Irecently convinced my family to take a 700 km round trip in our trusty 2004 Santro Xing. The only problem being the car was neglected for the past 6-7 years since my family was planning to get rid of the car but never did and there were only 3 days to get the car repaired.
Took it to an FNG and asked to fix the suspension part, all 4 wheel bearings, and an engine leak. Should have pushed back on the engine oil leak for now and got the other 2 fixed, but the FNG told me the front wheel bearing can be replaced later (1 st mistake) and will do the rest of them.
3 days pass by and I get the car by the evening and had to leave for the trip the next day morning. Test drove the car and realised the mechanic had forgotten my complaint about front suspension work.
Started from Mangalore in the morning everything was going well till we reached Bhramhavara, Udupi. When my ignorance about the front suspension work backfired. There was a clicking sound from the front and took it to a garage nearby. Even they got confused and after checking the car for almost 1 and a half hours they zeroed it down to the clutch release bearing. As we were on our way the mechanic told us it won't give us further problems and can be taken till Hubli (around 300kms). We continued on our journey and reached Hubli safely. This turned out to be the happier side of the journey.
In Hubli, the tires started to screech when turning and braking. Took it to an alignment shop got it aligned and the sound went away for around 10 mins for it to return, so there it was our holiday turned into a trip to FNG where we have no idea about any mechanic.
Took a chance and left it at a random FNG who decided to go change the brake pads for no reason and replaced Hyundai branded brake pads with one that has no name. Came to know about it only after they started rubbing and sticking to the discs on our way back to Mangalore. So had no other option since it was night and all shops were closed so drive it till Mangalore with engine braking mostly and avoiding all situations of braking.
Currently, the brakes are making noise while braking and while at low speeds, yet to have the brake pads changed since the last time I went to the FNG and saw the no branded pads it was late and they asked to get it back the next day and couldn't due to my schedule.
Frankly, a 20-year-old econo-hatchback or sedan is pretty much at the end of its life. Best only for local runs, and certainly not suitable to do 700-km road trips. More than the maintenance, who knows what parts have worn out and to what level (you haven't mentioned the odo reading).
My learning would be: Do not take a car for such a long drive just after major repairs. Minor repairs like coolant change, engine oil change, air filter replacement etc are ok. But Timing belt! Oil leak! Wheel bearings! Not at all.
I hope you've realized that the tantrums thrown by your car can only be attributed to its poor maintenance upkeep. This shouldn't dampen your spirits and prevent you from taking road trips in future (in old cars or new ones), provided you've maintained them properly.
Honestly, as an ex-owner of a 2004 Santro Xing myself (we just sold the car last October), I can say that the car doesn't even demand a lot of maintenance. The bare minimum is enough to ensure that it performs well, and that's the least we can do for our cars anyway.
"The American" allows George Clooney to play a man as starkly defined as a samurai. His fatal flaw, as it must be for any samurai, is love. Other than that, the American is perfect: Sealed, impervious and expert, with a focus so narrow it is defined only by his skills and his master. Here is a gripping film with the focus of a Japanese drama, an impenetrable character to equal Alain Delon's in "Le Samourai," by Jean-Pierre Melville.
Clooney plays a character named Jack, or perhaps Edward. He is one of those people who can assemble mechanical parts by feel and instinct, so inborn is his skill. His job is creating specialized weapons for specialized murders. He works for Pavel (Johan Leysen, who looks like Scott Glenn left to dry in the sun). Actually, we might say he "serves" Pavel, because he accepts his commands without question, giving him a samurai's loyalty.
Pavel assigns him a job. It involves meeting a woman named Mathilde (Thekla Reuten) in Italy. They meet in a public place, where she carries a paper folded under her arm--the classic tell in spy movies. Their conversation begins with one word: "Range?" It involves only the specifications of the desired weapon. No discussion of purpose, cost, anything.
He thinks to find a room in a small Italian hilltop village, but it doesn't feel right. He finds another. We know from the film's shocking opening scene that people want to kill him. In the second village, he meets the fleshy local priest, Father Benedetto (Paolo Bonacelli). Through him he meets the local mechanic, walks into his shop, and finds all the parts he needs to build a custom silencer.
In the village he also finds a whore, Clara (Violante Placido), who works in a bordello we are surprised to find such a village can support. Jack or Edward lives alone, does push-ups, drinks coffee in cafes, assembles the weapon. And so on. His telephone conversations with Pavel are terse. He finds people beginning to follow him and try to kill him.
The entire drama of this film rests on two words, "Mr. Butterfly." We must be vigilant to realize that once, and only once, they are spoken by the wrong person. They cause the entire film and all of its relationships to rotate. I felt exaltation at this detail. It is so rare to see a film this carefully crafted, this patiently assembled like a weapon, that when the word comes it strikes like a clap of thunder. A lesser film would have underscored it with a shock chord, punctuated it with a sudden zoom, or cut to a shocked close up. "The American" is too cool to do that. Too Zen, if you will.
The director is a Dutchman named Anton Corbijn, known to me for "Control" (2007), the story of Ian Curtis, lead singer of Joy Division, a suicide at 23. Corbin has otherwise made mostly music videos. Here he paints an idyllic Italian countryside as lyrical as his dialogue is taciturn. There is not a wrong shot. Every performance is tightly controlled. Clooney is in complete command of his effect. He sometimes seems to be chewing a very small piece of gum, or perhaps his tongue.
His weakness is love. Clara, the prostitute, should not be trusted. We sense he uses prostitutes because he made a mistake in the relationship that opens the film. In his business he cannot trust anybody. But perhaps Clara is different. Do not assume from what I've written that she isn't different. It is very possible. The film ends like a clockwork mechanism arriving at its final, clarifying tick.
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