History of Motorcycle ( doodle art)

It has been 19 months, I am working on motorcycle projects. Some big some small but I have invested sometime to understand and appreciate the mean machine.
To be very clear. I am not a bike, neither I own a bike nor ride one. The closest I have come to riding a bike is a sunny gearless bike with a friend and I almost killed both us as I decided to try biking on the hill in a completely new country where no one knows us. Yes we had an accident anyways (not my fault in any way) but that story for some other time. Yes that is my kind of adventure, but I know where to draw a line. I never drove a motorcycle neither planing in the near future until someone come up with a full proof bike (my expectations are sky high) or I design one (as I said about expectations)
But that doesn't mean that u can't appreciate the beauty and the engeering of this beautiful machine. I read a quote some where " 4 wheelers move body but 2 wheelers move soul", loved the quote. I guess most of the bikers feel this at some point in their life.
Being a designer I wanted to explore the world that resides between the 2 wheels. And as I am exploring it there is so much to learn and explore.
This is my first projects where I wanted to explore where and how everything started, in other words "History of Motorcycle".
The following posters are my  representation of the actual images of the machine in the early days when it was conceptualized by the great minds and shaped into what it is today.

This is the end of part one. Would like to know your views about the same. If you have some facts related to the history of motorcycles would like to know about it, so we can add it in our next blog.

All the material and information is from internet (wikipedia)

MY INTERPRETATION OF THE LINES FROM THE NOVELS

I came across these lines in one of the post by Buzzfeed, you can check it here

http://www.buzzfeed.com/jenniferschaffer/i-am-i-am-i-am#.mxOweEo98P

There were some awesome lines in it which I wanted to depict in illustration format and in my own interpretation
So here they are some of the lines.
 Hope you enjoy it.

"IN OUR VILLAGE, FOLKS SAYS GOD CRUMBLES UP THE OLD MOON INTO STARS."
This line is from the novel 'One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich' by Author Alexander Solzhenitsyn

"THE PIECES I AM, SHE GATHERED THEM AND GAVE THEM BACK TO ME IN ALL THE RIGHT ORDER."

This line is from the novel 'Beloved' by Author Toni Morrison

"IF EQUAL AFFECTION CANNOT BE, LET THE MORE LOVING ONE BE ME."
This line is from the novel 'The More Loving One' by Author W.H. Auden

"SOMETIMES I CAN FEEL MY BONES STRAINING UNDER THE WEIGHT OF ALL THE LIVES I'M NOT LIVING."

This line is from the novel 'Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close' by Author Jonathan Safran Foer 

"AND NOW THAT YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE PERFECT, YOU CAN BE GOOD."
This line is from the novel 'East of Eden' by Author John Steinbeck

   

 "SHE WASN'T DOING A THING THAT I CAN SEE, EXCEPT STANDING THERE LEANING ON THE BALCONY RAILING HOLDING THE UNIVERSE TOGETHER."

This line is from the novel 'A Girl I knew ' by Author J.D. Salinger

Hope you liked the Illustrations. I am still working on the series of "My Interpretation of the lines from the Novels".

A lot in line for future update. Would love to know you views on the same.

KURLY KACTUS

Learner. Scribbler. Day Dreamer. since 1985

YOU DID IT AGAIN... CADBURY

The Diwali has ended and the sweets are still pending. Most of the time it is leisure eating for a lazy weekend afternoon or for the late comers for whom Diwali is till Tulsi Poojan so "Sab maaf aur plate saaf".

    Earlier it used to be chakli, Karaja, shankarpalli, ladoo (those beautiful days). The preparation, the innocent stealing and getting caught by mom and getting the punishment of helping her preparing the sweets with her. Ohh… those memories.

   Now that the life is about easy access and the malls are near, still lazy? Few clicks and everything delivered to your door. The fun of sweet preparation is no longer fun for people, it is now time consuming and tiring. If all the time we are kitchen then how will we party at our friend’s place who will order everything from these brands. The tradition of preparing sweets and inviting friends and family to enjoy it.

   This year I was gifted with the prestigious ‘Cadbury Celebrations Rich Dry fruit collection’. I will not deny I love chocolates and I have been around chocolates for most of the time recently as my mom loves to make homemade chocolate. She is extremely good at it too.

