liked the specs on the Punto and almost decided to buy the 1.4 Emo Pk. The only thing that stopped me was having to deal with Tata showrooms and service centers. That's a big no-no.

Finally, after realizing that manual transmission in the i20 has the same 1.2L which brings down the power-weight ratio, I finally decided that the i10 is the right fit. I've not regretted it in the short time I've had it. Some good things:

• The interiors are plush, compared to the others.
• Seats are comfortable and the space for rear passengers is ample enough.
• It's got a very light steering which is a pleasure to drive in traffic
• The NVH levels are more than acceptable upto 110 kph
• The gear shift it precise
• The music system is sufficient for my use and
• You get good highway handling with ABS and EBD

And now the not-so-good:

• low-rpm grunt is sorely lacking
• Visibility is obstructed due to the front right pillar
• The gear shift sometimes refuses to shift into 1st or R
• The light steering is too light on the highway
• The headlights are bad. Really bad
• Well, there are just so many of them out there !

Overall, though, I'm quite satisfied with the package. For 90% of the time, it suits my needs. In fact, dad's considering getting an AT for himself. That ought to be fun.

What's not fun, though, has been the traffic. It's just crazy. It seems like only yesterday that I was weaving effortlessly out of traffic on my Pulsar. But somehow, seated in a car, you realize the mindless risks that people take to shave seconds. Rules are not even recognized, forget followed. Whoever said one has to stop at red light ?! The worst part is that akin to corruption, it is very difficult for an honest driver to make a fist of it. Basically, driving in India is more like loco motion rather than locomotion :)

Transition

So the ride that was ISB finally ended. The graduation day was well organized and I thought all the speakers spoke rather well. I do feel sorry for Mr Sibal, though, having to shake 550+ hands ! All in all, a satisfactory end to an energetic year.

I did expect the ride from student life to corporate life to be rather bumpy, a little like the morning after a night spent painting the town red :) I was pleasantly surprised then, to find that I had almost two and half months of doing nothing! It was fun at first, not having to be on your toes 24x7, but I guess it got a little boring towards the end. A part of the boredom was relieved by the arrival of my spanking new Hyundai i10. Being a newbie, the learning curve in Mumbai's traffic was rather steep. But we did manage to make trips to Pune, Nashik and Alibaug before I joined ZS.

The orientation in Gurgaon was simply a way to transition back into corporate life, I guess. I learnt quite a few things about ZS and the Pharmaceutical industry and survived the rest. The Leela Kempenski where we were initially put up was an excellent choice, but could have done with some better food. All in all, the 1st week was comfortable and a nice introduction to the company, function and industry. The second week was a deeper look at the respective practice areas and we did get a chance to interact with the MD, OMPs and other consultants/managers over dinner. More importantly, the NEO allowed us to interact across designations and hopefully establish some rapport.

Over the weekend, it was also an opportunity for me to catch up with classmates from BHU. I was rather pleased to find out that in this ever-changing world, some people at least have remained constant. With the Germany-England match in the background, it was a nice reunion at Connaught Place. Was burning with jealousy to find out that the Schneider Electric folks are usually home by 4:30 PM. Yeh kahaa ka insaaf hai ?!

The one thing that amazed me is the amount of development that Gurgaon has seen. All things have a new-ish feel to them. But, I was disappointed at the lack of a life beyond the professional circle in Gurgaon. You are expected to be either at work or shopping. For everything else, head to Delhi. I guess it could get really boring after a few days. Without full Metro connectivity and the lack of any mode of public transport, getting by without a vehicle is a challenge to say the least. I was, however, impressed by Delhi's Metro and if the quality of Mumbai's metro is as good, we are in for some comfortable commutes indeed.

After all this, I'm finally back a full circle. having arrived first in Pune in 2004, I'm back in the same place. The same lovely weather, the same traffic, the same attitude. It feels good to be back ! Magarpatta has grown in the years gone by and I notice that almost everything here is expensive, even when benchmarked against Mumbai. There was hardly any time settling in, since work demanded my attention almost immediately. However, I have decided to call a rental in Trillium my home for the foreseeable future.

That's about it for now, I'll try to put up a review of the i10 along with some pics and travelogues a little later.