A Photoessay of the Hangout with Honda Event at Bangalore 3rd August 2013.
It was a nice setting, a Saturday morning in Bengaluru’s weather and driving the pot filled roads. I reach Taj Vivanta not before being introduced midway to Karthik, a privateer rally driver. Very interesting exchanges on motorsports and entrepreneurship follows.
At the venue of Honda Hangout, get to meet those bloggers at arms and the Bloggers Mind team! And we settle after a nice breakfast! I could see cars lined up for the day.
The official itinerary had the normal stuff and we were led through a very long and interesting presentation on the Honda Amaze and how it came to be the car that it is today.
Also got to see a couple of nice Honda television commercials: Check this one!
The Honda Amaze is a greatly conceived car and has the Honda DNA and the Diesel version has the power and sensitivity to a great extent. This is a culmination of studies and insights from ground zero. In one of the answers the team said they had studied some 20 different road bumps to get to the right ride height. The space in the back seats also marks the importance of leg room and they have optimised the boot.
So we were all set, in groups of three people and a member Bloggers Mind. It happened that I was a part of the first car!
All set the first impressions were obvious ones, a grand looking car, nice front grill with trademark Honda Logo the lights were also clear and flowing with the lines, then there was the fog lamps.Oh these cars comes in beautiful colours too!
The back of the car was also very well styled. Looks pretty with the lights on! The chrome band adds to the look.
Look inside is a nice console, would have loved the music system and the AC panel flowing down rather than being two different sets. You will find three colours on the panel , its pretty sleek to an extent, and the plastic look actually makes it little cheap.
Otherwise the dual tone interiors are a delight to soak in. One serious stuff they missed is the BLUE TOOTH! Yes it doesn’t have blue tooth connectivity.
The steering is collapsible ie tiltable, has Airbags, has music controls at your fingertips, so you dont strech yourself in the city riding. On the other hand the seat has a height adjuster, so you know if you are not able to reach the clutch, you know what to do!
The wind shield is a special one with heat control, another amaze-ing feature if you can call it.
I must admit that noise control is par excellence, you would wonder if the car is on, well checked with revs to confirm it.
The ORVMs can be handled from inside and it also has a sporty feel to it with the indicator lights on.
So we were all set to drive and test it to the limits, yeah we mean that! đ
Before that let me add the cup holders were a delight it actually was able to hold real 2 bottles. The back seat also had bottle holders very amply spaced out.
A tidbit here: The product team actually collected over 200 bottles from the people at office to finalise the size of the holder.
So we hit the road!
The car was responding so well to the city roads!
Very comfortable in 2nd and 3rd gears too, pretty responsive steering and very close turning radius helps you navigate the city, the traffic the signals and the pot holes in abundance.
The verdict is out half way – very nice city car!
So we would be touching the high way to actually try going that extra distance and feel the car.
And here we tested it to limits, just look at the snap below! Its a manual setting in the camera, and i was able to take this shot on the highway, it felt like breeze no hangups and no pretence of being fast!
Pretty nice build I must say! But when I drove I was wondering if we needed an extra bit of power, may be its the light weight on the aluminium engine that makes you feel so! So far its been a great ride and Honda Amazes truly!
The engine is pretty powerful and makes for a great drive in city and also on the highway! A 1.5 L iDTEC gives a 100 ps power! Very peppy and responsive as already discussed.
The boot space is optimum, and you have a nice package from Honda! Altogether a great packaging for the Indian consumers and Amaze does the most important thing in fuel efficiency, we did clock over 18 Kmpl on the go and we had really taken it for a ride literally, while another team did make it at 22.4 kmpl! Thats the one big news you were waiting for. So you have a cool sedan and a nice mileage, did someone ask kitna deti hai? đ
A very nice package value for money and you will love the Honda tag! Going by the waiting period you know they have done the rightest thing, and they are working overtime to reduce that to a half the time with a third shift at their facility.
A nice Honda Hangout with even the team coming from Product management and the marketing made it awesome, simple because they were all ears to the feedback, and that I would say would make all the difference.
Some offbeat shots below!
Thanks to Bloggers Mind for this wonderful opportunity! Had a great time and will cherish this experience forever. It was different social media experiment taking it offline đ and discussing things online!
Senthilkumar Rajappan
There are some debuts which will make a difference! One such debut is this Amreekan Desi. Totally mesmerized  by the book especially the narrative was simple so close to your eyes. You would be walking, running and flying alongside the characters and not to mention making you laugh all the way even whenever they were thinking aloud.
Now to the story, we have three main characters, all get to the same campus at Amreeka, let me also turn the Punjabi way! Differing backgrounds, different families, and different aspirations to make it in Amreeka all in the way they have mentally prepared.
