My Running Thoughts

I hate it and love it..

2008-05-18T01:08:00.000-07:00

My schedule involves Tempo running, Up hill/ Down hill running, Fartlek or Interval training on every Tuesday. If you are targetting a faster time for marathon finish, these running workouts will help you to improve speed and strength. All speed workouts demand good amount of energy and I use these runs to spit out my hidden anger and frustrations. I just hate the anguish while running, but love the elevated, engergised feeling after the run. It gives me the sensation of winning a losing battle.

If you are wondering what these workouts are, read the short excerpts taken from a running site.

Tempo Runs: A tempo run is a workout of 30 to 45 minutes, usually run on trails or in the woods so you have no reference to exactly how far or how fast you are running. Here's how to do a tempo run. Begin at an easy pace, about as fast as you would during any warm-up on the track. After 5 or 10 minutes of gentle jogging, gradually accelerate toward peak speed midway through the workout, holding that peak for 5 or 10 minutes, then gradually decelerate, finishing with 5 minutes of gentle jogging, your cool-down. At peak speed, you should be running somewhat slower than pace for a 5-K run. Run hard, but not too hard. If you do this workout correctly, you should finish refreshed rather than fatigued.

Interval Training: This is a more precise form of speed training than tempo runs above, or fartlek below. You may have done interval training, or some variation on it, during the track season whether or not you recognized it by that name. Interval training consists of fast repeats (400, 600 and 1,000 meters in this program), followed by jogging and/or walking to recover. It is the "interval" between the fast repeats that gives this workout its name. Perform a 400-meter jog between the 400 repeats, a 200-meter jog between the 600 repeats, and 3 minutes walking and/or jogging between the 1,000 repeats. Most important is not how fast or slow you walk or jog the interval, but that you be consistent with both the repeats and the interval between. For example, you do not want to run this workout and discover near the end that you are running the repeats slower than at the start, or that you need more rest during the interval between. If that happens, you picked too ambitious a time goal for the workout. Interval training is best run on a track, although it can be run on soft surfaces or on the roads, as long as you maintain consistency.

Fartlek: Fartlek is a Swedish word, loosely translated as "speed play." A fartlek run in this program is a workout of anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes that involves constant changes of pace at different distances. It is entirely intuitive (similar to tempo runs) and is best run on trails in the woods where you have no idea how far you are running. After 5 or 10 minutes of gentle jogging at the start, pick up the pace and SURGE for maybe 10 or 20 or more seconds, then jog or even walk for a near equal time until partly recovered, then surge again. These speed bursts could be anywhere from 100 to 400 meters, or longer. They could be up a hill or down a hill or on the flat. They could be at top speed or at the pace you might run a 5,000 meter race or from this tree to that tree. Bill Dellinger, 5,000 meter bronze medalist in the 1964 Olympic Games and who succeeded Coach Bill Bowerman at the University of Oregon, said: "An athlete runs as he feels. A fartlek training session can be the hardest workout a runner does all week, or it can be the easiest." Dellinger adds: "In order to be a good distance runner, you have to build strength and endurance, learn race pace, and practice race tactics. Fartlek training can incorporate all of these essential elements into a single workout." Fartlek teaches you how to surge in the middle of the race to get away from opponents--or hang with them when they attempt to surge on you.

Back from Groin Injury

2008-04-02T20:37:00.000-07:00

After getting recovered from groin injury (which was troubling me from last two months) I am happy to be back on the road and running. Due to the injury, I had to cut down on the mileage and take rest. Though the groin was troubling me for sometime, I didn’t stop running and the pain wasn’t subsiding too. It worsened to a stage where I couldn’t even stand in a relaxed posture. Most of the websites I referred recommended few stretches and ample rest. Injuries are hard to avoid. It’s always better to take rest until it heals completely.

I hit the road last Friday, struggled a lot to complete 10k on Firday and16k on Sunday. I was missing my running and breathing rhythm and found hard to complete the run on Sunday. I took 10-15 mins more than my usual time but was happy to be on the road. Today I did a 10k in 49mins and the run was quite satisfactory.

The resting period was quite killing. Without running my energy level was at ground zero and my days were quite sober. Nowadays it’s become hard to imagine a life without running.

2008 Training Plan

2008-03-16T13:53:00.000-07:00

After the singapore marathon, I have cut down my weekly mileage and was primarily concentrating on running techniques and weight loss. I have lost nearly 6kgs/13.2lbs since November 2007 and also changed my running style to a certain extent. This year I am quite desperate to crack the 3hrs 45mins marathon or rather 3hrs 30mins marathon (if things go well) and have come up with an intense (to my standards) training plan which is primarily focussed on quantity. If the plan doesn't work this year I will come up with tougher training plan next year. 37 weeks/8months is a long duration and I wish everything works out as planned.

52k Race is Bangalore Ultra marathon followed by Singapore marathon two weeks later.

Recent Running Form

2008-02-24T14:55:00.000-08:00

Last couple of months has been quite hectic with work and looks like the trend might continue for another few months. Other than running and work I don’t have free time to do any activity and also have been finding reasons for not blogging too.

Last weekend I took part in Auroville half marathon. Though it was a memorable and happy event, I am disgusted with my performance. I encountered a pretty nasty road rash, missed the route couple of times, did 2-3kms more, walked for a while and completed in 2hrs 17mins.

I was targeting for 1:45 but finished with a horrible timing, probably I was overambitious about my timing. Whole day I was cursing myself for the failure and was pondering why I failed. Moreover before last week’s event, my motivation to run was also quite low and I have been running just for the sake of running. During later half of the race I observed my legs dying and found hard to push myself.

Next day, I thought to alter my training and log more miles per week. But the road rash had stopped me from running and just managed to do a 9k on Thursday. Before the run I also planned to count my stride rate and observed it to be 82-84 per minute. Many websites recommends maintaining the stride rate at 85-90 per minute. I need to do some research on the stride rate and length before I alter my running style.

Overall it’s been a dull phase of running season and struggling hard to jump out of the slump.

Whatever it takes...

2008-01-21T19:49:00.000-08:00

Yesterdays 20.5k run was one of the best to my standards. I completed the distance in 1hr 42mins with an average speed of 12km/hr (i.e 5mins/km). When I started the run, I was bit uncertain about maintaining the speed throughout the course. But decided to keep up the pace till my legs could sustain and surprisingly I managed to achieve that. My modified training program is helping to improve my strength and speed. I wish to have this time officially recorded during the pondicherry half marathon which is scheduled on Feb 16th. Whatever it takes, I have decided to train hard and rip myself apart before my next marathon.

"You have to forget your last marathon before you try another. Your mind can't know what's coming." - Frank Shorter

"It is very difficult to train for a marathon; but it is even more difficult to not be able to train for a marathon." - Aaron Douglas Trimble

Try Again

2008-01-15T16:15:00.000-08:00

I keep receiving weekly Bulletin from Better Life Unlimted. This week topic is "Try Again".

By Dr. Chet Zelasko

Did you ever watch a five-year-old try to skate? It doesn’t matter whether it’s roller blading or ice skating, they fall all the time. Then they get back up and try again. And again. And again. They don’t let failure stop them--they try again immediately. There’s a great lesson there.

If you’re going change the way you eat, you’re going to fail many times on the road to a new style of eating. You’re also going to sleep in more times than you should and miss your workout. That’s inevitable--but just like those kids, try again immediately. This is my business and I’m still trying to get it all figured out when it comes to eating. I don’t eat as badly as I used to eat and not as good as I’m going to eat.

We’re all works in progress and as long as we keep trying, we’ll ultimately succeed.

We can apply this theory to anything we try to learn. Don't give up easily, keep trying.

I am going to train until I crack sub 3hrs marathon. There is no guarantee that I could achieve this before I retire at 50, but I will keep trying.

Observations on Treadmill Training

2008-01-04T22:05:00.000-08:00

Every time I visit the gym, I can’t resist myself from running on the treadmill. I would work on overall body strengthening exercises combined with core strengthening followed by a fast 5k run. Primarily I make use of the treadmill for correcting my posture and improving the lactate threshold. Usually it takes 21:30 – 21:50mins for me to complete a 5k on a treadmill with an average speed of around 13.9km/hr. Whether its road running or treadmill running I have the style of taking longer strides. The distance on the treadmill is calculated only based on the time and speed but not on the stride length and rates. If my strides are longer, definitely I would be covering more than 5k on the treadmill in sub 22 mins. Recently with less intensity I broke my 5k PR on road in 21:51 mins which again contradicts with the treadmill timing. After doing some research on stride length and speed, I came across a good article on Treadmill Training.

Few interesting points from the article

The first study to evaluate carefully the kinematics of treadmill versus 'overground' running was completed in 1972 at Penn State University in the US, in a study of 16 male members of the university's track and cross-country teams(4). The runners were evenly divided between distance specialties, with five sprinters, six middle-distance runners and five cross-country runners, all of them required to run at three speeds at three different inclinations on both the treadmill and normal ground.

This groundbreaking study uncovered fundamental differences between treadmill and overground running. For instance, at relatively routine speeds of 3.35 and 4.88m/sec (119 and 82 seconds per 400m respectively), the athletes' stride lengths were absolutely identical on treadmill and firm ground; but when velocity rose to 6.4m/sec (62.5 seconds per 400m), treadmill stride length was about 5% longer than overground strides. The same situation occurred during uphill (10%-grade) running, with strides equal at moderate paces but about 8% longer on the treadmill when velocity rose to 6.4m/sec. During downhill running (10%), stride lengths on the ground and treadmill were equal at all speeds.

Not surprisingly, stride rates were lower on the treadmill during fast running both uphill and on the level: since stride lengths were longer on the treadmill, stride rate would have to slow down in order to keep speed at a constant level. Predictably too, 'support time' (the length in milliseconds of the stance phase of the gait cycle) increased significantly on the treadmill for all speeds during uphill and downhill running - and at the very highest speed during level running. Basically, the runners were trying to create more stability for themselves on the unstable, fast-moving and/or inclined treadmill by keeping their feet on the belt a little longer than usual. In fact, this effect may have been the cause of both the lower stride rates and longer strides: with the stance phase elongated, more propulsive force could have been created, broadening strides but trimming stride rate.

No wonder my stride length was longer on the treadmill at higher velocity.

Analysis and Learning

2007-12-23T22:30:00.000-08:00

Hydration: I should learn more on hydrating properly before the race. Now the point is to identify what “proper” hydration means. Though I drink nearly 7-8 litres of water everyday and consume sufficient quantity of water before long runs I invariably get dehydrated after the run. More research is required on this aspect.

Running without Walking: Somehow I should develop the habit or running without walking and also work on my mental and physical toughness. Walking in the middle of long distance running really dampens my mental toughness and my legs yearn for taking more walk breaks. Important area to work on.

Weight Reduction: This would be one of my primary goals during the first half of the year. I managed to shed couple of kgs before the marathon, but would have to cut down another 4-5 kgs. It’s really important to feel light when I start training for my next marathon during the later half of the year.

