Been sometime since I was last here, lot of stuff happened in the past 3 months, but at the end of the semester I could hardly recall if I was actually involved in any of the stuff I did, actually seems like I have been watching a silent movie for the last 3- months. What's the story ? , have to borrow a nice device from my friend(forgive me , if its violation of IPR) to keep it short.
Another start- normal days - summer prep - Mock GD's - Mock Interviews - me dumb as a Dodo -Resume - Suits and Photographs - FootPrints has some "Breaking News"( Chronolgy doesn't makesense in this world any more) - The Indore Marathon (85th over 12km)- the prep room -long waits -anxious looks -TimePass (FIFA-CS and some books too)- why marketing? - vampires -angels - J&J - more timepass (HSBC, Sony, Cummins & Essar) - a smile, a wave - It's the Tom and Jerry Show again.
(MIS mein CP - Group mein Quality checks(26 font size!) - the classes start again - Utsaha mein pumps- Aamir ki shakti - Mid-sems Raam ke naam )
MIS 's CP - Group 's Quality checks(26 font size!) - the classes start again - Utsaha pumps- Aamir 's Shakti - Mid-sems, Raam ke naam - Was 'that' my blunder - as always 'God Only Knows'+2 - dark and despair - did Ahvan do some repair?- fun and games with the quizzes that ended with some nips- Football mundial with Kratos -curse the guy who blasted my shin - in between there were some online quizzes with Bothra , who now owns Bothra and Sons:) - FIFA fever takes over - there was our Mime at SBM - Over-acting , over -dramatizing, talented section aren't we now:) - cant forget the hordes of quizzes and assignments, but I did want to forget them - Open Books ('The Reason' why I might flunk some... , if others allow me to;)) - term ends -seems so soon - never said goodbye , here's some from Miley Cyrus
"....The one thing you wish I'd forget
Is saying goodbye, saying goodbye
Ooh, goodbye"
Now that was the last term , had a stop over in Mumbai on the way back and had to go past the campus , had lunch with batchmates good ole' Laxmi (though renovated) , brought back memories in a flood ,seems like if you hang around HN for some time and you sure will bump into a batchmate:).
Was watching a NatGeo episode on Monkey Thieves today - It was about the Maccaw groups in Jaipur and their group behaviour (yeah, I can find OB in anything!! ) - Let out a laugh when the narrator said- " ... and the solitary male sometimes hangs around the edges of the territory trying to find a friend from the group who could help him get in and find approval of the alpha-male ..... " my Mom actually was alarmed enough with the sudden burst to ask me "what happened?:)"
Am back in bangy , after what seems an eternity , have been to the usual suspects places already , and back in my room , it feels so comfy that it makes me want to be damn lazy once again:), surely as I was talking with the ToFN guy, a life with masti and to do just as you wish would be one as an IT manager in Bangy. Will hop around the city teh next few days and keeping my fingers crossed for another Nandi Hills Ride, will probably make a couple of posts before the year ends, ciao.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Sunday, November 15, 2009
It's true!! ,It's true!!
Seems the idea of illogical boosters actually works for others as well, hmm... I actually hit upon a research finding on my own ;)
Mind over matter (an excerpt)
We’ve all heard the old adage about running being 90% mental. Turns out it might be true, and scientifically proven to boot. Tim Noakes, M.D., author of Lore of Running, has long argued that it is the brain that allows or limits endurance performance rather than the body.
Noakes says that the brain holds us back from pushing past a certain point. “There’s a control mechanism to make sure that you reach the finish line not in a completely, utterly wilted state,” he claims. “You always have a little reserve.” Or as some would interpret this, you can always push a little harder.
Confusing Mental Fatigue and Physical Fatigue
Consider the following scenario. You’ve had a long, hard day. Your kids are nagging you, your boss is riding you, and there’s a sink full of dirty dishes and a mile-high pile of bills waiting for you at home. Managing to get in a run, much less a track workout or tempo session, seems like a monumental task.
Researchers at Bangor University in the UK set out to examine why it is that mental fatigue can lead to the perception of physical fatigue during exercise. Dr. Samuele M. Marcora and colleagues compared two groups. While both groups were to complete a high-intensity cycling exercise, one group was given a challenging, but sedentary, 90-minute computer test beforehand. The other watched “emotionally neutral documentaries” for 90 minutes.
While physiological responses to the exercise did not differ between the two groups, the perception of physical effort was much higher in the mentally fatigued group (the ones who did the computer test). The perception of physical fatigue translated into those participants reaching their maximal level of perceived exertion, and thus giving up, much sooner.
Tricking the Mind to Allow More from the Body
This sort of research tells us that the brain is the boss. It orders the body what to do and what not to do. A study out of the University of Birmingham, England, demonstrated that it is possible to, in a sense, fool the mind into allowing the body to work harder.
These researchers showed that cyclists who swished a carbohydrate drink containing either glucose or maltodextrin disguised with an artificial sweetener during a workout were able to ride harder and longer than those who swished water disguised with an artificial sweetener. This was despite the fact that none of the participants actually swallowed either of the liquids, nor did they know if they were swishing the carbohydrate solution or plain water. In addition, the two groups rated the level of difficulty to be the same, even though the carbohydrate drink group worked harder.
A functional MRI demonstrated that certain areas of the brain lit up when the carbohydrate drink was swished, those areas being connected to emotion, motivation, and reward. It was as if the carbohydrate-sensitive receptors in the mouth communicated with the brain, which then sent a signal to the body to tell it that it would be getting more calories and thus could work harder, regardless of the fact that no calories were actually consumed. This demonstrated that it is possible to trick the brain to allow the body to go further and faster.
Brain Training
We often assume that a decrease in performance is the result of physical fatigue—that less oxygen reaches the muscles, lactic acid builds up, and our legs tire. This doesn’t, however, explain instances when you feel you have nothing left, but then manage a surge on the backstretch or rally in the last mile of a marathon. If your muscles were truly shot, that last push would be impossible.
What it comes down to is training, or tricking, the brain to allow the body to go harder. The brain can be taught to give the body more leeway by incrementally pushing past that perceived maximal level of exertion in training. The same way you train your body, you must also train your mind. Noakes suggests, “If you want to be competitive, you have to learn how to deal with the discomfort. A lot of the heavy, good physical training is about training the brain to cope with discomfort.”
Running Priorities
Since we don’t all have the luxury to be able to devote our entire lives to our training the way many of the pros do, we must find ways around the stresses of everyday life. This means making running a priority. Noakes asks, “What are you going to give up? You can’t just keep adding. The brain doesn’t have infinite reserves.”
Bob Kempainen, who ran the 1992 and 1996 Olympic marathons, has a reputation for being one of the most mentally tough runners of our time. By decompressing his rigorous medical school program to six years instead of four, Kempainen was able to simultaneously train for both Olympics and complete medical school.
He explains, however, that other aspects of his life were put on the back burner: “You have to put up with going out to train when you’re tired or when you’ve got things pulling you in different directions, whether it’s social opportunities or passing on a promotion because it would be more work hours. There’s always something that you have to give up. You have to be pretty committed to the sport.”
Getting into the Routine
Once you’ve moved your training up to the top of the priority list, making it a part of your daily routine can help combat unmotivating messages the brain throws at you. Chris Raabe, winner of the 2009 Grandma’s Marathon and a religious 150-mile-a-week runner, knows this well. On top of that heavy mileage, he is also a full-time patent examiner for the Patent Office in Washington D.C.
He explains, “If training is a focus that you have, it’s important to eliminate the distractions as much as possible and make sure that your training is a part of your routine. If you ask me what I’m going to be doing at 5 a.m. on a Wednesday two months from now, I can tell you I’m going to be going out for a run. It’s something that I’ve decided I am doing at this time.”
It is this unquestioning devotion that runners such as Raabe display that seems to be the key to living the double life as a competitive runner and a mere mortal.
Sheri Piers echoes these sentiments. Piers, 38. is a full-time superwoman, juggling a career as a nurse practitioner, coaching a high school boys cross country team, and tending to her five children, not to mention running upwards of 120 miles a week. The 11th place finisher (2:37.04) in April’s Boston Marathon shows that it is possible to talk the brain into letting the body go further and faster even when the brain waves the white flag.
Practice Makes Perfect
Indeed, no one effortlessly falls into this type of schedule without a little practice, but it does seem to get easier with time. Raabe suggests, “The more you are exposed to a stress, the lower your response is to that stress.”
Noakes adds that when you willfully subject yourself to stress, such as training and working every day, “you become better able to cope with all the stresses in your life.” He adds, “Training increases your self-belief and your confidence in what you can do.”
With practice, you become more convinced of your ability to handle mental stress. Piers explains matter-of-factly, “if you believe you can do it, you just do it.”
Mind over matter (an excerpt)
We’ve all heard the old adage about running being 90% mental. Turns out it might be true, and scientifically proven to boot. Tim Noakes, M.D., author of Lore of Running, has long argued that it is the brain that allows or limits endurance performance rather than the body.
Noakes says that the brain holds us back from pushing past a certain point. “There’s a control mechanism to make sure that you reach the finish line not in a completely, utterly wilted state,” he claims. “You always have a little reserve.” Or as some would interpret this, you can always push a little harder.
Confusing Mental Fatigue and Physical Fatigue
Consider the following scenario. You’ve had a long, hard day. Your kids are nagging you, your boss is riding you, and there’s a sink full of dirty dishes and a mile-high pile of bills waiting for you at home. Managing to get in a run, much less a track workout or tempo session, seems like a monumental task.
Researchers at Bangor University in the UK set out to examine why it is that mental fatigue can lead to the perception of physical fatigue during exercise. Dr. Samuele M. Marcora and colleagues compared two groups. While both groups were to complete a high-intensity cycling exercise, one group was given a challenging, but sedentary, 90-minute computer test beforehand. The other watched “emotionally neutral documentaries” for 90 minutes.
While physiological responses to the exercise did not differ between the two groups, the perception of physical effort was much higher in the mentally fatigued group (the ones who did the computer test). The perception of physical fatigue translated into those participants reaching their maximal level of perceived exertion, and thus giving up, much sooner.
