2013: The Year That Was

So, Facebook has this thing which shows life events as highlights of the year. I tried starting it up, but I noticed that most of what I consider highlights are merely listed as 'other' by those guys. I didn't get married, or into a relationship, for that matter. I did ride down to Goa with a bunch of near strangers who are now rather close friends, I did meet my future boss and a couple of colleagues in Goa, and I did get a job.

That job started on the 13th of February. I worked on Valentine's Day, was fried to death almost by the evening, spoke to my old manager who had switched brands, and was set to meet him. Later in the evening, I got a call from my present boss, who asked me what I was up to. I remember saying, 'I just joined an IT company, but I am more interested in what you have to say'. 'Meet me tomorrow at 4', he said. I dropped all plans, went to the ex-manager as a show of courtesy to see what he had to say and put forward my rather high demands. That dealt with, it was time for the real interview.

I reached on time, and he showed up a few minutes later. I was asked to write-up my experience of India Bike Week 2013. A 400-600 word essay on the India Bike Week (another highlight), which, 10 minutes later, was an 800-word write-up submitted. I would join on March the 1st, but started on Feb the 28th with my first multi-bike shoot. I started getting paid from the 5th of March, however, with my publishing company looking to save every last dime they can, that's still quite a bother.

So, here are my highlights of the year, and it isn't anything Facebook could possibly imagine:

January, was published in BS Motoring, my favourite Indian magazine! My article about passion won me a Ferrari hard copy book. Thank you, Srini! And the whole gang!

February was chaos, as I mentioned above.

March 5th, officially employed on paper as an Automotive Journalist, or Correspondent (Automotive) as they put it. A long-awaited, and as I'd imagined, rather distant dream come true. My first print article, apart from tiny news pieces, was a one page story on the new Toyota Etios.

April saw me stay the night in a new place, I'd moved into my to-be pad. Smokey roommates meant I was out, bags, pillows and blankets on Sylvia at 5 am. I would also write my first F1 report, with my name appearing below the winning Lotus E21 of Kimi Raikkonen, would you believe it?! And I got to experience the Audi Q3, Q5 and Q7. Quite a bunch!

May 2nd, rode one of my two dream bikes. Yes, I have two, one ultimate sportsbike and one ultimate cruiser. The sportsbike, the 2005 Yamaha YZF-R1 SP is still pending. The cruiser, the Harley-Davidson Fat Boy, check. 103 PS and 150 Nm Screamin Eagle stage IV tune-up nonetheless. The Heritage Softail Classic was also next in line. Adding to the experience was that it was another dream to ride a Harley along the Indian coastal roads.

I drove my first unreleased car, the Chevrolet Enjoy, during my first visit to Chakan, and my first automobile plant visit too. That was also the day I drove the Renault Duster over a long distance. How I love that car! Just love it! Perfection with a budget-cap on it is!

Somewhere in June, all of this happened. Sylvia celebrated her eighth birthday. My first crash course with a D-SLR camera, not a diesel Mercedes hypercar, as I must point out. A ride on the Vespa (a red one!), the Pulsar 200NS, my first INRC event which had me climbing rocks and trees to get good pictures, rewarded by the following article which read 'Story and Photography: Jim Gorde'.

I finally got the quad-core, Sony smartphone I always wanted, on the 22nd. The Xperia ZR and bid adieu to an absolutely abysmal service provider who couldn't decide for years whether the text of their logo should be black or white in favour of the one with the pug, which also happened to be the title sponsor for the dismal McLaren F1 cars.