Completing the marathon has really taught me few good lessons. Dedication, determination and sticking to a well defined plan would definitely result in achieving any goal. While doing any work, whenever complacency or laziness creeps into my mind, I think about the marathon finish. “Come on dude, if you can complete a marathon why not this work”. Some people learn things in harder way and I have chosen this way.

After a brief gap I ran 16k today morning. The roads were covered with mist with visibility hardly less than five meters. I enjoyed running in the mist while my mind was humming the song Brothers in arms – “These mist covered mountains….”.

Singapore Marathon - Race Day

2007-12-05T22:21:00.000-08:00

Chip Time: 4:54:10
Placement: 2499 out of 9704 and 370 out of 1331 in my age category.

The Chennai Runners group which took part in Singapore Marathon.

From L to R: Ramesh, Shumit, Vidyuth, Senthil, Shahid, Narayanan, Ram and Me (few are not in the picture). I wouldn't have participated if I hadn't joined this running group. Big thanks to them.

Well, I am really happy about completing my first marathon, but not feeling great about my timing. Hoping to do sub 4 hrs, I joined the sub 4hrs group. With just five minutes into the race, I had to take a pee break. There was already a big queue outside the toilet resulting me in losing 4-5 mins and missing the pace setters too. I was running along with sub five hours group for some time and realised that I am running slowly. Then I did a mistake of picking up the pace at around 5k. Worried about over-hydration, I didn’t consume any fluid till 9th km. By then, my hamstrings also started causing some trouble. I think it’s because of the flight travel and some strenuous walking the previous day.

I was looking out for Shumit, found him at around 9k mark and we both were following 4:15 pace setters. After 13k I was unable to keep up the pace and had to slow down. I crossed the 21k at 2:03 and missed the goal of 1:50. I was slowly munching the miles and passed the 30k mark at 3:14. The moment I saw the 30k mark, my legs stopped to take a small walk break and played the spoilsport for the rest of the run. From there on, it’s just a combination of walk and run to complete the remaining distance.

I joined Vidyuth at around 32k and we both walked, ran together till 40k mark with some stretching during the course. At around 35k, I was feeling very hungry and was desperately looking for some thing to chew. I found the banana stall at 39k mark and felt alright after swallowing one. Somehow during the struggle, I didn’t think about any inspiration quotes to keep myself moving forward. Few weeks before the race, I had a thought of dedicating my first marathon to my father and the same thought kept my legs moving during the tougher part of the race. Heart burns and quads were forcing me to walk. What if my heart stops before I touch the finish line, what if I get cramps, will I be able to achieve at least sub 5hrs finish – I was going through lot of emotions which were pushing me to further slow down and walk. It’s a battle between my mind and body in which my body was defeating my mind on most of the occasions. With only few minutes to five hours and couple of kilometres to be covered, I told Vidyuth that I am going to run till finish line. I crossed the finish line with my hands raised in the air. My stopwatch showed 4:54:19. I am dedicating my first marathon to my father.

Post race I collected my medal and finishers T-shirt and went on to take a massage at the massage centre arranged for full marathon finishers. The entire race was organised to perfection with water and isotonic drink stalls every kilometre, cheering groups, bands playing and supporters clapping all through the race course from start to finish line.

My body was coated with thick layer of salt and I was badly dehydrated. I went back to my hotel room, tried to eat food and immediately puked after taking two spoons of rice. I slept like a log for few hours and felt better after waking up. Met couple of friends that evening and celebrated with few pints of beer near the river side. Overall the experience of completing a marathon is wonderful. Now I know my shortcomings and have to figure out to correct those before my next marathon.

Check out my pictures here and here.

Expectations

2007-11-27T22:00:00.000-08:00

4 days to race day and 2 days of training remaining. Since last three weeks I have been practicing speed workouts which resulted me to think about an over ambitious goal of sub 4hrs marathon. Sunday I ran 21.5k in 1hr 55mins. Sub 4hrs marathon goal will become realistic if I could cut down my half marathon timing by another 5mins. During the race I hope the environment, people and the company through out the race might help me in achieving the 21.5k timing and subsequently the remaining distance in another 2hrs. If I fail to manage it, I would be satisfied with finishing the marathon. It's the day on which all my training would be put to test and I am desperate to clear the test.

I was browsing through a triathlon blog site and found this wonderful clipping which states "Achievement is largely the product of steadily raising one's level of aspiration and expectation". Check out Bevan Docherty (in black dress) of New Zealand sprinting from behind to clutch victory from the grasp of compatriot Kris Gemmell at the 2005 New Plymouth ITU World Cup triathlon.

Running and Brain

2007-11-18T22:00:00.000-08:00

French "mathlete" Alexis Lemaire broke his own world record after working out in his head the 13th root of a random 200-digit number in just 72.4 seconds. Lemaire, a 27-year-old doctoral student in artificial intelligence sat at a laptop computer that randomly selected the figure and displayed it on the screen. The number was so long it ran over 17 lines. He took just over a minute to identify two quadrillion, 397 trillion, 207 billion, 667 million, 966 thousand, 701 as the 13th root. In other words, the number multiplied by itself 13 times produces the 200 digit number originally generated by the computer. He uses an artificial intelligence system on his own brain instead of on a computer. He says sometimes when he does multiplication his brain works so fast that it would require him to take medication. He practices regularly and jogs every day, doesn't drink coffee or alcohol and avoids foods that are high in sugar or fat to help him think faster.

What caught my attention is that he runs every day to keep his brain active. I have also read articles mentioning running helps in development of brain cells. Read this article. Now what's your opinion to start running?

Tapering Starts..

2007-11-12T22:10:00.000-08:00

I should have approximately ran 35-36k yesterday, i.e. my peak distance before Singapore marathon. I ran 7.1k lap five times. My idea was to complete the run in 3hrs 30mins maintaining a lap time of 40 mins. In fact, I completed 28k in 2hrs 50mins and which is almost on target. But, as usual the last 7-8k was quite hard, with sun burning my skin, I managed to complete the remaining distance and my run in 3hrs 46mins. Good part is I managed to be on the road for long duration under hot conditions. Last week I suffered from IT band syndrome and was quite annoyed as it prevented me from running for couple of days. Few stretches and tips from my running group helped me to hit the road again in quick time. Now I am pretty confident of completing the Singapore marathon under 4:30(high hopes). Tapering starts from this week and has started counting days for the D-day.

31k in ECR

2007-11-05T22:05:00.000-08:00

I was drenched in the rain even before we started the run. There is nothing more annoying than running with wet clothes and soggy socks. At least my clothes got dried after few mins of running, but my socks were wet till I completed the run. At around 22-23k mark I felt like removing my socks and throw them away. I completed 31k in 3hrs 22mins, and felt just ok. Somehow on Saturday night I was very anxious about completing the run in 3hours and wasn't able to sleep properly. I found last 5-6kms to be very hard; I spoke to myself "You are a tough guy and not going to give up easily". I was following Ram for long time and managed to run behind (with a gap of 400-500mts) him during the later half of the run.

For last few kms, I was repeating the quotes from the movie "Rocky Balboa" in my mind to keep myself moving forward.

It ain't how hard you hit; it's about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward. How much you can take, and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done.

Now, if you know what you're worth, then go out and get what you're worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hit, and not pointing fingers saying you ain't where you are because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that and that ain't you. You're better than that!

You can find the briefing in Ram's blog and the pictures here.

Need Endorphin Rush

2007-11-01T22:25:00.000-07:00

I messed up my training this week. It all started due to heavy rains during the weekend. I woke up at 3AM on Sunday morning and waited for nearly two hours for the rain to subside, but it decided to take some breather only in the evening. Rest of the week went on with accompanying relatives at home, attending friend’s marriage and some personal work. The week, in which I should have run approximately 60k, I ran just 19k. Not sure if I could cover up at least half the targeted mileage for the week. Training for a marathon requires lot of focus and dedication, even if a person loses his focus for a week or two while peaking mileage, can lead to laziness and complacency. It’s been quite a while since I have focused on my career and personal issues. After the Singapore marathon, I would take couple of months break from the hectic training schedule and explore my other interests before I train hard again for my next marathon.

I badly want to experience the endorphin rush and probably will run 12k tomorrow.

Thursday to Tuesday

2007-10-23T20:00:00.000-07:00

This is how I trained from last Thursday to Tuesday

Thursday: I had to pick up my aunt from the railway station on Thursday morning and at the same time didn’t want to miss my weekday LSD(Long Slow Distance) running. The railway station is just 8k from my home and as per my schedule I had to run 13k. I figured out a longer route which was around 12.5k and ran till the station. Though I reached the station on time, the train was delayed by an hour. I called my sister and asked her to come and pick up my aunt. Came back from station to kodambakkam by train and ran from kodambakkam to home, which is another 2k.

Saturday: I cleaned my bicycle (bike) on Friday evening for cross training on Saturday morning. I hit the snooze button at 4 AM and the next time I saw my watch it was 4:50AM. For a moment I thought to skip my training hoping the cycling group would have left before I reached the starting point (which is 7k away from my home). I decided to give a try and left my home at 5:10AM. Rammed my bike pedals really hard, but just 600-700mts before the meeting point my bike chain slipped. It took nearly five minutes to fix it and concluded the group would have already started. Fortunately I caught them in the last moment and it was a pleasure riding with the group. We rode even in the heavy rain before finishing our ride with a good filter coffee at saravana bhavan. I would have pedaled around 30k.

Sunday: It was drizzling when I met Shumit at 4:30 AM. We did some stretching and started our run at 4:36 AM. The weather was very pleasant and it rained almost till we completed the run. Shumit runs fast, but I didn’t want him to slow down because of me and ran at a pace faster than I run long distances. We ran 30.2k in 2hrs 59 mins and both of us felt really happy about the timing. In fact I wrongly assumed the distance to be 32k and wanted to celebrate with beer that evening. Nevertheless it was a great run.

Tuesday: I did fast uphill training with Hari and enjoyed the chat with him. It’s good that I am slowly getting used to the habit of chatting while running.

Fillers – Friday and Monday I hit the gym for upper body training.

Fixing Me

2007-10-17T21:20:00.000-07:00

How did we come into existence? What have we done to our lives? Why is it so complex to break the shackles of worries? As everyone say, does life becomes very boring if we are always happy?

Time will cure. But time also brings new things into our life. It becomes hard for me to get answers when I think these types of questions. It gives me a strange unpleasant feeling when I think that I can’t see my father again. Before I repair others, how do I purify my thoughts and be positive. What do I do now?

I Listen to Music. Music is my energy booster. It’s an awesome feeling I experience when I hear the strumming sound of guitars, melodies from piano and poetic lyrics. Bands like Coldplay and Pink Floyd will never tire me. I am not sure how many thousands times I have listened to them and still listen. Currently my ipod is playing “Fix You” by Coldplay. Very inspiring lyrics and music. There is so much to get from the lyrics and many things I can relate to. Personal loss, day to day worries or even when I try to give up in the middle during my long distance running, remembering the lyrics from this song helps me a lot.

