C'mon just 1km left, and you're half my age, pick yourself up, boy!!

There's more than just the obvious difference between a half and a full marathon. The full requires uncalculable mental strength, calm and composure and above a threshold fitness and below a base age (both of which me and many of my readers can with just a little effort can satisfy) is hardly much of a physical thing.

Everyone gets screwed somewhere between the 'ye ye I have finished 20km already and I think I can finish in good time' and the 'Why the fuck did I let that guy talk me into this, there's 17km left, maybe I'll quit'. But then you just go on!

A half marathon almost never seems way too much, '21km hmmm, I think I can do it'. Frankly it isn't. But unlike a full, it's not so much about finishing it than about actually doing a reasonably good time. Also, it's a great way to test your fitness, not just the run but the time you take to recover.

Alright, so how was the run. Absolutely amazing. I've said it before and I say it again, a marathon is one of the few places where you actually find your competitors cheering you on and that too sincerely, and it actually working on you. Though it is mostly a kick to your ego, when the cheering is done by someone double your age, or more.

This is usually what leads to many youngsters getting injured and giving up altogether :) When someone who looks like your grandma smiles and says, "C'mon young man, only 2km more to go. Come along, I'll run with you", you have very little choice.

The running route was spectacular. 7 in the morning running along the Kaveri basin, with the meandering river snaking its way on your left and lush green fields and untouched hills to your right, there are very few things that can beat that. This was a trail marathon, implying that the terrain isn't the usual tarred road, but the actual natural route through fields, across make-shift wooden bridges and mud paths. Though the bus ride before and after the run left a lot of undesirables, overall it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

Thanks to the organisers of the Kaveri Trail Marathon, I'd love to do it again, and the full one this time. Also heartfelt thanks to Ladke(Prateek Yadav -a first timer who beat me and showed me that practice is neither enough nor necessary for all), Miyaan(Jatin Rastogi-who is currently so thin, I think he'd have lost half his body weight-about 2 kilos-during the run) and Ashwani(Ashwani-nothing really funny about him, just a fun loving guy like me)

Why I run!

Have you ever had that feeling in hindsight of something stupid and silly that you did, that you had it coming, that though its signs were ambiguous and undecipherable, you could have forseen it but then you say things to yourself like, "Ohh" and "aahha" and "o'course". Such an awesome thing happenned to me lately.

My company has a basketball team, and like my usual over-zealous over-enthued self, I go there, though everyone else is leagues better than me. I've been there a couple of times to practice, and being a company where people actually do work, its difficult to get people to gather at 7am on a Saturday morning, to run around a ball and shoot it through a hoop. One Friday morning the captain got enthued and mailed all participants to confirm their presence, so I thought 'waah, ab to mast log aayenge'. SO next morning at 7:15 sharp I reach the place dragging my sorry ass along, only to find that everybody had intercommunicated their inability and disinclination to play an outdoor game after a rainy morning. Those who didn't get the message understood it implicitly. And those who didn't, implicitly or explicitly, got made a fool of. ME. Not if that wasn't funny enough, and if the smart ones among you don't think this incident fits the description above, be patient. Yup, so next week I get apologies from a few people and one mal asking me whether I'd be free for a match next Saturday. Guess what I answered. :) Over the next few e-mails, we discussed the venue, I expressed my curiosity on selecting a team without formal selections, and reported on hoe much I had played the last few months. This involved the exchange of about a dozen e-mails over 2 days, the last one enquiring about whether I was a better batsman or bowler. Main hua hairaan pareshaan! Then I went through our e-mails and realised that neither had we mentioned the sport nor did I notice that my contact had never been to practice. I hope the rest is clear, and I don't have to explain the whole situation, like the careless villain does to the detective when he knows he has the upper hand, only to be upper-cut by the hero later, by a curious set of circumsances. If the last sentence confused you even more, do consider getting a job at an NGO, you're not fit for your technical job.

So chapter 2, haan, so lots of people have recently increduously asked me why I have taken such a liking for running. "Kya milta hai tere ko?" is something I am often asked. My answer is usually, that I enjoy it, but that doesn't seem to satisfy anyone. Now, if I ask you why you study? You'll say to get good grades, or to get an attractive package and the like? Why do you go to office? So my manager gets impressed, so I can see that cute girl/guy or the boring, to earn money? Why do you eat, to satisfy your hunger? The point is, almost everything you do is because you want something else, and then something more and the cycle continues. Seriously, wait for a moment and ask yourself how many things that you do, do you do, just to do it, just for the sake of it. You will realise that there are actually many such things,mostly involving a sport or game, but as you grow older, love and desire and fun get replaced by necessity and responsibility and the need for security. So why do I run? Because I like to run! FULLSTOP!