Meet Akhil Arora, the protagonist of this story, your goody goody boy and the eye of all the studious lot. In his portrayal the author has given us a valuable friend and advices galore just in case you are preparing for GRE or even the idea of America in a different vein.
He has a girl friend in Nandita, who actually gets introduced during their first flight onward to Amreeka and the blossoming of the relationship is beautifully woven without the extreme characterization that you normally find with the characters in love.
Then you have Jaspreet, oops he’s gonna kill me for calling him that name, its actually Jassi if you wana call him that.
He is your quintessential American addict or the dude who thinks that all women behave like they show on MTV. Â Its his adventures which make it pretty interesting and gives a lot of insights into why there is so much we misunderstand American Culture. Oh I forgot he is the biggest fan of Pamelaji! Now dont ask me who is Pamelaji!
Its a nice story of all these three characters and more, Â the families, the student friends at the campus, the life and times of these people in a new land and how they get transformed, adapted and make a beginning like no other. It casts the best of human frailties and emotional setbacks in an academic environment and transports us to the lives of these people over the two years they spend graduating from the University.
It also portrays how we stereotype the America Desi and for a change this book revels around the true picture without taking the liberty to be a novel. Its a pretty close to heart narration that makes you turn page after page till the end.
You will probably yearn to know – what would happen to Jassi, and curse Akhil when he does the worst and feel bad for Nandita during the course of the reading. The best part of this is the characters might be close to someone you know and may be someone you may meet in the future.
A class act, I would say some of the instances in the story like Akhil making his effort to convince Nandita’s parents, though it would seem filmy, it was grounded. Sprinkled with wit and laced with humour, this is an easy and a fast paced read that you would enjoy any time and I am sure yo uwould put it down only when you finish it. You would really have a new idea of America and also start loving your own country as much as you will start appreciating the diversity and the Indianess  associated with us. I have been asked to use the word appreciate. Hope the Americans appreciate that.
Absolutely great read and an awesome debut in this genre for young people, and according to me  the sense of humour it evokes is its biggest achievement.
Thanks to Nimi – The Readers Cosmos  Review Program for the opportunity to review this book.
To know more about the book :Â http://book.amreekandesi.com/Â and for some excerpts of the book go here:Â http://book.amreekandesi.com/excerpts/
Senthilkumar Rajappan
This ad by Kalyan Jewellers was being awaited atleast going by what Manju Warrier told everyone watching the malayalam channels a few days prior to the release of this TVC.
I was also a bit surprised that they ran a TVC to announce another TVC, ofcourse Manju Warrier was making a comeback screen presence after long. It was a coup of sorts to get them together – Senior Bachan and Manju Warrier on the same screen. The script is nice and real to a great extent.
And when the ad made the debut, it was a long one just over 2 minutes with slice of life moments and then culminating with the Vishvasam alle ellam which translates to Trust is everything. I think that was a nice way of relating to the customer and the brand value comes so close to the ad.
Here take a look at the ad:
Now coming to why I was writing this, this has garnered over a million views on Youtube in almost 3-4 days since its launch in the last week.
It made sense to be on the social media since this was a pretty long commercial and may be the next set of TVCs will be a bit short and you know how it goes.
This is the effect that “Owned Media” will have in the long run. Getting close to 1 million views in real, you can work the economics of the same when you are broadcasting this in the Television media.
This should have been taken with some more options like may be download ring tone (here there was no real ring tone though, or could have asked people to shoot their experience and crowd source video reaction to this ad…)
So its a nice start for even retail brands like Kalyan to get into this space and make a statement. This almost takes you off being a regional player and makes the other brands to look up. Thats the best part with digital, made the world look up to well you know who – with why this kolaveridi? Dhanush K Raja! Yes digital is here and how. Watch out for other retailers to take a cue from this.
On another note and closer look, was surprised to see Manju Warrier was having the seat belt on while she was being driven to the hospital – who are you kidding guys?
Senthilkumar R
A Maverick Heart: Between Love and Life
A novel by Ravindra Shukla
You know when you want to write you could always do a light reading stuff, after all this also has an IIT background to it. But I was surprised to find logical and philosophical takes which was on the verge of being practical and carve a character to be the etched in memory though it was an aspirational one.
The story opens up at the college campus with the three characters in question, Rahul the narrator, his friend Neerav and the lady love Richita. These three characters live out our fantasies of being at the IIT and also echo some of the aspirations and beliefs that we would have held at that times in our lives.
The author takes a realistic view on their lives not to go the fairy tale way and clubs the logical and practical issues with how the world views them and the protagonist is nurtured to be the person with such characteristics that its very aspirational that we could see someone in the real life. Probably that sense in the reader keeps him to see what happens to him till the end.
A nice lucid read except for some parts I thought was little too explanatory which could have been avoided, the pace of the story is kept intact. The characters keep themselves up in their own right. Sprinkle it with some family drama and some real life incidences across all their lives, it gets close as much as possible to reality.