Fix You – Lyrics (Coldplay X&Y)

When you try your best but you don't succeed
When you get what you want but not what you need
When you feel so tired but you can't sleep
Stuck in reverse

When the tears come streaming down your face
When you lose something you can't replace
When you love someone but it goes to waste
Could it be worse?

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

And high up above or down below
When you're too in love to let it go
But if you never try you'll never know
Just what you're worth

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

Tears stream down your face
When you lose something you cannot replace
Tears stream down your face
And I

Tears stream down your face
I promise you that I will learn from my mistakes
Tears stream down your face
And I

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you.

Running Thoughts

2007-10-15T18:42:00.000-07:00

Feeling quite strong mentally and physically after the 30k run yesterday. I took nearly 3hrs 15mins to complete 30.5kms. Tackling the stray dogs during my early morning long runs is becoming a pain. I hate them to the core. Even though I run in the middle of the road, I prefer to walk at certain stretches of densely populated areas to avoid these creatures chasing me. But still couple of chasing incidents happened yesterday. Leaving the dog stories aside, I am able to complete the run quite strongly. Except little bit of soreness here and there, I have recovered pretty fast. Run followed by heavy breakfast and 3 hours or nap was sufficient for me to recover completely. Though I wasn't carrying my fuel belt, I was hydrating throughout the run at regular intervals.

Couple of week’s back I lost my fuel belt somewhere. I went to spencer plaza in the evening with my friend to check if it’s available in any of the sports store. As expected none of the stores had fuel belts. One sales guy in Nike showroom said they don’t sell belts in their shop (thinking that I was inquiring for a leather belt). Later I went to landmark to check if they had any books on running, but no luck. Still lot more to catch up.

Nowadays I am thinking more about running and completing the Singapore marathon. Moreover, except running I don’t have anything interesting happening in my life. Looking at the recent posts I think it's apt to change my blog title to My “Running” Thoughts.

5k in 24:16

2007-10-08T20:00:00.000-07:00

I competed in a 5k race yesterday and finished it in 24mins 16secs. Considering that I ran the race after a slow 15k run, I feel happy about my timings. Initially I was bit hesitant to participate hoping that I would miss my weekend long run. On the other hand, I also didn’t want to miss the 5k race. So I thought of combining my weekend long run with the short 5 k run and decided to reach the race venue running. Throughout the race I maintained good constant pace. But towards the end I started competing with a guy for the third place. I wrongly assumed that I was nearing the finish line, started sprinting and ran out of steam very quickly. I gave up, decided to slow down and jogged the last 500mts. I finished 5th or 6th in the race and really excited to know that I ran at an average speed of 12.4kph.

Disconnected

2007-10-01T13:30:00.000-07:00

For almost a week I was physically and virtually disconnected from the external world. I attended a residential workshop on project management conducted by my organisation I am currently employed in. It was an exhaustive workshop with sessions starting at 7AM and ending after 9PM with some short breaks in the middle. Our day starts with a session on breathing techniques, followed by seniors sharing their experiences with some interesting role plays and activities. The participants were all budding managers working in different projects at different levels. Except one colleague, everyone was a stranger to me and it was nice to spend time with them. We seldom get opportunities to meet the people who have been with the organisation since day one and made it grow and see it growing to this level. The vision, thoughts they shared with us was very motivating and amazed to see them still working with lot of zest and hunger to make the organisation grow. With so much of packed activities I still managed to run on couple of days. The resort (Pleasant days resort) we stayed was maintained very well with wonderful landscapes and greenery. Only drawback is the suites doesnt have internet connection. I also utilised some free time to plunge in the swimming pool. Overall the experience was fruitful and the time just flew away.

ECR Run 3

2007-09-17T22:51:00.000-07:00

This time I completed the ECR run without any problem and really feel great about completing with very less walking. Yesterdays run is a big morale booster for me. Last time I stopped at around 22km and took an autorick. to reach the destination. But this time I approached the run with a different mindset and managed to finish the run in 2hrs 45mins.

We (ChennaiRunners) started the run at 5 AM. Hari, Shumit, Vidyuth and Rupert the fastest runners in our group took off with a blaze and set the road on fire. Unlike last time I didn’t do the mistake of running fast initially. I started slowly and ran continuously at an average speed of 9.5kph for 1 hr 15 mins. I took a small walk break for 2 mins and at 1hr 17mins, I again took off. I set the next target of taking a break at 2hrs. I approached the 2hrs mark and didn’t find any discomfort with my body or mind. After a 5 mins walk break at 2hrs mark, I knew that only 7-8kms are left to be covered. I took the piecemeal approach for the remaining distance and moved my legs again. A fellow runner joined me and started conversing. I somehow wasn’t comfortable having a chat while running and told him “let’s not speak until we touch the finish line”. Till now I was running alone and suddenly when someone joined me my concentration started to get distracted. I stopped for couple of minutes and waited till he advanced for 300-400mts. From there on I didn’t stop until I reached the end point. It took 2hrs 45mins 17secs to cover 26kms. My next target is to complete the same distance in less than 2hrs 30mins.

You can find more briefing and pictures from the fellow runners Ram, Hari, KK (organiser) and Shumit.

Article in India Today

2007-09-08T22:16:00.000-07:00

Last month the ChennaiRunners team gave a photo shoot to India Today for an article to be published on our running group. They took the pictures after one of our weekly Sunday run. I did a 26K that morning and was very tired during the photo shoot. The photographer asked us to do few 50m sprints for taking the pictures. She would have taken at least 20-25 pictures, but after the photo shoot, we came to know that one of the chip got corrupted (lost half the pictures) and had to redo again on Tuesday. Check out for the article below which came out on the edition dated Sep 17th.

Ponder

2007-09-07T22:19:00.000-07:00

Few important things I have experienced and follow (at least try to) in my life..

1. There are always people intelligent than you, so never, ever underestimate anyone.

2. Everyone is reasonable from their own perspective, so value their views and opinions. Take it if you like or make them understand why you didn't like, but don’t ignore their views.

3. Whether interesting or boring, be dedicated and honest to whatever task you take up. Don’t deliver an unfinished low quality work.

4. Time will provide a solution for the sad and bad moments you are experiencing in your life (I miss my father very much).

5. Today is a gift from yesterday and tomorrow is a gift from today. Use today wisely and create a wonderful gift for tomorrow.

6. Always think big or at least try to think big.

7. Stay fit and lead a healthy lifestyle.

8. Respect humans, elder or younger, poorer or richer, dumb or intelligent and never humiliate anyone.

9. Think for a moment before you react but there is no point in regretting after you react.

10. Dream and chase your dream.

Push, Push....

2007-08-30T21:37:00.000-07:00

Push, Push, Push…is what I tell to myself while running long distances. Legs move pretty freely for 22-23k, but from there on it’s purely a mind game for me. While running, apart from concentrating on my breathing, I also have to consciously make an effort on stopping pessimistic feelings creeping into my mind along with lot of self talking. Controlling my thoughts when my legs are tired and weak is a tough job. When I am exhausted and feel like stopping I try to think about people like Carol (a normal person who started training for triathlon at the age of 40 and went ahead by participating in competitions) and fellow runners from my running group who push themselves hard to keep myself going. But one thing is guaranteed, during long runs I get ample time to think about everything and anything. All my pain would vanish when my mind wins against the body and when I achieve the target I have set to myself.

I am planning to do 30k runs over next three weekends and a 36k on fourth weekend (which also means waking up at 3:15AM on Sundays). If I manage to complete the 4th week run then it won’t be a great task for me to finish the Singapore marathon. I also have 3 months time to increase my fitness level too. Ahhhh, this month I am shelling out some money and joining a good gym which has got 7-8 treadmills and spacious enough for circuit training. Wanted to try out a 30 day schedule shared by a running partner Shumit. Nowadays I think more about running than anything else, at least 5 to 6 hours in a day. Hope it doesn’t become an addiction like depicted in this article to me.

How Big & How Small

2007-08-27T22:20:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I watched a program in Discovery channel on Planet Earth's evolution. Became bit curious and was surfing the net for some related information and accidentally found the pictures below. Check out the size of Earth and Sun in the 3rd, 4th and 5th pictures.

Virtual World

2007-08-18T21:22:00.000-07:00

My Sify broadband internet connection went down for more than 24 hours and I felt handicapped without the net connectivity. After repeated follow-ups, at last today evening the Sify guys fixed the problem and I got the connectivity back. Major time of my browsing goes in reading blogs and few running sites. Reading blogs with personal experiences and information feels like spending time with friends. It is bit sad that I spend more time in virtual world than the real world, but that’s the case in many other lives too I think. Happiest part is we at least keep track of friends through social networking sites, thanks to orkut, facebook, myspace…. After being part of the runners group, I have started meeting more people than usual from various fields sharing one common interest “Running”. I feel rejuvenated when I interact and run along with them challenging my mind and body for few hours in a day.

What about you, do you meet your friends regularly? How often do you meet your friends?

Is Your Personal Corporation Growing?

2007-08-14T21:40:00.000-07:00

I read this article and found quite interesting. It made me ponder about my effectiveness at work. There were days when I used to slog and work for 14 to 15 hours everyday six days a week with lot of determination and hungry to achieve something. But in recent times I often get distracted while working and my concentration level has also decreased. After every thirty mins I had to consciously make an effort to bring my focus back to work. This article says a person can increase his or her effectiveness anywhere from 50% to 100% and more within 30 days. Read on..

Is Your Personal Corporation Growing? - By Earl Nightingale

Every person is, in reality, in business for himself or herself in that each is building his or her own life regardless of who happens to write his or her paycheck. So for the purpose of this message, think of yourself as a corporation. You hold the office of president of this corporation, and you're responsible for its success or failure. You and the members of your family are stockholders in your corporation, and it's your responsibility to see that the value of the stock increases in the years ahead.

If your company is growing, it will have a tendency to continue to grow. In other words, you're doing things right. Conversely, a company that is going backwards or shrinking has a tendency to continue to go backwards or shrink until acted upon by an outside force. All responsible company officers know that unless the company is growing, it's developing the first signs of death. As the head of your personal corporation, you must realize that this same law applies to you as well.

However, a person has a tremendous advantage over even the largest corporation. Think of any large multinational corporation. Can it double its production in a single day? Of course not. Can it double its sales in a single day? Of course not. It would like to, but its growth must be gradual and steady because of the interconnecting complexities of operating such a large organization. Yet a person can double, triple, quadruple his or her effectiveness in a month or less. It's like comparing the movement of a single scout to the movement of a great army.

Can you grow and improve as a person at least 10% a year? Of course you can. In fact, experts estimate a person can increase his or her effectiveness anywhere from 50% to 100% and more within 30 days.

History is filled with people who exceeded their previous performance to an almost unbelievable extent. People in management and in production who multiplied their effectiveness many times. Students who moved from failing grades to straight A's and the Dean's List. People in sales who found they could, through the proper management of their abilities, minds, and time, sell as much of their company's products in a single month as they had previously sold in an entire year. Think about what that means.

