Barefoot Ted's Autograph and Footgraph
I am now the owner of an autographed and footgraphed version of ‘Born to Run’, thanks to my dear nephew Vishu who met BFT at Auroville marathon last weekend, and to dear broski friend Kumar who gifted me the book earlier in 2011.
Life is awesome! I guess it is time I came out of the ~3 month long hiatus and got back to running.
The world famous somersault expert, who goes by the name ‘Deep’ is in Bangalore. Register for the course NOW!
The image below is a depiction of the things to come. But please, DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME.
Somersault 101
Deep also happens to be my 2 year old nephew and is a sifu of ‘The Art of Chilling’.
Encountered a beautiful 40 odd minute video titled ‘Life Cycles’ via ‘Bums On The Saddle‘ feed on Facebook. The beauty, apart from lying in the stunning visuals, is also in the way the video describes the way things shape up in one’s life. There is more to it than the just the bicycle. But of course, for the bike lovers this would come as a celebration anyway.
Put together the movies by ‘The Collective‘, few visual factoids on the lines of those by Al Gore, passion towards biking and the building part of it, and add some good life fundaes and you have ‘Life Cycles’.
My take away from the philosophical part of the narration – ‘no matter how hard we work on creating things, no matter how hard we love them and become a part of them, there are forces which are acting to eventually to pull everything apart and take those things away from you’.
Broadly, that translates to crack today whatever you feel like cracking instead of worrying about what could potentially happen tomorrow. Who knows, if it does not happen tomorrow, or for that matter day after, it is bound to happen a few years from now anyway.
The video is here and my recommendation: MUST WATCH, in HD.
Have you ever thought how it would feel to be a machine, or a pot housing a growing plant, or for that matter anything stationary?
How would it feel to look at the world while staying at one place for, potentially, an entire life time?
Hmmm!! This can be an interesting topic for a blog. I wonder whether this can also be an awesome perspective to capture through photos. My fellow photographers, let’s try it out shall we? You can give me a share of the earnings for the idea and credits would be appreciated.
How often have you thought ‘Ah! How come I never thought of that?‘. Don’t worry, I wont judge you by the number that pops up in your head. Most likely it will be yourself who will pass the sentence. It is quite natural of semi curious human beings to behave in such a manner. Well, I am no expert on the subject matter of creativity and psychology, but I am merely guessing from a lay man’s perspective.
Among the people I have encountered this far in my life, there have been those who are semi curious, those who are awesome at being curious and somehow things seem to fall in place for them and then there are those who are quite happy being not so curious. If you go by the bell curve theory, which, by now is pretty much an over exploited theory, most of the people would fall under the semi curious kind. If we assume, and which in my opinion is a safe assumption (my assunptions are something that you should take at face value, because I am awesome at them), that these people are usually unhappy, it would mean that majority of the people in this world are unhappy.
Hence proved.
I know this is a dumb post. Well, I did not have much to do while on a week day flight. Of late fellow travelers prefer to bury themselves in their supposedly more interesting tablets, phones and music players. Now I am curious when the next ‘whatever’ is going to hit the market and further bring down the volume of non virtual human conversations. Let me tell you another thing before you jump to assumptions – I am a happy man and I am not one of those who are content with being not so curious. I shall trust your deduction powers on which category I belong to.
The intent was not to be condescending. I firmly believe that all of mankind is truly awesome, and each human being is a part of the awesomeness.
Go watch Death Note. I feel it can help kill boredom.
The excitement:
They were meeting up after a gap of almost a year, and were quite excited about the prospect of spending an entire week in the hills. Arriving at their destination was a pretty interesting experience having to change three buses through the night while the creaky buses chugged their way along the winding hills. The bus driver’s attitude and ease with which he maneouvered the bus in the dark with even bigger buses coming the other way, did not give a lot of comfort to the travelers but definitely provided a heightened sense of adventure. Of course, they did not have much control over what could have happened if things were to go wrong.
They woke up to a beautiful sunrise watching the rays through the valley with clouds below them and within the hour they were at the destination getting pestered by the not so pleasant Tarzan. The day passed while lounging around, feasting on delicacies and passing out thanks to fatigue. Evening arrived faster than they had anticipated, and it was time to venture out into the town.
