Blast It

So, after 10 years, the AC in my car has finally conked out. I had it recharged a week ago but now I know for sure that a component or two in the climate control subsystem will need to be replaced. I haven't got a quote yet but, along with a new EGR valve and clutch pedal, I likely will have to shell out something slightly more than a grand. I have been driving a few days now in 80+ degrees. I am so used to canned air here in Boston, that a lack of a working AC in my car has set me wondering about how I managed the heat when I grew up in the hot streets of Madurai. As a matter of fact, I wonder how people in a country like India manage the intense heat and pollution. Maybe they don't manage. Maybe they just bear it. I mean take a look at this sh*t:


This particular video reminds me of the ECR in Chennai...except, "ECR road" as locals refer to it, actually appears narrower at points because of super-heavy traffic!

When I stayed at the house of a close friend on the ECR during a trip to Chennai in January this year, the traffic was packed and the air, hot and dusty, kept rising to his 5th floor apartment. Fortunately, my friend and his wife, with their small child, have since moved to a quieter part of the city.


An early morning view from my friend's old apartment on the ECR. You can't see it but the Bay of Bengal is just beyond the haze. Besant Nagar then would be slightly to the left of this shot and by the beach. I think that this picture was taken the day before Pongal this year.

During my June trip to India, I stayed at my friend Santosh's place near Adyar in Chennai. Although it was in a busy part of the city, it was somehow quieter and cooler...could be because it was set far in from a main road and there were quite a few trees and shrubs about. While his new Bolero was a big help, the occasional ride on his motorcycle was an eye-opener. It was fun but I wouldn't want to do it 365 days out of the year. I mean I had to give up wearing my favorite Cape Cod hat when on his motorcycle and the sun beat down mercilessly on my newly shaved head. But the eye hugging sunglasses I took with me to India this time were a blessing.

Door 3 Gallery Opening Soon

My friends Kate and Jason are opening an artsy gallery in Boston. Look, no one is paying me to do this stuff, alright? But you gotta admit these flyers certainly add a bit of color and grit to my blog.

Gallery reception: July 10, 8pm to 9:30pm


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Broadway Bicycle School will also be hosting a Women's Basic Mechanics Class Mondays from 5:30pm to 7:30pm starting in August. I guess way too many chicks have been coming into the shop to get their bikes fixed or somethin'...


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ID4 - A weekend recap

Well, I didn't do much for July 4 last year. This year it was decently busy. I resolved an "issue of the mind" with a neighbor early on Friday, cleaned up the place in the afternoon and met up with David and Kate in the back bay later in the evening. We then biked over to Jason's place in Roxbury for a few hours of celebration. It was pretty dark on Jason's roofdeck. But the food was really good. Once I pointed a finger at a girl,

"That girl looks good, dude."
"Gopi, please, don't ever point a finger like that. It offends people."

Now David's advice on dating and women has always helped me out in the past. So I had no hesitation in jogging that piece of advice down in my memory. But I really couldn't catch anyone else's eye and everyone seemed to just stick to their known group of friends. Blech!

Anyway, David and I decided to leave around 11.30. Kate, who was in earnest conversation with a Tobey Maguire type, decided to hang out longer. We stopped at Buks for a brief drink on the way back. I had to watch it since I am not as used to alcohol and I still had to ride a bike home. We ran across this attractive blonde Bridie (or was it Birdie?) there, whom we had seen before on Friday nights at Buks. She was a bit drunk -- tell me about it -- and switched between me and David in her stupor. Then, as the night wore on, I noticed David had a hand over her thigh and then later on her belly. She didn't seem to mind. At one point, I could see most of her black lace bra. All of that is not unusual in a night like that. Still after a while, I started feeling bad (more so at myself than her) and so gestured to her to prop her gown up properly, which she did and giggled,

"That doesn't happen all the time!"

Yeah, I am quite sure it doesn't :) Anyway, I decided to pull out...I mean, leave. It was real late anyway and I had to meet up with Alexa for coffee in the morning.

Later Saturday morning, after mulling over a piece of advice -- my second for the weekend -- from Alexa and having profusely apologized to her for what I had thought was a helpful comment from me, I seriously pondered whether I should go to Revere beach despite the gloomy weather and then decided against it. And a girl I had met online was a no-show in Harvard square in the afternoon. I was a few minutes late in getting to a coffee shop there. Who knows. Maybe some other guy "snatch"ed her up and went up a tree. The occasional tree does grow in Boston, y'know. But the other good thing about a city like Boston is that since there is always something to see and someplace to walk into, you can change your plans on the fly. So at the end of the day, you can go home feeling like you have done a lot, when in effect you have never really accomplished anything. And so I returned home later in the afternoon and made myself a shepherd's pie.