If you waste even an hour of productive time every work day, it adds up to 250 hours a year. That time wasted could shut your corporation down! You can earn nothing with the doors closed. What is your time worth an hour? Multiply this by 250 and you can see what you're throwing away. Now whether your employer pays for this wasted hour or not is unimportant. Life will not pay for it.

How much are you worth right now, today, as a corporation? What's your value today, to yourself, your family, your company? If you were an outside investor, a stranger, would you invest in this corporation? A company growing at the rate of 10% a year will double in size in about eight years. What attention are you giving to the growth of your personal corporation?

Singapore Marathon

2007-08-09T22:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I have registered in Singapore Marathon which is scheduled on Dec 2nd . Though it’s quite expensive, I didn’t take very long time to decide. Heard it’s organised very well and wanted to complete a Marathon at any cost. Chennai Marathon is also organised at around same time but didn’t want to take a chance and get stopped by the cops after running for 3 painful hrs. Around 9-10 guys from Chennai runners have already registered and it would be fun running along with them in Singapore. I have been training quite hard for the past few weeks combining cycling-running workouts and controlling my diet to shed some weight too. Let’s see how it goes..

The Boss

2007-08-04T07:53:00.001-07:00

At last I watched the movie Sivaji. Even after hearing average reviews I was quite desperate to watch the movie for the publicity and obviously Superstar.

What did I like?

1. Background score by Rahman. It’s awesome. The music should have also made wonders for the movie success.

2. Mottai Boss. Rajini was looking great and different.

3. Shreya’s abs. She has amazing abs. You seldom see in South Indian movies.

What didn’t I like?

1. The screenplay. First half was patchy and felt bit boring. Other than songs and few comedy scenes the rest was pretty ordinary.

2. Climax stunt scene. Instead of copying the stunts and special effects from movie “The Matrix” they could have picturised differently.

In general I found the movie to be quite dragging. But watch the movie at least once.

Books in my shelf

2007-07-28T17:45:00.000-07:00

What are the books in my shelf and which are half read or yet to be started.

How Life Imitates Chess – Gary Kasporov

Freakonomics - Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

What Do I Do When I Want to Do Everything – Barbara Sher

Creativity – A. Dale Timpe

Mahatma Gandhi: His life and ideas – Charles F Andrews

High Performance Entrepreneur – Subroto Bagchi

I have the habit of buying at least 2 books per month, but sometimes fail to keep up the speed of reading with buying. Before I get into a bookstore next time, I should make sure to complete minimum of two from the above list.

For Blind

2007-07-25T09:05:00.000-07:00

Last week I saw an article about few college students doing a project on designing a special computer keyboard for blind. It was mentioned that it allows the users to type 40 words per minute. My basic doubt is why a specially designed keyboard is required for blind and why can’t they use a normal keyboard to type 40 words per minute. For them using a computer should be more like interacting with humans than just working with a machine. This made me ponder on how the visually impaired people use the computer.

I did googling and found that there are many devices to help the blind to use computers. Few of them are given below.

Braille Displays: An electronic braille display is a tactile device that is placed under a conventional computer keyboard, or laptop keyboard and enables the user to read the contents of the computer screen by touch in braille. Each cell has eight pins made of metal or nylon, which are electronically controlled to move up and down, to display a braille version of characters that appear on the computer screen.

Screen Reader Software: A screen reading program sends screen text displayed on the screen to be spoken by a speech synthesizer. Common features include the ability to speak the full screen, a user defined area of the screen, a line, a word, individual letters or the phonetic equivalent of a letter and punctuation. A screen reader allows menus, dialog boxes, tool tips and system messages to be read back.

Braille embosser or braille printer: Embossers print braille output from a computer by punching dots onto paper. They connect to the computer in the same way as text printers and can also be connected to notetakers and other devices with a serial or parallel port. Used in conjunction with the embosser is braille translation software that translates printed text into braille.

Voice Recognition Software: Voice Recognition Software enables the user to have an alternative to typing text into a computer. This is where the user talks to the computer and the computer talks to user (interactive software).

I think the voice recognition software should be the best solution for any work which involves typing. It might become a really difficult task to correct the mistakes committed while typing and a person might also doesn’t know in case of errors.

There are many other devices like these and quite a lot of research is being done on this front to enable easy usage of computers for blind.

When I was thinking about the latest technological developments and their usage for everyone, the first thing which struck my mind was iphone. Is iphone user friendly for blind? I googled again and found this interesting link “Does the iPhone shaft the blind?”. You should read the comments for the posting and look the beatings the author took from iphone fans :) . I don’t want that to happen for me. So let’s leave iphone aside.

Considering the population in India and the number of visually impaired people in India, can they use everything like what the normal people like you and I use. A simple task of withdrawing money from ATM should be a Herculean task for the blind. I still doubt if any blind person had ever visited an ATM. Does it have voice interactive software for easy access? Likewise I can think about many day to day needs and don’t find anything which is easily accessible for visually or physically challenged persons. Not sure when we start thinking about these simple things?

Trip to Dubai - Part II

2007-07-22T18:09:00.000-07:00

What else is there in Dubai for the sight seeing? Malls, Malls, Malls, Jumeria Beach and Malls. Yes, Dubai is packed with shopping malls and every famous mall has some unique feature with respect to theme, size, shape etc.. I didn’t get a chance to carry my camera to all the malls I visited, but most of them have their own well designed websites explaining the details.

Mall of the Emirates – This is supposed to be the biggest mall in Dubai and is famous for its first in-door ski resort in Middle East. I visited this mall after my office hours and due to the limited time factor didn’t get a chance to try skiing. But managed to take few pictures.

I never visited a shopping complex of this size before and it was quite tiring for me to roam around. After an exhaustive walk I felt like having a good coffee. Few months back, I read the book The Starbucks Experience and wanted to find out what’s so special about the Starbucks coffee. I started searching for Starbucks in the store map and followed the directions as given in the map. Getting fed up of searching the shop for nearly 20 mins, I decided to go back to my hotel and went to the taxi stand. Not able to give up, I gave one last try and enquired the security standing near the taxi pick up area. He pointed towards the exit gate. Oh my gosh, the shop is just adjacent to the exit gate outside the mall and I have been searching inside for such a long time. I tried Frappucino (blended with banana flavour) and the taste was amazing.

One of my colleagues introduced me to his friend Sachin in Dubai. Sachin is a very enthusiastic person and was quite patient enough to roam along with me in Dubai. He took me to some interesting places which he himself has explored recently. We went to an amazing place called Century Village. It should be on the must do list of everyone visiting Dubai. The Century Village is a small oasis of fine dining restaurants, in a relaxing atmosphere of fountains and greenery which allows you to almost forget that you are in Dubai. First I and Sachin went to the Irish village tried Guinness (dark beer) and had good time chatting in a typical Irish country side setup. It is one of the very few places in Dubai that you are allowed to sit outside while having an alcoholic drink. After having couple of beers we went to an Arabic restaurant few meters away from the Irish village. We had an awesome feeling as soon as we entered the restaurant. The room was filled with flavoured smoke from hookahs, an Arabian singer playing Oud (Arabian guitar), singing and people were dancing for the music. The experience was enthralling and didn’t miss an opportunity to try strawberry flavoured hookah. After a great evening we came back to our hotel at around 2:50 AM.

Next day we went to Ibn Battuta Mall, the largest themed mall in Middle East. The architectural inspiration behind the distinctive design of the shopping mall is based around the travels of renowned 14th century explorer, Ibn Battuta, a man who travelled over 75,000 miles during his lifetime. The mall is segmented into six distinct architectural zones, representing key destinations visited by Ibn Battuta.The six courts are comprised of the Andalusian Court, the North African Court, the Egyptian Court, the Persian Court, the Indian Court and the Chinese Court. I liked the Chinese court very much because of its rich colours and architecture.

We also went to City Centre in Dubai. The place is as busy as the City Centre in Chennai with its size 5-6 times bigger than the complex in chennai. It has got nearly 4-5 multi storied buildings for car parking alone. Don’t miss to try Cinnabon in Cinnabon shop. The taste was awesome.

I missed to visit the famous open Jumeirah Beach. Heard from my friends the place is good to play volley ball and other water sports.

Even though I stayed in Dubai for a short duration, it was a happy and eventful experience.

Trip to Dubai – Part I

2007-07-19T22:45:00.000-07:00

Last month I was in Dubai for few weeks and thought of sharing about few interesting places in Dubai. Dubai International airport is very famous for its size and the duty free shops. I had a chance to take few snaps of duty free zone and did little bit of shopping before my departure from Dubai.

Duty free shops in Dubai Airport

I bought this decorative Hookah for 60 Dhirams in a duty free shop.

The Dubai skyline might soon beat the Newyork skyline. Look at these skyscrapers on both sides of the road. The tallest building in the world Burj Dubai is under construction and nearly 140 floors are completed. Still 55 more floors to be completed. You can also get the information from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burj_Dubai.

My office was 25Kms away from the hotel I was staying and it used to take nearly 25-40 mins to reach the office by taxi depending on the traffic congestion. The public transportation is not good and people have to rely on taxis or own a vehicle for commuting. Taxis are quite costly and I used to spend 40-45Dhs one way everyday.

A visit to Dubai is incomplete without going to a Desert Safari. This is one of the most exciting and thrilling drive I have ever experienced. Checkout the video clipping taken with my camera.

We halted at a campsite and took a camel ride, wore traditional dress (dishdash or thawb) and I tried Henna too. Sumptuous dinner was followed by a wonderful live belly dance show.

Graceful Belly Dancing. This lady had amazing abs. My camera batteries went down at the right moment and missed to capture the video of the dance. But you can find quite a lot of videos in Youtube.

7 Years and still going on..

2007-07-18T22:40:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I completed 7 yrs in my current organization. On July 17th 2000 around 22-23 guys from different colleges joined along with me to undergo freshers induction training and as on today there are only six of us from the group still working here. As the days passed on, our paths took different directions and headed towards unknown destinations. Personally, I am emotionally bonded with the organization. Even though there are few bad experiences the takeaways are many and I am happy about that. End of day the desires and aspirations are going to be the driving forces in our lives.

Great ECR Run

2007-07-16T08:05:00.000-07:00

The run was fun yesterday. We all started running at around 5:15 AM and headed towards Mahabalipuram. Weather was very pleasant in the morning with overcast conditions. I started well and was leading the pack for few minutes (probably 15 mins), then I slowly began to drop my pace and continued running at the same pace for nearly an hour. At around 55th minute I stopped running and walked for a minute and this is when I started thinking about the distance and worrying about completing the remaining 18-19 Kms. Somehow managed to run/walk/crawl and completed 25 Kms in 2hrs and 40mins. I hit the wall, stopped proceeding further and took a shareauto to reach the destination Coral surf restaurant which was 3-4kms away.

During the course there were moments when I thought no more long distance running, but how many times I have thought about quitting alcohol after a hangover?

More detailed narration of the great ECR run in Kk's and Ram's blog. A very big thanks to the volunteers and Chennai Runners group for making this a memorable event. I admire you guys.

Few Pics from Ram's Flickr..

