First when I heard about it, I thought its a joke, seriously. But I had nothing to lose and just gave it a try. My car headlights were not in a very bad state, but was yellowish and foggy to the naked eye. So I took some left over toothpaste and gave it a try. I was caught with immediate surprise when I saw the difference. I would admit that the difference is not as much as you would get from a restoration KIT or by an agent, but it’s significant enough to spot a difference. The cost factor is definitely the winner here..

Recent years have seen a dramatic increase in the number of manufacturers offering such products to combat this prevalent problem. Although seemingly expensive at generally $20 to $50 USD per product, do-it-yourself headlight restoration in the long run can effectively save consumers hundreds of dollars over replacement of damaged plastic headlight covers. A cheaper alternative is plain white toothpaste. It works just as well albeit it takes more elbow grease.
- Plastic headlight restoration from Wikipedia

The idea of using Twitter to share Traffic updates just spurred when @induNan posted this on Twitter:
“So.. Does anyone know? Is there a traffic update/alert #Twitter a/c or hashtag for Colombo or Srilanka??”.

I’m one of those daily victims of heavy traffic, so I was quite excited about it. “If there isn’t one, why don’t we determine one?”, chipped in @mack005. After a bit of tweeting among the rest of the tweeps, it has been decided that #TrafficSL hashtag will be used to update and track tweets related to the traffic situation around Sri Lanka, specially around Colombo.

I personally believe that this will benefit most of us despite where we are. We have a good Twitter community in Sri Lanka and TweetupSL was a clear indication of that. If we join hands and tweet whenever there is a traffic situation, everyone will benefit out of it.

If you are traveling on a bus, your tweets might not divert the bus, but will definitely help someone taking the same route. Same applies if you are even taking a walk. There will always be a time that you will divert your route coz someone tweeted about it. A word of caution though if you are driving. Using a Mobile Phone while driving is a serious offense. So you have to be extremely careful before you tweet. If its heavy traffic, make sure to tweet only while you are stopped in traffic. If you make your way out of the traffic and want to tweet about it make sure to stop on the side of the road and then tweet about it. It’s always your safety first, which also means the safety of others as well.

Traffic updates have been coming in already.. Most of the tweets are about spreading the word, but I saw few tweeting about the traffic status in their area. A search for #TrafficSL will give you all the updates. There will be a special segment about #TrafficSL in our next meetup of Refresh Colombo.

If you are new to Twitter or haven’t activated Twitter on your Mobile, you can read the post “Tweets via SMS: Now active for Sri Lanka” which I published some time back.

Tarffic updates on Radio

I listen to Yes FM Morning Show on my way to work, coz of the ‘Traffic Updates’ segment. Listeners send in their traffic updates via SMS to Yes FM. The RJs (Shaq and Shey) will read through them (obviously the ones that make more sense) during their show so that the listeners in that area can take alternate routes. It actually helps. But lately I have seen it fading away and there are hardly any updates flowing in.

My long story short

Colombo Traffic on Nazly's Photostream

I have a 15 KM drive home, and the traffic is worst as it can get. Without traffic I can get home in 20 mins. But if its during peak hours it takes about 1 hour and 15 mins average. There are about 3-4 main routes I could use. The best is always jammed and the less jammed are always long and bumpy. When I hit a traffic jam, I try to squeeze my way through by-roads to avoid traffic. It can pay off well but at the same time it can lead you to more trouble. It can always be better if I knew the situation before hand so that I can take the best possible route.

Recently a company here in Sri Lanka launched a GPS Satellite Navigation System at a very affordable cost. I was very much interested in it. It has most of the roads around Sri Lanka mapped and gives us directions while driving. The product is good. While it also suggested alternate routes, it didn’t have the feature I was looking for, traffic updates. Most of us know the roads and alternate routes. If we go to a totally new place, still we manage to roam around and ask a random bloke whether we are on the right track. So the solution we require is not static. It’s dynamic and requires real-time information.

Lets hope the Twitter community will contribute their tweets to a worthy cause which will save most of our time we spend on the road. Keep tweeting your traffic updates.. Don’t forget to add #TrafficSL

I have been using a Nissan March K11 for little over a year now. It has been serving me quite well and its in very good condition at the moment. I always preferred a hatchback as it is very convenient when it comes to driving around in traffic and specially parking around Colombo. Due to an urgent need I’m planning to sell it.

I bought this car under Ijarah Islamic Leasing facility, I would prefer to transfer it to someone who is looking for a Nissan March K11 under the same Leasing Scheme rather than actually sell it. Preferably the person whom I will be transferring the lease should be a Muslim since this particular Leasing Scheme doesn’t involve Riba (charging of interest on loans).

Update (2010-02-18) : The person whom I will be transferring the lease to can be a non-Muslim but will be continuing the lease under Ijarah Islamic Leasing facility. Hope this helps since I got few calls asking whether this is possible. Sorry for the confusion due to lack of communication.

So if you are interested call me or send me a text message to my mobile. You also can email me requesting further details. When you contact me, I will disclose the amount I need in hand + the installment rate you need to pay to continue with the lease.

My Contact Details
Mobile Number : 077-7487480
Email Address : nazly.ahmed@gmail.com

Here are some basic details of the car.

Make and Model :
Nissan March K11 (1000 CC)

Year of Manufacture :
2000 (Cup Holder Model)

Vehicle Number Series :
HY-XXXX

Transmission :
Automatic

Mileage :
54000 KMs

Average Fuel Consumption :
8-9 KMs/ltr within Colombo
11-12 KMs/ltr Outstations

Features :
14″ Alloys, New Tires, A/C, Power Steering, Power Shutters, Retractable Mirrors, Central Locking, ABS, Dual Air Bag, CD Player, 3-Way Rear Speakers, Remote Key, Rear Wiper

Update 2010-03-23 : Well after giving it a long thought I gave up the idea of selling it since my love towards this car doesn’t allow me to do so. I got a lot of calls but most of them wanted to buy it for cash which I wasn’t willing to. If you are still interested drop me an email or a text. Will respond u back if I change my mind..

Update 2010-12-06 : This car has been sold..

While I was walking by with a friend of mine I spotted this Mini parked and quickly caught it using my phone cam. The Mini is in excellent condition by the looks of it. My friend and I were really keen and found the owner of the car and asked him whether he has any plans of selling it. He had a one word answer. "No"

This gentlemen who was in front of a computer was really keen on giving us some information about the Mini. Also he shared some info related to their club. Their website URL is mightymini.lk. It was very interesting to talk with him. I have seen Minis go on road trips and I guess this is the only Mini club here in Sri Lanka. Correct me if I'm wrong. Hopefully sooner I can join this club. Of course I'm in the look out for a Mini, definitely not the New Mini

There were some nice pics taken by Anuradha and you can check his pics here. And more pics from Bud