Buying A New Vehicle

I had been wanting to buy a Duster even before it was launched in 2012. I loved its looks and the price. "Shockingly affordable" is quite the right description, as it is sold in Europe with this tag line. However, in India it is not so shockingly affordable for us because of extremely high luxury tax and other economic reasons (better explained in Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations). Also I wanted to wait and see how the car established itself in a new market. After all, its Logan, despite being a very nice no nonsense car, had been a spectacular failure. I wanted the brand to establish itself - ownership reviews to come in - service network to grow and take root etc before jumping into the fray. 

Then came the shocking accident of Monisha's father and his subsequent death that set us back emotionally and financially quite a bit. This was in 2012. The next year, 2013, passed trying to recuperate from the shock. In 2014 we decided that if certain expected payments came in we would go for a new car. We debated for a while whether we wanted a sedan or an SUV. If it was a sedan we would buy the Honda City. If SUV we would go for the Duster.

I can't pin point the exact moment when I decided to go for the Duster but on team-bhp I asked a general question whether anyone had done a Ladakh in a Duster and I got directed to a few such posts. I realised that people were saying very nice things about the Duster.

Then started the arduous process of negotiations which is still going on. 

Monday, March 10, 2014

We have booked the Duster. We are going for the Diesel 85 PS trim. Officially called the RXL Options version. White. It is the highest model of its class that comes with ABS, EBD, dual front airbags, alloy wheels, rear defogger and a medianav. 

Going through the process of negotiations is quite a stressful one and at the end of it all I felt emotionally very drained. I couldn't buy it from the dealership that I wanted to because they, I realised, were trying to push an old new car to me without budging a bit on the price. I was offered a September 2013 model white car at Rs 11.70 lakh, which was substantially lower than the official on-road price of Rs 12.33 lakh. They were waiving the insurance premium and add an additional discount of 14k to make it 11.70. 

I took the test drive as I thought this was quite an okay price for me. I don't mind buying a slightly older model if the price was so low. I asked them to consider bringing it down a bit more and they brought it down to Rs 11.67 lakh from Rs 11.70 lakh. 

Then I realised that this waiver of insurance was nothing special for me. All Dusters are now being sold without the insurance premium. I asked them to think very hard and offer the lowest price as I would cross check it with the other dealer in New Alipore. They sent the young frontline sales guy Irfan to my office. He brought it down to Rs 11.60 lakh. I told Irfan very clearly that if the other guy gave me a substantially lower price I would settle it with them and not come back to them. He said this was the lowest they could offer. This was on Friday. 

Meanwhile, Monisha spoke to the other outlet in New Alipore. They said come over to our dealership and we would better the price of the AJC Bose Road guys. I went and told them, see I will not tell you how much they have quoted us. You quote a price. If it is substantially lower than their price then only I will buy it from you. He did some calculation and said Rs 11.60 lakh. But he said this is for a current model and in any colour you want. 

This gave me a shock. This is already a much better deal than AJC. I told them see your price is not significantly lower than their price. It is competitive but not significantly lower than them and there is no reason for me to ditch them. He said, "sir you tell me what price you want." I said, if you give it to me at Rs 11.50 then it is significantly lower than theirs and I will take it right now." 

He said can you give me the cheque right now? Even a 5k cheque will do. I will convince my MD to approve this price. I said yes. He phoned his MD and pleaded with him and then came and told me the deal was done. 

We shook hands and Monisha wrote the cheque. He would need the photocopy of our existing car's registration card, tax token etc. They would show to their principal Renault that a sale of our Esteem has happened through them where they have taken a hit of X amount which the principal would pay. This is being passed on to us in the form of a discount. The Esteem is not being sold at all. The bottom line is, our Esteem remains with us. But we get the discount. 

On Sunday we went again to the dealership. A wheel of fortune was to be rotated by Monisha. One of the gifts on offer was Rs 10,000 cash discount. Monisha's wheel stopped at discounts worth Rs 4000 at some 5-star property. Monisha said, for official purposes it should be deemed to have stopped on the 10k discount :-) 

So that's the final price. A new white Duster that costs officially Rs 12.33 lakh on road is going to be mine for Rs 11.40 lakh. 

We have sought delivery on the Bengali New Year Day. April 15. Right now we are busy finding the best finance deal. That's another stressful process.

Friday, 14th March, 2014

Today Monisha applied for the loan from ICICI Pru. We are taking a 4-year loan. I want to keep the option open for selling the car off before the 5th year. With the Esteem we realised that after 5 years you have to cough up a lot of cash which just does not make any sense. On the Esteem we had to spend almost Rs 1 lakh to keep it going. First the road tax, then we had to change the tyres, battery and spend about 30k on the suspension. Quite meaningless really. Makes sense to sell it off and get a new car. Our loan was for 5 years. So we carried on with the car. Then came a point where we thought we must drive the car for long to justify the spending. Ended up spending even more :-)

Thursday, 20th March, 2014

As things stand now, our loan has been sanctioned. Monisha has signed the agreement with the bank. I have been given the engine and chassis numbers. I checked the VIN and it says the car has been manufactured in India in 2014. We have already paid a token payment. Tomorrow a more substantial amount will be paid. We want the delivery on Poila Boisakh.