Before Start

After the run

ECR - 30 Km Run

2007-07-14T04:09:00.000-07:00

It’s been nearly two months since I have joined the Chennai runners group and tomorrow the group is doing a 30Km run in ECR starting from Toll booth to Mahabs. The run would start at 4:30AM.

My last longest run ever was 25Km in 2005 Chennai Marathon. I am looking forward for this and I can take this as a benchmark for the forthoming Bangalore and Chennai Marathons.

More updates after the run.

Inspiring words

2006-06-28T21:23:00.000-07:00

What a way to start the day by listening to the song “Speed of Sound” from coldplay’s X & Y album? Inspiring lyrics and beautiful music. You have to listen to the song before you enjoy the lyrics.

How long before I get in
Before it starts before I begin
How long before you decide or
Before I know what it feels like
Where to, where do I go?
If you never try then you'll never know
How long do I have to climb
Up on the side of this mountain of mine

Look up, I look up at night
Planets are moving at the speed of light,
Climb up, up in the trees
Every chance that you get is a chance you seize
How long am I gonna stand
With my head stuck under the sand
I'll start before I can stop or
Before I see things the right way up

All that noise and all that sound
All those places inside I got found
And birds go flying at the speed of sound
To show you how it all began
Birds came flying from the underground
If you could see it then you'd understand

Ideas that you'll never find
All the inventors could never design
The buildings that you put up
Japan and China all lit up
The sign that I couldn't read
or a light, that I couldn't see
Some things you have to believe
While others are puzzles, puzzling me

All that noise and all that sound
All those places I have found
And birds go flying at the speed of sound
To show you how it all began
Birds came flying from the underground
If you could see it then you'd understand
Oh, when you see it then you'll understand

All those signs I knew what they meant,
some things you can invent
Some get made and some get sent ooh

And birds go flying at the speed of sound
To show you how it all began
Birds came flying from the underground
If you could see it then you'd understand
Oh, when you see it then you'll understand

Fresh Start

2006-05-31T07:53:00.000-07:00

It didn’t take much time for me to regroup my wandering thoughts, demolish my pessimistic approach towards everything and return back to this blog with a new frame of mind towards my life. I have heard many people saying or preaching others to be optimistic, but right now I am experiencing immense happiness by my positive approach towards my life and work. One month back when something goes wrong on any specific day; I sit back and just worry about that for days, weeks or months. But now, the bad day vanishes before next day morning. I end my life every night and start freshly every morning.

It’s always better to be realist, where I could approach things positively and be prepared if something really worse happens. Who doesn’t have worries? Everyone has, but what’s the point in worrying about something and keep crying for things on which we don’t have control in our hands. All I have started doing is to be focused on what I need in life and set goals for what I need to achieve. There were times when I used to complain about if things go wrong, keep worrying when there is no work to do and dump all sought of unnecessary thoughts in my mind, mix them up and make them ineffectual. But now even though there is no work to do, I am keeping myself busy by reading and learning something which I never did in my life continuously for these many days. Every day morning my motivation level is so high that I just feel like pumping my fist in the air and I don’t know the reason why. And all these things happened just because of altering my orthodox views and correcting me without any guidance or help of anyone except books. Yes, reading books of great personalities can have huge impact on anyone’s life. Never read so many books in a short span of time and had made a habit of reading at least one hour per day. I have also started working towards my weaknesses and the transformation currently I am experiencing is my first victory.

Last one month has been really wonderful, just absolutely great and there are no words to explain. Planning to post regularly.

Pause.

2006-04-28T07:40:00.000-07:00

I don't know if it would take few days, months or years for me to return back to this blog. For time being I have decided to stop blogging.

Thanks for reading.

Quite Different

2006-04-21T01:10:00.000-07:00

I have seen so many ads in papers, but somehow liked the following very much which is as good as the company. The ad was published in "The Hindu" oppurtunities section along with the childhood picture of employee.

Google is looking for people with great aspirations. Take Arvind Jain for example. A soft spoken computer scientist with a jeweler’s focus and a nose-to-the-grindstone work ethic. Arvind manages Google’s R&D team in Bangalore.

Quite a change for someone whose boyhood dreams had oscillated between becoming a doctor and producing movies. Keen to leave his small town in Rajasthan province. Aravind had applied to IIT, alma matter of India’s engineering elite. Although he’d never been particularly studious as a teenager, Arvind faced a fiercely entrance exam, surprising himself – and dumbfounding his high school math teacher. Encouraged, Arvind began hitting the books in earnest, and graduated with flying colors.

Enchanted by a brochure showing a campus surrounded by snow-capped peaks – an image that brought to mind fond memories of challenging hikes he’d made in the Himalayan foothills – Arvind picked up the University of Washington to pursue his master’s degree. Following stints at Microsoft and Akamai Technologies, Arvind co-founded two startups. Then two years ago, he walked away from a successful company to become an individual contributor in Google. He wanted the opportunity to dream big and create products that can be used and enjoyed by millions of people.

It’s great to have Arvind at Google, but we need more engineers like him – people with passion and strong work ethic. (And for the record, a goldplated resume like Arvind’s, while it helps, is not an ironclad requirement for joining Google. We’ve been known to hire people whose career paths have taken some interesting twists).

Would you be happy at Google? The only way to find is to apply. Our engineers can use 20 percent of their time to pursue personal projects they are passionate about. The freedom to innovate has created Google News, Google Suggest, Adsense for content, and Orkut – products that might otherwise have taken entire startups to launch.

Visit www.google.co.in/engjobs to check out the opportunities at Google. See a job with your name written all over? Send us your resume. Cute childhood pictures optional.

How to describe

2006-04-15T22:35:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we won the cricket match played against NAVIS. It was a very hot day and I was quite tired by the time the match was over. We scored 196 runs with the loss of 9 wickets in 27 overs and the opponents were able to score only 151 runs. Karthik played superbly and scored a quick half-century. After losing the previous game last weekend, this win proved to be quite revitalizing for the team and personally too. I was little bit disappointed when my team did not opt to try with my bowling in the previous two games (they were fair from their part, but I was disappointed with my bad bowling). I enjoy to bowl than to bat. But in yesterdays match I got a chance to bowl and was fairly happy with my performance. I struggled for rhythm in the first couple of overs and found it little later at the end of my spell. After the match I came back home and watched the great Indian run chase against England. It’s nice to see the Indian side sweeping all the one-day match series with great dominance.

Weekends are proving to be very hard to pass my time. This is not a new problem, which has just sneaked into my life; I have been facing this since I moved to Chennai. Meantime my apartment is also getting ready at a pretty fast pace. I am not really very happy with the way it’s coming up, not up to the standards I have dreamt about. There is new construction coming up on one side of our building and it would block the light from entering my flat to a great extent. It’s definitely not my dream house. With the current state, I would just end up in considering it as a mere investment and nothing else, which in turn is somewhat saddening after shelling out so much of money.

In the recent time with laziness also joining the hands with my thoughts I have totally ignored to practice for the forthcoming Bangalore marathon. Good that it has been postponed to September and I have ample time for practicing. The funniest thing is that last week after my running sessions I have been practicing alone in the ground to get my run-up for the bowling correctly. This cricket fever seems to be catching up at this stage of my life.

Whatever it is, happy, sad and boring moments seems to be hitting my life quite frequently and I am in the process of learning how to handle those in a matured manner or rather just learning to swim against the tides. But nowadays I often feel that I am missing few important people in my life with which I could share my thoughts, having a cup of coffee or a mug of beer, muttering, jabbering about the discarded things in life,… not sure how to describe…

PS: “Sangamam” is a music show telecasted in vijay tv on Saturday evenings at 9PM (repeat telecast of Sunday morning program at 9:30 AM). If you are a music lover don’t miss to watch it on next week (journey of S.P. Balasubramaniam from 1960’s to till date covered in three episodes). I liked it very much.

The Blooker Awards: Blogs to Books

2006-04-05T03:19:00.000-07:00

Not sure if this is an old news in the blog world.

The Lulu Blooker Prize announces its winner.

Blooks are the world’s fastest-growing new kind of book and an exciting new stage in the life cycle of content, if not a whole new category of content. The Lulu Blooker Prize is sponsored by Lulu, the world’s fastest-growing provider of print-on-demand books, including an increasing number of blooks. However, the judges are independent of Lulu and no favor will be shown to blooks published on Lulu.

The first ever winner of The Blooker is Julie Powell.

Julie Powell is 30-years-old, living in a rundown apartment in Queens and working at a soul-sucking secretarial job that’s going nowhere. She needs something to break the monotony of her life, and she invents a deranged assignment. She will take her mother’s dog-eared copy of Julia Child’s 1961 classic Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and she will cook all 524 recipes. In the span of one year.

At first she thinks it will be easy. But she soon realizes there’s more to Mastering the Art of French Cooking than meets the eye. With Julia’s stern warble always in her ear, Julie haunts the local butcher, buying kidneys and sweetbreads. She sends her husband on late-night runs for yet more butter and rarely serves dinner before midnight. She discovered how to mold the perfect Orange Bavarian, the trick to extracting marrow from bone, and the intense pleasure of eating liver. Via The Blooker Prize

Courtesy: http://www.blogherald.com/

Weekend story

2006-04-04T02:37:00.000-07:00

Is there a way to spend weekends without spending money? I personally think it’s quite difficult unless you have some hobby to keep yourself occupied. But somehow I managed to spend last weekend without shelling out single penny and also completed reading the book “Life of Pi”. It’s an interesting book on the adventurous journey of a small boy in a lifeboat with a Royal Bengal Tiger.

On Saturday after heavy lunch, unknowingly I fell asleep and by the time I woke up it was 6PM. The sun was bidding adieu for the day and darkness was bracing all the rooms in my house. Sipping the trademark tasty tea prepared by my mother, I was browsing through the TV channels and halted at raj tv. They were telecasting the movie 5 star. The movie is very youthful, colorful and doesn’t make me feel bored even after watching it for the nth time. Within 15mins of watching I was drowned in nostalgic thoughts and just felt like meeting all my childhood and college friends. I went to the beach and sat few feet away from the shore and kept watching the tides kissing the shore and stars twinkling in the horizon. I also felt quite satisfied and happy after speaking with couple of my old friends over phone.

Is it quite normal for everyone to think about the sweet past memories at late twenties or am I supposed to think at late sixties? Until it is sweet, there is nothing wrong in remembering your old thoughts or my thoughts. I also took sometime to think about the areas of interests and it worked out to be a very long list, but not sure how to prioritize.

Become a computer geek.
Learn Swimming.
Participate and finish atleast in 50 marathon races.
Attend a bartending course and work as a part-time bartender.
Become guitarist, pianist and violinist.
Compose Music.
Start a multi cuisine restaurant.
Participate in triathlon.
Open a gym and become physical trainer and train only obese people.
Buy couple of old 70’s-80’s bungalows in TNagar.
Become a motivational speaker.
Become a Mountain climber.
Learn Dancing.
Help the old and handicapped people.
Read atleast 50 books per year.

Am I missing it

2006-03-30T23:50:00.000-08:00

After seeing the vodkathon promos, I have started feeling that I am missing something very interesting.

