Friend's Wedding

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

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

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.

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.

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.

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.