Tricking the Mind to Allow More from the Body
This sort of research tells us that the brain is the boss. It orders the body what to do and what not to do. A study out of the University of Birmingham, England, demonstrated that it is possible to, in a sense, fool the mind into allowing the body to work harder.
These researchers showed that cyclists who swished a carbohydrate drink containing either glucose or maltodextrin disguised with an artificial sweetener during a workout were able to ride harder and longer than those who swished water disguised with an artificial sweetener. This was despite the fact that none of the participants actually swallowed either of the liquids, nor did they know if they were swishing the carbohydrate solution or plain water. In addition, the two groups rated the level of difficulty to be the same, even though the carbohydrate drink group worked harder.
A functional MRI demonstrated that certain areas of the brain lit up when the carbohydrate drink was swished, those areas being connected to emotion, motivation, and reward. It was as if the carbohydrate-sensitive receptors in the mouth communicated with the brain, which then sent a signal to the body to tell it that it would be getting more calories and thus could work harder, regardless of the fact that no calories were actually consumed. This demonstrated that it is possible to trick the brain to allow the body to go further and faster.
Brain Training
We often assume that a decrease in performance is the result of physical fatigue—that less oxygen reaches the muscles, lactic acid builds up, and our legs tire. This doesn’t, however, explain instances when you feel you have nothing left, but then manage a surge on the backstretch or rally in the last mile of a marathon. If your muscles were truly shot, that last push would be impossible.
What it comes down to is training, or tricking, the brain to allow the body to go harder. The brain can be taught to give the body more leeway by incrementally pushing past that perceived maximal level of exertion in training. The same way you train your body, you must also train your mind. Noakes suggests, “If you want to be competitive, you have to learn how to deal with the discomfort. A lot of the heavy, good physical training is about training the brain to cope with discomfort.”
Running Priorities
Since we don’t all have the luxury to be able to devote our entire lives to our training the way many of the pros do, we must find ways around the stresses of everyday life. This means making running a priority. Noakes asks, “What are you going to give up? You can’t just keep adding. The brain doesn’t have infinite reserves.”
Bob Kempainen, who ran the 1992 and 1996 Olympic marathons, has a reputation for being one of the most mentally tough runners of our time. By decompressing his rigorous medical school program to six years instead of four, Kempainen was able to simultaneously train for both Olympics and complete medical school.
He explains, however, that other aspects of his life were put on the back burner: “You have to put up with going out to train when you’re tired or when you’ve got things pulling you in different directions, whether it’s social opportunities or passing on a promotion because it would be more work hours. There’s always something that you have to give up. You have to be pretty committed to the sport.”
Getting into the Routine
Once you’ve moved your training up to the top of the priority list, making it a part of your daily routine can help combat unmotivating messages the brain throws at you. Chris Raabe, winner of the 2009 Grandma’s Marathon and a religious 150-mile-a-week runner, knows this well. On top of that heavy mileage, he is also a full-time patent examiner for the Patent Office in Washington D.C.
He explains, “If training is a focus that you have, it’s important to eliminate the distractions as much as possible and make sure that your training is a part of your routine. If you ask me what I’m going to be doing at 5 a.m. on a Wednesday two months from now, I can tell you I’m going to be going out for a run. It’s something that I’ve decided I am doing at this time.”
It is this unquestioning devotion that runners such as Raabe display that seems to be the key to living the double life as a competitive runner and a mere mortal.
Sheri Piers echoes these sentiments. Piers, 38. is a full-time superwoman, juggling a career as a nurse practitioner, coaching a high school boys cross country team, and tending to her five children, not to mention running upwards of 120 miles a week. The 11th place finisher (2:37.04) in April’s Boston Marathon shows that it is possible to talk the brain into letting the body go further and faster even when the brain waves the white flag.
Practice Makes Perfect
Indeed, no one effortlessly falls into this type of schedule without a little practice, but it does seem to get easier with time. Raabe suggests, “The more you are exposed to a stress, the lower your response is to that stress.”
Noakes adds that when you willfully subject yourself to stress, such as training and working every day, “you become better able to cope with all the stresses in your life.” He adds, “Training increases your self-belief and your confidence in what you can do.”
With practice, you become more convinced of your ability to handle mental stress. Piers explains matter-of-factly, “if you believe you can do it, you just do it.”
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Flu , toes and adrenaline
A shocker of a news http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/city/ahmedabad/IIM-A-student-dies-health-officials-suspect-swine-flu/articleshow/5067805.cms,
one of the lucky few who was moving forward towards a bright future on full ballast, as always fate remains cruel.
Indore itself is said to enveloped with the common flu and its effect is evident in the class as well, I can only pray not to get it.
My toes are stamped and have a skin tear on my left foot, guess that's the prize of spontaneous participation in a football practice, went in barefooted against studs.
Oh! the adrenaline , an awesome hormone which pushes you into unbelievable zones of activity.Have seen its power for the last month or so , but being constantly driven by it, isn't good news.Probably , with the possiblity of me falling sick , my body shut down its production or probably ran out of raw materials;), anyways I am running on normal carbon-diet and hopefully will not depend on the awesome-a for some time to come. Trying to tighten up my routine , but years of inertia are difficult to overcome, anyways I am King Bruce for now and I believe my random thoughts are geting expressed freely now:)
one of the lucky few who was moving forward towards a bright future on full ballast, as always fate remains cruel.
Indore itself is said to enveloped with the common flu and its effect is evident in the class as well, I can only pray not to get it.
My toes are stamped and have a skin tear on my left foot, guess that's the prize of spontaneous participation in a football practice, went in barefooted against studs.
Oh! the adrenaline , an awesome hormone which pushes you into unbelievable zones of activity.Have seen its power for the last month or so , but being constantly driven by it, isn't good news.Probably , with the possiblity of me falling sick , my body shut down its production or probably ran out of raw materials;), anyways I am running on normal carbon-diet and hopefully will not depend on the awesome-a for some time to come. Trying to tighten up my routine , but years of inertia are difficult to overcome, anyways I am King Bruce for now and I believe my random thoughts are geting expressed freely now:)
Friday, September 25, 2009
Nice Run after Sunset
Today was a day without any work to do. So , went on a longer run , probably about 5 kms. The cool breeze all along the way made it a comfortable exercise and I was happy to double up on the previous distance in two days , so 12 kms next week seems pretty easily doable , maybe I should set a time limit now. Went ahead to pound some pedals and this time smartly choose an easier mode to finish 5 kms in 16 mins. I am gonna make it a habit to pound some everyday , after all it takes just about 15-16 mins.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
And here we go again....
Been ages since I stepped out to pound the road, a few enthu runs at the start of August and a total stop till yesterday. Finally went on a down-up round of the hill , legs felt perfectly alright and no sign of any pain (ITBS) around my left knee region, guess I am good to go :), came back and then went to the gym for workout on the stationary cycle ( can't rem the right term now). I pressed the start button without realising the program it was set to, as per Murphy it was set at the hardest and I had to push my legs hard as if I riding up a hill when I had just about finished running up one. Felt good to be cycling after about 3-4 months , the thighs were still in good shape to push through 5 kms in the next 18 mins, thinking of doing this atleast 2-3 times per week.
Well on the personal front, things have been changing a lot in the last few months, seems like I am on a roller-coaster ride of emotions. Enjoyed most of the last two months on the hill and expect to do a lot more in the coming time:).
Well on the personal front, things have been changing a lot in the last few months, seems like I am on a roller-coaster ride of emotions. Enjoyed most of the last two months on the hill and expect to do a lot more in the coming time:).
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Go Dwivedi GO!!!
Amazing acomplishment by one of batchmates, ought to get a first hand account from him.
Hers's The Feat .
Hers's The Feat .
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Stand up for what is right!
Hi,
Did you know that more than 130 million children in the world have
never got a chance to get any kind of formal education in their life ?
The "Right To Education" for a child is universally accepted as a
clause, but is hardly applied in practice.
CRY has been an organization that has been working for decades now to
ensure that the basic rights of every child get fulfilled. Its an
organization run on a voluntary basis, an organization whom we ought
to support for all the noble deeds that it performs.
I am running the World 10k marathon this Sunday to raise money for CRY
and spread awareness towards this noble cause. But why do I run ? Not
for the Olympic Gold or for a chiselled body, I run to loose weight
and stay fit. I enjoy this activity and at the same time am really
pleased to see that I can help make a change through it.
Please support my run and contribute. Visit
http://www.bangalorecares.in/index.php?option=com_content&view=articl....
The last date set by the organizers is 30th May, so please contribute
by then.
Please do pass on this message to your friends.
Thanks !
Sreevathsava Reddy
For more information on CRY:http://www.cry.org/index.html
Monday, May 18, 2009
The City
[Found my entry to a creative writing contest at college probably around 6-7 years ago, lot of grammatical mistakes and unnecessary words , but putting it here without any edits to remind me what I could do in 2 hours ]
[As far as I can remember we were shown a picture of man looking down from the rooftops and 4 lines of a poem]
This is Life,Look at the steaming crowds below they look like ants (the ever industrious) from up above here, like they always do.
Life hasn't been affected much here, even when the whole world has seen the greatest war mankind has ever witnessed, my city where I lived through my childhood has remained the same.
No... No......No... its not same. Somethings different, the skyscrapers, they are a bit taller than I used to look at them while trying to wave at the pilot in the aircraft passing by.I would always wave at any aircraft, so that I may catch the pilot's attention, hoping that he would find me cute enough to give me a free ride. That was a child's innocence & I think I was very innocent as a child.
Ya.. I was fascinated by the zooming aircrafts & the blips that are the now extinct airships.
Looking back , I had to get into the sky & fly high because my papa used to always say
"The life of a farmer isn't for you young man, the sky's where you will work.Freedom will all be yours when you fly high in the sky".
My childhood till I went to the city was a very happy one.I still remember helping Pap in our field, and Pap taking my muddy hands into his & cleaning them with water and scolding himself for allowing me to work whenever he saw a scratch or a bruise. I love those days. I loved that life. I loved the countryside. Every countryside is beautiful.
Every countryside is beautiful, yes.. , until it is allowed to exist.
I studied in this city to achieve my dreams. It was in this city I met Jane , it was here that I could start flying .And it was here that I joined the Air-Force. The most important events of my life have taken place, the city is so much part of me. I wouldn't have been what I am if I hadn't come to this city or I wouldn't have been me, if the city didn't exist. How would I feel if the city was wiped out in the war? I would not be able to live with all my family , my friends, property , everything that belonged to my life wiped out. If I can't , then how can they?
