[shashanka]

Hello and greetings to all forum members,

I am happy to have been given the opportunity, as a new member, to join you in celebrating all things automotive.

I am a 62 year old, recently retired - voluntarily, I may add! - marine engineer. My last stint with a foreign flag was a 10 year tenure as Ch. Eng. on Mitsui's car carrier fleet, ferrying new cars -mostly Japanese- around the world, usually to the U.S. and Europe.

An abiding pastime for us - my wife and I - is touring the country by road. This started in 1994, when we made the first of many (I've lost count) trips from Mumbai> Lucknow> Naukuchiatal (Uttaranchal)> Lucknow> Mumbai - (NH3 to Shivpuri and then NH25 to Kanpur and Lucknow). Our steed of choice on that first trip was a white Maruti Omni (bought in 1988) on which we lavished a great deal of love and care. Later we added to our itinerary by making trips to Goa, Kolkata, Madikeri (Coorg), etc. Other cars followed the Omni - a Tata Sierra, M&M Scorpio and Hyundai Getz, the last two of which we still own.

I also like writing the occasional letter to some auto magazine (hoping to see it in print!). I remember writing to Auto India (when Mr. Gautam Sen and Mr. Sorabjee were at the helm) regarding a query from another reader about the possibility of converting the naturally aspirated Sierra to turbo-charging. At the time the Tata Sierra was still naturally aspirated, before the T/C-ed version was introduced and which subsequently died a mercifully quick death at the market place!

I have a long-standing interest in paranormal phenomena (including UFOs and the abduction phenomena) and am a loyal - and at times critical - admirer of Dr. Jacques Vallee, whose standing in the field is legendary. This interest has led to a certain amount of ribbing and leg pulling from my friends and family members !

Before winding up, I'll once again thank Team-BHP for accepting me and hope that I can add to the fun and enjoyment of this forum.

Warm regards to all,
Shashanka

[Sanjubose]

Welcome to this exciting group of auto enthusiasts!!

[honeybee]

Welcome aboard sir. I am sure there are a few other mariners amongst us roadies, and would love to see you pen down some of your experiences, on road and off it.

[Gotham_City]

Great to have you on the forum Mr. Shashanka. The members will surely benefit from your extensive travel experience across the country.

Look forward to your travelogues.

Wish you a long, happy and fruitful stay at team-bhp!

[calypsoGT]

Welcome Sir, look forward to read your wisdom.

[tsangchokla]

Originally Posted by shashanka

Warm regards to all,
Shashanka

Dear Sir,

Your mention of interest in paranormal activities got me a bit spiked. Coupled to your passion for driving - would like to suggest you a drive cum visit to a place called Bhangarh in Rajasthan. It is about 120 km from Jaipur just off the Jaipur Bharatpur National Highway after crossing a city named Dausa. The road conditions are excellent from Jaipur and you can plan to do a one-day trip from Jaipur to this place.

Am posted to a place near this Bhangarh and had the occasion of more than one times to go there. It is probably the only ASI certified site of paranormal activities. Think you may like it. Would be glad to provide more details if you are interested.

Regards

[shashanka]

Hello tsangchokla,
I was pleasantly surprised to read your reply to my introductory post. Yes I have of course heard of the Bhangarh fort and the legends associated with it. I am certainly interested in visiting the place and would like to get more information from you, possibly this summer.
We had made a trip to the Sunderbans tiger habitat earlier this year and aside from the fact that our luck was out and we did not spot a tiger ! - we did here from the guide that one of the spots that we visited (where a tiger attack earlier on a fishing boat had resulted in casualties) had earned a bad reputation for being haunted !

Thanks again,
Shashanka

[shashanka]

Originally Posted by Gotham_City

Great to have you on the forum Mr. Shashanka. The members will surely benefit from your extensive travel experience across the country.

Look forward to your travelogues.

Wish you a long, happy and fruitful stay at team-bhp!

Hello there Gotham City,
Thank you and may I say that I too look forward to happy and interesting exchanges with you.

One thing I can mention right away is the huge improvement in the roads on the Mumbai > Lucknow trip, specially the NH25 between Shivpuri and Jhansi. This stretch was abominable during the first couple of trips in '94 and '95, and the WIAA trip planner (route chart) that we had taken during those first trips had a clear warning regarding this stretch - "motorists are advised not to cover this stretch after dark" !

Warm regards,
Shashanka

Originally Posted by calypsoGT

Welcome Sir, look forward to read your wisdom.

Hello calypsoGt,
Thank you, but you must remember that wisdom is not really the prerogative of senior citizens ! I'm often surprised by conversations I overhear at public places between youngsters and being impressed by their insights.