New Fodder for the Canon

I had sold off the Tokina 11-16 to Sujan a few weeks ago because it was too specialist a lens really. I wasn't using it much. Another major problem with the lens is that it's so wide you can't use flash with it. I have been wanting a good all purpose sort of walk about lens. And it had to be 77 mm and L. One of the problems of using an L is that you cannot buy anything less than that. I liked the idea of 24-105 but it's expensive. Tanvir said he had a used 24-70. Went to his shop to take a look and brought it home. Sixth February, 2014 to be precise.

The first impression after holding the lens in hand is, oh my God this is heavy. It is 950 gms to be precise. On POTN they call it "the brick". And on it I have added the UV filter and the CPL. So adds that much to it.

After some test shots in the room last night I am fairly happy with the lens. Obviously has some usage mark and looks old. Perhaps it has been cleaned. But it is reasonably sharp for me. Only grouse is, it is absolutely useless if you are using it wide open for something that is close. For objects that are at a reasonable distance, it's fine even at 2.8.

I think this lens is going to stay on the 450D permanently now and most definitely it is going to Sandakphu. Will have to think about selling off the kit lens. High time. Feeling a bit sorry for the Tamron 90 mm. It will be used less now. Have to devote more time to macro photography to use it. 

Big Boy's Latest Toy

I had been toying with the idea of getting a spotting scope for sometime. I guess ever since I birded in Goa's Bhagwan Mahavir Wildlife Sanctuary earlier in 2013. I was staying in the resort Backwoods with two more guests from Germany. Their approach to birding, I found, was totally different. The moment they saw a bird they would stop and pull out their binoculars. They would observe the bird thoroughly from the distance without disturbing it. If it was really far and sitting quiet on a well lit perch they would take the spotting scope out and set it up on a tripod and would observe the bird for a long time. If opportunities arose and the conditions were right, they would bring out their camera and take a few photographs. That was the last priority really.

I was adequately impressed. 

Birding to us is something quite different. The moment we see a bird we try to get as close as possible, taking photographs along the way. We try to get closer and closer, taking what we call the insurance shots, till the bird flies away. The photographs are good or bad depending upon the photographer's field craft. We hardly observe the birds or even try to identify them from their physical attributes. We would do that later by analysing our photographs on the computer at home. Getting a good photograph is of utmost importance to us.

This is certainly another approach but much loathed by most serious birders worldwide. To me identifying a bird from its photograph is the easy, and as of now the only, way out. But I don't want to remain that way. 

I recently saw on Amazon that Vanguard, the Chinese brand of sporting optics, tripods and camera bags, has introduced the Endeavour HD 82A for a price of Rs 38k plus. The reviews on B&H were decent. I found out the distributor was Nikita and their Calcutta guy Jasraj Bishnoi told me to get it from Irfan-bhai's Foto Lite in Metro gulli. Irfan-bhai quote a big discount on the Amazon price.

I put my Tokina 11-16 up for sale and found a ready buyer in Sujan. And finally with that money and a bit more I got the scope today. I have already fixed my spare Manfrotto plate on it. I checked the scope out from the rooftop this evening. Have to try it out in day light one of these days. The scope's field test will happen perhaps at Henry's Island in a couple of weeks. Have to book the hotel quickly :-)

Coppersmith Barbet

26th Feb, 2012 at Piyali Island Village Resort

A cute little Coppersmith Barbet has taken shelter in our neighbourhood. I have been hearing its characteristic calls for quite a few weeks. I had even tried to record it unsuccessfully a few days ago. On that occasion I hadn't used the microphone and there was a lot of ambient noise disturbance as well.

Got successful today. The microphone adds a distinct hum to the recording. In the same recording I also got a common tailorbird. But posted that as a separate file on xeno-canto. I recorded in the highest possible resolution.

This particular barbet's call is interesting because the bird gets its English name from its call.

Click here to listen to the recording on xeno-canto.

More of Big Boy's Toys

I have got it at last. Ever since my Foretrex 101's small spring in the battery chamber broke I have been meaning to replace it. Today got the eTrex 10 by courtesy of Suranjanadi. The cost is Canadian $114.10. Took several photographs as I unpacked the box. Loaded the batteries and acquired satellites from the rooftop and then registered the product on their website. Here are my first impressions.

1. The look is great but the feel is rather cheapo. Its very plastic. However, at about $100 you can't expect anything more. I just hope that it's not as brittle as it feels like. 
2. Opening the battery chamber is fairly easy. There is a knob behind that you turn 90 degrees and the back cover opens. Inserting the batteries was a little tricky. It felt a little too tight. Hopefully it will ease up. This task is pretty tough in the Foretrex 101. You need a penny to open the chamber. Indian coins don't work. In fact I have a US coin in my wallet for this purpose.
3. The instruction manual comes in 7 different languages. But thankfully each language is a separate booklet. English was on top. 
4. Satellite acquisition was pretty fast. 