Some explanations are not obvious but then the author has taken himself to explain them especially with the character of Rahul. I did like the way he views the deadline and competition part of academics and how we are creating a robot out of the students every time the same time of the year!
The story moves in parts and covers a lot of events across the given time period and takes you across to the land of dreams USA and gives a glimpse of how the world works in corporate corridors.
Some instances will remain with you forever and may be make you sit up and look back if you can probably do something like that. Of course read keenly you can come up with many instances straight out of the real happenings in our times.
Absolutely an awesome read, could have been a little light at times and at some place, the narration is in second person towards the end, could have been in first person narrative like it started, though it isn’t so noticeable.
A light read and makes for an interesting debut. Though there are enough college romances, this would stand out for its sheer way of portrayal of the characters especially the protagonist. If you really read between lines there is ample scope for you to look at the world differently.
A word of thanks to The Readers Cosmos for the opportunity to review this a part of Book Review program!
For some sample reading you can go here:
http://www.ravindrashukla.com/p/blog-page.html
Senthilkumar R
My take on Ambassador was revived once I read this article from Firstpost, and here we go with down memory lane! The following is a blogpost I did in 2005!
While I was driving down the office these cars today caught my attention at the traffic signals. Well I am talking about the white Amby with a siren decorated atop and a sunshade to complement. And the usual red board with golden letters whatever…Commissioner, Judge, Mayor….. So today two such cars caught my imagination.
Here are some facts, Since its inception these cars have been used as the official cars except under very strange circumstances. There are a real show of power especially white ambassador cars and has been in use even now as a the car of the politically powerful. Every farmer makes Ambassador their first car.
With so much to styling and the aerodynamics in car design, Amby has always stood its mite being the same car for almost over thirty years. No major design changes have happened in the car and it keeps going strong. Of course you should not take it face to face with todays cars in terms of sales but I believe it had had its enduring value as a car and more to do with politics. It will be sometime before these cars can be replaced. Just imagine if Laloo Prasad Yadav or anybody comes in a Merc, it will be a real contradiction.
As for safety, this car is the favorite, they even had a campaign running how reliable these cars are since the army is using them out there in the borders and other terrains.
Probably ask Mr. Chandrababu Naidu, he would vouch for the safety of the Amby. Analyst say no other car would have made it through if not for Amby during a grenade attack on the Ex-CM.
Ask some of the best people in tinsel town. they use an Amby, The southern superstars, Rajinikanth and Mamootty still own an Amby and Rajinikath is supposed to be really driving it around.
And abroad there is a Car Rental company in UK which runs only Amby and you wont get it cheap, you got to pay more to go in these cars. Japan also imported these cars for their sturdy ‘design’.
And come to choosing colors, I am reminded of Ford who said ‘any color is fine with me as long as they are black’, but then as for Amby any color is fine as long as it is white.
It rules the roost atleast for a topic like this. And to remind you this year Amby celebrates the fiftieth year in being of service to this nation. Long journey ahead and you could always take your bet on an Amby. It is an enigma on Indian roads, which will last for a lifetime.
Senthilkumar Rajappan
(This is a #replug and was posted at http://o3.indiatimes.com/provokingthoughts/archive/2005/09/01/238886.aspx on Sep 01, 2005 )
If there is no innovation then we can be sure of a revolution, said Dr. Siva Ayyadurai during his interaction at SCAD Institute of Technology, near here at Palladam. Innovation occurs when you break rules and think out of the box. He also appealed to young people to take responsibility for their future than look for jobs. India had a bright future ahead with over 600 million people under 25 years of age.
He further added that India needs more engineers and they need to focus on solving the problems which affect the Indian people rather than work for the companies that help the foreign economy.
In his interaction with the students he recalled the story of a 14 year old at an unknown Newark City Hospital, where he was treated an equal and was able to create an Email system for a medical hospital. It was an interesting take from the man himself as he took the students through how the inbox and the outbox was actually the real literal things they had in the snail mail era.
He urged the students to keep in touch world and keep abreast of whatâs happening in the world.
He also spoke on the need for students to be socially aware since he felt Innovation can only be achieved with equality and it was an important factor which helped him achieve that when he was just 14. There was a need to create an environment where we can create jobs, create industry and make it happen for the country.
He also stressed the importance of being healthy and that would be helping them think better. He spoke about Siddha one of his interests close to heart. He explained the advent of medicine when it was forced during wars.
On his future plans he said he was working a health system model which aims to cuts the time taken to create new molecules for medicines. He was also planning to put up the medical knowledge of Siddha online for the world to use it effectively.
On a question on privacy and he said it was for the people of the respective country to decide and that would be a democratic decision on whether the governments can track emails.