I was listening to "tubthumping" song since morning.

We'll be singing
When we're winning
We'll be singing
I get knocked down
But I get up again
You're never going to keep me down
Pissing the night away
Pissing the night away
He drinks a whisky drink
He drinks a vodka drink
He drinks a lager drink
He drinks a cider drink
He sings the songs that remind him
Of the good times
He sings the songs that remind him
Of the better times:
........
........

Reminded something

2006-03-29T20:55:00.000-08:00

I received this forward from my colleague..

On a flight James bond was sitting next to a Teluguguy.

Telugu Guy: "Hello, May I know your name please?"
James Bond:"My name is Bond"

Continuing in his inimitable style,"......James Bond."

Then Bond asks: "And you?"

Telugu Guy: "My name is Rao...
Siva Rao...
Samba Siva Rao...
Venkata Samba Siva Rao...
Yarlagadda Venkata Samba Siva Rao...
Rajasekhara Yarlagadda Venkata Samba Siva Rao...
Sitaramanjaneyula Rajasekhara Yarlagadda Venkata Samba Siva Rao...
Vijayawada Sitaramanjaneyula Rajasekhara Yarlagadda Venkata Samba Siva Rao..

Since then when someone asks Bond his name he simply says "James Bond".

The above joke just reminded my name (not official). Infact it took couple of days for me to memorize my name "Mohan Venkata Naga Udaya Gowri Shankar"

The Legend

2006-03-23T22:18:00.000-08:00

One of the supernatural talents any human possess in this world is “the art of criticism”. We criticize on everything and anything we see and hear. Now it’s the turn to criticize the legend, the master “Sachin Tendulkar”. Do you think we really have any rights to criticize him? Till today is there any sports person in this country who touched the peaks as he did. Becoming a sports person is not like eating an ice cream; to become a legend you need sheer talent, dedication and hell a lot of hard work. Well now almost every cricket fan along with the media had started criiticizing about the bad patch sachin is facing. Its not now, we have been doing this since he stepped into the international arena. I have been a great fan of him for years and still I am a great fan of the master blaster. He broke almost all the records and he is not going to end it so soon. We have been backing him till he climbed the Everest and touched the peak, now when he is slipping down lets try to give a hand and pull him back to the peak; let’s not kill him by pushing down from the top of the mountain. We should feel shameful if we do that. Let’s at least try to respect for his 16 long years of service to his country and the people.

I saw him playing on television and was struck by his technique, so I asked my wife to come look at him. Now I never saw myself play, but I feel that this player is playing much the same as I used to play, and she looked at him on Television and said yes, there is a similarity between the two... high compactness, technique, stroke production... it all seemed to gel!

-Don Bradman, the greatest batsman cricket has ever seen

Beneath the helmet, under that unruly curly hair, inside the cranium, there is something we don't know, something beyond scientific measure. Something that allows him to soar, to roam a territory of sport that, forget us, even those who are gifted enough to play alongside him cannot even fathom. When he goes out to bat, people switch on their television sets and switch off their lives.

--BBC Sports, on Sachin Tendulkar.

His life seems to be a stillness in a frantic world... [When he goes out to bat], it is beyond chaos - it is a frantic appeal by a nation to one man. The people see him as a God...

--Mathew Hayden, Australian Cricketer on Sachin Tendulkar.

I'll be going to bed having nightmares of Sachin just running down the wicket and belting me back over the head for six. He was unstoppable. I don't think anyone , apart from Don Bradman , is in the same class as Sachin Tendulkar. He is just an amazing player.

--Shane Warne, after Australia's tour of India and Coca-Cola Cup in Sharjah.

You might pitch a ball on the off stump and think you have bowled a good ball and he walks across and hits it for two behind midwicket. His bat looks so heavy but he just waves it around like it's a toothpick.

--Brett Lee, on Sachin Tendulkar's batting, 1999

Whenever I see Sachin play I am reminded of the Greame Pollock quote of Cricket being a 'see the ball, hit the ball game.' He hits the ball if the it's there to be hit.

--Ian Chappell

He is someone sent from up there to play cricket and go back."

--Ravi Shastri

Never ending search

2006-03-22T04:20:00.000-08:00

Every person in this world thinks that his or her thoughts are unique and no one else would experience the same feelings or understand them completely. Why to talk about others, I myself have experienced this many times and thought people don’t see things from my perspective. How do we conclude that we think differently from others? We would come to know only if we express our thoughts to others and understand what others think on what we think.

One of the greatest and toughest argument with most of the current generation people fighting and questioning within themselves is “Does god exists”. That too if you are a strong believer in science, this question takes the top priority in your list. I was going thorough one of the blog site and found a posting on the belief in god. The posting and the comments made me think there are many other creatures in this world who are thinking the way I think.

In the recent times, I am also stuck in the battle between the minds of a theist and atheist, should I or shouldn’t I? My parents are strong believers in spirituality/religion and there are many things which they follow blindly. There might be many good hidden reasons for their beliefs but with the current state of mind, I end up in asking various reasons and questions about their acts and in the end adding more worries to their list. So, does that mean I am an atheist? Well I don’t have an answer for that. I read theories on big bangs and black holes and start ridiculing the views toward superstitions and redundant beliefs. But everyday morning like many other people in this part of the world I also go to the pooja room and start praying “Suklam baratharam vishnum sasivarnam”. This might not be the case with me alone; the count would be in millions. Why should you or I pray? Does god really exist? If he exists, why doesn’t he come in front of us? Or am I or you praying just because someone has directed and molded us to do that? Has someone introduced the concept of god just for the sake of having a control over what we do? Is everyone praying seeking to have peace in their lives or expecting something else to happen in their lives? You do this to me; I will return you back with something else. If he is god, why should he behave like a human, always expecting something from us? Have we made him to follow the bad practice of accepting bribes by sacrificing innocent lives or punishing ourselves? Who is right and who is not?

Right from the adolescent age we start digging our lives in search of happiness. But while in the process of digging we never know if we would see the light at the end of the tunnel. But keeping our hopes alive we keep digging and in the end we never know if we have come across the light in the process of digging. We keep doing things for the sake of future, but when are we going to take care of the present and when will the future becomes present? Or are we in the search of some place where the sea and sky meets at the horizon?

Listening to –
Yaar yaar sivam? Nee naan sivam,
Vaalvae dhavam, anbae sivam,

Home Alone

2006-03-15T12:10:00.000-08:00

It has been nearly 1 ½ years since I moved back to Chennai and I don’t even remember single day staying alone at my home. At least one person would be always present and I get everything on time without waiting for anything. As soon as I come back from my morning workouts, I have a big mug of tea waiting. I like the way my mother prepares tea especially for me (bit stronger. Tea tastes awesome with Marie biscuits). Breakfast would be waiting by the time I get ready to the office and all I have to do is to eat and crib about eating heavy breakfast. Day before yesterday everyone has left to Bhilai to attend my cousin’s house warming ceremony and I had to stay back here due to few security reasons and doing a watchman’s job :( . It’s been long time since I met my cousins and even I was quite desperate to go along with my family. Had I been there, I would also have celebrated holi along with my cousins. Heard that they celebrate holi in a very grand fashion. Hmmm…I should plan to go there sometime later. Even though my presence might not make much difference to the others surrounding me (just sitting mum), I always like to be surrounded by people jabbering about something and hate loneliness.

Listening to – Sweet Child of mine (GNR)

Aftermath.. Part II

2006-03-13T14:16:00.000-08:00

Second set..

MGR and Anna Samadhi (Memorial)

Journey back from Marina to Gandhi Statue

Newly opened Chennai Citi Centre. Great architecture.

Aftermath.. Part I

2006-03-13T14:15:00.000-08:00

After the discussion with my PM, I was quite puzzled that evening and was also not in a mood to sit at home. I took my camera and went to the beach, questioning my future and thinking whats next. I parked my bike near the gandhi statue and walked slowly towards Marina beach and gave some work to my camera too . We often talk about the famous tourist spots and forget about the place we are living. For the first time in my life I viewed chennai with tourist's eyes and enjoyed to my extremes. I didn't realize how I spent nearly 90 mins. alone.

Kids in Skating ring

Designed for Water falls

Tasty Chips.

Want to Shake hands with Superstar ?

Rejuvenated

2006-03-03T13:16:00.000-08:00

Hazy sky, sun hidden behind the dark clouds and wet streets didn’t clutter my mood to reach the somasundaram play ground today. Yes, I went to play cricket after a long time. Infosys has completed 10yrs after setting up their office in Chennai and are celebrating this milestone by conducting Inter Corporate Competitions on sports, business quiz, cultural festivals etc. Since they have also invited our company to participate, guys have started preparing for the competitions quite seriously. Being fortunate to impress ;-) few guys with my bowling and batting (wish they don’t read this blog, or else they might not call me for the forthcoming practice sessions) I am still intact with the team.

I reached the ground around six’ish and was first to be there except few joggers and the cops march pasting. I waited eagerly till everyone came and grabbed the bat for opening the innings. I felt really rejuvenated when I was holding the bat and was thinking to send every ball over the boundary line. Even though I didn’t last long and scored only 6 runs, I was immensely satisfied and happiness started mounting deep within my heart. Childhood memories started rolling in front of me and I was enjoying each and every moment in the ground.

Just like becoming a guitarist, becoming a good pace bowler was also one of my childhood dreams. Anyhow, becoming a cricketer will ever remain as a dream for my entire life, but just getting few thoughts on learning the guitar again. I have a very bad habit of starting things enthusiastically and discontinue in the middle. So, there is lot of thinking to be done before I start learning guitar again. Now let me not divert the topic from cricket to music.

After hitting the gym quite regularly, I have built some muscles and struggled little bit while bowling my second over, I wasn’t able to swing my arms freely. Moreover since the inter-corporate cricket tournament has to be played with soft ball, i had difficulties in generating pace and controlling the line with the soft ball. But the most important thing is I got first wicket of my first ball in first over. Wow, what a great feeling. Last couple of weeks went on quite tough and I had to do lot of talking to myself and it took sometime to regain my composure. It’s a nice way to start my fresh innings with cricket and looking forward to spend my days happily.

Friend's Wedding

2006-02-20T14:01:00.000-08:00

The marriage rituals of south Indian Brahmins are quite interesting and tedious. It is interesting for the guests to watch but should be quite tiring for the girl and boy getting married. It was my friend sri’s wedding with vin which took place in Chennai on 17th. I didn’t get a chance to attend the whole wedding ceremony, but was present during the important rituals of the ceremony. Most of my meetings with friends happen only in virtual world, but we make a point to get together at least during the occasions like these. “Khoob Jamega rang, Jab mil baithenge hum yaar ” (modified slogan of bagpiper).

The first ritual during the marriage process is "Nischayartham" which took place on the day before marriage. It is in the form of a promise made by both the parents concerned, to conduct the marriage, under the will of god with their entire mind and spirit. This ritual went on for nearly 1 – 1.5 hrs. During Nischayartham not everyone from our group of friends was present. After the ritual we relished the wonderful delicious dinner served in banyan leaves. My friend being the mapillai, we got a very special treatment in the dinner hall.