I joined the Air-Force, and have enjoyed every bit of it. I still remember the first day I flew solo in the Harvard right into the clouds.I still remember the feeling, - I felt alone by , by myself, without anything similar around me whose sight could pacify me. The territory seemed unknown, unexplored , & unchartered & I was all alone & by myself. And then there as this euphoric sensation of being in control, of being free to explore this unknown space, at that moment I heard Pa's woods "Freedom will all be yours when you fly high in the sky". It was those few seconds, which I believe were my happiest moments, moments that a person can relive every moment of his life & feel satisfied from what life had given him. It was those few seconds, which I believe were my happiest moments, moments that a person can relive every moment of his life & feel satisfied from what life had given him. I t was then , that I realised that I was born to life & it was then that I decided to fly throughout my life come what may, I passed the course with distinction & was inducted into the A-1 Jet Fighters Squadron.
"I had accomplished my dream & I would fly til the end of my life". Those were my thoughts when Gen. Eisenhower pinned the Golden Eagle on my chest.
Till date I have not been able to take off for 5 years.
When I became a Flight Lieutanant, Hitler was going about his own plans. America wasn't at war, & I wasn't worried when our squad was ordered to work on the Bombers until we could cal ourselves experts.
Then, came Dec of 1942, the Japs bombed Pearl Harbour killing 2200 of our men.They couldn't get away with it. Americans wouldn't like anybody to kill one of them & here they had killed 2200 men of ours. The Defense forces were mobilised, we entered the war with vengeance, those killed were men in uniform.
The air in our base was literally hot with anger, they had dragged us into the war when it wasn't necessary and they would be made to pay for their mistakes.
It was after this that the Oppenheimer Project gained priority within the Government. Nobody should be allowed to mess with us, that was the sentence on everyone's lips.
The whole world was watching America, everyone knew that with us putting in our bit, the fascist forces would be surely defeated. It was just a matter of time.
I went about my job with eagerness & commanded the squadron to the Pacific Ocean bases.
The next two years were spent in sorties, I yearned for dog-fights, but there were very few & when they happened, the opponents weren't good.
In the beginning of 1945, a major problem arose, with the Japs turning "Kamikaze" or the "suicide fighters" as they were called in the base.
It was then, that I realised that I was fighting people and not the big aircrafts that my mind had seen in all these years.
They were people who were giving up their lives for the honour of their country. They were giving us a fight when the chips were down, even though they knew that the war was over for them. The Japs respected Honour above anything else, even life.
That period was the most dangerous in our aviation history. What better missiles could we create than those flying deaths which had a human being, keeping his tryst with death, guiding them to hit our planes,. Those were trying times, but I came out alive, even though I lost half of my squadron.
I realised that we had to put an end to this mad flying deaths. But, when the end came, I little expected its consequences.
It was a week before August 1945 that I was relieved of my war duties, and assigned on special duty to the Air Chief Marshal himself. I was dreaming of seeing Jane & the kids then. The war in Europe had ended by then, Germany was defeated, but here the Japs still believed in 'Kamikaze'- their honourable death. I was sent to Base-21. and my briefing started. I was told that the 1st day on this mission was not to ask any questions, or think about the what's & how's even out of curiosity.
Out of the confidence of military discipline, I promised only to break it later. I was given the exact details of my route & the instructions about the things that had to be done when I reached the targeted destination. My plane was the B-2 bomber, which had a big capacity to load conventional weapons. I assumed that I would be part of a big-hunt.
It was only on the morning of 8th August at 2:00 pm, when I asked out of curiosity that I came to know that I was the only Bomber with a couple of Jets involved in the mission. Even then it didn't strike me that it was unusual.
I was a military disciplined officier, & I had learnt not to ask questions when ordered to carry out a mission, however crazy it might be. With the Bomber under my control, I would be the slowest in our group, if we were unfortunate to encounter the 'flying deaths'. That was then that I thought that luck would run out for me today.
I carried out the maneovers to the dot, and was onto the last part, when I had to drop the package, I was surprised that the other jets hadn't fired their weapons yet, maybe they wanted to vanish a secret base into oblivion. I pressed the button, as I took the steep rise I was instructed to take before releasing the package. As I drew level, the cloud cover broke away & I had a glimpse of a city that locked like my own.
Unknown to me, I had dropped the first Atom Bomb.
The Bomb which became immortal.
A poet wrote afterwards
"I am the bomb that dropped on Hiroshima, Nagasaki.
I am Christmas but there won't be any New Year.
I am The Great Mushroom Cloud that sitting Bull had a vision of.
I am everybody's face who dreaded what they already knew".
Yes, I do dread the moment I pressed the button that vanished a city & killed millions of its inhabitants. I have been torn into pieces by the guilt, which doesn't diminish after all these years, & which can't be appeased even with my death. But, I didn't what I was doing, if I knew I would have declined & this would never have happened or would it still. They would have made some others to do it. But , now the guilt is mine & I have lived with it for 5 years & I can live with it through my life. I am going to Hiroshima, to ask for forgiveness, that is the only thing I can do to reduce the burden of my guilt. I have to live.
Yes, I have to do ....... What was that?
Janitor: Sir, the door is to be locked for the night. Are you alright, you seemed to be in a trance?
I: Okay, I hadn't realised it was night.
Janitor: It's 10. Goodnight. Hope you had a good day.
How could the poor man know that I had climbed the stairs never to go down again. I had come to watch the city and end my life. The city that had given me so much and today it had given me, my life back.
[As far as I can remember we were shown a picture of man looking down from the rooftops and 4 lines of a poem]
This is Life,Look at the steaming crowds below they look like ants (the ever industrious) from up above here, like they always do.
Life hasn't been affected much here, even when the whole world has seen the greatest war mankind has ever witnessed, my city where I lived through my childhood has remained the same.
No... No......No... its not same. Somethings different, the skyscrapers, they are a bit taller than I used to look at them while trying to wave at the pilot in the aircraft passing by.I would always wave at any aircraft, so that I may catch the pilot's attention, hoping that he would find me cute enough to give me a free ride. That was a child's innocence & I think I was very innocent as a child.
Ya.. I was fascinated by the zooming aircrafts & the blips that are the now extinct airships.
Looking back , I had to get into the sky & fly high because my papa used to always say
"The life of a farmer isn't for you young man, the sky's where you will work.Freedom will all be yours when you fly high in the sky".
My childhood till I went to the city was a very happy one.I still remember helping Pap in our field, and Pap taking my muddy hands into his & cleaning them with water and scolding himself for allowing me to work whenever he saw a scratch or a bruise. I love those days. I loved that life. I loved the countryside. Every countryside is beautiful.
Every countryside is beautiful, yes.. , until it is allowed to exist.
I studied in this city to achieve my dreams. It was in this city I met Jane , it was here that I could start flying .And it was here that I joined the Air-Force. The most important events of my life have taken place, the city is so much part of me. I wouldn't have been what I am if I hadn't come to this city or I wouldn't have been me, if the city didn't exist. How would I feel if the city was wiped out in the war? I would not be able to live with all my family , my friends, property , everything that belonged to my life wiped out. If I can't , then how can they?
I joined the Air-Force, and have enjoyed every bit of it. I still remember the first day I flew solo in the Harvard right into the clouds.I still remember the feeling, - I felt alone by , by myself, without anything similar around me whose sight could pacify me. The territory seemed unknown, unexplored , & unchartered & I was all alone & by myself. And then there as this euphoric sensation of being in control, of being free to explore this unknown space, at that moment I heard Pa's woods "Freedom will all be yours when you fly high in the sky". It was those few seconds, which I believe were my happiest moments, moments that a person can relive every moment of his life & feel satisfied from what life had given him. It was those few seconds, which I believe were my happiest moments, moments that a person can relive every moment of his life & feel satisfied from what life had given him. I t was then , that I realised that I was born to life & it was then that I decided to fly throughout my life come what may, I passed the course with distinction & was inducted into the A-1 Jet Fighters Squadron.
"I had accomplished my dream & I would fly til the end of my life". Those were my thoughts when Gen. Eisenhower pinned the Golden Eagle on my chest.
Till date I have not been able to take off for 5 years.
When I became a Flight Lieutanant, Hitler was going about his own plans. America wasn't at war, & I wasn't worried when our squad was ordered to work on the Bombers until we could cal ourselves experts.
Then, came Dec of 1942, the Japs bombed Pearl Harbour killing 2200 of our men.They couldn't get away with it. Americans wouldn't like anybody to kill one of them & here they had killed 2200 men of ours. The Defense forces were mobilised, we entered the war with vengeance, those killed were men in uniform.
The air in our base was literally hot with anger, they had dragged us into the war when it wasn't necessary and they would be made to pay for their mistakes.
It was after this that the Oppenheimer Project gained priority within the Government. Nobody should be allowed to mess with us, that was the sentence on everyone's lips.
The whole world was watching America, everyone knew that with us putting in our bit, the fascist forces would be surely defeated. It was just a matter of time.
I went about my job with eagerness & commanded the squadron to the Pacific Ocean bases.
The next two years were spent in sorties, I yearned for dog-fights, but there were very few & when they happened, the opponents weren't good.
In the beginning of 1945, a major problem arose, with the Japs turning "Kamikaze" or the "suicide fighters" as they were called in the base.
It was then, that I realised that I was fighting people and not the big aircrafts that my mind had seen in all these years.
They were people who were giving up their lives for the honour of their country. They were giving us a fight when the chips were down, even though they knew that the war was over for them. The Japs respected Honour above anything else, even life.
That period was the most dangerous in our aviation history. What better missiles could we create than those flying deaths which had a human being, keeping his tryst with death, guiding them to hit our planes,. Those were trying times, but I came out alive, even though I lost half of my squadron.
I realised that we had to put an end to this mad flying deaths. But, when the end came, I little expected its consequences.
It was a week before August 1945 that I was relieved of my war duties, and assigned on special duty to the Air Chief Marshal himself. I was dreaming of seeing Jane & the kids then. The war in Europe had ended by then, Germany was defeated, but here the Japs still believed in 'Kamikaze'- their honourable death. I was sent to Base-21. and my briefing started. I was told that the 1st day on this mission was not to ask any questions, or think about the what's & how's even out of curiosity.