Being a design and in advertising, I am used to brand everything even my mom’s homemade chocolate. It was named CHOCOLATE FACTORY. But that story for some other day.

Today I am writing this for some very important reason. The reason you will find heard of yet disgusting and heart breaking. One of the biggest chocolate brand of the country has lost its loyalty and brand value in my eye. Cadbury has always been a brand associated with happiness and memories personally and generally too. From birthdays to general occasion Cadbury has always been part of the event, making it sweeter every time.

Not long time back, there was many news of Cadbury loosing is quality in product and hence as a brand. They also got India’s superstar Mr. Amitabh Bachan as a brand ambassador to vouch for the quality and safety of the product and revive the brand and build faith in consumer about the brand. But how can a brand sustain only on a celebrity if the company doesn't back it up with actual good quality product and giving false hopes about the product which is actually of bad quality to an extent that it is dangerous to consume.

Coming back to the incident. I got this Cadbury Celebration box and as any child irrespective of age, I got excited too to open the box and have some delightful melting awesomeness in my mouth. But that was about to change. I opened the box and got one chocolate out of the tray, never doubting the brand I consumed it without checking and it turned out to be OK. I went for another one but this time I fortunately checked the piece and to my horror it had a bug in it. Yes it was alive and crawling as you can see in the image and the video below. 

 It was having Diwali of its own, enjoying the chocolate all by himself. I was shocked yet unsure, what I am witnessing is real. I checked it again this time closely and it was worm and that too alive and kicking. For a safer side I checked all the chocolate pieces and it turned out to be one more in the same box with the fate of the worm not as lucky as the one in the other piece.

You can find the video here

It was unreal for me. A brand so big can have such product out in the market without having through checking of it in quality department.

It is not about the brand image anymore but safety of the consumer at stake. The major consumer of the product is kids. How can we let kids have it when the product turns out to be filled with bugs.

Dear Cadbury, we can take care of our protein intake you don’t need to add bugs in the chocolate to kill the delightful experience of chocolates in our memory for ever. I don’t expect an apology or a refund from you, but just an awareness for all my friends, family and all lovers of chocolate; BRAND DOESN'T MAKE THE PRODUCT GOOD, GOOD PRODUCT MAKES THE BRAND.

BEWARE of the chocolate you consume or buying in future and for Cadbury, improve you quality control, you lost one loyal customer and I hope it doesn't go on till you are no longer a brand.

My memories are now bugged...

little tale in local train: HAPPY STRANGER

Travelling in trains is like a surprise gift for Diwali or birthday (which you prefer more to celebrate?). You never know what it is gone a be, A happy surprise or a distasteful junk to be parceled to new address ASAP (As soon as possible)

If you live in Mumbai you will know, train is part of our daily life as it is lifeline of the city. You are bound to travel in one, whether you hate it or like it. Over the period of time you start to enjoy the moving circus.

There is always new story to live or to tell. Right from the dangerous and absolutely illegal and never recommended stunts to the characters you come across in the dabba. Yes the compartment is called dabba in Mumbai, more like an overflowing dabba. Today I am sharing the story of a man with an interesting philosophy of life, who lives it with pride everyday and I was fortunate enough to experience it with him.

It was general day, heading office in peak hours without creasing your perfectly ironed shirt or without spoiling you polished shoes is an adventure in itself. I got into the train and spotted a place to stand (mind you, it is an achievement or a feat to do so with your over bulging bag with you) I got some stares from the fellow commuters but traveling in train in first class, it is a normal thing.

 I always preferred 2^nd class over this arrogance dabba  a.k.a  1^st class. In 2^nd class commuters are helpful and more accommodating than the snorty and adamant commuters in 1^st class.

I settled myself between a man with an overwhelming aroma of hair oil and an old man with curious singing style. All were busy in their own world, in their own private space (this is one of the good parts of Mumbaikars. We have learned to find solace in crowd rather cribbing about the over population and migration). Suddenly there was a shout, “You don’t have any manners?” and all eyes were searching for the point of origin from where the sound traveled and so was I and my eye rested on a middle aged man shouting and arguing with a man standing on the door and ignoring his antiques. 

