Waking Up in A New Country

I definitely did not go to sleep last night in this country.

The country I went to sleep in had the Rajabai clock tower chiming merrily every 15 minutes. Over there, the dome of the Taj Mahal Hotel near the Gateway of India shone brightly in the evening sky, people enjoyed their drinks and music at Cafe Leopold and Colaba Causeway was a great place to hang out.

Today though, Taj Mahal dome did shine, but not because of the bulbs that usually lit it up, Rajabai clock tower's chime had lost its cheer, the only music playing at Leo's was a death knoll and Colaba Causeway became a place to hang out, not for common citizens, but for the National Security Guard (NSG) Commandos who have flown in from across the country to fight these mother-fucking terrorists.

In this country, they've even imposed curfew so we can't get out of our homes and endanger ourselves and others.

I pray for those who lost their lives and for their families fighting for their old country.

I, no, We, want our country back, the country we went to sleep in.

Life In Longitudinal Waves

So much has happened in the past two years of my life and it has led me to the conclusions that life unravels itself in irregular longitudinal waves. (See image below.)


While image above is of a more regular pattern, with compressions and rarefactions interspersed at regular intervals, life's rarefactions and compressions are quite irregular.

If I were to describe the last two years of my life, it would definitely be a compression. Papa's passing, a broken engagement, meeting my to be life partner, starting up my own business, getting married (in less than a month)... it's overwhelming when I think about it.

Before that, college life and a few years after college felt like a rarefaction. Yes, there were changes and important events, but none that affected me as much as those in the past couple of years. Life seemed to be dawdling along.

I guess that's how life is. I know I'm not making any earth-shattering revelation. Just a mundane observation.

It can be one long rarefaction until you hit a tumultuous series of compressions with tiny rarefactions scattered in-between. Or sometimes it feels like this never-ending compression until you discover you're suddenly in this little rarefaction.

I don't think one is better than the other i.e. a compression is better than a rarefaction or vice-versa, but they're undoubtedly different.

Together I think they make life a wonderful journey. One long longitudinal wave. Or short. But longitudinal and interesting nonetheless.

Running #36

Today's Run
Distance: 8 km
Time: 47 min 32 sec

A faster pace than the last 8 km I did so I'm satisfied. The rhythm is definitely back, so is the pleasant weather in Mumbai. I think that is definitely helping.

Glad

In these times when so many people are losing jobs or sitting in office idle, I'm really grateful for having a job I enjoy. I guess that's the advantage of being in a services industry to an extent.

That's besides the point. I think you're extremely fortunate if you wake up to a job that you enjoy and challenges you almost everyday. I happen to be one of those and I'm really deeply grateful to whatever it is out there that led me to where I am now.

Every now and then, I guess we make decisions in life which, at the time of making them, we're unsure of and come good. Glad to have made one of them.

Running #35

Today's Run
Distance: 15 km
Time: 1 hour 27 min 58 sec

I was really happy with the run this morning. I woke up by 5, got enough time to stretch, cycled to NCPA for the start of the run and was warmed up enough by the time I got there.

The most satisfying thing about the run was getting the rhythm back. I started slowly and picked up the pace gradually. On the Peddar Road downhill to Haji Ali, I was wondering if I'd struggle on the way back up, but the body responded beautifully. Everything was in synch. The breathing, the legs, the arms... I ran on auto-pilot.

I picked up even more pace on the way back and I was surprised. At some point in your running, you become almost a witness to your body. It seems to function effortlessly. Meditative at some level.

Looks like the recovery from the injury is more or less complete. :)

Kabir's Dohas

I've always loved hearing Kabir's dohas. Especially Shekhar Sen's rendition of them. The problem though was that I could never fully understand the dohas because of my limited knowledge of the dialect in which they are spoken. I'd get an idea of what they were saying, but never the exact meaning.

I found a site this morning that explains these dohas. They're just wonderful to read. Simply constructed, yet with such deep messages. A soothing balm for our often troubled souls.

Click here to read them along with their explanantions.

Running #34

Today's Run
Distance: 8 km
Time: 48 min 14 sec

Running #33

Today's Run
Distance: 12 km
Time: 1 hour 15 min 16 sec

Wanted to test the hamstring over a longer distance and it went off pretty smoothly. Despite the time being relatively slower than before, I can feel the rhythm slowly coming back. It will be a week or two before I can run like I was before the injury. But a satisfying effort nonetheless.

Save the Environment. Go Locasexual.

I love Slate! :)

http://www.slate.com/id/2202431/pagenum/all/#p2

Current Reading

The book I've been reading for the past couple of weeks is called 'What I Talk About When I Talk About Running' by Haruki Murakami. I'm enjoying it. If anything, it has stoked my desire to get back to full fitness soon and train hard.