Out of the confidence of military discipline, I promised only to break it later. I was given the exact details of my route & the instructions about the things that had to be done when I reached the targeted destination. My plane was the B-2 bomber, which had a big capacity to load conventional weapons. I assumed that I would be part of a big-hunt.
It was only on the morning of 8th August at 2:00 pm, when I asked out of curiosity that I came to know that I was the only Bomber with a couple of Jets involved in the mission. Even then it didn't strike me that it was unusual.
I was a military disciplined officier, & I had learnt not to ask questions when ordered to carry out a mission, however crazy it might be. With the Bomber under my control, I would be the slowest in our group, if we were unfortunate to encounter the 'flying deaths'. That was then that I thought that luck would run out for me today.
I carried out the maneovers to the dot, and was onto the last part, when I had to drop the package, I was surprised that the other jets hadn't fired their weapons yet, maybe they wanted to vanish a secret base into oblivion. I pressed the button, as I took the steep rise I was instructed to take before releasing the package. As I drew level, the cloud cover broke away & I had a glimpse of a city that locked like my own.
Unknown to me, I had dropped the first Atom Bomb.
The Bomb which became immortal.
A poet wrote afterwards
"I am the bomb that dropped on Hiroshima, Nagasaki.
I am Christmas but there won't be any New Year.
I am The Great Mushroom Cloud that sitting Bull had a vision of.
I am everybody's face who dreaded what they already knew".
Yes, I do dread the moment I pressed the button that vanished a city & killed millions of its inhabitants. I have been torn into pieces by the guilt, which doesn't diminish after all these years, & which can't be appeased even with my death. But, I didn't what I was doing, if I knew I would have declined & this would never have happened or would it still. They would have made some others to do it. But , now the guilt is mine & I have lived with it for 5 years & I can live with it through my life. I am going to Hiroshima, to ask for forgiveness, that is the only thing I can do to reduce the burden of my guilt. I have to live.
Yes, I have to do ....... What was that?
Janitor: Sir, the door is to be locked for the night. Are you alright, you seemed to be in a trance?
I: Okay, I hadn't realised it was night.
Janitor: It's 10. Goodnight. Hope you had a good day.
How could the poor man know that I had climbed the stairs never to go down again. I had come to watch the city and end my life. The city that had given me so much and today it had given me, my life back.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Nandi Hills Ride
I have stopped thinking about whether I am crazy or not, cause for more than one reason I have to be crazy. And what I did over the weekend just proves it.
It's been a couple of months since I thought of getting a bike. After the usual procrastination taking it's toll, I finally bought one and just about learnt to ride in a couple of sessions. After about riding 70 kms in the basement I was bored , but couldn't muster enough enthusiasm to get on to the road.
I had been promising Ashish that I would be joining soon for the Nandi Ride, in the meanwhile he and Sunil had had done a to and fro ride to BIAL. So ,when he asked me for the ride on the long weekend, I said 'Yes' without giving it a thought.
As always I was ill-prepared for it, having to get my helmet a day before and had a couple of packets of Maggi hoping it would be sufficient to power my ride, how wrong was I!! ,I tried to sleep at 12:30 but I was still awake when my watch read 2:30 and probably after an hour and a half of sleep , woke up at 4:00 and got ready. I was excited at doing something new and was pumped up with adrenaline and so I left my apartment at around 4:45 to the rendezvous point at Columbia Asia Hospital. It was still pretty dark when I started and I rode along the Outer Ring Road planning to ride on it all through to Hebbal, but might be cause of the nerves took a left into Old-Madras road and I didn't realise my mistake until I had to squeeze myself between BMTC buses on CMH road, somehow found my way through MG Road to Mekri Circle and to Columbia Asia where the main party was already waiting for me for an hour or so.It was about 8:00 am and I had covered just about 25-30 kms.
After exchanging pleasantries , we began cycling as a group and Ashish noticed that the tire pressures weren't right , novice that I am I had no inkling of the its effect until I set it right at the next petrol pump ad found the bike moving better with the same effort.The road was wide and traffic was sparse so we rode along in the heat and reached near the base of Nandi Hills by about 12 noon. We were all famished and spent half an hour munching munchies and gulping juices at a shop.I forgot to mention Chirag, Sunil's roommate who had come along to support us on his motor-bike. We had all put our bags onto the bike and he was also carrying extra water , energy bars and also was the camera-man and in the end, proved to be as essential as our legs were, for the trip.
So at about 12:30 we started the 8 kilometer climb up the hill and after about 100 mts I had to get down and start pushing my cycle up, where as the remaining two could still cycle up. I thought it was because I was tired and had no energy left. So, as everyone disappeared from my view I kept trudging up the hill and caught up with them finally when they stopped for rest and water.
It was then that Ashish wanted to find out if it was really tough to ride my bike and we exchanged our bikes for 200 mts and man was his bike light , I could just ride along as if it was the plains whereas Ashish found mine to be too heavy to keep pushing it up. After many more stops and starts and crushing ourselves a bit for deciding to ride up a hill , we had 2.5 kms still to go and it was already 2 pm. I hadn't had a solid morsel of non-junk food over the past 14 hours and my body was crying out for some mercy , Chiraj probably realised the state I was in and generously offered to exchange places with me, when I declined ,he asked me to at least hold onto his bike so he that could tow me up on my bike. I probably am not one to swallow my pride easily and so once again declined and trudged along stubbornly.
Finally we set a target of reaching the top by 3pm and pushed ourselves with our watches and at last reached the top with a couple of minutes to spare.
The hill was crowded with holidayers , but we werent there for sight-seeing. We parked our vehicles and went in search of the Maurya hotel where we spent the next hour and a half feasting on whatever the hotel guys could fetch. We then tried to either get rooms for the night or would have been happy enough if we were allowed to camp out at night, but the former option was not possible as all rooms were booked and we were not allowed permission for the latter.So, we decided to camp out at the base and so decided to ride down. And boy what a ride it was!! ,after all the rest and water breaks and the 3 hour ride up , we needed just 8 mins to get down:).That probably is a good example of irony.
We put up a tent on the opposite side of the road of a dhaba. And then about 7:30 went into the dhaba to have dinner. And surprise surprise they had all kinds of biryani and palao but with one rider no curries!! , how was one to digest dry rice without them?? Pat came the reply 'I will provide ketchup':) . We needed to eat properly for the next day's ride and so set out in search of a curry. After some more work for Chirag ferrying us to another hotel some 6 kms away , we were able to find some peas curry and had probably half-filled our stomachs when the rain gods decided to impress us with their presence. We then rushed back to pack up the tent and get our luggage out to the safety of the dhaba where the owner was kind enough to let us camp there for the night.
The best sleep one can have is when one has spent every ounce of energy in the day and is totally satisfied with one's efforts, the location or the environment doesn't matter a bit and so I had a good 8 hr sleep that night.
We got up at about 6:30-7:00 in the morning and after finishing up with the morning chores, set off to the place where we had our dinner to have some breakfast.After some idli-vada and tea , we started on the return journey.
I expected that it would be tough trying to push back home after the tiresome day we had before, but the breakfast seemed to have done some magic and once I hit a rhythm after just about 10-15 mins and boy!! what a ride it was , I reached the junction with the National Highway in no time and was just sailing past the milestones.We had a break at this point and when we started again it was as if the bike had suddenly developed wings, it probably helped that we were going downwind. I just had the time of my life riding the next 25-30 kms or so, kept up the speed between 15-20 k for an hour and a half and jumped all the signals on the way !! , cyclists seem to be classified under both pedestrians and motorists according to convenience it's seems:).
Chiraj gave me company for most of t
he way and whenever he increased his speed I would try to keep up with him but invariably fail. It was a total all-out effort and I started tiring down around the time I reached Yelahanka and then Sunil caught up with me , we had decided in the last break that the next stop would be at Columbia Asia but the fuel in our stomaches was totally empty and we stopped a couple of kilometers before , after having something to drink , finally reached the hospital which has a good cafeteria and so we spent the next hour re-fueling and enjoying the effort we had just put in.This was the point where I had to leave the group and it was time for the last Bike salute.
The ride back home from there was boring and difficult as the heat now was taking it's effect and the bunch of climbs over flyovers did not help ease things much. I just set a target of making it back by 3 and finally at aroung 2:35 I stepped into the basement I had left 34 hrs ago. Tired but satisfied and euphoric , a nice bath ,good food and a good night's sleep later I was good as ever.
It's been a couple of months since I thought of getting a bike. After the usual procrastination taking it's toll, I finally bought one and just about learnt to ride in a couple of sessions. After about riding 70 kms in the basement I was bored , but couldn't muster enough enthusiasm to get on to the road.
I had been promising Ashish that I would be joining soon for the Nandi Ride, in the meanwhile he and Sunil had had done a to and fro ride to BIAL. So ,when he asked me for the ride on the long weekend, I said 'Yes' without giving it a thought.
As always I was ill-prepared for it, having to get my helmet a day before and had a couple of packets of Maggi hoping it would be sufficient to power my ride, how wrong was I!! ,I tried to sleep at 12:30 but I was still awake when my watch read 2:30 and probably after an hour and a half of sleep , woke up at 4:00 and got ready. I was excited at doing something new and was pumped up with adrenaline and so I left my apartment at around 4:45 to the rendezvous point at Columbia Asia Hospital. It was still pretty dark when I started and I rode along the Outer Ring Road planning to ride on it all through to Hebbal, but might be cause of the nerves took a left into Old-Madras road and I didn't realise my mistake until I had to squeeze myself between BMTC buses on CMH road, somehow found my way through MG Road to Mekri Circle and to Columbia Asia where the main party was already waiting for me for an hour or so.It was about 8:00 am and I had covered just about 25-30 kms.
After exchanging pleasantries , we began cycling as a group and Ashish noticed that the tire pressures weren't right , novice that I am I had no inkling of the its effect until I set it right at the next petrol pump ad found the bike moving better with the same effort.The road was wide and traffic was sparse so we rode along in the heat and reached near the base of Nandi Hills by about 12 noon. We were all famished and spent half an hour munching munchies and gulping juices at a shop.I forgot to mention Chirag, Sunil's roommate who had come along to support us on his motor-bike. We had all put our bags onto the bike and he was also carrying extra water , energy bars and also was the camera-man and in the end, proved to be as essential as our legs were, for the trip.
