Submit your Article

This is how we figure the meeting at the Renault Headquarters must have gone when they came up with the Renault Triber.

“Here is what this car has to achieve,” someone at the meeting must said. “It has to be able to seat seven people comfortably. It also has to be an MPV that comes in the price bracket of a B-segment hatchback. We can’t skimp on the equipment and features, and it has to be under the four-meter mark.
Good luck.”

Surely, a stunned silence must have followed as the fellow walked out of the room, leaving the rest to figure out a way of achieving this task of boiling the ocean.

As impossible as it seems, Renault have achieved more or less everything they set out to with the Renault Triber… at least on paper. We thought it sounded too good to be true, so we asked the good folks at Advanced Automobiles Pvt Ltd (distributors of Renault Cars in Nepal) to give us the keys so we could test it out for ourselves.

It does NOT look like an abomination.

Consider for a while the task the designers had at hand with the Renault Triber. Creating an MPV that seats seven people while staying under the four-meter mark and still making an aesthetically appealing car could not have been easy. Let’s give credit where it’s due: Renault have done a great job with the Triber in achieving a good design.

The Triber is based on a modified version of the CMF-A platform which underpins the Kwid. When you view its profile, you will notice two things. The first being the steeped roof that adds headroom for the rear passengers. You will also notice that the wheels have been pushed as far out towards the bumper as possible in order to extend the wheelbase, thereby improving the legroom for the occupants of the car. And the side cladding, well, those are just stickers.

Once you decide to get into the car, the car unlocks automatically.

That’s provided you approach it with the keys in your pocket. It also locks itself when you walk away from the car after you’ve parked it. The good thing about the cabin is that it’s spacious. There is plenty of legroom and headroom. We reckon there will be slightly less usable space in the third row (the seats weren’t provided), however, Renault promises it will be usable for adults.

It is clear that the Renault Triber is built to be practical. The second row is very comfortable for two adults and you can slide them forwards or backwards to your liking as well as fold them individually. You also get aircon vents on the B-pillars which will be very welcome once summer comes along in full swing. You can control the rear aircon vents via a nob that’s placed behind the handbrakes. Even the third row gets roof mounted a/c vents.

To further the cause of practicality, there is plenty of useful storage space. You get a storage bin under the front seat that can hold up to 1kg. Also very useful is a deep 4.3L storage space in the center console that gets cooling. And there is plenty of boot space on the Triber, 625 liters of it. But that’s because the Triber comes as a five-seater in Nepal. You do, however, get the option to put in the third row yourself. With the third row installed, the boot space shrinks to 84 liters.

Here is how it is to drive…

Powering the Triber is a 1.0L 3-cylinder petrol engine, a tweaked version of the one that you get in the Kwid. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to tell that it isn’t a powerhouse. Nevertheless, the 71BHP@ 6,250rpm and 96Nm@3,500 rpm gets the job done. You’re not going to get anywhere fast, but it will get you there. If you really ask a lot from the engine you will be met with a lot of noise and vibrations.

Driving in the city is adequate, but on the highway you will be working the engine hard. The light clutch doesn’t make things a lot of fun, but the 5-speed gearshift is decent. You’ll make the best of it if you’re driving it at a passive speed like the MPV that it is, and not like a maniac. This will also help keep the body-rolls in check.

The ride quality is decent and the Triber soaks up minor bumps and potholes well. However, it isn’t always a cushy ride. The suspensions did better with passengers in the rear seat as compared to the seats being vacant. The electric power steering is decent and is great for in-city driving or when you find yourself in a tight parking spot. Even on the highways the steering wheel weighs up nicely.

In terms of safety, all variants of the Triber get ABS + EBD as standard. You also get four airbags in higher variants, however it is still far from the safest offering in the market. The brakes work as expected and will get the job done well.

So where does this bring us with the Renault Triber?

Once again, the Renault Triber is focusing on making the Triber as practically usable as possible. So we understand why the performance plays second fiddle to utility. The possibility of transporting seven people from one place to another in relative comfort, with a bit of luggage, will always win against corner carving and/or an exhilarating driving experience. But the experience you get when you’re driving it is nothing to write home about.

The Renault Triber does not feel like it’s trying to compete against any existing product; at least not directly. What Renault has done with the Triber is create a differentiator and filled a void in the market that they discovered. A better engine would have been great but that can be said of almost any car in the market today. But the moment they fit a better motor, the Triber will no longer be available at this price point. This car is for the average income level family that has to accommodate an above average number of family members in a car that comes under a budget.

The distributors in Nepal offer the Renault Triber as a 5-seater but we still see the Triber filling the unique needs of a large family.