Personal milestones:

1. The 5km relay went well, we reached late, one guy didn't wake up in time. So our first runner ran 10 minutes late and without any warm-up.

2. Have registered for half marathon, Kaveru Trail marathon, and more importantly got three of m friends too to run wth me :)

3. Bought a skipping rope and am going ballistic, well not literally. Do take my words with a pinch of salt, I do exaggerate a little

4. Went to Nandi Hills and Hokenaggal falls, last weekend, after a friend suggested it about a day before the trip. Awesome na!

5. Bought a skateboard, HEHE, finally. So along with how many km I run, my updates will include number of ribs broken.

PS: I am no longer going to flirt openly through my blog :)

What's a damn daffodil?

Bangalore is a cool city, you know other than the traffic and the infrastructure and the high prices and the... you know what, let's just keep it at that. It's a cool city,hmmm , that's better and there's plenty to do, when you're not in office. But you have to be innovative. You see, you can't keep asking for Deepika to wear skimpy clothes on the silver screen, or for one more shot of vodka/tequila. Not that, these aren't entertaining, they very much are, but that's not utilising

the Bengalooru spirit(with stress on the 'looo'). The rest can be done anywhere, even in the middle of a desert. Seriously you can do this there, I have for 3 years of my hostel life, and it's not just Padukone there :)

Ok Arjun... control. Chalo then, yeah the point is, last week I get a mail from a dear friend about this 'Made In India' film festival in the British Library. 8 3-minute documentaries, themed on 'Independence Day'. I've never really been a film critic, you know the 'intellectual' type. The more wham-bam, the more eye-catching scenes :) the better. But I got curious, so what the heck. Anyway we would probably have gone to a pub, so I got myself invited. And besides, things like this make you seem the intellectual, high-society types. But I am guessing, I will have lost the possibility of that after this post.

So I go there-the library fyi, looks brilliant, definitely worth a visit-and its a small little meeting room, with chairs with a projector, and little pockets of people talking intellectual stuff, saying stuff like, 'the artist's rendering of the strokes on the canvas, though anachronistic, was clearly an attempt at true expression' or 'photography is the true art form for its mastery requires something from deep within, it is so misunderstood and taken for granted by the masses, that it shakes me to the core'. I on the other hand, immediately went off looking for tea and biscuits.

So the show started, and it was, simply put-a showcase of 8 3-minute documentaries, on the theme of 'Made in India'. It was fascinating to see the varied topics that the film-makers chose to portray given their 3-minutes, and their interpretation of what independence meant to them or to their subjects. Most were expectedly narrations, like the one of a young girl whose family became 'foreigners' after the separation into Bangladesh, or the homecoming of a young man into his up-in-the-hillstation home, that had held once a freedom activist and a british artist at another. My fav was 'English & I' where a youngster related her complex relationship with the English language, she recounted one little nursery rhyme by William Wodsworth with the words, 'And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils.' realizing with some degree on angst, that she didn't then and still doesn't what what a damn daffodil is. I'll be frank, I don't either until, that is, I googled it. Go on, do it yourself.

Then was the true story of a 75 year-old woman, who remarried at 75!! Actually if I did get the story, the exclamation is unwarranted, but I'll let it be, as a tribute to her courage. Independence to her meant, being able to what she wanted. One of the best was about the ambassador car, and how its changes can more-or-less be co-related to that of the story of India. The British left us, in their wake, only three good things-the justice system, the education system and the ambassador car, commented the narrator.

Two of the directors were present, and related to us, how difficult it was to simply chop off 57 minutes of their proposed idea. The challenge, the required discipline and what was being portrayed in the film. It was truly a memorable experience, not at all grand and out-of-this world, but one of those simple ordinary things that leave a mark, not for 'how' the experience was, but 'what'. If anyone hears of such things happenning around Bangalore and needs company, do let me know.

I know the last blogpost sucked royally, but try and forget it.

Personal developments(if it interests you, as much as it does me):

Got my hair cut, all of it, well not all of it, but you know... mostly all of it.

Have registered for a relay marathon, where I run 5 km. For practice, I run 6 km everyday... almost

Regardless of how awesome or worthless Kaminey is, I have a feeling my next post would title the hindi swear.

Going for basketball practice with the company team on Saturdays, they're all awesome people.

Can solve the rubik's cube now... the development being it's not the boring beginner's method, every Tom and Dick knows(Harry doesn't apparently)

Got a credit card for myself and for three of my friends... ab doobenge to sab milke

Love life: still no developments :( Either I expect too much, or too much is expected of me, or someone doesn't meet expectations, or someone doesn't know what or how much to expect or everyone's just confused. The last one is mostly likely, I expect.

Work mein: Still training. I am at that stage where I can almost floor you with my knowledge in telecom, but am not of much use to the company yet.

Chalo then, await Kaminey.