July was all about the Srinagar to Kanyakumari trip. The 5th we left for Delhi via flight, and collected our Hyundai Verna 1.6 VTVT SX petrol, one of the worst cars on sale today, and the other, the Honda CBR 250R with Repsol graphics and ABS, one of the best bikes on sale today. We rode to Pathankot. 6th was Pathankot to Srinagar, with beautiful Patnitop on the way, and on the 7th, the ride began. Srinagar to Jammu was day one. A puncture ate into our time. Jammu to Udaipur, via Jaipur was day two, the 9th: yes, LONG way. Day three, the 10th, Udaipur to Pune. Home. 11th rest. 12th, Pune to Bangalore, planned. Hit a wildly crazy dog who didn't get hurt but blew our front bumper to smithereens. With a stapled bumper, Hubli was our stop for the night, thus. Hubli to Kanyakumari, on the 13th, over a thousand kilometres, again, was the next day. Bangalore and the magnificent Pavitra Idli Center, the Nice highway, and Madurai were somewhere on route. We reached Kanyakumari late night. The trip was over. Kashmir to Kanyakumari in six days. 6! Shooting took place in the morning of the 14th, and we set off for Bangalore. Ibis was a luxury we could afford having saved some moolah. 15th was Bangalore to Pune. Done, dusted, tired. Back to work.

The anniversary issue was due to close and, suddenly, I had the travelogue to do. My V8 article for our eighth anniversary was approved (Beat that, Top Gear! You guys did it much later! Haha!) They're all on sale in India, by the way. A number Formula 1 articles too.

August was the first anniversary issue I held in my hands, with nine articles of mine in there no less. One of them was a story close to my heart. The road test of the Volvo V40 Crosscountry, my first 'big car' to be signed off by the boss to me, but not before I earned a nickname too.

Soon after a colleague left for 'greener' pastures, I was given an upgrade in rank and was to be moved out of my contract and onto payroll in September. The Car India and Bike India websites kinda became mine. That was the start, and I promise I can't seriously recollect everything.

I drove to Bombay for the first time all alone, in a Mahindra Verito Vibe. Hit 120 km/h before the car threatened to disintegrate. I moved around, got lost, was pulled up by a cop who wanted money, only to be shown a press card and bombarded with questions for directions. I picked up the Ford EcoSport, another car I got to drive before it was launched. I met the head honchos at our head office. I got through a detour which threw me off the Express Highway within the city. I still can't recall if it was the Western one or the Eastern.

There was a Volkswagen CrossPolo TDI test and travelogue which saw me drive to Bombay once more, only to come back another way to hit Dapoli and Harna, where I spoke to a dog, had four beers late at night, not necessarily in that order. I also remember crossing over the rock dam and going onto to the seashore in pitch darkness, but not before I had parked my ass on the possibly snake infested rocks and even dragged a couple of cigarettes (never happened again, I swear!). One of my most irritating colleagues had fallen off the Impulse earlier that evening, how, I still don't know for sure. While I had fun driving him back with his broken collar bone, he is a rather good friend of mine now, I must admit.

I rode the new KTM 390 Duke. Loved it so much I decided I wanted my own. Reluctantly, sold my Pulsar 220 DTS-Fi of five years to a friend's nephew. Goodbye, Xianne.

There was the Mahindra Off-road Challenge where I accidentally jumped into a Mahindra MM540 XD army-spec 4x4 and drove down to their track before being handed a 'regular' Thar.

There was a travelogue where I drove Hyundai's best car yet. The tiny little Grand i10 with a three-cylinder diesel is a much better car than even their Elantra. (Trust me!) One first drive in Jaipur, which got converted into a road test and two travelogues, Kochi-Munnar-Thekkady and Goa, later, the car is our long-termer.

I had to drive a car I wanted to hate so desperately: the BMW 118d. But, having driven it, its roadster like properties and rear-drive made it truly a fun car to have. Opinion altered. The Mercedes A180 CDI was with me for a whole day. Mum loved it and got some nice shots of me 'off-roading', kicking up some dirt in Mercedes' smallest Indian offering. Horribly under-powered and seriously over-rated; opinion, duly changed.

So many V8s (Thanks, boss!) the highlight being the Audi RS5. Not a supercar, not a sportscar, but a regular saloon, until you notice the two doors. My pick, eyes closed. There was the Audi R8 V10 and V10 plus which showed up, the Audi S6, and my first official V8 road test: the Audi RS5.

The Jeep Wrangler Unlimited CRD, which I had to pick up from the guys at evo India. Four doors and massive size in the heart of the city at rush hour, bad idea!

Its smaller, but US-staple-engine-Pentastar-V6-petrol engined Wrangler Sport, which had me jump into 4x4 and 4L for the first time solo.