The disappearing act:
Lugging around multiple bags was a pain, and the apparently witty one came up with the brilliant suggestion of dumping all belongings in one bag and he would take charge. The world changing, ground breaking, cataclysm preventing decision was taken and everything – cell phones, wallets with cash, cards, IDs and music players etc were dumped into one bag and some petty cash all that was left in the pockets. The climb for the auto rickshaw was really steep and as per the local practice only two people could be taken in one. Whether this was just a money making tactic or the physics and mechanics really did not allow for the possibility of three or more people in one three wheeler would be known only later.
The two taller ones joined arms, and the two shorter ones followed behind in another auto rickshaw. They stopped at the mouth of what they felt was the market. The auto rickshaw was let go after settling via the petty cash. Five minutes passed and the witty one realized that he did not have his bag anymore with him. Recollection was easy despite a failing memory thanks to the short interval between the event of the autorickshaws leaving and the realization dawning. The choice were two – be smart and figure out the right way, or to press the panic button. For obvious reasons, they hit the panic button as they were all seemingly smart only… Nah! They figured out the right way.
The hunt:
The idea was to jump onto a vehicle and go in search of the three wheeler. Then another ground breaking realization dawned – you don’t usually find vehicles at every inch in a sleepy town on a steep hill at 8 pm on a beautiful evening when the whole town is lounging around. Well, life went on. A brisk walk for 100 metres while discussing the worst case scenario and frantically trying to remember the contact numbers of family and friends, brought them to a mechanic’s workshop which resembled a make shift shack. The first surprise of the valley came through when the mechanic happily loaned the group a bike (though a rattling one), with the two taller ones as the collateral. Happy munching on the snickers and other dark chocolates, the taller ones settled down like content cows with the mechanic and the shorter ones set out to look for the three wheeler. Coming from the elite institutions, and supposedly blessed with a fair bit of curiosity and logic, the dear friends of the four may ask ‘Why did the taller ones have to settle down? What was the differentiating parameter? Why couldn’t they bargain for two bikes and all four set forth on the search?’ Such were the circumstances that only one of the four knew how to ride a geared bike, so settling down while munching on chocolates was the more productive option for two taller ones.
Life went on. The two on the bike stopped at the main auto rickshaw stand in the centre of the town and enquired. The second pleasant surprise that came through was the assurance from almost every single driver down there – ‘Sir! Don’t you worry. Even if you have lost it tonight, it will be in the Police Station tomorrow morning. Whoever finds your bag in their vehicle will invariably return it to the Police in the morning.’ Of course it was calming, but not effective enough. The witty one set himself on foot enquiring around while the biker continued the job riding around.
After riding around for some time, the biker stopped at the auto rickshaw stand again, and thought of employing brute force methods – not physical abuse, but in terms of eliminating every single possibility. The third surprise was due when one of the drivers jumped in as a good samaritan, hopped on to the bike when requested if he could help sweep the entire town for the bag. They visited two other stands where they got the feedback that possibly the driver of the fateful autorickshaw might be chilling out at a bar. On reaching the bar, they found out that the group had just left. Feelings of ‘so close, yet so far’ were creeping in, but the ride in the brilliantly cold night on the hill were entertaining enough to continue the search through the night.
However, soon after they found the driver of the fateful three wheeler at his home who would have switched off the lights and passed out had he not got a call from one of his friends at the bar about the visitors who lost their bag. The guy was now waiting at his doorstep for the visitors. What would you expect landing up in a town where you are a first timer and have lost all your valuables. Wouldn’t you half expect that you would never see them again, or in the best case, a ransom call? The rate at which the night was going, the fourth surprise was long overdue. The driver returned the bag and said ‘Sahab ji! Ek baar apna bag dekh lijiye. Humne isko khola nahin’. For the Hindi challenged readers that meant ‘Sir! Please check your bag and make sure all belongings are there. I have not opened it.‘
Honesty:
The honesty was remarkable and the entire experience was unforgettable. Out of gratitude the biker offered some cash as a reward and a token of respect. The driver denied it plainly and said ‘Saheb ji! Hum toh chahte hain ki aap baar baar yahaan aaye. Hum aapki cheezen chori karenge toh na toh aap vaapis aaoge, aur na hi koi aur yaatri. Yeh to humaara farz banta hai ki aapka samaan aapko lauta dein‘. (Read as ‘Sir! We want you people to come back and bring many more visitors. We cannot expect people to visit us again if we steal from you. It is my duty to return your belongings to you.‘).