(As I said earlier local train here are like overflowing dabba. You will find at least 5 people hanging with their dear life on the door to reach to their destination and which is very normal for a routine Mumbaikar)

Irritated by the ignorance coming for the guy hanging by the door the man shouted again on a higher pitch and this time getting little personal in abuse, “pata nahi kaha kaha se aa jate hai 1^st class mein” (point to be noted; You can abuse a man on his name, religion or geography but if u define him by class then that is an ultimate war horn in local train). The old man caught attention of the guy standing on the door; he was red and furious in a second and started abusing back. This is when the whole compartment caught their attention and were ready to get entertained and if necessary ready to participate in the show which is about to go down.

Listening to the comeback coming for the guy on the door the old man was taken aback but with so many people witnessing the battle of the morning train he had to stand his ground and come up with fierce but logical rant with emotional touch, so that the crowd starts taking his side and the battle is half won.

The whole thing was going down just 5 feet away from me but nobody bothered to know or question why this quarrel started is the first place. Everyone was too much involved in hearing name calling and comebacks that it never crossed anybody’s mind to know the cause of the disturbance. I was too curious to let it go, so I rewinded the event which I witnessed and scanned for the cause but then somebody shouted from behind, “Arre agar tujhe itna hi pyaar hai apne bag se, toh haath mein pakad na, dusro ko taklif kyun de raha hai”. Then I realized the whole fuss was about a bag… yes a bag.

This man hanging on the door gutka eating, gold flashing dude had his bag suspended on his portable hook to the door which was causing nuisance to the man standing behind it. Yes… you heard it right; he had a hook of his own for his bag. Listening to that I was automatically for the man who started the fight and rest of the commuters also started arguing with the guy to take his bag down in his hand and avoid causing trouble to fellow commuters but the gutka eating gold flashing dude was not interested, he behaved like he was not bothered by others discomfort unless he and his bag are comfortable and in place. This raised the temperature of the commuters in the compartment and it was turning to be physical brawl when there was a long and loud alap. It came form a commuter behind me, exactly behind me. Everyone went silent for few seconds in the compartment and had a weird look on their face staring at the man. He was carefree about the situation he created for himself and continued with his singing.

“malish… telllllllll malish

Sir jo tera chakraye yaaaaa dil duba jaye. aja payere paas humare…. kahe ghabraye…. kahe ghabraye

malish… telllllllll malish”

In a second the whole crowd started laughing on him, having giggles, getting back to their personal solace place in the crowd. I was too shocked to analyze what just happened, from a motivated violent crowd to gentle strangers again, it was a transformation you have to see to belive it. I had to talk to the man (he had a great voice). I turned and gave a big grin to the man. He saw me and said “That is what I am looking for”. My face shifted gear from big grin to confused curiosity. The old man caught the sudden shift and told me,

“Beta, agar hum safar mein bhi apne bhaiyon se jhagadne lage toh safar sundar kaise hoga. Manzil sabko mil jayegi, par manzil pane ki kushi tab badegi jab safar sundar hoga”

I was awww struck to what I heard and experienced in the span of 15 minutes of my train ride. I wanted to talk to the man more and get his name. But Dadar station arrived and like the sheep herd moving in unison I was pushed out of the compartment and I lost the man in the crowd.

You never know what, who you come across to get a life lesson that will be with you for the rest of you life.

Little Tale on Local Train

x

If you live in Mumbai you will be very well versed with the local train and adventures related to it. Local trains are called life line of Mumbai. You curse about it but you definitely can't live without it. Daily around 7.5 million people travel in trains with the approximation of 5000 people per train. It is not a small feat for both local train and the people traveling in it. It is the fastest mode to reach anywhere in Mumbai and no one will deny it despite the discomfort experienced in it on a daily basis. Mumbai is developing; the introduction of metro and monorail has diverted the crowd and made life a little bit easier. But for the ever growing Mumbai even that is not enough.

Despite all the complaints and rants against it, this 161 year old mode of transport also gives you some of the most memorable or AWWW moments which is not possible anywhere else. Something like that happened to me today.