Warm regards,
Shashanka

[shashanka]

Originally Posted by honeybee

Welcome aboard sir. I am sure there are a few other mariners amongst us roadies, and would love to see you pen down some of your experiences, on road and off it.

Hello Honeybee,
Good to hear from you and yes I'm sure there must be other mariners too on this forum. The thing is that this profession, because of its inherent nature, often tends to make one more introverted than otherwise.

However I am really glad to have found this happy, loosely-knit, sufficiently tech-savvy forum, which due to the wide chronological range of its members (read: youngsters to the young-at-heart oldies like me!) retains the much-needed enthusiasm and sense of fun.

I regret to say that most other publications in the field, including the much vaunted ones (BBC Topgear, CAR, etc) did not strike the chord that team-bhp did in my case.

Best regards,
Shashanka

[Samurai]

Welcome Shashanka...

Originally Posted by shashanka

I have a long-standing interest in paranormal phenomena (including UFOs and the abduction phenomena) and am a loyal - and at times critical - admirer of Dr. Jacques Vallee, whose standing in the field is legendary. This interest has led to a certain amount of ribbing and leg pulling from my friends and family members !

Interesting, I hope you are familiar with NDT's views on this topic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSJElZwEI8o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tykCWO-abUU

[shashanka]

Hello Samurai,
Likewise, interesting here too! I take it you are a sceptic unlike me. My interest is slightly broader than the puerile rantings of NDT and other also-rans on the sceptic bandwagon.
However, like we always say, to each his own! I like to think that there is a great deal more to the world around us than what we perceive with our five senses.

I often get into arguments with my daughter(a senior fellow at UW, Seattle, a bio-molecular scientist) and my son-in-law(a computer scientist with Amazon) on these issues. But we usually end up agreeing to disagree, with a degree of wary respect for each other's position. Though I suspect that my daughter my, at heart, is a vitalist like me!
Best regards,
Shashanka

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by shashanka

I take it you are a sceptic unlike me.

Sceptic sounds so negative. I refer to myself as critical thinker.

Originally Posted by shashanka

My interest is slightly broader than the puerile rantings of NDT and other also-rans on the sceptic bandwagon.

Of course, he is just an astrophysicist. What would he know about UFOs...

[shashanka]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Sceptic sounds so negative. I refer to myself as critical thinker.

Of course, he is just an astrophysicist. What would he know about UFOs...

An astrophysicist is great - nothing wrong with them. So is Jacques Vallee, and his mentor J.Allen Hynek.
John E Mack, a clinical psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School, wrote what is considered the definitive book (for lay readers like me!) on the abduction phenomena. The conclusion drawn by these three(among a plethora of others) is that the phenomena is real (whatever that means in today's world of quantum duality!) and leaves physical traces in our nuts and bolts world!

But as I said before, the subject being too vast and amorphous to be pinned
down easily, it is best to live and let live.

Best regards,
Shashanka

[Gokrish]

Originally Posted by tsangchokla

Dear Sir,

Your mention of interest in paranormal activities got me a bit spiked. Coupled to your passion for driving - would like to suggest you a drive cum visit to a place called Bhangarh in Rajasthan. It is about 120 km from Jaipur just off the Jaipur Bharatpur National Highway after crossing a city named Dausa. The road conditions are excellent from Jaipur and you can plan to do a one-day trip from Jaipur to this place.

Am posted to a place near this Bhangarh and had the occasion of more than one times to go there. It is probably the only ASI certified site of paranormal activities. Think you may like it. Would be glad to provide more details if you are interested.

Regards

Just to add a word of wisdom. ASI cautions visitors not to visit after 6 pm due to animal menace, I was told. But on the whole an eerie experience visiting here.

Originally Posted by shashanka

An astrophysicist is great - nothing wrong with them. So is Jacques Vallee, and his mentor J.Allen Hynek.
John E Mack, a clinical psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School, wrote what is considered the definitive book (for lay readers like me!) on the abduction phenomena. The conclusion drawn by these three(among a plethora of others) is that the phenomena is real (whatever that means in today's world of quantum duality!) and leaves physical traces in our nuts and bolts world!

But as I said before, the subject being too vast and amorphous to be pinned
down easily, it is best to live and let live.

Best regards,
Shashanka

Dear shashanka, Can you please start a separate thread on this discussion so that most of us can get an insight? By the way, welcome to our Team BHP club.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by Gokrish

Dear shashanka, Can you please start a separate thread on this discussion so that most of us can get an insight? By the way, welcome to our Team BHP club.

There is already a thread for that.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shifti...m-here-25.html