They rode back after thanking the driver. The biker dropped the good samaritan and picked up the witty one, and played around with him to gauge the emotions. The two then climbed the hill on the rattling bike to find the taller ones in a slightly panic stricken, yet comfortably settled mode. Maybe it was the chocolate and the relaxed mode that did the magic. Once again, the elements of surprise coupled with relief were a sight to watch. The thanks were in place for the mechanic and the rest of the evening was well spent sprawling over a couch playing chess, eating some delicious food, and staring at the flawless sky.
The esteemed participants:
The town was Manali (flickr) and the year was 2010. The taller ones were Karthik ‘CB’ Narayanan, and Arjun ‘Sania’ Vijayraghavan. The witty one was Ankit ‘GRV’ Gupta, and the biker was yours truly Vinayshankar ‘Caesar’ Kulkarni. Manali, Kasol, and everything in Parvati valley shall be sorely missed.
Some of the best journeys I have been a part of have been on trains. There is something really charming about the trains that one seems to forget or misplace as one grows up, only to reminisce and think about all the nuances of the train journey while dreaming about an adventurous trip spreading across the length and breadth of the nation. While going through an article on lonely planet about train journeys in India, and envisioning an adventure spanning train journeys across the length and the breadth of the nation, I couldn’t help but think about the interesting trips that I have had. Three vivid memories listed below, in no particular order:
Journey with team mates, under 16 cricket team: Hubli – Bangalore – Chennai – Kanpur
Put together a bunch of 14-16 year old boys on a multiple day train journey. Throw in daily allowances and the plethora of snacks that can be had on trains in India. Add the variety of places and people that the nation can offer. Imagine a bunch of girls, of which one or two are pretty, and one of the boys in the team notices the girl while fetching his food from the pantry, to be followed by innumerable trips in twos and threes while having to walk across the whole length of the train just for a glimpse. Gauge the expression on the diligent and sincere ticket checker while admonishing the teenagers sitting on the foot-boards while experiencing the air with different characteristics brushing the hair as the train shifts across lands. All the above, and the sheer happiness rising out of innocence also forged some of the greatest friendships I have been a part of. We did not win the tourney, but we certainly did have a ball.
Trek along the railway track: Sakleshpur to Kukke Subramanya also known as ‘Green Route’ (flickr)
The journey started on foot along the rails and ended on a train. The plan was to trek from Sakleshpur (western ghats) to Kukke Subramanya. However, the trip was cut short due to many reasons, one of which being my own impatience. The entire stretch was on a railway track with over 100 bridges and tunnels, some as long as 700 metres. The bridges did not have any form of support for humans walking on them. The sleepers (logs supporting the tracks) were almost a meter apart and all you could see below was a sheer drop of 50 – 100 feet or more. The awesomeness of the trip can be summarized by a statement that a not-so-friendly station master made – “Be careful on the bridges. Once you are on them, and a train comes from either end, first you go down and then straight up“. Floyd in the tunnels, greenery amidst dense fog with rapids and streams running all around gave a sense of sheer bliss. To top it all, the company was remarkable – some really smart and dexterous people. Icing on the cake – the last leg of the journey was performed standing behind the engine in the open air in the mountains on a goods train.
Emergency journey to track down ‘Bunny’, my labrador: Chennai – Bangalore
I had reached the institute and gave the customary call home to inform I was safe and sound. I could sense a fair amount of tension in my parents’ voice but did not pay much heed to it, as they never told me what it was that they were worried about. By evening my mother spilled her guts and I got to know that Bunny had run away and the smart guy that he is had not found his way back home yet. After dialing all friends, relatives, police etc etc, by late night I felt that I had to head back. I reached the station, fought my way through a massive queue and bought a general compartment ticket. This was going to be interesting, and the journey did not disappoint. I stood in the train all the way from Chennai to Bangalore, fighting my sleep and trying to think of starting points to figure out where exactly would Bunny be. Best part of the journey was the conversations I managed to strike with fellow passengers who, interestingly, came up with brilliant words of optimism to console me. No prizes for guessing what was the result of the trip – I found Bunny!
A few weeks ago one of my friends posted ‘Why is everybody nowadays either a photographer or a runner or both?’ or something to that effect on his facebook profile . The gentleman usually prefers to stick to himself, but more often than not comes out with his opinions in a fairly public fashion. At the risk of sounding judgmental (which I love being), more often than not, his intelligent opinions usually have a flavor of humor to them and are worth mulling over.