So at about 12:30 we started the 8 kilometer climb up the hill and after about 100 mts I had to get down and start pushing my cycle up, where as the remaining two could still cycle up. I thought it was because I was tired and had no energy left. So, as everyone disappeared from my view I kept trudging up the hill and caught up with them finally when they stopped for rest and water.
It was then that Ashish wanted to find out if it was really tough to ride my bike and we exchanged our bikes for 200 mts and man was his bike light , I could just ride along as if it was the plains whereas Ashish found mine to be too heavy to keep pushing it up. After many more stops and starts and crushing ourselves a bit for deciding to ride up a hill , we had 2.5 kms still to go and it was already 2 pm. I hadn't had a solid morsel of non-junk food over the past 14 hours and my body was crying out for some mercy , Chiraj probably realised the state I was in and generously offered to exchange places with me, when I declined ,he asked me to at least hold onto his bike so he that could tow me up on my bike. I probably am not one to swallow my pride easily and so once again declined and trudged along stubbornly.
Finally we set a target of reaching the top by 3pm and pushed ourselves with our watches and at last reached the top with a couple of minutes to spare.
The hill was crowded with holidayers , but we werent there for sight-seeing. We parked our vehicles and went in search of the Maurya hotel where we spent the next hour and a half feasting on whatever the hotel guys could fetch. We then tried to either get rooms for the night or would have been happy enough if we were allowed to camp out at night, but the former option was not possible as all rooms were booked and we were not allowed permission for the latter.So, we decided to camp out at the base and so decided to ride down. And boy what a ride it was!! ,after all the rest and water breaks and the 3 hour ride up , we needed just 8 mins to get down:).That probably is a good example of irony.
We put up a tent on the opposite side of the road of a dhaba. And then about 7:30 went into the dhaba to have dinner. And surprise surprise they had all kinds of biryani and palao but with one rider no curries!! , how was one to digest dry rice without them?? Pat came the reply 'I will provide ketchup':) . We needed to eat properly for the next day's ride and so set out in search of a curry. After some more work for Chirag ferrying us to another hotel some 6 kms away , we were able to find some peas curry and had probably half-filled our stomachs when the rain gods decided to impress us with their presence. We then rushed back to pack up the tent and get our luggage out to the safety of the dhaba where the owner was kind enough to let us camp there for the night.
The best sleep one can have is when one has spent every ounce of energy in the day and is totally satisfied with one's efforts, the location or the environment doesn't matter a bit and so I had a good 8 hr sleep that night.
We got up at about 6:30-7:00 in the morning and after finishing up with the morning chores, set off to the place where we had our dinner to have some breakfast.After some idli-vada and tea , we started on the return journey.
I expected that it would be tough trying to push back home after the tiresome day we had before, but the breakfast seemed to have done some magic and once I hit a rhythm after just about 10-15 mins and boy!! what a ride it was , I reached the junction with the National Highway in no time and was just sailing past the milestones.We had a break at this point and when we started again it was as if the bike had suddenly developed wings, it probably helped that we were going downwind. I just had the time of my life riding the next 25-30 kms or so, kept up the speed between 15-20 k for an hour and a half and jumped all the signals on the way !! , cyclists seem to be classified under both pedestrians and motorists according to convenience it's seems:).
Chiraj gave me company for most of t
he way and whenever he increased his speed I would try to keep up with him but invariably fail. It was a total all-out effort and I started tiring down around the time I reached Yelahanka and then Sunil caught up with me , we had decided in the last break that the next stop would be at Columbia Asia but the fuel in our stomaches was totally empty and we stopped a couple of kilometers before , after having something to drink , finally reached the hospital which has a good cafeteria and so we spent the next hour re-fueling and enjoying the effort we had just put in.This was the point where I had to leave the group and it was time for the last Bike salute.The ride back home from there was boring and difficult as the heat now was taking it's effect and the bunch of climbs over flyovers did not help ease things much. I just set a target of making it back by 3 and finally at aroung 2:35 I stepped into the basement I had left 34 hrs ago. Tired but satisfied and euphoric , a nice bath ,good food and a good night's sleep later I was good as ever.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
I open another account
Finally, I get to exercise my choice.The process to get a Voter-Id was a bit tedious , but on the day of voting, it just took me 20 minutes. With the low turnout , I feel that my World's Laziest title is under threat.
Friday, April 17, 2009
The Season Starts Again!!!!
It’s been a year since I started my crusade against weight gain, turned it into a battle of covering long distances, then was laid low by painful injury and the long recovery process still in progress.
I have registered for the SunFeast 10k Run again and though I would like to improve on my time of 59 minutes and 39 seconds, it right now seems impossible. I will be happy if I am able to do a sub-one hour run again.
As always if one door gets shut, rather than banging your head on it, its better to find another one and so I have did. Bought my first bike, (this one runs on human muscle power) and finally started having a go at controlling this wild beast with the thin and unruly horns.
It’s been five attempts till now, the first couple was spent in just learning to get onto the seat and brake properly with total gyaan contribution from my roommate. And then three days ago, I just got bored after coming back from work, so I went down to the basement and thought of taking a round of the basement in total control , it was a new challenge to make the turns at the right time and I took it on and succeeded and how? Kept on going round the place for an hour and the endorphins pumped up pretty nicely, it was a new experience of physical exertion with very little sweat to show for it .I enjoyed it. So, what did I do next? Continued the same routine .Come back home at 9:30-9:45, change and start cycling in the basement. So now after three days I think I can have tamed the beast and can make it anyway I want by tweaking its horns and did I say I have got the hang of its gears too! All in all an awesome workout week covering somewhere between 45-50 kms in 3 hours in total. I am pretty happy with myself today :).Will try for a long ride 50kms+ in one go along with other cyclists , lets see how I put up with the stretch.
I have registered for the SunFeast 10k Run again and though I would like to improve on my time of 59 minutes and 39 seconds, it right now seems impossible. I will be happy if I am able to do a sub-one hour run again.
As always if one door gets shut, rather than banging your head on it, its better to find another one and so I have did. Bought my first bike, (this one runs on human muscle power) and finally started having a go at controlling this wild beast with the thin and unruly horns.
It’s been five attempts till now, the first couple was spent in just learning to get onto the seat and brake properly with total gyaan contribution from my roommate. And then three days ago, I just got bored after coming back from work, so I went down to the basement and thought of taking a round of the basement in total control , it was a new challenge to make the turns at the right time and I took it on and succeeded and how? Kept on going round the place for an hour and the endorphins pumped up pretty nicely, it was a new experience of physical exertion with very little sweat to show for it .I enjoyed it. So, what did I do next? Continued the same routine .Come back home at 9:30-9:45, change and start cycling in the basement. So now after three days I think I can have tamed the beast and can make it anyway I want by tweaking its horns and did I say I have got the hang of its gears too! All in all an awesome workout week covering somewhere between 45-50 kms in 3 hours in total. I am pretty happy with myself today :).Will try for a long ride 50kms+ in one go along with other cyclists , lets see how I put up with the stretch.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
100 popular books
List of 100 popular books by Guardian for World Book Day in 2007.
Bold - Books I have read.
Italics - I have watched the stories in movies/plays.
1 Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights Emily Bronte
=8 Nineteen Eighty-Four George Orwell
=8 His Dark Materials Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations Charles Dickens
11 Little Women Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the d'Urbervilles Thomas Hardy
13 Catch-22 Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare William Shakespeare (at least more than 70% of the works abridged)
15 Rebecca Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler's Wife Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia CS Lewis
34 Emma Jane Austen
35 Persuasion Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin Louis de Bernières
39 Memoirs of a Geisha Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh AA Milne
41 Animal Farm George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney John Irving
45 The Woman in White Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies William Golding
50 Atonement Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi Yann Martel
52 Dune Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck
62 Lolita Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones's Diary Helen Fielding
69 Midnight's Children Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist Charles Dickens
72 Dracula Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince Antoine de Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory Iain Banks
94 Watership Down Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Roald Dahl
100 Les Misérables Victor Hugo
So , in total 36 books read and 5 watched. Not bad i guess.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Experience It!
2008 had its share of To-do-before-I-die ideas. We had the Bucket-List and then its desi version in Dasvidanya. Not really sure how many of us have a similar kind of a list. But, if you have one or will have one in the future, I have a suggestion to make.
At least, once in your lifetime, go and run the Mumbai Marathon.
One would obviously ask what’s so special about it, well here it goes.
The first and the most obvious reason would be that you get to see the “Stars” from Mumbai up-close. There is a catch here though; it works well only for Dream Runners (the 7-km run). If you want to catch the big fish instead (read Ambani) you might have to push yourself a bit and run the Half-Marathon (21 kms).
Well, all this would surely make anyone’s day, but if you want an experience of a lifetime, then, go, run the marathon.
Why Mumbai Marathon specifically? , because it’s the biggest one in India and provides a memorable route to run (and also because that’s the only one I have run ;))
The day started of with a too-early-to-be-up local train ride to CST (previously VT) station. The spirit of Mumbai was evident from such an early hour itself, half the compartment was filled with runners (all trying to be just-in-time for the start) with their bibs on them stating what targets they had set themselves. Most of them were trying to complete their targets for the first time and their nervousness could be read easily from their faces.
(Travelling early morning with the compartment full of runners)
We reached the enclosure and the lines for security checks were a grim reminder of what had struck the city a few weeks before. We started at about 7AM, about 40 minutes before the professional runners start.
The energy was just unbelievable, there was loud music, loud cheers, loud shouts, everything that was happening was loud and brimming with energy, the sound of footsteps made me realize the power of a charging herd, everybody were tearing away from the start line and flying away. Then we reached a turn and lo and behold we were running on the famous Queen’s Necklace- the Marine Drive. Running with the sea alongside is a sublime experience. You have people in the thousands moving along on one side and then on the other side is the morning sea – serene in beauty and unperturbed by the high activity alongside. There were bands along the embankments and a middle aged runner who was dancing on the road to the bhangra and later went on to complete his Half. And then in the crowd I saw a shirt, there were a lot of shirts around pledging their support to their charities, shirts with motivational slogans, shirts with humorous writing, some were personal messages and some of them were declaring that we wouldn’t cower down to terrorism , but the shirt I saw was different, it said.