I am a designer by profession and retro artist by choice. I like old structures, the mechanics and rustiness in them, it appeals to me. 

It feels like every one has a story to tell, they just need somebody to listen to. I love to do that. 

So traveling in local transport is just not about convenience but also choice for that matter.

It was a usual day and it was weekend (by the way there is not set holiday for me as most of my work is freelance), but that was a lazy day and I just wanted to get away from the  work and explore the city. I declared holiday for my self and loitering and exploring Mumbai was in the agenda.

After motivating myself to get cleaned up and pushing myself out of the house (mind you the hardest part of my day everyday) I was all set for Mumbai Darshan. I reached the station and boarded a semi full train. Sometime weekend makes the traveling in local train enjoyabkle and comfortable as most are relaxing in the weekend by being home or traveling outside Mumbai.

I was on the door enjoying the fresh breeze hitting my face, when I heard a little girls voice. I turned and there she was in her father’s comfortable seat of folded hands standing next to me. When you travel, you get to see a lot of people; different shape, size, behavior, attitude so they are easily noticeable. But this father daughter duo was nothing out of the ordinary. The farther was average looking middle class man wearing a tight shirt uncomfortably to get the weekend feel and in his hand was a cute little girls with 2 ponytail of her slightly wavy hair and big brown eyes trying to absorb the surrounding as much as she can. She was too adorable to be ignored.

The girl was having a conversation with her dad is Gujarati, now if you live in Mumbai being multi lingual is a necessity and not a choice or talent.

A few stations passed people got down and the situation in the train was little better. I took a seat and the dad daughter duo sat right opposite to me. They were having their own conversation, when I overheard something. The little girl asked her dad to tell her a story and she wanted the story right away. The dad felt awkward at start but then he started the story. I could see in the fathers eyes, he was excited to narrate the story too. He was hardly paying attention on how other commuters are reacting to the situation.

And he started... "There was a guy named Papu, he had a bicycle and he loved to ride it. He had a friend Rohan who was excited about travelling out-station  and he was waiting for rickshaw to take him to the station, but there was no rickshaw seen around and Rohan was sad about being late to the station and missing the train. Papu saw Rohan and went to greet him.

Papu: Hi Rohan, Good Morning, are you going on a holiday.

Rohan: Hi Papu, good morning to you too, yes I am going for a holiday but I am unable to get a rickshaw. If I don't reach in time I will miss my train and the holiday will get canceled.

Papu: Ohhh.... That is bad; can I be of some help to you? I can drop you to station on my bicycle?

Rohan: oh wow!! That will be great Papu. Thank you.

Rohan climbed on papu's bicycle and they left for station.

All this while the girl was very quite and attentive to the story narrated by her dad.

After the story ended the dad completed it with, moral of the story, "When someone is in need of help, always try to help them to your best possible way" and the girl was nodding with her pony tail jumping in the air and her big brown eyes on her father.

It was very surprising and refreshing for me to see such a conversation between father and daughter, important life advices passed to the kid with simple stories.

I wanted to hear more but my destination arrived and I had to leave the duo for their next adventure with Rohan & Papu. It is not every day you come across such people but I would have missed this beautiful 15 min if not for local trains.                                                    

Best dish in the world...

Yes I am talking food today. No recipe or ideas for simple cooking but just a journal entry of a hogger. Yes a hogger, I have very carefully analyzed the word to refer myself with it.

A hogger: A person or a being who will engulf anything that looks remotely edible. 

I don't know about Oxford dictionary, but that is the definitions and I live by it.

I have not traveled much just some national destinations so my food knowledge is very local and I am very proud of it, sometime even flaunt it.

Most of the people I came across, over heard or discussed with, was more about international food destination. It was all about food from different culture, demographic and continent. But for me food is home, the recipe that makes me feel homely is the ultimate dish and even Gordon Ramsay can't affect that belief of mine. There is so much to explore locally that I never felt to leave the city for experiments and new flavors.