The first thing that would usually come to one’s mind on reading such a post is the evident inclination of a bunch of people towards the activity, be it running, be it photography or for that matter anything that is forming a wave, winning the public over, and gaining momentum. But here I was, thinking about my friend’s reaction and wondering why is it that he (and quite a few other people) seem to repel the thought. No doubt he is a maverick who has his ways of coming up with brilliant one liners that attract good attention. What made me focus on the reaction was the fact that I was getting similar reactions from many other quarters of life – friends, relatives, colleagues. Interestingly, similar reactions were fairly common from people who were into the basic level of fitness as well, something that one would not expect.
When I ran, and spoke about running, it was perfectly fine as long as I restricted myself to it. This way was probably more effective in influencing a few people to take up running. The moment I starting speaking to people proactively to take up running, things started going wrong. Even before you realize, the preaching ends up being taken as an overdose of gyaan and people prefer treating you as an alien rather than trying, let alone adopting your new found way of life. The push can / should, in my opinion, come a little after self initiation.
I sincerely hope that ‘junta’ give long distance running a try on their own, at their own pace (literally and figuratively) and decide for themselves whether it is worth giving it some serious time or not. To then push them beyond the tipping point would be fellow runners’ responsibility. Only piece of gyaan I would like to share from my own experience(s) is that the reactions of your body to long distance running is analogous to the reactions of a vehicle’s engine to revving. The engine tells you that it is struggling, and it is time to shift gears. The moment you shift gears, the engine moves into the comfort zone. When you run, the same cycle acts. Based on your fitness level, when you reach a certain distance the body wants to stop and the urge to discontinue the run is at a peak. All you have to do is continue for a few hundred meters more and the body changes gears and gets into the comfort (read joy) zone till the next peak is reached.
On a tangent, I have to mention that I was looking for something that I can post and pretend to be an intellectual or offer others something to read and ponder over. I hope I have achieved the latter, and as and when someone decides to take up running, I would be more than happy to give company.
Overall, a typical Jason Statham movie, not necessarily worth a visit to the theater. You could rent a dvd and watch it on a good screen at home. But definitely worth a watch. The movie starts off showcasing Statham’s character even before the titles begin. For those who enjoy the tough cop routine, the first few minutes will get you interested straight away, and manage to ensure you watch the rest of the movie.
There are many sites out there which will explain the plot to you, so I will not elaborate on that. After watching several movies over the past few years requiring reasonable amounts of intelligence, this one comes as a welcome change. Yes, everyone needs a no low brainer once in a while. And that statement is not necessarily a negative for the movie. In fact, the director has managed to put the frames together really well and the movie is a cruise. The chase sequences are decent. The movie is shot in London with the hues being portrayed really well letting the weather and shades of the city emerge.
Statham is as typical as he can get, and has now almost perfected the stereotype that he plays – tough guy, with a crisp sense of humor with the Brit accent thrown in. Only difference I saw in this movie was that he was a drinker and a smoker which is very different from his typical ‘I stick to my fitness business’ kinda role, and the guy does not seem to be much bothered about cleanliness or order, which he typically showcases in his movies, i.e. Transporter series, The Mechanic.
Aidan Gillen as the serial killer ‘Blitz‘ could have done a much better job, but that is, if compared to Sir Anthony Hopkins. Otherwise, he has done a good job and pretty much reflects what he did in 12 Rounds which was anyway an overdose of testosterone. But this one is more psychotic than the performance in 12 Rounds. Anyway, may be the intent of the movie was not to produce a very smart killer. As I mentioned, this one does not ooze with tremendous amount of intelligence or class. Then there are other characters, like the ‘elegant’ (I leave it to you to figure out what that means) cop played by Paddy Considine, random gang kid, the cop who is an addict, the informant who, mind you, manages to portray how hopeless his life can be while playing the psycho imagining that he is a genius. Though they don’t really serve a greater purpose in the movie, they still manage to blend in well.
Summary - Worth a watch, well shot and pretty good cinematography, decent believable action, plenty of interesting one liners, and a decent ending. Personally, I liked the movie and had a fun evening watching it.
There are several merits of cooking. It could help you in many situations, help you avoid many situations, and in some cases create situations which you had always hoped for. Disclaimer: The list below is not in any order, and any resemblance to any event or human being is purely coincidental.