“Dr.Roy
Born 1932”
It was fantastic, that someone of his age could actually run a long distance; I saw the senior citizen tag on his bib, so he was most probably running the senior citizens run of 8 kms. Just awesome!!
My friend Kela who was running 21 acted as a pace-maker and I tagged along and just as he was about to turn back on the return leg, who should come alongside but the eventual winners! , they had covered the 11 kms after starting about 45 mins after us, WOW!
After the turn-back for the Half-Marathon runners, the crowd suddenly vanished and all who were visible were spread out in a thin line along the road. And it was here the real journey started, with me alone and very sweaty.
Tried to keep up the speed with people who were passing me, also had to placate myself when I saw the pro’s finishing their 28 kms when I was struggling at 18. The heat was starting to tell and the knees were pleading, 19 ..20 ….21 and now for the first time I was stepping into unknown territory that of running another 21kms after finishing one round already. Slowed down the speed considerably as another 21 seemed a long way and the energy levels were very low. The pep-up at this point was when I reached the turn around point at about 23 kms at the Bandra reclamation (made famous by the Amitabh Bachchan ad for Lead India).It felt good that I had reached the extreme point of the race and there were people here in groups cheering the runners along.
But the excitement was short-lived as my legs started to protest the unprecedented and continuous torture they were being subjected to and the belly was also trying to make its presence felt. Had a few ml of orange juice in the morning, so I was depending on my last night’s dinner to fuel my run. Unfortunately, the calorific value of my dinner fell short of the requirements by a long way. I was feeling light; all the fat around my tummy had just melted away in a few hours.
[The weight loss advertisements that we see promise loss in a few weeks or so. I have found a new technique, let the dogs loose at your clients after promising them results in one day and that too doing it in the natural way!!:) , no machines, no chemicals involved, hehehe!!]
I noticed a guy running along with a small girl probably of 10 years, I did not have the words or the energy to say anything, a nice hi-five did the job of acknowledgement. There were people along the way who were offering biscuits to runners and I was very much tempted to jump into a shop for some instant energy giving chocolates or a restaurant for some quick breakfast, but I reminded myself that in the true spirit of the Marathon I wouldn’t consume anything that was not provided by the organizers or shared by the runners. [Later I had half an energy-bar shared by a runner, it didn’t help much, but the incident made me feel good about the camaraderie between runners.]
I slowly trudged along weary and tired, people just kept passing by me and my spirit was fading along with them. I just reminded myself that all I had to do was to count from 1 to 42 as simple as that [had to wait till I completed a kilometer every time to increment the number though].
Then as I was returning back, it was an amazing sight the streets were lined with kids. For them it must have felt like a carnival , a couple of them tried to pace me up too, one guy was kind enough to remind us that he being just 4-5 years old was able to run faster while we able bodied men were running so slow , to which Balu commented “IF ONLY THEY KNEW…”
I met Balu at around 26-27 kms, he was nursing an injury to his right leg and so was very much off his natural pace. I recognized him as a RFL member from his shirt and we pretty much tagged along from there.
The company and the chatting took the mind off from worrying about the pain or the distance, but the time we were taking to finish was always being marked. We had left all pretences of running and were walking along as fast as we could, having set a target of about 10-11 mins for every kilometer. I wanted to reach the line before 1 pm and have my run timed.
So, along the route we discussed how and why we started running and Balu was running his 2nd marathon after debuting in Hyderabad in August. I remember watching the Bourneville advertisement on the hoarding and commenting that ‘Well, we have proved ourselves worthy for a life-time supply today’. As we continued on our trot, we were passing by the race-course I guess, when I heard a familiar breathing, I could distinguish it because of the effort that was being put into it and who should pass by? But Dr. Roy, who I assumed was running 8 kms, was over-taking me at 35 kms; I was dumb-struck when Balu shared some information to alleviate this absurdity of a situation. Dr.Roy or specifically Dr. Ashish Roy is considered a legend among runners in India and he was running his [hold your breath] 77th Marathon that day. I decided then and there that all I want from my life would be to run a Marathon on my 75th birthday.
I saw a lot of awe-inspiring sights that day; one runner was just back after a heart-attack, one suffering from spondylitis ran with a neck support and his back must have been hurting like hell. But Dr.Roy takes the cake.
At around 37 kms, I left Balu as I wanted to try and make a last ditch effort to finish before 1pm. I ran along for about a kilometer or two and could do it no more, I had to cover 3 kms in 15 mins and my tank had been empty for a long time. I decided to just take it easy and walk to the finish line. But it wasn’t the end of surprises that day. As I walked along the Marine-Drive road, found a regular chap was walking alongside me; I was getting stares from the people on the road as the event had long been wrapped up and the traffic let on to the roads, and there I was walking in my shorts at noon!.
The guy asked me for the time, and we just started talking about the run. He was excited about the event and then he said that he had got up in the morning and saw people running in front of his house. His curiosity took over him and he started walking to find out where all of them were running to. His house is in Bandra and so he had trudged along in just his chappals for around 17 kms and would finish 19 kms with me!!! And that’s why I love Mumbai and its Marathon, the spirit generated is just infectious.
I told him about the whole process of getting registered and he was downcast when he realized that he had to pay for it , but when I told him about the goodie bag , there was a broad smile on his face.
And time passed and finally I reached the finish line, there was no huge cheering or music, but just Kela and his friend waiting for me. They had finished their Halfs around 9:30 and had spent time around the area to receive me at the finish line. Drank a bottle of juice and it just felt good, 42 kms were behind me and my mind had driven my body all through it!!!
We all went along for a nice lunch and a had a deserving nap for a few hours afterwards and then went visiting some friends. Next day I was back to routine.
(Happy to take a sip with the finish line behind me!)
It was a very satisfying experience, one which I intend to use this as a strength in times of need. Never ever had I witnessed and felt so much in so short a time. I had not prepared an iota for this run and had to struggle through it, next time I intend to complete it in less than 5 hours. For the record, I completed my first Marathon in 6 hrs and 10-15 mins.
At least, once in your lifetime, go and run the Mumbai Marathon.
One would obviously ask what’s so special about it, well here it goes.
The first and the most obvious reason would be that you get to see the “Stars” from Mumbai up-close. There is a catch here though; it works well only for Dream Runners (the 7-km run). If you want to catch the big fish instead (read Ambani) you might have to push yourself a bit and run the Half-Marathon (21 kms).
Well, all this would surely make anyone’s day, but if you want an experience of a lifetime, then, go, run the marathon.
Why Mumbai Marathon specifically? , because it’s the biggest one in India and provides a memorable route to run (and also because that’s the only one I have run ;))
The day started of with a too-early-to-be-up local train ride to CST (previously VT) station. The spirit of Mumbai was evident from such an early hour itself, half the compartment was filled with runners (all trying to be just-in-time for the start) with their bibs on them stating what targets they had set themselves. Most of them were trying to complete their targets for the first time and their nervousness could be read easily from their faces.
(Travelling early morning with the compartment full of runners)We reached the enclosure and the lines for security checks were a grim reminder of what had struck the city a few weeks before. We started at about 7AM, about 40 minutes before the professional runners start.
The energy was just unbelievable, there was loud music, loud cheers, loud shouts, everything that was happening was loud and brimming with energy, the sound of footsteps made me realize the power of a charging herd, everybody were tearing away from the start line and flying away. Then we reached a turn and lo and behold we were running on the famous Queen’s Necklace- the Marine Drive. Running with the sea alongside is a sublime experience. You have people in the thousands moving along on one side and then on the other side is the morning sea – serene in beauty and unperturbed by the high activity alongside. There were bands along the embankments and a middle aged runner who was dancing on the road to the bhangra and later went on to complete his Half. And then in the crowd I saw a shirt, there were a lot of shirts around pledging their support to their charities, shirts with motivational slogans, shirts with humorous writing, some were personal messages and some of them were declaring that we wouldn’t cower down to terrorism , but the shirt I saw was different, it said.
“Dr.Roy
Born 1932”
It was fantastic, that someone of his age could actually run a long distance; I saw the senior citizen tag on his bib, so he was most probably running the senior citizens run of 8 kms. Just awesome!!
My friend Kela who was running 21 acted as a pace-maker and I tagged along and just as he was about to turn back on the return leg, who should come alongside but the eventual winners! , they had covered the 11 kms after starting about 45 mins after us, WOW!
After the turn-back for the Half-Marathon runners, the crowd suddenly vanished and all who were visible were spread out in a thin line along the road. And it was here the real journey started, with me alone and very sweaty.
Tried to keep up the speed with people who were passing me, also had to placate myself when I saw the pro’s finishing their 28 kms when I was struggling at 18. The heat was starting to tell and the knees were pleading, 19 ..20 ….21 and now for the first time I was stepping into unknown territory that of running another 21kms after finishing one round already. Slowed down the speed considerably as another 21 seemed a long way and the energy levels were very low. The pep-up at this point was when I reached the turn around point at about 23 kms at the Bandra reclamation (made famous by the Amitabh Bachchan ad for Lead India).It felt good that I had reached the extreme point of the race and there were people here in groups cheering the runners along.
But the excitement was short-lived as my legs started to protest the unprecedented and continuous torture they were being subjected to and the belly was also trying to make its presence felt. Had a few ml of orange juice in the morning, so I was depending on my last night’s dinner to fuel my run. Unfortunately, the calorific value of my dinner fell short of the requirements by a long way. I was feeling light; all the fat around my tummy had just melted away in a few hours.
[The weight loss advertisements that we see promise loss in a few weeks or so. I have found a new technique, let the dogs loose at your clients after promising them results in one day and that too doing it in the natural way!!:) , no machines, no chemicals involved, hehehe!!]
I noticed a guy running along with a small girl probably of 10 years, I did not have the words or the energy to say anything, a nice hi-five did the job of acknowledgement. There were people along the way who were offering biscuits to runners and I was very much tempted to jump into a shop for some instant energy giving chocolates or a restaurant for some quick breakfast, but I reminded myself that in the true spirit of the Marathon I wouldn’t consume anything that was not provided by the organizers or shared by the runners. [Later I had half an energy-bar shared by a runner, it didn’t help much, but the incident made me feel good about the camaraderie between runners.]