Main ritual (Muhurtham) was on 17th and we all gathered in the marriage hall early morning. After having heavy breakfast, we became busy taking pictures of the wedding ceremony. With few of my friends being ready to get married and in the process of looking for a match, they were also busy watching birds. The thread of marriage (Mangalya dharam) is tied around the neck of the girl and the couple was blessed by the priests, elders and the assembled guests. We all wished the couples and later dispersed in different directions.

These are some of the pictures taken during the wedding ceremony.

My New Camera

2006-02-16T14:35:00.000-08:00

I bought a new digital camera Canon powershot A520 and upgraded myself from analog to digital world. I have already missed to capture few of my friends wedding and with others lining up; I didn’t want to miss any of those unforgettable moments. Many times I really missed to capture good moments in my life and felt bad for not owning a proper camera. If I had an option of going back to my past and enjoy those events (like a rewind option when we watch a movie), I wouldn’t have thought to buy, but that’s not possible is real life. Time cannot be rolled back. Moreover it’s really a painful job to scan the printed photos and share with others. After reading quite a few reviews on point-n-shoot cameras, I decided to go for canon A520. Even though it falls under the beginner’s category it worked out to be pretty costly for me. But anyhow I hope it is worth investing on something which gives me happiness at later stages of my life when I browse through my past.

Playtime

2006-02-13T15:15:00.000-08:00

Guys in my project have been planning to go out somewhere during the weekend and after many suggestions and discussions we decided to visit Queensland. I haven’t been to any theme park before and there was lot of excitement flowing through my blood stream. When we reached there at around 10:30 AM there were around 20 TCS buses and 10 school buses. The crowd was too heavy and we thought it won’t be possible for us to enjoy any ride, but managed to get our turns after waiting for short period. I was very particular about not missing any ride in spite of however scary it looks and feel the adrenalin flowing for the whole day. It is quite difficult for me to explain my experience in words, so added few pictures below. It is worth to spend money in queensland instead of shelling out at places like mayajal.

"Crazy Horse" rode me crazy.

"Swing" was the scariest
of all rides.

The race day.

2006-02-06T13:50:00.000-08:00

Planning to sleep early on Saturday (4th Feb) night, I told my mother to have dinner ready by 8PM. I finished my dinner and went to bed by 9PM. Thrilled and filled with nervousness I found very hard to sleep, moving from one end of the bed to the other end it was already 11PM, but not able to sleep. Without realizing, I suddenly woke up thinking that it was already time and checked my watch. It was just 12:50AM, I closed my eyes again. Beep Beep…Beep Beep…the alarm rang and it’s finally 4 AM. Assuming that I will take at least four hours to complete the marathon, I ate curd rice and banana to have a constant supply of glycogen while running. I picked up my cousin from his home and reached the venue at around 5:15 AM. Once I reached the venue all my excitement suddenly turned to anxiety and my bladder started getting filled with water like some flood water filling the dam. It was still dark and didn’t find any difficulty to empty my bladder.

Vaada maama, one of my cousin’s friends greeted him. Still in his college days, my cousin introduced me to his friend with embarrassment. Another guy was telling him “Edhar ladki log bi zyada hai na”. My cousin pinched him and said that I am his brother. I just laughed and thought its time for me to leave them alone and let them continue with their discussion. I gave my bag to him and moved to the starting point of the race. Everyone looked like professional runners and spotted very few amateur runners.

I was just moving my hands and legs trying to stretch and avoid cramps while running. There was an announcement made saying that the race is going to start in another five minutes. Suddenly the blood rushed to all parts of my body and my bladder was again filled up with water. The flag was waived and the race had started. Right from the beginning I was not trying to push hard and compete with any runner. I ran at a steady pace of around 11.4kmph. There were water points kept at every 2.5 kms and I just made a point to not consume water when I really don’t need. By the time I completed 8 or 9 Kms the pro runners had already completed 14 Kms. I didn’t try to bother about the pro runners and was running within my limits. I had a great time running the first 10.5 Kms and reached besant nagar in 54 mins. There were many people cheering us near the besant nagar beach. Heading towards anna square and after completing 14-15kms, I was desperately looking for water spots and hardly found any. My mouth was drying up and was asking for water whoever had worn the volunteer t-shirt. Weighing like two iron pillars I was finding hard to move my legs. Somehow managed to reach the starting point and completed half marathon in 2 hrs 2 mins. By this time the sun was bright and had already started to burn my skin. All these days I have been practicing my long runs during early mornings and didn’t realize that heat will play a major role. Strolling at a very slow pace, all of a sudden back at the start line I had to run another 21kms. To finish the marathon we had to complete 2 loops of 21kms. After completing half marathon, with huge physiological barrier, I am back again at the starting point of the race. There was a big fight going on between my mind, heart and my body (Mind and body fighting against my heart). Infact I picked up some speed and was heading towards besant nagar. I completed 25 Kms and there was a huge wall in front of me. I either had to break the wall and continue running or had to hit the wall. I lost my grip, hit the wall and my mind took control over my whole body and heart. I stopped my watch and my legs came to halt. I completed 25kms in 2hrs and 34 mins. Sick and tired with throat and mouth dried up, I came back walking 4 kms. I didn’t find my cousin, searched for him and had to borrow someone’s mobile to make a call and met him finally. Drank one liter of water and was not in a state to move my bike stand, I rode back home. My entire body was coated with a layer of salt and was stinking like a dirty pig. I didn’t bother to change my clothes and crashed for 2 hrs. In the end I am neither disappointed for not completing nor happy about participating. Later I came to know that the policemen opened the traffic after 3 hrs and didn’t allow many amateur runners like me to complete full marathon. As per the international norms, the traffic should be closed for atleast 6hrs. Even though the organizers claim this event to be a major success, from my perspective it’s really a pathetic show and I hope many would agree with me. Guess, chennai marathon is only meant for professional runners. I was quite happy to hear few of my friends and colleagues wishing me.

The following are my learning.

Mental toughness: Without the mental strength I can’t even run 1km. During my practice sessions there were many instances where I struggled to complete short distances. I should be mentally strong to complete 42kms.
Practice properly: I started walking even before I learned to crawl. I had to put more effort and practice in tougher conditions. I somehow totally ignored the heat factor.
Never give-up: I am not going to give-up so easily and looking forward to finish at least one full marathon in my life.

I am planning to participate in Bangalore marathon which is likely to happen in the month of May (mid summer).

Marathon before Marathon.

2006-02-04T13:51:00.000-08:00

With full of excitement and thrill, I went to collect my chest number and the T-shirt for Chennai marathon. When I reached Nehru stadium there were already big queues being formed. It was very sunny and quite hot, but there was no shade to stand. There wasn’t any separate sign board for full marathon runners and I joined the queue standing for “Chennaites men” thinking that they are also issuing the numbers for marathon runners. The queue hardly moved and only one person received his chest number after standing for nearly 40 mins. The organizers were referring to a list of runners registered and the names in the list weren’t sorted in alphabetical order. For every person they have to run through all the 20-25 pages and then issue the chest numbers. Everyone was losing their patience and people started to join the queue from middle. Police constables started their job with lathis in their hand. It was utter chaos everywhere. Is this the way such a big event is organized? After waiting for nearly 1 ½ hrs my turn came to collect the chest number. When I showed the printout of my online registration, they said “Oh, its full marathon!! We are not issuing the chest numbers today, you have to come tomorrow”.

After waiting for nearly two hours, I was really furious and agitated to hear such a ridiculous response from them. Trying to keep myself cool, I called one of the organizers and spoke to her. She told that she will get back to me and vanished. Meanwhile instead of wasting more time, I thought to complete my medical checkup. Apollo hospitals have volunteered to do the medical check up and there were couple of doctors and nurses. One of the nurses checked my weight and height and made an entry in the Medical sheet. Weight 74.6 Kgs and height 163 cms. What the crap is this, how come its 163 cms? Last time I measured it was 178 cms and all of a sudden have I become short? I asked the nurse to tell my height in ft. She said it should be 5ft 5inches. I asked her “Do you think I am 5 ½ ft?”. “Well sir, that’s what its showing”. I didn’t take any effort to correct or argue with her. Then they checked my blood pressure. With all these happenings, I thought my blood would be boiling by now and the mercury is going to burst. But she made the entry as 130/90. I visited the doctor and he gave the clearance to participate in the race. Finally atleast something has gone through fine today. When I came out of the room, I found the lady who told me to wait. When I met her, she redirected me to some other person. I told him that I have been waiting here for nearly 2 ½ hours and I am yet to receive my chest number. He said “Sorry sir, we don’t have the chest numbers and the T-shirts to issue for the full marathon runners. You have to come tomorrow”. Well.. what else can I do, I came back to my office.

Today morning I again went to the Nehru stadium to collect the chest number and T-shirt. I reached there at around 10:30 AM. The T-shirts arrived at around 11:15 AM. Gosh, they have got the chest numbers and T-shirts. I was the first person to stand in the queue and collect my chest number (number 138) and t-shirt. The worst part is its mandatory to wear the T-shirt provided by them. It’s a new T-shirt and more over its very ordinary cotton which just sticks to the body when it becomes wet. I have my own reebok dry fit T-shirt and I am not supposed to wear that. What a stupidity? When I asked the organizer, he said, it’s done to avoid brand advertisements (they don’t want to have logos in T-shirt). Till now everything was badly organized and the organizers are shameless to give harsh replies. I have to wait and see what happens on the race day tomorrow. It was really a marathon effort to register myself before the actual marathon.

Saucerful of Secrets

2006-01-26T01:48:00.000-08:00

Loneliness dancing on my head, I desperately wanted to stop it banging from all sides. I have been trying to keep myself busy doing something or the other and found the easiest available source to pass my time with books. It was a difficult and hard fight for me to improve my reading habits. Initially I tried to read few novels and none of them interested me, I had to stop after reading 40-50 pages. With most of the time wondering about human life my interests towards scientific books has increased sharply and started to get drenched in buying. After reading some books I could really feel the stars in all different sizes circling my head. This made me wonder about the way these scientists think and had become very curious to know about their personal life styles. I went into a bookstore and started searching for some good biographies of great scientists. Suddenly I saw a section of books categorized under Music. Out of curiosity I started browsing few biographies of some great bands. I found one book named “Saucerful of Secrects” with bright orange cover. It’s a biography of my favorite band Pink Floyd. I don’t know why, but the songs composed by them really mesmerize me. They are not a band with great players and are not occult on the stage too, but their innovation in creating amazing sounds had really captivated me.