Ok here I introduce some of my friends who are hoggers same as me. We have our different specialty like super heroes have their special powers. Let me start with my friend who is known for eating anything, I mean anything; from frog, snakes to bugs. He has tried and tested everything. The second one comes with elegant pallet, the person with whole seven course attitude with a dash of wine in it (red preferred) and then comes me, a crossover of Hulk and Flash, you know like the super hero with super speed and the other with gigantic appearance, so I am know for my speed and size of the portion of whatever I am eating. Sometimes my friends have to tell me to eat slow and in small portions as they don’t feel like they are eating alone, even when we are together because till they prepare themselves to eat or are 20% there; I am done. Waiting and watching them to finish it. After they finish we have a look at each other and we have a hearty laugh on how weird are we and how we don’t care about it. The bond of our friendship is strong because of food.

The food we are discussing today is favorite to most... sorry all Mumbaikars, and if you hate this you are not a Mumbaikar.

Have you ever experienced nirvana? The amalgamation of tastes: sweet, sour, spicy, tangy and when this is not enough for your pallet it also plays with temperature, the hot and cold sensation simultaneously. You guys must have already guessed it till now and would be smiling with the numerous memories you have with this dish. To all who are still guessing it is PANI PURI.

Thin wafer container holding the world of flavors, just the thought makes me crave for it. The tanginess of Imli (Tamarind), the sweetness of Khajoor (Dates), the freshness of Pudina (Mint) and the spiciness of Mirchi (Fresh Green Chili)... SALT ADDED ACCORDING TO TASTE & PREFERENCE. I can go on and on and it will never be enough words to describe the experience of having a panipuri.

I have no idea where Panipuri was invented but available all over India, just renamed and re branded. Some are known as Gol Guppa in Delhi, Puchka in Kolkata and so on. I may sound rude or just plain inexperienced foodie but the best Panipuri you will find is in Mumbai at a roadside stall. It is a different adventure all together to have pani puri at a roadside stall. It is not just the food but also the whole experience which comes with it. I have many such wonderful experiences when having a plate of panipuri. The only time I remember about my math teacher is while having panipuri as I have use probability of the time required to get the panipuri back to my plate when Panipuri wale bhaiyaji serving panipuri to numerous people at once, it is like a fun game I play while waiting for my turn to have one. The fun part of this dish is it is custom made for every person. Some have it spicy, some sweet, some both. I have never seen people judging and making decision on such a fast pace as the first puri hits their pallet that what the rest of the puris will be.

We all must have done this but will never admit it under free will, whenever the Panipuri guy serves a Panipuri u automatically start the race with him. The race of gulping down the Panipuri before another one hits your plate and achieving that is no less feat in our mind and heart. The excitement you receive is beyond words while having the world’s best dish.

Now for some, it would be a direct ticket to doctor’s clinic. Yes the road side stalls are far from being hygienic and clean, but that is the best part of it. You know the risk involved yet you take a plunge and always end up happy and mouthful of flavors, occasional food poisoning is part of the risk deal, at least you get to eliminate the bad stalls from a good one... Lesson learnt.

This is why it is the dangerous but the best dish in the world.

You can hate it but you can never stop having it.

Any one for a panipuri contest... I am always game for one... Bring it on

P.S: All the road side stall are not clean and hygienic to food standards, hence eat at your own risk.

-KURLYKACTUS

The happiest day, I lost my cell phone ;)

It was a sudden wake for me that morning. I am not a morning person. I take my time and give my body enough time to laze around. Looking for a cozy place to rest for a while till I am aware enough to play music on my television on loop, it will be Mtv for Hindi songs and VH1 for English tracks in loop. But that day it was different. I just jumped up sitting as I woke up and the first thing I am looking for was my phone. I was unable to locate it. It was a weird day from a get go. My mom is an early riser she is up and running as the sun hits the ground on our part of the planet. But that day she was still asleep. I am looking for my phone but something happened, I was not panicking at all. It was like "mehhhhh..."

I went to wake up my mom to ask, if she placed my mobile phone somewhere. I am very popular for my cleanings and tidiness. I never place any item where it is originally meant to be, living room television remote will be under my bed, my laptop somewhere in living room still connected to charge point; in short I was not very precise person when it comes to stuff that belongs to anyone including my own. So I default expect mom to place it to its rightful place. MOMS ARE THE BEST!!