I slowly trudged along weary and tired, people just kept passing by me and my spirit was fading along with them. I just reminded myself that all I had to do was to count from 1 to 42 as simple as that [had to wait till I completed a kilometer every time to increment the number though].
Then as I was returning back, it was an amazing sight the streets were lined with kids. For them it must have felt like a carnival , a couple of them tried to pace me up too, one guy was kind enough to remind us that he being just 4-5 years old was able to run faster while we able bodied men were running so slow , to which Balu commented “IF ONLY THEY KNEW…”
I met Balu at around 26-27 kms, he was nursing an injury to his right leg and so was very much off his natural pace. I recognized him as a RFL member from his shirt and we pretty much tagged along from there.
The company and the chatting took the mind off from worrying about the pain or the distance, but the time we were taking to finish was always being marked. We had left all pretences of running and were walking along as fast as we could, having set a target of about 10-11 mins for every kilometer. I wanted to reach the line before 1 pm and have my run timed.
So, along the route we discussed how and why we started running and Balu was running his 2nd marathon after debuting in Hyderabad in August. I remember watching the Bourneville advertisement on the hoarding and commenting that ‘Well, we have proved ourselves worthy for a life-time supply today’. As we continued on our trot, we were passing by the race-course I guess, when I heard a familiar breathing, I could distinguish it because of the effort that was being put into it and who should pass by? But Dr. Roy, who I assumed was running 8 kms, was over-taking me at 35 kms; I was dumb-struck when Balu shared some information to alleviate this absurdity of a situation. Dr.Roy or specifically Dr. Ashish Roy is considered a legend among runners in India and he was running his [hold your breath] 77th Marathon that day. I decided then and there that all I want from my life would be to run a Marathon on my 75th birthday.
I saw a lot of awe-inspiring sights that day; one runner was just back after a heart-attack, one suffering from spondylitis ran with a neck support and his back must have been hurting like hell. But Dr.Roy takes the cake.
At around 37 kms, I left Balu as I wanted to try and make a last ditch effort to finish before 1pm. I ran along for about a kilometer or two and could do it no more, I had to cover 3 kms in 15 mins and my tank had been empty for a long time. I decided to just take it easy and walk to the finish line. But it wasn’t the end of surprises that day. As I walked along the Marine-Drive road, found a regular chap was walking alongside me; I was getting stares from the people on the road as the event had long been wrapped up and the traffic let on to the roads, and there I was walking in my shorts at noon!.
The guy asked me for the time, and we just started talking about the run. He was excited about the event and then he said that he had got up in the morning and saw people running in front of his house. His curiosity took over him and he started walking to find out where all of them were running to. His house is in Bandra and so he had trudged along in just his chappals for around 17 kms and would finish 19 kms with me!!! And that’s why I love Mumbai and its Marathon, the spirit generated is just infectious.
I told him about the whole process of getting registered and he was downcast when he realized that he had to pay for it , but when I told him about the goodie bag , there was a broad smile on his face.
And time passed and finally I reached the finish line, there was no huge cheering or music, but just Kela and his friend waiting for me. They had finished their Halfs around 9:30 and had spent time around the area to receive me at the finish line. Drank a bottle of juice and it just felt good, 42 kms were behind me and my mind had driven my body all through it!!!
We all went along for a nice lunch and a had a deserving nap for a few hours afterwards and then went visiting some friends. Next day I was back to routine.
(Happy to take a sip with the finish line behind me!)It was a very satisfying experience, one which I intend to use this as a strength in times of need. Never ever had I witnessed and felt so much in so short a time. I had not prepared an iota for this run and had to struggle through it, next time I intend to complete it in less than 5 hours. For the record, I completed my first Marathon in 6 hrs and 10-15 mins.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
My Attempt @ Micro Fiction --Reviews
Have been busy these past few days, man has it been a emotional roller-coaster these past few months, high and low and high and low and low and low , hopefully the cycle ends with a high.
Finally back to Pages and here are the reviews.
K: Mars is alive dude:
Good imagination, awesome in fact. But I am not very fond of space and sci fi. though yours isn't proper flying saucer sci fi. Sorry man, not in my area of interest. far from my Lspot
R:
the end of the story was strange and way too fictitious. Mars is no way liquid from anywhere. Anyway it is not science that we’re discussing here. Martians are more popular that liquidity of Mars, that would’ve been better option I believe. But still it was a nice read.
Ri:
Another view of future. You captured the details of space-craft landing in such short-piece, nice. The end was kind of predictable though.
A:
A predictable piece, but it did show potential in bits. Your writing is decent, your style adequate. Mediocre is not a nice word to use, but a little more style in the narration could have lifted it beyond the ordinary.
N:
I liked it. A twist in the end is the most conventional thing to do when you think of micro fiction. I wish you had tried something else.
Ab:
Somethings in your piece didn't rub me right. Why is the chinky "Squadron leader" because there doesn't seem to be any squadrons around?
Apart from that, I think this piece got hit by too many projectiles to successfully complete a perfect landing. First there was the slightly humorous scenario of coming up with something momentous to say.
Second was the history of what the hell was going.
The third was the Mars killing man on Mars scenario.
In my opinion, the first scenario would have been acceptable if this was a longer piece. Or maybe it could have been interjected into the third scenario as the dialogue that never happened. Either way because you hardly had any room to manoeuvre, slightly better planning should have been ventured.
My view about the review: Sci-Fi isn't really high on people's preferences as literature and readers don't like it when you ask them to fill in a few dots on their own:) .Need to do a lot of rework on what I write cause the guys who review aren't going to leave any flaws alone.Final result , couldn't muster even a single vote:(.
Finally back to Pages and here are the reviews.
K: Mars is alive dude:
Good imagination, awesome in fact. But I am not very fond of space and sci fi. though yours isn't proper flying saucer sci fi. Sorry man, not in my area of interest. far from my Lspot
R:
the end of the story was strange and way too fictitious. Mars is no way liquid from anywhere. Anyway it is not science that we’re discussing here. Martians are more popular that liquidity of Mars, that would’ve been better option I believe. But still it was a nice read.
Ri:
Another view of future. You captured the details of space-craft landing in such short-piece, nice. The end was kind of predictable though.
A:
A predictable piece, but it did show potential in bits. Your writing is decent, your style adequate. Mediocre is not a nice word to use, but a little more style in the narration could have lifted it beyond the ordinary.
N:
I liked it. A twist in the end is the most conventional thing to do when you think of micro fiction. I wish you had tried something else.
Ab:
Somethings in your piece didn't rub me right. Why is the chinky "Squadron leader" because there doesn't seem to be any squadrons around?
Apart from that, I think this piece got hit by too many projectiles to successfully complete a perfect landing. First there was the slightly humorous scenario of coming up with something momentous to say.
Second was the history of what the hell was going.
The third was the Mars killing man on Mars scenario.
In my opinion, the first scenario would have been acceptable if this was a longer piece. Or maybe it could have been interjected into the third scenario as the dialogue that never happened. Either way because you hardly had any room to manoeuvre, slightly better planning should have been ventured.
My view about the review: Sci-Fi isn't really high on people's preferences as literature and readers don't like it when you ask them to fill in a few dots on their own:) .Need to do a lot of rework on what I write cause the guys who review aren't going to leave any flaws alone.Final result , couldn't muster even a single vote:(.
Monday, February 9, 2009
The Landing
[My first attempt at Micro-Fiction (less than 150 words) , will post the comments (if any) from the contest next week]
"One small step for man...".
Oh! man , did he really have to say that, now they expect me to come up with something better.
... in a few minutes with the Explorer in orbit, the Rover carrying astronauts Wing Commander Rakesh Chawla and Squadron Leader Hun Tse-tung will descend on to the red soil, the same soil which has captured the imagination of humans for generations. Today, we may or may not discover life on this planet, but we will see life on it , life ... from Earth , its a momentous occasion for mankind.....
Rakesh: Systems Check.
Hun: All operational.Initiating descend sequence.Here we go, Commander.
... the Rover is now using the thrust reverser to slow down its speed and land softly on the surface. The engines are shut off and the Rover has land.... Oh! my God!, its sinking in..
"Mars is alive and I am dead."
"One small step for man...".
Oh! man , did he really have to say that, now they expect me to come up with something better.
... in a few minutes with the Explorer in orbit, the Rover carrying astronauts Wing Commander Rakesh Chawla and Squadron Leader Hun Tse-tung will descend on to the red soil, the same soil which has captured the imagination of humans for generations. Today, we may or may not discover life on this planet, but we will see life on it , life ... from Earth , its a momentous occasion for mankind.....
Rakesh: Systems Check.
Hun: All operational.Initiating descend sequence.Here we go, Commander.
... the Rover is now using the thrust reverser to slow down its speed and land softly on the surface. The engines are shut off and the Rover has land.... Oh! my God!, its sinking in..
"Mars is alive and I am dead."
Friday, February 6, 2009
You want to run a marathon, but you know you cannot , so what?
When you take stock of reality and realise that you wont be able to do something, there are two options left.
1.) Accept the reality and rest easy with the fact that you can give it a try another time.
2.) Be stubborn , ignore all facts and just go around with one thought in your head, that of completing the task you have set out for yourself.
My experience has thought me that more often than not , the first option is always the best and is more prudent.
But there is a catch in the statement above, in cases where the first option isn't probably the best one , i.e in the less often cases , following
the second options reaps rewards more than expected.
I was stubborn that I had to run the marathon , no matter what. As they say "Ignorance is Bliss" , but when you have already realised the
futility of the exercise, you cannot seek solace from ignorance.
The only way you can carry out a herculean task is to just blindly believe in yourself and root out any misgivings or doubts one might have.And
since you have already determined that the task cannot be carried out logically , one has to then boost up one's confidence illogically.
Booster Shot 1:
In the rarefied atmosphere above 2500mts , I trekked up a Himalayan mountain pretty comfortably. It was a climb of 16 kms for about 5 hours
, with the temperature hovering below 10 degrees Celsius. A good exercise and especially good way to judge if your lungs are ready to puff along
for a few hours. So , this was one huge boost before the big race. The legs did not pain , neither my back.Thoroughly enjoyed the pristine beauty
of the Himalayas and no sign of the shooting pain in the knee.