When the Irrfan Khan-starrer “Hindi Medium” was released in mid-2017, the film shocked the Indian cinema industry. With an organic story and peanuts in production cost, the film took home over $45 million, making it one of the highest grossing movies in Bollywood. With a relatively unknown cast, the film had relied on its grounded story and skillful storytelling to highlight the importance of “English medium” education, something which the Indian (and Nepali) audiences could easily identify with and thus paid money to watch.

Unfortunately, taking up the same subject, and with Irrfan Khan retained in the lead, “Angrezi Medium” does not live up to its hype. In fact, it is way below par compared to Hindi Medium. Directed by Homi Adajania, and with its huge star cast of popular Bollywood actors that include Kareena Kapoor, Dimple Kapadia, Ranvir Shorey and Pankaj Tripathi, Angrezi Medium fails to connect with the audience. Plus, a host of other Bollywood actresses appear in the film’s OST “Kudi Nu Nachne De,” but the song doesn’t impress either.

Angrezi Medium is a story of a father and daughter—Champak (Irrfan) and Tarika Bansal (Radhika Madan)—who only have each other in their lives. Champak is a sweetshop owner based in Udaipur, Rajasthan, who has to constantly compete against his stepbrother Gopi Bansal (Deepak Dobriyal) over the ownership of the famous “Ghasiteram Misthan Bhandar” brand. His daughter Tarika, meanwhile, has always had a dream of visiting a foreign country, and now wants to leave for the UK for further studies.

Champak, a simpleminded, middle-class man, who loves his daughter so much that he doesn’t want her to go too far away, agrees nonetheless. Despite their enmity, the stepbrother Gopi, who is also childless because of his wife’s early demise, loves Tarika like his own daughter. He too is determined to help Champak get her admitted to “Truford University” in London. Now despite their good intent and total naivety, the Bansal brothers also seem fickle-minded and keep messing up opportunities for their daughter. Their struggle to get her to UK and then to admit her comprises the whole plot.

The film builds on an interesting premise that looks to address the elephant in the room for millions of South East Asian parents and children: English is just a language and not a signifier of a person’s intellectuality. And a degree in the West is just a degree. It doesn’t make you a better person.

But with a bigger production budget, the same production team that set up the success of its uncomplicated predecessor now experiments a lot. They hire popular actors who have driven films on their own to be supporting actors and give them screen-time to justify their presence, needlessly lengthening the movie.

Multiple characters, scenes and subplots in Angrezi Medium do not contribute to the story and could have been left out. Some sequences feel lethargically extended for lack of a rigid script and even the otherwise brilliant Khan seems a victim of all the confusion going around. The actor doesn’t seem to grasp his character and yet is forced to perform monologues and speak broken English, which doesn’t ignite the same laughter it did in the previous movie.

Who should watch it?

Angrezi Medium might have its weaknesses but a film with so many talented actors can’t be dismissed outright either. If the theaters are still open by the time you read this, please wear your masks and carry your hand sanitizer. Otherwise, wait for it on Netflix.

Rating: 2.5 stars

Genre: Drama

Run time: 2hrs 25min

Director: Homi Adajania

Cast: Irrfan Khan, Radhika Madan, Deepak Dobriyal

There was a time when I compulsively read Haruki Murakami. It began with ‘Kafka on the Shore’. Then I read ‘Norwegian Wood’ and ‘The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle’ before moving on to his collection of short stories, ‘After Dark’, and then picking up the novella, ‘Sputnik Sweetheart’. All his stories share a similar theme and, unlike reading other authors, I feel reading Murakami can mess your head a little after a while—all the surrealism can be a bit too much sometimes.

And so, I had been on a Murakami break when I discovered ‘What I Talk About When I Talk About Running’. Initially I was hesitant to get back to reading Murakami and left without buying the book but a memoir of sorts by a prolific writer wasn’t something I could resist for long, and I bought it the second time I visited the bookstore. And I am glad I did.

What I like about Murakami is that he writes short, beautiful sentences. I guess one has to also credit Philip Gabriel’s translations for that. But Murakami’s style is such that the words just flow. And that makes for easy and impactful reading.

‘What I Talk About When I Talk About Running’ introduces us to Murakami as more than a writer. Here, he tells us how he began running seriously when he was 33, back in 1982. He has since competed in more than 20 marathons. On average, he runs six miles a day, six days a week, and though these days he isn’t in top form, he has no intention of not running anymore. For “to give up running would be like giving up writing, which would be like giving up living”.

Murakami knows he will never win a marathon but he doesn’t seem to mind. Then why does he still do it? One reason could be that he feels the focus and endurance required in marathons could help him apply the same disciplines to his writing. “Most of what I know about writing, I’ve learned through running every day,” he says. But more than that, as Murakami further writes, it gives you a special kind of awareness—you understand yourself better.