It all started with three architects (Bass player Roger waters, Drummer Nick mason & Keyboardist Rick Wright) forming a band named Tea set. A short time after their formation, they were joined by guitarist syd barrett (Painter by profession), who became the band's primary vocalist as well. They came up with an alternate name “Pink Floyd”. In a short span of time their psychedelic rock music became very famous in the underground clubs. The growing popularity made them to give few hits in the music world too. As the band started to gain popularity, the stresses of life on the road and a significant intake of acids took its toll on barrett. This lead to some pathetic stage perfomances. In one of the show the band members literally had to drag barret on to the stage and made him stand in front of the microphone and he strummed one chord during the entire duration of the concert. This made the band members recruit a new guitarist David gilmour. The band's live shows became increasingly shabby and eventually, the other band members simply stopped taking barrett to the concerts. After finding their feet in music world the real era of breakthrough came during 70s. Over 25 million copies of the album“Dark side of Moon” were sold all over the world and the album stayed in billboard charts for 741 weeks. Even though Roger waters moved out of the band, the remaining three did hold together and performed some wonderful live performances to capture the hearts of many music lovers like me.

As such this blog is not sufficient to narrate a story of around 350 pages of book in 350 words, I just made a point to type few words on what I have read. I would also try to breif on any book I read here onwards. I have spent nearly an hour typing this blog now and its time for me to go back home.

Few pictures of the band "then" and "now"

Nick Mason, Syd Barrett, Roger Waters, Rick Wright and
David Gilmour(sitting)

Syd Barrett (Then)

Syd Barrett (Now)

Pink Floyd with Roger Waters at the London Live 8 concert (left to right: David Gilmour, Roger Waters, Nick Mason, and Richard Wright).

Big Questions ?

2006-01-24T19:13:00.000-08:00

Big questions in science

1. How did the universe begin?
2. Does god exist?
3. What is time?
4. What is consciousness?
5. What is a thought?
6. What is a dream?
7. What is intelligence?
8. How did language evolve?
9. Are we shaped by nature or by the environment?
10. How are men and women different?
11. What makes us fall in and out of love?
12. What causes aggression?
13. Is it right to interfere with nature?
14. Can we end disease?
15. Will pain be ever free?
16. Can we end hunger?
17. Are we still evolving?
18. Is there life on other planets?
19. How will the world end?
20. What is life about?

Interesting book to read.

P

2006-01-16T20:35:00.000-08:00

“P - Passion, Perseverance, and Persistence” is the caption for Chennai marathon. With just 2 ½ weeks to go, tension started creeping to my head. When I haven’t yet touched the 30kms mark, how am I going to complete 42Kms? Every week it’s becoming a big struggle to keep increasing the distance beyond 25kms. Even though my mind says “keep going” my tired legs badly screams saying “stop punishing me now”.

Last Sunday (Jan 15th) I watched Mumbai marathon and was quite disappointed to see not even a single Indian runner in top 20 finishers, but was quite amazed to see 12 Kenyans in top 20. There was a huge 15 mins gap between the Indian runner (finished 28th) and the winner of the race. International runners would definitely improve the standards of competition to a great extent and this would happen only if the prize money of such an international event is increased. There were around 18000 people (which is quite huge in numbers for Mumbai roads to accomodate) participated in the dream run. But the figure is very small when compared to 45000 to 50000 people participating in New York full marathon every year.

Getting back to my limping long runs, I am concerned about completing the full marathon without stopping. I don’t want to break anywhere in the middle, walk for sometime and continue the run later. I desperately wanted to run the complete 42 Kms and it would only be possible if I could do couple of 30+Kms run in another week and a half. I want to keep my hopes alive and give it a shot during the race day.

Kindness

2006-01-10T18:01:00.000-08:00

As usual, today morning I went for running near the beach. Depending on my schedule I usually run 3.5Kms segment multiple times. While I was covering my second segment an old man riding a cycle carrying a transistor radio playing some carnatic music came along with me pedaling at the same speed as my run. He could have very well ignored and gone past me, but he rode along to encourage my mood and speed of running. I was enjoying the run and was also overwhelmed with his behavior. After completing my second segment I thanked the old man for accompaning me and I saw his face brightened with smile and happiness. I thought he made my day and hope he would have also felt the same. While continuing my run, during my fourth segment I heard someone calling from behind “Hello…Hello..”. When I slowed down and turned back I saw a boy came running towards me. He said “Do you mind if I join you”. I replied back saying “with pleasure, please..”. I introduced myself and asked his whereabouts. He is a schoolboy from Santhome High School in Chennai and has been practicing to compete in state level athletic events along with his friends. When I told him that I am going to participate in Chennai marathon, he started giving me tips to improve my performance. Wow..whats happening today, I have come across two strangers with huge age differences, one being very old and other a school kid, both being kind enough to accompany me.. That’s really great. After running for hour and a half, I went to quench my thirst by drinking tender coconut. I paid 10Rs to the shopkeeper and he thanked me for paying. Man.. am I dreaming?? Why is everyone behaving so differently today? Is something wrong with everyone?

In this part of the world where the medicine for anger used to be “kindness”, the word “kindness” is slowly losing its charm from most of the human brains. It’s becoming difficult to notice people being gracious and courteous to strangers who are in need of something. People are becoming so mean in satisfying their endless needs and justify their deeds ignoring the feelings of others. The happiness and feeling we get in making others feel happy is something which cannot be measured in human terms. On the other side there are few people in this world spreading their kindness to others by all means feasible to them. There are many books published on kindness and dedicated websites too. One of the website I came across is www.actsofkindness.org . Kindness doesn’t have to be a helping hand for handicapped person, just saying “Hi” to a stranger will do wonders.

"I've found what's truly sacred in life's small things...Hopefully, the world can be changed through acts of kindness, acts of affection and love--the idea of doing normal, everyday things that actually have an effect down the line...Be kind. Because the opposite works as well. You can send your hatred to the future. And we all know the end result."
Author: Sting

Rewind

2006-01-06T18:21:00.000-08:00

Where am I right now?? Handling a life with full of challenges and hurdles... What will I get at the end after jumping, missing all these hurdles except a 6 feet ditch.
How wonderful it would be if I could go back to yesterday and watch myself getting up from the bed and going to the office. How will I feel if I could see myself eating, walking..? Why cant I go back to my childhood days.

I still remember the red colored toy car my father bought for me in Tirupati when I was just 11 months old. There are so many happy moments I could think of and which could not be erased from my mind easily. Only preparing for the exams used to be a burden on those days. Everyday we used to wait eagerly to go back home from school and take our cricket bat/ball for playing. Even playing for 1 or 2hrs used be a great fun. We hardly sit at our home during the weekends. Cricket, hide and seek, watching action/ horror movies, chatting about movies/girls, sharing the adolescent thoughts with each other and so many other good things to recollect. We were the notorious gang in the entire street doing all sought of mischievous things. During one of my birthday (I think while I was in 8th grade) I batted for nearly 3-4 hrs continuously and scored 84 runs after hitting 7 sixes. My friends used to pull my legs saying that I am hitting the ball with full of “joy”. “Joy” was the nick name of the girl who used to stay in my opposite house and my first crush was also with the same girl. Hmmm.. how many unforgettable happy moments during my childhood days and now I am fighting everyday to jump over these hurdles and running to reach an unknown destination?

Beep.. Beep.. I received a SMS from my sister.

“Every New Day is A Challenge. A challenge is an opportunity. An opportunity is a way to success! Wishing you a challenging New Day. Good Morning……”

Oh gosh! I didn't follow the session for last 30 mins….What did I miss?

Fat Old Sun

2005-12-15T02:29:00.000-08:00

“Fat Old Sun” by Pink Floyd. I was listening to this song with my eyes closed and suddenly I moved to a different dreamy world. I felt like being in heaven imagining me resting by the river side and watching the sun falling down in the horizon with birds singing and the cool breeze mixed with sweet smell of new mown grass touching my face. Even dreaming gives a great mystic sensation. After stepping into this busy world where life is driven by money it’s nice to rest few thinking neurons in my brain and dream about something which is soothing to my heart, mind and body.

Lyrics of Fat Old Sun – Pink Floyd

When that fat old sun in the sky is falling,
Summer evening birds are calling.
Summer's thunder time of year,
The sound of music in my ears.
Distant bells,
New mown grass smells so sweet.
By the river holding hands,
Roll me up and lay me down.
And if you sit,
Don't make a sound.
Pick your feet up off the ground.
And if you hear as the warm night falls
The silver sound from a time so strange,
Sing to me, sing to me.
When that fat old sun in the sky is falling,
Summer evening birds are calling.
Children's laughter in my ears,
The last sunlight disappears.
And if you sit,
Don't make a sound.
Pick your feet up off the ground.
And if you hear as the warm night falls
The silver sound from a time so strange,
Sing to me, sing to me.
When that fat old sun in the sky is falling,
Summer evening birds are calling.
Children's laughter in my ears,
The last sunlight disappears.

Pursuing my passion

2005-12-13T21:10:00.000-08:00

After joining a software company in Bangalore as a fresher I had to stay away from home and developed bad eating habits. With sudden shift from college to corporate style of lunch and with wide and rich variety of menu being served, it becomes quite irresistible for any fresher to control their taste buds. This resulted in my body weight to touch 84 Kgs (used to be 76 Kgs before landing in Bangalore). Unfortunately I didn't realize that I had put on so much of weight in a very short period and one fine day I tried to wear a 34" straight fit jean in front of my friends (Nagarajan and Satish). Suddenly there was a burst of laugh. Well.. My waist was looking quite weird when I looked myself in the mirror (flab hanging all around the waist area of my jean) . The same weekend I exchanged my jean with 36" waist jean and also bought a pair of running shoes and started running from the same weekend. Since then I haven't looked back and last week I have registered in Chennai Marathon which is scheduled on Feb 5th.

When I started running, I found very tough even to cover 1km continuously. Everyday I managed to increase the duration and distance of running and as on today I can complete half marathon without any break. Everyone needs some kind of motivation to pursue their interests for longer time. So what motivates me to run?? After having shower every morning, I stand in front of the mirror with a towel wrapped around and will start searching for six pack abs?? I didn't manage to find it till date. hmmm... I had to run tomorrow and burn some fat. While I was in Switzerland many health conscious freaks have inspired me. I saw old people aging more than 70 yrs carrying ski boards and traveling to Alps during the weekends. When they can do, why can't I?? My parents didn't recognize me when I met them in chennai airport. I managed to bring down my weight to 72 Kgs before landing in India? During my last visit to Bangalore one fine evening when I was enjoying my dinner with friends someone asked what makes me run like a dog everyday morning. I replied that the pain I experience while running gives me pleasure. It did sound funny for them, but that's the truth. After getting up early in the morning at 4:15AM (at least 4 days in a week) and reaching the beach in my road bike hitting the roads at 25km/hr (good speed in Indian roads) with my legs ramming the pedal like a piston in an engine cylinder and running continuously for 10-22Kms with heart pounding at maximum rate while my legs on the verge of getting fatigue, I cannot say that I feel like having a wonderful time at a body massage center. It really pains..and I cannot stop my passion because of pain. Being a amatuer runner I can't compare my training schedule with any pro athlete even at district level. But I am happy to lead an energetic life. I am addicted to this lifestyle and it's quite difficult to become sedentary.

With still 7 more weeks to go for my first marathon, I don't have an option to miss anything in my schedule and have to train vigorously. Will post my experience on first marathon after Feb 5th.