What's Illogical in this you ask.
Well , walking up a Himalayan mountain might be a good exercise , but it does never strain your legs. When you walk the stress you put on your
feet isn't the same as the one you do while running. So , taking heart from this trek and believing I was ready for the run was illogical.
Booster Shot 2:
The Race day is just 5 days away. I have not run for more than 600 mts in the last 6 months. I had to start running some time before.
But as always laziness rules!!!. And as always when the looming punishment for not doing my job seems to be more threatening than the
rewards of laziness, I get up at 7:30 (before I slept the night before, had decided to start running by 6 , there's always a pound of flesh to be extracted)
and start running towards Marathahalli. I wanted to check if I could run constantly for an hour. But , as soon as i started to get to my maximum speed,
my good old friend called pain in the ..... knee visits me. I slow down to a speed little more than a fast walk and continue.
People coming out on to the street , all ready and primed to go about their days work and there goes along one bespectacled guy dodging traffic and stares.
Is this guy nuts ?? running at this time in the heat.
I say : Marathahalli is too far ;).
So, I kept going , crossed my office (if only i got my swipe card along) and then onwards , found a couple of people coming back from their morning jogs.
It means, there are people who run around here. On the way, saw an athletic guy, (you ask how I got that, he wore a university athlete's shirt) , but had no stamina,
would run along for 20-30 mts and then start walking , phew.... over took him with my slow run and then climbed up the bridge to reach the point of turning back.
One of the most pleasing event when you run long is at the point you turn back in the loop. Half-done already so completing it in full is no problem.
This thought always goes through my mind every time I run long.
I get back to my room , have been on my feet for 1 hr and 20 mins straight (even though covered only about 9-10 kms).That's good for a first run after 6 months, but the big one is
just 5 days away.
What's Illogical here ,you again ask.
Lets say , the effort you take to complete a 5 Kms run can be provided by 20 biscuits.
For 10 Kms , it will be 40 , for 20 kms , 80 and so on as its proportionate to the distance
being run. Applying math , one can extend the 1 hr 20mins and say that in about 5 hrs I would be completing the Marathon.
And that I say is Illogical.It's only logical if you are a machine or a trained professional athlete.
The reason being, there is are limits for everyone.One physical and one mental.
I had never reached my physical limit of running continuously , neither the mental one, when running half-marathons.
I believe that I was almost at the limit when I finished those runs and so extrapolating my performance over another 21kms is not logical.
Yes, these were the big two Booster shots used to shoot up my confidence, they weren't miracle causing medicine, just placebos.
But they do their work well in the right hands;) .
1.) Accept the reality and rest easy with the fact that you can give it a try another time.
2.) Be stubborn , ignore all facts and just go around with one thought in your head, that of completing the task you have set out for yourself.
My experience has thought me that more often than not , the first option is always the best and is more prudent.
But there is a catch in the statement above, in cases where the first option isn't probably the best one , i.e in the less often cases , following
the second options reaps rewards more than expected.
I was stubborn that I had to run the marathon , no matter what. As they say "Ignorance is Bliss" , but when you have already realised the
futility of the exercise, you cannot seek solace from ignorance.
The only way you can carry out a herculean task is to just blindly believe in yourself and root out any misgivings or doubts one might have.And
since you have already determined that the task cannot be carried out logically , one has to then boost up one's confidence illogically.
Booster Shot 1:
In the rarefied atmosphere above 2500mts , I trekked up a Himalayan mountain pretty comfortably. It was a climb of 16 kms for about 5 hours
, with the temperature hovering below 10 degrees Celsius. A good exercise and especially good way to judge if your lungs are ready to puff along
for a few hours. So , this was one huge boost before the big race. The legs did not pain , neither my back.Thoroughly enjoyed the pristine beauty
of the Himalayas and no sign of the shooting pain in the knee.
What's Illogical in this you ask.
Well , walking up a Himalayan mountain might be a good exercise , but it does never strain your legs. When you walk the stress you put on your
feet isn't the same as the one you do while running. So , taking heart from this trek and believing I was ready for the run was illogical.
Booster Shot 2:
The Race day is just 5 days away. I have not run for more than 600 mts in the last 6 months. I had to start running some time before.
But as always laziness rules!!!. And as always when the looming punishment for not doing my job seems to be more threatening than the
rewards of laziness, I get up at 7:30 (before I slept the night before, had decided to start running by 6 , there's always a pound of flesh to be extracted)
and start running towards Marathahalli. I wanted to check if I could run constantly for an hour. But , as soon as i started to get to my maximum speed,
my good old friend called pain in the ..... knee visits me. I slow down to a speed little more than a fast walk and continue.
People coming out on to the street , all ready and primed to go about their days work and there goes along one bespectacled guy dodging traffic and stares.
Is this guy nuts ?? running at this time in the heat.
I say : Marathahalli is too far ;).
So, I kept going , crossed my office (if only i got my swipe card along) and then onwards , found a couple of people coming back from their morning jogs.
It means, there are people who run around here. On the way, saw an athletic guy, (you ask how I got that, he wore a university athlete's shirt) , but had no stamina,
would run along for 20-30 mts and then start walking , phew.... over took him with my slow run and then climbed up the bridge to reach the point of turning back.
One of the most pleasing event when you run long is at the point you turn back in the loop. Half-done already so completing it in full is no problem.
This thought always goes through my mind every time I run long.
I get back to my room , have been on my feet for 1 hr and 20 mins straight (even though covered only about 9-10 kms).That's good for a first run after 6 months, but the big one is
just 5 days away.
What's Illogical here ,you again ask.
Lets say , the effort you take to complete a 5 Kms run can be provided by 20 biscuits.
For 10 Kms , it will be 40 , for 20 kms , 80 and so on as its proportionate to the distance
being run. Applying math , one can extend the 1 hr 20mins and say that in about 5 hrs I would be completing the Marathon.
And that I say is Illogical.It's only logical if you are a machine or a trained professional athlete.
The reason being, there is are limits for everyone.One physical and one mental.
I had never reached my physical limit of running continuously , neither the mental one, when running half-marathons.
I believe that I was almost at the limit when I finished those runs and so extrapolating my performance over another 21kms is not logical.
Yes, these were the big two Booster shots used to shoot up my confidence, they weren't miracle causing medicine, just placebos.
But they do their work well in the right hands;) .
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Planning on running a Marathon? , never put yourself in this position
Well, any site on the web or any professional long-distance runner has one advice for the amateur runner who wants to experience the out of the world journey
of completing a marathon. Start preparing three to four months before the race. Have a schedule set up for each week with designated days for rest each week.
Do cross training, i.e do something else than running on atleast one day of the week.Keep increasing the distances you run every week.
Follow a low-high-low pattern of running distances.
For Example:
Week 1:
Monday : 5 kms
Tuesday : 6 kms
Wednesday : 7kms
Thursday:Rest
Friday :8 kms
Saturday :12 kms
Sunday: Rest
Week 2:
Monday : 7kms
Tuesday : 8 kms
......and so on.
Well these are the do's of preparing for a marathon.
Can someone give the dont's??
If there is some way to go about doing normal things in a crazy way, you bet there will be a person crazy enough in this world to do it.
And to do the honours this time, we have ( with utmost surprise and shock ) me !!!
Here goes the What Nots :
1.) Never get up on a day and suddenly realise that you had made a credit-card transaction some months ago to pay for the registration fees
of a marathon which is just a few weeks away.
2.) The worst possible scenario at this point would be to realise that you have not run a kilometer straight in the last 6 months.
3.) If that was not enough , there was nothing done in teh past few months that could be mistaken as cross-training , no activity that could atleast strength your muscles or lungs or heart or brain(do you think just legs are enough???)
4.) The worst can become worse when you realise that the reason you did not run for the past 6 months was that you carry an injury in the area around your left knee from your last long distance run.
5.) If the situation isn't already bad enough , the first time you take your legs out to try them on, you discover pain shooting along the path from the back of your left knee to your thigh.
6.) The speed you can run is atleast 3kms/hr below your average speed.
7.) You have no running partner , to go along with you over such a long distance (atleast there should be someone nearby , handy enough to resuscitate you ).
8.) You know of nobody who has done the marathon in the position that you are in.
9.) You realise going by your logic and the reality of pain that this cannot be done.
of completing a marathon. Start preparing three to four months before the race. Have a schedule set up for each week with designated days for rest each week.
Do cross training, i.e do something else than running on atleast one day of the week.Keep increasing the distances you run every week.
Follow a low-high-low pattern of running distances.
For Example:
Week 1:
Monday : 5 kms
Tuesday : 6 kms
Wednesday : 7kms
Thursday:Rest
Friday :8 kms
Saturday :12 kms
Sunday: Rest
Week 2:
Monday : 7kms
Tuesday : 8 kms
......and so on.
Well these are the do's of preparing for a marathon.
Can someone give the dont's??
If there is some way to go about doing normal things in a crazy way, you bet there will be a person crazy enough in this world to do it.
And to do the honours this time, we have ( with utmost surprise and shock ) me !!!
Here goes the What Nots :
1.) Never get up on a day and suddenly realise that you had made a credit-card transaction some months ago to pay for the registration fees
of a marathon which is just a few weeks away.
2.) The worst possible scenario at this point would be to realise that you have not run a kilometer straight in the last 6 months.
3.) If that was not enough , there was nothing done in teh past few months that could be mistaken as cross-training , no activity that could atleast strength your muscles or lungs or heart or brain(do you think just legs are enough???)
4.) The worst can become worse when you realise that the reason you did not run for the past 6 months was that you carry an injury in the area around your left knee from your last long distance run.
5.) If the situation isn't already bad enough , the first time you take your legs out to try them on, you discover pain shooting along the path from the back of your left knee to your thigh.
6.) The speed you can run is atleast 3kms/hr below your average speed.
7.) You have no running partner , to go along with you over such a long distance (atleast there should be someone nearby , handy enough to resuscitate you ).
8.) You know of nobody who has done the marathon in the position that you are in.
9.) You realise going by your logic and the reality of pain that this cannot be done.
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