As a fellow runner, I identify a lot with Murakami's experiences while running. In case I left you guessing, that's what the book is about. I love the little bits when he throws in some of his philosophy. Here's an excerpt I loved:

"Usually when I approach the end of a marathon, all I want to do is get it over with, and finish the race as soon as possible. That's all I can think of. But as I drew near the end of this ultramarathon, I wasn't really thinking about this. The end of the race is just a temporary marker without much significance. It's the same with our lives. Just because there's an end doesn't mean existence has meaning. An end point is simply set up as a temporary marker, or perhaps an indirect metaphor for the fleeting nature of existence."

Running #32

I ran after a break of exactly 2 weeks and I'm rusty. I ran well within myself and put in a poor time. More important now is the recovery. Will see how the hamstring holds up this week. I have my last ultrasound physiotherapy session at Breach Candy Hospital on Friday. It's the only time I've enjoyed going to a hospital. Their physio department is pretty good. I didn't like the not running restriction though, but I know the injury was bad. It felt like something had snapped.

It's fabulous to be out on Marine Drive in the early morning running again. The cool morning breeze, those familiar faces, watching the concrete go by below my feet... back to where I should be.

Today's Run:
Distance: 8 km
Time: 48 min 23 sec

The Road to Recovery

It's been a sad couple of weeks. Last Wednesday, I had my first real sports injury, a partial hamstring tear and on Friday, I lost my mum-in-law to be.

The hamstring injury keeps me away from running for about 3 weeks, just when I was beginning to get some rhythm after a considerable break from long-distance running. And poof! My hamstring goes bust. In the midst of dealing with it, and it is a HUGE deal to me to miss marathon prep, my fiancee's ma passed away.

That took the wind out of my sails. And it was so sudden! Everything happened in a day, just like when Papa passed away over two years ago. It was really sad, even more so because she'll miss the wedding in a couple of months.

I'll be honest here. I didn't get to know her as well as I'd liked to, but we got on well. We'd make fun of my fiancee together, talk about cricket a little and exchange pleasantries. She was extremely warm and treated me like a son. I'll miss not having her around.

My fiancee's been very strong about it and I'm proud of her, but I won't write more about that here to respect her privacy. I think people's feelings on the loss of someone very dear should be kept private unless they volunteer to speak/write about it.

We've spent the last week dealing with the loss as a family and it's been tough. Like all such losses, I know this is one we will never fully get over. That's just the way death is. It leaves you wondering what just happened. Especially when it hits you so suddenly.

You wonder if everything you shared was a big dream. Those family holidays, the day your parent slapped you for doing something wrong, the surprisingly good report card you turned in every once in a while (read, 5 years in my case)... it feels like a different life. Surreal.

Where did they all go...

In other news...

...I get married in December. To someone I met at my old office. :)

It's been on the cards for a bit now. I just didn't want to come out and say it until I felt everything was in place and the time was right. Especially after what happened with my previous broken engagement and various other failed relationships. Shit, that makes me sound like a wreck!

But anyway, it is what it is. :)

Exciting Times!

I've really missed writing here for a while. It's been, mainly, because I've been busy getting my fledgling company off the ground. Hiring people, getting the website up, trying to get business... the works.

It's been excellent learning. Irrespective of how it eventually ends up, I'm so so soooo glad I've taken the chance to pursue my dream. There seems to be a romance to life now. I can feel the idealism and belief, dormant for so long, creeping back into my life. There's no better feeling than stepping out of my comfort zone and into the realm of the unknown.

Everyday begins with hopes or recovering from the previous day's disappointments. It's a roller-coaster. I guess it teaches you to enjoy life for what it is, not what you want it to be.

If there's one lesson I've learnt in these past few weeks, it's this, don't take anything for granted. The new hire who says he'll join in 3 days but doesn't turn up, the potential client who promises you a lot but comes up with nothing... the list is endless. I'm not being cynical here, just realistic. There's many a slip betwixt the cup and the lip. :)

The more I think about it, the more I feel that we're little players in this humungous play of destiny. No matter how much we may want something and work hard for it, if it isn't in your destiny, there's really nothing you can do about it. I think it's acceptance that has taught me to love life as it is.

It's a big change from where I was four years ago, but I think it's a change for the better.

Running #31

Distance: 8 km
Time: 47 min 45 sec

Was doing a distance run after a few weeks so it was a bit tiring. But it was great to be out on Marine Drive on Saturday morning! Loved it! :)

Frisbee

I'm dying to play frisbee today. I think I'll step out this evening and find someone who is also interested in chucking one around.

Courage

This commercial drives me absolutely fucking crazy. I get such an adrenaline rush I can't even tell you.



It's what I feel when I'm running the 21st kilometre of a half-marathon I've trained for, it's what I feel when I'm chasing a football I know I have no hope of reaching, it's what I feel when I'm doing the last rep of a heavy workout exercise.

I may not win, but I got Soul.

Don't Get First Class...

...Be first class!

That's what a teacher at school would say to us. Unfortunately he passed on before we got to senior school, but in many ways, his teaching has outlived him.

