That's how you celebrate a Century of Brilliance

When a batsman scores a century, he takes a moment to tip his hat to the pavilion and glance up in gratitude to a higher power. Now I’m not a massive cricket fan to be honest (nor am I much of a believer for that matter), so we’ll leave the sporting analogies there – suffice to say that there’s a definite element of pride in the fact that we’re celebrating 100 issues this month. And what a celebration it’s been... This issue is full to the brim with the brazen, non-conformist, optimistic approach that’s brought us this far. Really, it’s just epitomized by the fun we have while doing what we do. First, we came up with the idea to drive for 100-hours straight. When that wasn’t enough, we decided to race for 100 kilometres – all this in the name of science of course. In all seriousness though, what we’ve learnt this past month is the fact that our national highways are actually pretty good. Our aim was to cover almost 6,000 kilometres in 100 hours – the rationale being that you ought to be able to average 60km/h. Well, we did slightly better – we managed 5,600-odd clicks in 76 hours. And it wasn’t because we were being raving lunatics out on the road, it was because the road infrastructure – the North-South corridor at the very least – has improved to a point where it can actually be quite enjoyable. It would have been nice if we didn’t have to stop every 500 metres to pay toll, but all told it’s head-and-shoulders better than it was even just a few years ago – and that’s quite encouraging. Believe it or not, we hatched this plan while sitting in the foothills of the Himalayas. The challenge, of course, consisted of driving straight down the entire length of the country till we ran out of road at the absolute tip of the subcontinent. And what this journey allowed us to see is the sheer diversity of landscape in our country. If you’re able (and willing) to look beyond the clutter framing the highway, it’s actually quite beautiful. This journey also spoke volumes for the sheer ability – in terms of comfort and reliability especially – of a cutting-edge modern automobile. We drove relentlessly for 76 hours, and weren’t disturbed by even an errant warning light – it was that good! The other feature in this issue that’s centred around the ‘100’ theme was a little more relaxed – not necessarily in terms of pace, but certainly endurance. Although there are six cyclists who will vehemently disagree with me. I don’t know about them, but for me it was the most fun test we’ve ever done. And what better way to celebrate 100 issues than by upping the fun-quotient. After all, the time that we have is limited, so we may as well enjoy it while we can. I should stop before I get too profound, except to say that our 8th anniversary issue in November last year was ‘mega’ (even if I do say so myself), and this is better – even if I do say so myself...