When my mom came to realize my phone is missing, and then the panic attack started... To her, not me. I was still in ‘mehhhh’ mode. It didn't take much time for me to conclude that the mobile phone was stolen from our house from right under my nose.

Now you will be thinking how I came to this conclusion: long time ago a fine gentleman (I have no idea who circulated this thing, but I am assuming it to be a guy as we all are to some level mamma’s boy) shared some wisdom with the world; If you are looking for something and your mother is unable to find it then it is lost forever... Forget that thing and move on. Same situation was in my house that morning. Mom declared somebody must have stolen it and I agree to it as I was in no mood to be Sherlock and question her skills, as she would literally make search the house for the phone just for doubting her. 

This was the second phone I was robbed off in just six months, but this time it was not my fault as it happened in your house.

There were some other items also missing like mom's purse and stuff but that was not so important. 

Now the phone is lost/ stolen yet to be proven, need to be reported and the data need to be wiped off the device. Luckily this time the phone was synced with my computer so it took hardly some minute to clear the data and send my phone to factory settings via my computer. 

Reporting time: I have always been a guy who likes to chill and not get involved with authority or paperwork, both takes a lot of patience and energy out of you and also destroys the whole day. The same was expected that day too. As soon as the data was wiped I left to file a report to, our local police station. As I needed to keep the same number I need to submit a certificate from local police station stating that the SIM card is lost and please a new SIM with same number should be issued.

It was 7:00 am in the morning; I didn't expect anyone to be there, better entertain me. I reached the police station, there were 3 constables and 7 crooks or drunken teenagers; I had no idea. The only thing I was sure about those guys sitting on the floor with hands cuffed was, they need a bath. 

I approached a constable and asked him where I can register a complaint. He took a look at me top to bottom and then replied "regarding?” I replied "I lost my phone... I mean got stolen from my house, hence I need to register a complaint about the same"

I hoped he will have a good laugh and then crack some situational joke or story on that spot but instead he asked me to have a seat for a while as the lady officer who takes complaint will be coming in sometime. I sat out on the bench scanning the station. I was here earlier too. To file a complaint and get certificate for my lost mark sheets and certificates. As I said I am not great is maintaining or keeping stuff safe. That time too my complaint was taken and certificate was issued with the bribe of Rs.250/-. The same scenario flashed in my head as I saw the poster highlighting a number for complaints on bribery and I checked my wallet for cash if needed inside.

The officer arrived in next 30 minutes and before I approach her she came to me to ask what the situation is about and what complaint I need register. I explained her incident as I did to the constable earlier. She took out the FIR register and took all the details.

Where I expected on wasting my entire day behind this incident and it's after math. I was home having breakfast in an hour. We say our system doesn't work, but if your complaint is genuine and you follow the rules and law accordingly, things get done fast.

Now this was pretty new for me, to not to have a mobile phone to constantly checking mails and social network sites. My mom was upset about the incident, but somewhere deep down I was relieved that it will be a quiet and peaceful day. Just to inform some important people I needed to message them about the incident, so when they call they are not confused. 

It was 11.00 am only and I had a long day ahead. What next? , was on my mind and I saw a book in front of me. It was left on the shelf from the day it was given to me by my friend to read. I never even bothered to open it until now, I knew I had to pass time some way and what great way to do it but with a book. It was a light romantic novel, with some predictable character, but my agenda of the day was getting fulfilled. As the day passed by, I am already done with the first book and I am looking for another novel. This time it was a better one, about a chicken and duck; it sounds funny and cheesy but it is beautiful book about relationship, struggle and love.

The day ended and I was 1.5 books down.

This is how I started reading again. It was the most fun and relaxing experience I had in a long time. Now I am regular reader, just light fun stories mixed with some heavy literature once in a while. This is how my happy day of loosing phone came to an end.

I am still looking to buy phone. It is romantic to be away from these gadgets and virtual world and enjoy the nature and real one to one interaction, but to be in touch with the world is important too. Globalization is shrinking the world but the demographics remain the same. As much we hate technology we are use to it and we need it to move in our life. 
KURLY KACTUS