Devoid of any elements of magical realism, ‘What I Talk About When I Talk About Running’ doesn’t feel like reading Murakami at all. For a change, you enjoy the conversational style and the self-deprecatory tone that you aren’t used to in Murakami’s works. It also gives you a window into the mind of an author you can’t help but love. For me, I think it has got me out of my self-imposed break on Murakami and now I can’t wait to start reading ‘Killing Commendatore’ where, apparently, paintings become magic portals.  

Tourers are the new black in the motorcycling world. The idea of motorcycles being more than just a medium of transport is quickly picking up. There are more and more people asking more from motorcycles. Getting someone to their office and back does not cut it anymore. While there are many groups of people that look for various other aspects, one increasingly popular trend is travelling on motorcycles.

That is the segment where Bajaj Dominar, Bajaj’s Power Cruiser, had decided to set up shop when they first launched it back in the end of 2016. This also meant that the Dominar would go up against the OG of the segment… the Royal Enfield. A tall order when you consider how loved the thumper is in India.

Has it been able to snatch away the throne from the Enfield? Not quite. However, the Bajaj Dominar turned out to be a pretty decent motorcycle in its own respect. But, as with anything and everything, there is always room for improvement. The new Dominar ups the ante with its new upgrade, and we rigorously test out the new avatar.

How has it changed in terms of looks?

There are some substantial changes in the New Dominar, although they might not be apparent at first glance. We couldn’t get hold of the Dominar in the striking ‘Auroral Green’ avatar (because of unavailability), which is among the most visible changes in the new Dominar. But even in the black color scheme, there are plenty of changes that you should quickly pick up on. The first would be the new 43mm upside down forks that replace the telescopic 43mm forks. The new beefy addition enhances the already robust demeanor of the Dominar. These are essentially the same set of cartridge-type forks seen on the current KTM 390 Duke.

Other changes that only keen observers will notice immediately are the revised internals for the headlamp and tail lamp units. There’s a factory-fitted tank pad as well and a prominent ‘D’ logo on the pillion seat. There is also a new dual-barrel end can that gets a matte finish. We also like the new cast aluminum stalks for the rearview mirrors. Staying true to their touring commitment, the Bajaj Dominar gets four nylon straps under the seats that can be pulled out for attaching tail bags and other baggage accessories.

For the instrument console the Dominar gets the familiar all-digital display that gets an addition of average fuel consumption for both Trip A and B, dynamic and average fuel economy, and distance-to-average. What is completely new is the secondary display that finds its place above the fuel tank cap. This display indicates the gear position, time etc., but it does not fall into your peripheral vision when you’re riding which means you’ll have to take your eyes off the road to look at it properly and that isn’t too great.

How has the riding and handling changed?

The Bajaj Dominar always impressed us with its performance. There were plenty of horses (35BHP @ 8,000 rpm) and they were delivered pretty linearly through the rev ranges. We could definitely see it as a long term tourer. The upgraded Dominar has some substantial changes that makes the riding the Dominar even better. The Single Overhead Camshaft (SOHC) is replaced with a Double Overhead Camshaft. The power output has been bumped up to 40BHP@ 8,650 RPM and the torque remains the same, 35Nm that arrives 500 rpms later at 7,000 rpm.

What this translates to again is a motorcycle that feels at home on the open highways. While it’s easily capable of staying in the triple digits, the Dominar feels most at home between 70kmph to 100kmph. You really begin to experience the extra power when you’re higher up in the rev ranges and things start to pick up. Thankfully, the Dominar is rock steady and inspires confidence. You will find yourself quickly moving through the gears and finding a nice cruising speed. And when you need it, you can wring the throttle and the Dominar will eagerly propel you further with more power. The throaty rumble emitted by the Dominar is praiseworthy and would serve as a pretty welcome companion on your tours. Another welcome change is the decrease in vibrations, which only creep in when you’re really pinning it.

The new USDs work great in handling the rather large bulk and it has certainly enhanced the riding experience by a couple of notches. It provides great straight line stability and works over time to keep nice and tidy on the corners. The 320mm front and 230mm disc brakes provide the stopping power assisted by dual channel ABS. Keen enthusiasts will notice that the front brake rotors are now on the other side on the new Dominar.

Verdict

The new Bajaj Dominar tidies itself up pretty well, and considering how good the first Dominar was, that is very good news. The reduced vibrations, new upside down forks, the bump in power and an overall improvement makes the Bajaj Dominar a very exciting prospect for people who want their motorcycles to be more than commuters. As a tourer, the Bajaj Dominar serves the purpose very well.