He taught English Literature, did Mr. Joe Sheth. One of those aristocratic teachers, he had an aura about him. An air of class and panache. His leisurely afternoon smokes in the Gent's Staffroom were commonplace, much to the chagrin of fellow teachers and most certainly the school principal. His faults notwithstanding, the man left an impression on you.

I only wish he had taught us Julius Caesar like he did for the batches 3 or 4 years senior to us. I love the play even without him teaching it to me and I can only imagine the effect his interpretation of the play would have had on me.

I loved school life, the rowdy lunch breaks in an all-boys school, playing dodge-ball, this sometimes painful game called abba doobi, volleyball, cricket, football... the works. The days we got detention for making nuisances of ourselves, the few classes that I enjoyed, art, physics (at times), english literature and a few others.

But one of the things I'll be grateful to my alma mater for is the times spent with a few wonderful teachers who were also outstanding characters.

While I may have taken the first part of Joe Sheth's quote ("Don't get first class, be first class.") a bit too seriously, it is the second part of the quote that will always be an aspiration and an inspiration for me. I didn't learn very much academically throughout my education. I was an average, or at best a slightly-above-average student. But I remember the little lessons that our teachers taught us that never there in books. And those are the lessons that I find help you through life the most. The good times and the bad. Not some Pythagorean equation to find the hypotenuse length of a right-angled triangle.

Of the many many important lessons I've learned in school, the one that is reverberating through my head these days is... Don't get First Class, be first class.

Cycle

In my commitment to live eco-friendly, I've borrowed a friend's old cycle and now use it for short distances in the early mornings. The cycle's a bit rusty and old, but it runs well and is basically a very good bike. A Raleigh.

It feels good to do these little things that I've always wanted to do. I'm passionate about the environment and conserving it and I do small things in my everyday life to stay eco-friendly.

The little things that I do do (I love it when that happens inadvertently, the do-do):
1. Cycle short distances or long ones on a holiday
2. Refuse to take plastic bags when checking out of stores
3. Stuffing my pockets with litter instead of trashing public/private spaces
4. Try and use public transport more often than I did earlier

I know it's not much, but I think if everyone makes a commitment to make small changes in their lifestyles, the deterioration of the environment might just slow down. That change will only come when we truly accept that the universe wasn't just made for humans and when we learn to live within our means.

Often, I wish we could all go back to being an agrarian society. We seemed so much more in touch with Nature and with ourselves. Now, it feels like we're a bunch of shadows in our urban jungles. Has our "evolution" really helped us? All our technological prowess, breakthrough research... what has it brought us to? A place that's definitely better than a century or two ago? I don't know anymore.

I'm rambling. Should get back to work now.

Back from Bangalore

I had a wonderful time attending my cousin's wedding. We're basically South Indian, Konkani to be specific, and the guy she married is a Sindhi so it was a nice mix of cultures.

Day 1 - The Cocktail Party: I had an absolute blast! Everybody in the family hit the dance floor, and I mean EVERYBODY. Old uncles, aunts, kid cousins, young moms... everybody was grooving. All the guests were in high spirits, no thanks to the bartender who was serving these MASSIVE drinks. I'm telling you, I must've downed like 4 drinks (I think!), but it felt like 8! Anyway, everything seemed nice, happy and jolly. I helped random old men get their drinks, danced with uncles and aunts, said cheers to practically anyone who had a drink, laughed with and at folks and generally had fun. An evening well spent! :)

Day 2 - Mehendi: Honestly, I can't stand the smell of the stuff so it got to me a little. Besides, I think there was a fair bit of alcohol still going through my system which made it a bit worse for me. The evening was fun though. Sitting and chatting with family at my grand-aunt's place and then a yummy biryani dinner at my aunt's.

Day 3 - Wedding & Reception: The wedding was nice. More or less traditional. The couple looked great together and I'm really happy for them. The sideshows here are the most fun. Everyone bitching about everyone else's clothes! :) It's amazing how clothes are the most talked about things at weddings. You'll see groups of men and women sitting in a huddle and discussing what people are wearing, why something is ghastly, pretty, shiny, sombre... whatever. Everyone has something to say about clothes I think. Then there's kids running around making a racket, young ladies preening and young men trying to get their attention... it's always a beautiful tamasha.

Apart from the wedding, I got a chance to walk around M.G. Road, St. Mark's Road and Church Street. Bangalore breakfasts are my absolute faves! I love the idli-vada-dosa breakfasts down south. And the best part is, the sambar isn't sweet like it is here in Mumbai (thanks to the Gujarati influence). The weather was cool, rainy sometimes and sitting there taking in the Bangalore morning at Kaycee's on Church Street wolfing down a set dosa was blissful.

Walking up and down Church Street reminded me of the time my friends and I went to Bangalore for the Aerosmith concert and stayed at, hold your breath, Dhanlakshmi Tiffin Rooms!!! :) It was pretty nice btw, DLTR. Happy times! :)

I'll leave you with an interesting message on a wall outside Bowring Institute. Enjoy! :)

Never mind the corrupt politicians, we'll get 'em Bill Sticks! Yee haw!