Why did I buy the eTrex 10? Because of its no frills and bare bone nature. I don't really need maps and other fancy capabilities. I intend on buying a Nuvi for my car at a later stage which will have elaborate all India maps. But for hiking and general birding trips an affordable replacement for my basic Foretrex 101 is what I was looking for. The eTrex 10 is an improvement over that in the sense it has USB connectivity. Apparently the computer will read it as just another storage device. Let me see. 

I shall acquire some way points today and then see how it can be transferred to the computer.

In Foretrex I used to jot down the waypoints by hand and then key them into an XL sheet and then upload them on a map to create my own maps. With eTrex 10 that's no longer going to be an issue. 

27th December, 2012 : Few learnings from today worth noting down. Satellite capture with a clear view of the sky is super fast compared to Foretrex 101. The USB works fine and Windows could read the files but the Mac could not. Possibly because of the old OS. The system does not need to be switched on before connecting to the computer. It switches itself on - partially though. While coming back home from work left the receiver on on the front passenger seat. It never lost satellite contact. Am I missing my Foretrex 101? I think so, yes. If it had USB connectivity I would have gone out of my way to get it fixed.   

28th December, 2012: Went out to create some waypoints to check how the machine performs. It worked just fine. I went round the Victoria marking 11 waypoints in the process. When connected I could find this file that I quickly saved in my hard drive. The descriptions are typed by me on the computer.

After this I created this map, which is interactive (if I am connected to the internet) in the sense I can zoom in and out or click on the clickable elements. 

The waypoints are all marked with a blue flag and a number which is automatically assigned by the GPS. The typed in descriptions about the points can be viewed by any viewer by clicking on the flag. 

This map is created free by this website. All one needs to do is upload the GPX file on that website and they create such a lovely looking map. It is possible to add more details into the maps but I couldn't work out how to copy and paste .gpx files. Will crack that too in due course of time.

29th December, 2012: Today I uploaded the way points on the website of everytrail.com and created a "guide" for the walk around Victoria. The process is very straight forward and simple. Just upload the gpx file and then follow the steps one after the other. This is what it looks like.
A short walk around Victoria Memorial, Calcutta at EveryTrail | Download Guide to your iPhone or Android

EveryTrail - Find trail maps for California and beyond

Mr Mochi Revives My HD Boots

Last time when we went Bulleting to Shantiniketan (read the story here) I had worn my ten-year old Harley Davidsons. It was a very dear purchase for me when I went to the US in 2002. However, not having worn it for a long time the sole had got a little dry and when I reached Shantiniketan I realised that the pasting of the sole had just gone off. 

Thankfully this happened only on the right foot. Went looking for a cobbler. He put a few nails, saying his gum won't work with such heavy boots. He tried to stitch it up too but thankfully his needle couldn't make any impression on those American boots (made in China though). 

I was sad that a legend that I bought for more than $100 would perhaps have to be thrown away. 

But then someone told me about Mr Mochi. They are a shoe repairing shop on Darga Road. They pasted the soles for Rs 150 and the boots are wearable again. Bingo. I think Mr Mochi is going to get a lot of business from me. This is perhaps the first organised sector cobbler shop in Calcutta. 

The Brown Shrike of Metro Park

Towards the end of last winter I noticed a lone Brown Shrike perched on a small tree (possibly an Acacia Arabica) on the plot of land next to Biplabda's house. I was pretty thrilled by its presence. I heard the bird after a few days - very early in the morning, as I was going out on some birding trip.

This time, even before the full onslaught of winter, on 23rd September to be precise, as I was coming back from a day's birding at Rajarhat, I found a Brown Shrike perched on an electric line right in front of Salil Babu's house. I parked the car in my garage and came back with my camera. The bird gave me all the poses very quietly, albeit from an artificial perch. It was a juvenile.

Subsequently I heard the bird several times, particularly while going out for early morning birding trips when the area was still in the dark. I also saw the bird on several occasions.

A few weeks ago they started making a house in the plot next to the one where the shrike was most frequently seen. There is a lot of human activity there now. I had thought the bird must have called it a day and flown off to some other locality. But this morning at around 10.30 am, I heard her loud call. I went towards our stair case and saw the bird on the "Madhabilata" tree just outside. The distance between the bird and me could not have been more than 3/4 feet. I was on this side of a glass louvered window.

I quickly went and got my Edirol. Had to set it up with card, battery etc and then recorded the call. There was a lot of environmental noise over which I had no control. I wonder if she will come back to my locality all the way from Mongolia next year. I hope she finds a better place to spend her winter next year.



However, if she finds the Madhabilata tree in my house safe enough, it will always be there for her and other birds that want to use it.

According to IUCN Redlist the bird's population is decreasing. It is yet to reach the vulnerable stage. However, that is due to its large distribution range.