Karthik C

I don’t know when I fell in love with bikes. I remember the adrenaline rush I used to have each time I saw an episode of Street Hawk. I used to collect information about them and then irritate, especially my uncle with pretty useless trivia. Barraging him with my did you knows like Hayabusa means falcon, Kawasaki also makes spaceships, Ducati made radios and Yamaha builds swimming pools and unmanned helicopters. It’s been three years since I bought him, my one and only bike. Black Hero Honda Splendor + with blue and grey streaks. My journey on my iron stallion has just been that, a royal splendor. No electric start, no disc brakes, no alloy wheels, no fifth gear but I love him just the same. His beauty lies in his simplicity. There is a special and sacred bond that I share with him. He was the first gift from me to me. I remember the first day I rode him from the dealer to the temple very vividly. I must confess that I was a very shaky driver then. It took me no less than thirty...

There is a deadly disease which is threatening our country. A vicious virus slowly eating us from inside. Corruption. No one is immune from its far reaching rabid hands. Few are ignorant while many don’t even know that they are the hapless victims of this monster. There are countless instances where the hard earned lifelong savings of poor and illiterates are swallowed by the merciless blood suckers at each and every step. The sad part is that the victims because of lack of basic education are so naïve that they don’t realize that they are being cheated. Mahatma Gandhi once said, “Be the change you want to see in the world”. One example of that is Nagarajiah. In my village, Anagadanahalli on the outskirts of Bangalore there was an old illiterate man, who not knowing any better had signed the deed for his land to a landlord thinking that it was a written request by the villagers to the government for water supply. He lost his ancestral property and his only source of liveli...