To start with
1. Your mom is out of town, and your father is a big hearted man who wants to take care of you by cooking the best chapathis in the world despite having a hectic schedule himself. Alas, he only manages to burn them and give you a taste of what he considers amazing food, which by your mother’s cooking standards can be declared as barely edible. Also, you will have to go through a forced menu routine where in you have no freedom, absolutely no freedom in choosing what you want to eat. Most of the times it would be spinach soup, lots of salad, fruits, and then invariably vegetables bought from the local shop. Well, the last bit saves the day.
2. This situation will apply to married, or committed men, living with their better halves, away from their parents. It is the last condition which brings about the requirement of learning to cook.
a. The better half is an awesomely gifted individual, but the only gift the lord forgot to bestow upon her is the skill of cooking, let alone the skill of cooking well. Most of the days you would wake up expecting that warm glass of milk that you were used to when your mother was still your guardian, and then a nice warm fresh breakfast coming straight out of the tava. And then reality strikes and you realize your house is minutes away from being on fire and you have to rush to cut the gas supply and to witness the burnt milk. All this is when she wakes up before you, accidentally maybe. On the rest of the days, well, you know the drill, “You are the cook dear” would be the axiom.
b. One fine morning your better half decides that it was ‘high time’ she gave you a piece of her mind (For the lack of better words, I just had to use those. No offense meant to anyone.). And you thought it was only yesterday that you had some of that. Well, son! today is the day you learn that ‘high time’ calls for a gap of less than a day, and be prepared to learn that the gap between ‘high times’ may follow a geometric progression, of course, not necessarily in your favor.
She packs her bags, and lo! there she goes. What do you do? You have two options – follow her or not follow her. In either case, the situation will come under control only when SHE decides that the high time is over. Effectively, you dont have much of an influence in the way things will turn out. So, accept your fate, and think of how you will survive the day – well, I mean, the basic necessities of water, air, and food. Oh come on! don’t tell me you thought there was another meaning to that phrase I just used.
Cook or perish.
Again, this applies to those poor souls only who are staying in a city / town with no restaurant that can support the taste buds which have been developed over decades. For others, go and partayyy!!!!
3. You are new to the town, and
a. all you can eat in the new town is those delicious and generous servings of lettuce, cucumber, onions, tomatoes and some green leafy vegetables, apart from the usual coke, lime juice and the likes. For the rest of the food, your digestive system either repels it or your parents, religion and choice (in some cases) have brought you up in a way that you cannot ingest it. You are not a super human or a monk (only for those cases when monks are not super humans) to be able to survive a hunger strike for months. So…
b. the only other stress buster that you can find, apart from running, is chopping those vegetables fine and listening to the sound of the mustard and cumin seeds popping in hot oil.
c. you have visitors from your home-town(country) and they share similar issues (read problems) of dietary choice(s). They will not survive if they do not find the means to go and cook themselves, provided they know how to cook already. That apart, you being the good Samaritan cannot watch your fellow men go to a waste, and hence will end up inviting them over for a meal which they can ingest, digest, and hopefully relish.
d. you would like to share a little bit of your culture and show off the many delicacies from your town (country). This one is probably the most motivational one in the entire list, well, only second to the next one. It is always a moment of pride and great pleasure to hear someone of a different nationality acknowledge the delicacies that your land may have to offer, especially when you are the one who has put in the efforts to prepare it. Such opportunities are not to be missed.
4. You are single, well, looking is a better word and surprising the prospective better half with a delicious meal prepared by your own self would increase the chances of a home run. Like the crests and falls in any trend, the attraction towards the element of metro-sexuality in a man would see both highs and lows. Considering the average lifetime of a man in this century, I would expect that having good culinary skills will definitely be a plus at least at some point in time. Well, it definitely won’t hurt your chances.
5. The evening was great, the night has been full of interesting conversations to the sound of clinking glasses and you realize you have around you, a mix of drunk hooligans and slumping bodies craving for some food at not so great an hour. Not feeding them is not an option, and the pizza delivery guy is probably in the Sandman‘s realm by now dreaming up beautiful toppings and snoring away to glory. You have to become the god send, and step up to the occasion. This is one opportunity which you would not want to miss. Not only for those brief moments when the food is being stuffed down the throats leaving that tingling sensation on the taste buds of those hungry souls, but for the rest of their life time, those souls shall think of you as truly a heavenly being and make you feel like Bruce Almighty’s daddy.
It would be a shame to realize that you left the capsicum masala on the gas stove while typing out this post for a considerably longer period of time than what would have made it a delicious dish. Now, you are left with the burnt bell pepper.
