Rear Shocks

Today I got two Armstrong shock absorbers for the rear from Ghai Motors. They charged Rs 980 for the two. The sticker price for each is Rs 550. Gave the bike and the shocks to Dilip. Will be going to Haldia tomorrow so he can fit them.

June 1, 2012 - Odo 24430 km

It's 9.40 pm now. Came back from Haldia at around 7 pm. Just rode the Bullet back home from Dilip's with the new shocks. They are superb. It's a tremendous improvement over what I had for so many years. Dilip said those old shocks were really dead long time ago. I wonder how much more comfortable ride the Endurance gas filled ones make.

Dilip made a few other changes too. The yoke of the left hand clutch lever has been replaced with a new one (bought yesterday from Ghai for Rs 40). A new round rear view mirror has been fitted (bought from Ghai at Rs 40 - it's very shoddy quality though. Good ones aren't available). Till the other day, the left hand mirror was a Bajaj Pulsar type - slightly oval shaped. So I bought the new round one from Ghai. Trying to take out the old mirror the yoke broke !!!

I got the third class side stand thrown away too. I always had a good side stand. Got Dilip to fit it today.  Dilip feels it's not good enough either. But for me it serves the purpose. 

Dilip also rearranged the clutch wire properly. It was touching the hot engine and the plastic casing was melting away slowly. Now it's falling in a proper way with adequate clearing between the wire and the engine.

For safety's sake will have to get a set of clutch and accelerator wires and keep them in the tool box. Will also get a spare tube and keep it somewhere for longer rides.

Tomorrow I intend to change the rear tyre. Once I cross 1000 km I shall change the engine oil and Dilip has said he will get the clanking sound killed. 

One point worth mentioning here. The Armstrong shocks are now being manufactured and marketed by Tenneco in India. Not Gabriel anymore. I wonder why it is so. They own the brand globally. I wonder why Gabriel owned the brand in India so far. Will have to probe these angles.

Sports Shoes

I remember the first pair of sports shoes I had seen on my friends' feet in school. North Star from Bata. Pradipta Dutta in our class had a pair of them. Deep blue and yellow. They looked lovely and extremely desirable. Debasish Nag - one class junior to us - also had a pair. His was green and yellow. That wasn't as nice but the brand was just as desirable. I think this was in class eight or nine.

The Asics Gel - best pair of sports shoes I have ever worn

I wanted to own a pair of those. The deep blue ones perhaps. But the price was prohibitive. I think Rs 80 for a pair. It was really high for a pair of sports shoes. My father's annual budget on my shoes was Rs 30. So it remained a dream. A dream till some years later I bought a pair of sports shoes. Probably with my own money earned from giving tuitions to younger boys. It was a pair of grey Power Jogger. I remember buying them from Bata Lake Market and I came home floating in them.

The memory of that first walk in the first pair of sports shoes is really dear to me. I came home with a new bounce. Ever since I have bought many pairs of sports shoes of all brands available in India but none gave that feeling of the first walk.

A very good pair of Asics (Size 42.5) - sent by Chenka from England

Something similar happened when I changed from Indian tyres to four Michelins in my car. It gave me the same kind of floating feeling.

My fetish for sports shoes brands started with Lotto. I had a pair of white ones and subsequently bought many. Rajiv Gandhi made them famous after his assassination. I have owned Adidas, Nike and Reebok. In 2010 I ended up buying two pairs of Asics. The red Asics is by far the best pair of sports shoes I have ever worn. In terms of fit, comfort and support.

Euro Size 42 - they fit me the snuggest

Maa, Mati, Manush

Last Saturday I had gone to Welington Square to enquire about a part for my Bullet. I was coming back down Dharmatolla Street (I think its current official name is Lenin Sarani) to take the metro from Chandni when something caught my eye. A street side vendor selling old Gramophone records. The LP record which caught my fancy was of SD Barman. Dur Kon Porobashe. It had a lovely black and white photograph of SD on the cover. I asked the price and he said Rs 80. I had made up my mind to buy it. The seller showed me another LP of SD which I also decided to buy.

After this I squatted down to flip through his collection when this blue LP caught my attention. Maa, Mati, Manush. A double LP album. There was no further questioning. I bought the album. It cost me a total of Rs 250.

The Album Cover

Did I (really) Do It?

The moment we entered their territory they started asking this question. Did you do it? Did you do it? I told them several times and yet they wouldn't be convinced. They kept on repeating the question. Did you do it? And what aggression. They were coming very close to us. Almost ready to strike.

We were two of us Suman and I. They were also just two of them. Vociferously guarding their nesting site. We were walking along a partition between two large but shallow fisheries ponds. They thought we were going to raid their nest which must have been somewhere close by. We were going in search of the common shelducks. And the moment we turned a bend their calls stopped.

The same vociferous defence of their nesting site resumed when we came back down the same narrow path. But we could not help it as it was the only available path. I did record the call and of course took a few photographs also. But we didn't do it.