He also said there needs to be an innovative environment in the institutions to help foster new learning and create new solutions locally.
Senthilkumar Rajappan
Business Sutra by Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik at first instance, is an exhaustive read I should admit, but in case you have seen the videos it should be easy to relate to.
In another plane, there was this evident need of unravelling the Indian Business, especially why is it the way it is. Dr. Pattanaik answers this unassuming but significant question in his book.
As always dotted with this unique and easy illustrations, Business Sutra comes with a nice interface if you ask me and also with a easy to go through format, in the sense that you can read anywhere, though it would be nice if you read it in the sequence presented.
So it starts with Business is Yagna, the description from the Hindu scriptures. We can easily compare every business activity to a Yagna where in the Yajaman initiates the ritual and makes offerings into agni and hopes to please his deity so that he gets what he wants from the devata.
The explanations are extensive taken from all the Hindu scriptures and quoted widely to impress upon a point. Our outlook to business has been moulded unknowingly by the our early formative years and also by what we have seen and experienced, but the whole point is that the Western and Eastern philosophies have different take on how business is run.
It is quite possible to see the Trinity in action â Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva and also the three deviâs of Saraswati, Lakshmi and Durga in all the activities of the business. So we are taken on a trip across Indraâs heaven to the Vishnuâs abode to days of sages as we see how their actions and relationships depict the way the business is done.
Then you have a modern day decription of what is said and you can easily relate to our own business or the way the corporate corridor behaves or works.
This book is like the churning of the milky ocean and then you get so many things coming out of it. We need the devas and asuras in realty to make things happen for the businesses.
On a personal note, I have always wanted someone to give this outlook on management from Indian perspective in a way that it gets to the laymanâs idea and am happy it is clearly achieved in this book.
A beautiful read and an exhaustive mythological resource in a way almost 400 plus pages of sheer storytelling, he has a nice ending with a ‘How to reject this book’ which has this ideas why you should reject this book. One which left me laughing loud was this – This is a right wing propaganda!
On the book design it was a designer’s delight and a reader’s delight combined into one. Perfectly crafted and presented in a neat manner, is sure to be a great handy resource for management.
R Senthilkumar
This review is a part of the biggest Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!
PS: My sincere apologies to Blogadda, since I had some problems with my blog and took long time to get this review up.
For someone living in Delhi, this book would definitely make them sit up and identify every character and place so seamlessly that you would be living the action as you turn the pages.
In his inimitable style of making another thriller, Mukul Deva demonstrates his plot with unusual ease and tackles the storyline with believable characters.
RIP is a story set in the times of peaceful anti corruption movement of 2011, while the country is agitated with the corruption and the masses join the movement, elsewhere a group of ex-SPG men led by Col Krishna Athawale decide to form Resurgent Indian Patriots  and teach the politicians a lesson in a way that they would understand, ofcourse it needed to hurt them literally and they chose the violent route.
The RIP chooses its targets with precision that would would only be a mark of a former army personnel. They know its a gamble that they are on and especially if they mis-step even once, that would be the end of their mission and even their life. Â But the team is committed and works its plan to the tee and executes them to the dot.
Raising the stakes much higher, they announces their intent so that they police and the govt make all necessary precaution and to make their point continue to literally execute the offenders.
The story also has the Govt.’s angle with the Home Minister Karunakaran deciding to do a private investigation and derail the RIP. He in fact hires Raghav again an ex special protection group personnel, to ground the RIP. What would it be without the real police or the investigating wing in here and you have the CBI Director also playing an important role in the story.
The story also has some emotional moments with the personal side of the characters and how they cope with the stress of the work and try balancing it personally.
The character of Reena  and of the kids add to the emotional value to the storyline, which otherwise is just the professional working of the RIP in action.
The last and the final assault of RIP is gripping to the core especially as the narrative turns on from the central Delhi to the Noida the final stages giving in to real suspense.
The book has the script of the movie showing in front of your eyes, and you could sometimes see yourself in the drivers seat and visualise whats happening in front of you and also in the rear view mirror.
The romance of Reena and Krishna though a bit exaggerated adds for some nice conversations and in that the author gives way to the human side of the characters .
The villain of the piece Raghav gets to play his role though he is late by a minute which in this story is very very late.
Though you might get to draw parallels to the characters and situations in the story, I think given a chance the reader and the country men at large will want an exercise like that, atleast a fanciful one if it could change the face of the country and wipe off the corrupt.
Thanks to the author’s background, he has a vivid and interesting way to present the armed forces and their role in the nation building especially when during peace times or the things they do to avert a war.
Senthilkumar R
This review is a part of the biggest Book Reviews Program. for Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!
This was one of the best moments in my life! Being with the F1 car atop the Khardung La – the highest motorable road in the world!
Thanks RedBull for the opportunity!
Senthilkumar