That was the day of the 3-4-6-8 cylinder drives: Grand i10, FIAT Linea Classic, Jeep Wrangler Sport and the 557 horsey and 720 Nm laden Mercedes E 63 AMG! My most powerful and torquiest car ever driven.

I had a great birthday, found out more good friends. Was also presented with six cakes, all different, yes! Had a terrace party and danced to Arabic-adaptations of songs for the first time. Thank you, President Prime Minister Admiral General Aladeen. 'The Dictator' has taken its place firmly in my top three movies list.

There was a 2014 Range Rover Sport TDV6 HSE somewhere in October or November.

I experienced my first superbike, the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R on October 31st. 210 horses of it made me yearn even more for my to-be new bike.

Fedora, my orange Duchess, came on the 4th of November. My first 400-cc bike, something I'd longed to see in India for over a decade. 43.5 hp means it has 5.5 more horses than the Tata Nano while weighing much lesser. Perfect!

November 9th, my baby sister got married to an idiot I once considered one of my best friends. Just kidding, fool! You probably still are.

November 14th, I became the first journalist in India to ride the Royal Enfield Continental GT Café Racer. One shot went on to become the cover photo, the non-Facebook kind, on the front of the December 2013 issue of Bike India magazine.

November 17th to the 22nd, I was at my first international motor show, in Tokyo, nonetheless, but not before driving six brand new cars, which hadn't seen Indian soil yet, at the MotoGP-famous race track Twin Ring Motegi. The Mugen RZ, a supercharged and manual transmission equipped version of the Honda CR-Z Hybrid sportscar was the highlight there. I visited the Honda museum and stood right next to my favourite F1 car livery of all time, the B&H Jordan Honda. Oh, I also had sushi and caviar the previous night, for the first time.

Then, the actual motor show itself had another highlight. No, it wasn't the Volvo Concept Coupé, or the turbocharged Suzuki Recursion motorcycle, nor the KTM 1290 Super Duke R, or the transforming Kawasaki J Gigacell thingy, or the Nismo GT-R, or the Porsche 911 Turbo S Cabriolet, or the Mercedes SLS AMG GT Final Edition, or the magnificent S Class Coupé, or Honda's triad of big launches the S660, Vezel and F6C GoldWing-based power cruiser . It was in the corner of the ancillaries and suppliers section, tucked away behind Bosch and Continental. The BEWITH soundmaker's booth; it held the Pagani Huayra. Magnifique personified. Absolute AWE!

I returned happy and was greeted by a shootout, the Audi A4 2.0 TDi, the BMW 320d, the Mercedes-Benz C220 CDI. And, a car I was yearning to drive for five long years, the BMW 530d, complete with the M Sport package. The Audi A6 2.0 TFSI was also there in the middle, good car, but needs a hundred more horses.

Somewhere, in between, I came across the creator of a blog I'd been following for years. A new friend with creative genes, jeans and everything is something to appreciate, always.

The day the 530d had to go, the guy dropped off the BMW Z4 sDrive 35i DPT 2014 model. That was the 5th of December, and it was my first topless drive. Er, my first convertible. The turbo-straight-6 sounded splendid and rasp!

There was also another car which returned for the awards, one I hadn't gotten the chance to drive then. The Porsche Cayman S, the first Porsche I've ever driven!

Mum's birthday, and thanks to Shumi, I managed to get something rather simple but amazing from Uniqlo in Tokyo. Her smile was the best! Thanks for everything, Mum! I love you loads!

One day later, the all-new S500 2014 came along, twin-turbo V8 and all. What a car! However, our archaic rules didn't even spare this Mercedes flagship. No 'Magic Body Control' means that floating head chicken is gonna get pwned! Yep, that was the last big car I drove this year.

Christmas was good, I spent time with people I love, another awesome new friend I'd made this year. The fact that I was in Toons, was the icing on the cake. Good day!

Now, as I type, I'm thinking about the Ninja ZX-14R that's coming in tomorrow! Er..Monday, the 30th. How I love Mondays! Beat that, Facebook!