After a power nap, I received a text from Kate. She didn't want to go clothes shopping like we had planned. After the previous night and a long Saturday at the bike shop, she was dead on her feet. I was wondering what to do -- remember I don't do too well if I am home Saturday nights -- when David called in. He wanted to watch the UFC. I was elated. So he came over and after about an hour of pizza, wings and cigars in my roofdeck, we went down to my apartment just in time to order the event. Barring one listless fight, the rest of the fights were pretty exciting. Both of us agreed that Rampage Jackson should have won his close fight with Forrest Griffin. But I guess the UFC may have seen Griffin as more marketable. Griffin definitely tried a variety of fighting techniques while Jackson seemed content to remain on his feet and box.

I went to bed immediately after David left since I had to be up only a few hours later to catch the Asia Cup 2008 final between India and Sri Lanka. The match started around 4.30 AM EST on Sunday. After the innings break (around 8.30 AM), I propped up the volume. It didn't matter. India got thrashed! What the f*ck was Dhoni thinking sending in Yuvraj against a clearly in-form Mendis? And what the bloody hell was Raina, who had impressed me very much with his performance in the recently concluded Indian Premier League, thinking going crossbat against a straight one from Mendis who had just claimed the wickets of Sehwag and Yuvraj? I almost had a fever come on watching these guys underperform! Anyway, the match ended early in the afternoon and I decided to go see my folks. I hadn't been to the gym for about six days. So I was practically twitching just thinking of the weights in their basement...and ended up lounging on their couch in front of the TV for the rest of the day.

All in all, a decent weekend, wouldn't you say? But next time, even if it were a gloomy summer weekend, I am gonna go to the beach anyway. It can't be an unhealthy experience and it might just be good for my soul to get a little bit wet behind the ears now and then.

The Dark Knight (A brief movie preview)

Whatever you do, man, don't screw it up.

The only thing I liked about the Spiderman franchise was the first 20 minutes or so of the first movie. The scene where that Toby fella experiments with his new found powers was fun. Couldn't enjoy the rest of the movie though. Kirsten Dunst was totally hot in that movie but she seemed kinda washed out in the second movie. I know. When it comes to enjoying the Spiderman movies, I seem to stand alone like the..um..dark knight. The 3rd installment in the Spiderman franchise was clearly one movie too many.

Christian Bale has charisma, something I feel that Tobey Maguire lacked. But then Tobey was playing a high school kid...with responsibilities. Kinda difficult to relate to that, huh? So his character was a "tear-fest" at times. Bale, of course, will be playing an adult character with all the sophistication required for the calibre that is Bruce Wayne. Perhaps it is unfair to compare those two roles. So I think my concern -- and it is not often I care about what is being put out by Hollywood -- then has more to do with the script itself. When too many things are thrown into the mix, which is what happened with Spiderman 3, the audience will want to just...up and away. The Batman team has had plenty of time to learn from the Spiderman 3 debacle. So I certainly hope that they won't be repeating the same mistake.

Picture of the season

Seven A.M. by Edward Hopper

In 2007, the MFA exhibited a lot of Edward Hopper's work. Outstanding stuff! So I ended up spending more time at the MFA in 2007 than in any other prior year. This year, I am looking forward to a couple of exhibitions at the MFA.

It is a custom for me to spend several weekends in the summer scouring art shops and galleries in Rockport and Gloucester for pieces that capture my imagination. No, I don't have $30m to disburse for a 100 year old painting. But I have spent as less as $30 for beautiful art created by local artists. And, of course, while I am in Rockport, I also visit this little shop that sells Apple Strudel with Vanilla ice cream!!

And so it begins...

Park's 5x5

To conclude my spring training, I just started following phase 3 of Reg Park's 5x5 program this past Sunday. So far, I have put in two sessions on this "routine". All I can say is that at night, as soon as my head hits the pillow, I have been dropping off to Z-land like a pine cone dropping in the still depths of an Alaskan forest.

Usually I keep my workouts under an hour and not do more than 3 or 4 movements per session. And I only plan on trying Park's style of training for a month. Anyway, it has been taking me about 1.5 hours to complete the entire circuit, which speaks volumes about the gains I have made in my cardiovascular conditioning in the past few months! Had I embarked on a program like this before the start of spring training, I likely would have had a few buzzards circling my limp form outside the gym. Can't wait to see where my BF% is in a month!!

Got to go stock up on goat milk now...

Violet Eyelashes

So this is a poem about a friend of mine. Yeah, it is a she. Why would I write about a guy? Duh!

Enjoy!

Such a bundle of joy
She came into my life
From a world so far
And different from my haunt
Of times long gone by
To melt me in words
As sweet as the honey
From the rarest acacia tree
And soothing as the art
From the realm of rembrandt
I wonder in my sleep
If these arms can reciprocate
And possess a little strength
To hold my thieving magpie
During times of unfair disharmony