Sunny Winter Day Run

I ran my first official run in India!!!

I feel great and can't wait for next year to run the half :)

This Sunday was the 26th Pune International Marathon. I was all pumped though I was only running the charity 3.5 km run. I mean it was my first time running in India and would let me know how I felt about continuing to do so.

We were told that it would start at 7 am and so there I was by 6:45 all excited (I only slept an hour that night) and waiting to start my legs pumping.... Well a million speeches later and after all the other runs were well on their way, the charity run started at 9:06 am and every one was so eager to get past the start line.

It got over so fast and there were actually people on the road cheering for us. Bib 555 did it in 19 minutes. The experience was better than I expected and it was a fun run :)

I was the first female to reach the finish line and that brought a tiny smile to my face... hehe

The waiting and the T shirt sucked... but the running made it all worth while!!

Bombay

Bombay is like a kaleidoscope.

For some it represents Bollywood with all its glitter and fame. For some it is the hope of a better future with better opportunities. For some it represents slums extending as far as the eye can see. This is especially true with foreigners who see documentaries.

The architecture of some of the buildings is impressive. Remnants from the British era - Victoria Terminus, Cowasji Jehangir Hall (Museum of Modern Art), Flora fountain.

Then there is the rain. Relentless in its fury and merciful in the respite it provides from the oppressive heat of summer.

Shopping for the one's with a thick wad in the pocket as well as for the frugal. Everyone can find awesome stuff to buy here.

A place where you come to do your wedding shopping...

The people of Bombay are integral in making it what it is today. Vibrant, enthusiastic, artsy, intelligent, persevering and full of life!! Makes it as fun to walk down Hill Road as it is to take a stroll in Manhattan.

For me, Bombay will always have a simpler touch. Summer vacations and Grandma's home and Parsi Dairy kulfi. Not a thing to do except go to summer camp, eat scrumptious food and watch Disney films....

The Pursuit of Happiness

Sunil is a DM in Cognizant. He often shares a cab with me. I usually sit quiet in the cab or use the journey to catch up on sleep. Just a couple of days back we got talking on the way to work.

He has such a positive attitude to life. He told me I was negative. I resented that. But then I understood what he meant. It wasn't that I alone am negative. It is that all of us are negative most of the time. We think of what is going wrong and somebody that is bothering us or work that is stressing us out.

He said something really simple: You need to take each object and see the good in it. Even if it is really difficult to see, squeeze the good out of it to be visible to you.

I analyzed my conversations that day. Was at work for the most part. Everyone I spoke to had something negative to say. The boss was not considerate, the task at hand was so difficult, the meeting room had not be prepared for the VC.....

On my way home he happened to be in my cab again. My conversation with him that evening was so different. I tried to talk about the good things that had happened. That I had left on time from work, was going out to dinner. Trust me, it was really difficult at times to converse because negative things kept popping into my mind. Like the cab was late and so I was going to be late for my dinner with my sweetheart.

I had a really nice dinner that night. I thought of all the good he brought into my life and not just the stress we felt when we bugged each other. I thought of how nice it was to see him smile, or when he held my hand. I did not get upset when he caught my lack of knowledge about the Sun temple in Orissa and it bothered him. He cares about me and wants me to be perfect!

A sadhu had once said: Inside each of us is a good dog and a bad dog. Negative thoughts, bad deeds, gossip all feed the bad dog and he will take over. Feed the good dog instead with positive vibes, kind actions, a smile and he will thrive.

I have a lil mantra of my own. Since life has a way of becoming mundane and we get low, we all need something to look forward to all the time in order to keep our spirits up. For now I am looking forward to practicing guitar tonight and eating a CadB and going cycling on the weekend.....

Seat Belt Allergy

So I go to work by cab these days and the indica drivers here in Pune do not like wearing their seatbelts! They strap in only when they know they are coming to a junction where a cop will most probably be standing. And even then, they have rigged the belt to be loose and just slip over them. It is really interesting to watch.

Once they pass the junction with the cop, off comes the belt!!!

So I was wondering.... what are the possible reasons that all these guys have to not want to wear their seat belt?

- Maybe he just waxed his chest and the skin is still too tender to touch

- He has an armored shirt on and so will never get hurt

- He was once strapped in a roller coaster that got stuck upside down in a loop for an hour and now whenever he puts on the belt he breaks out into a cold sweat

- Maybe he just wants to make headlines!

Tulips

She sat by the bay window watching the rain fall lightly down

Windows were alit in the neighboring building

A family sat down for dinner, she could hear the tinkle of laughter

The troubles of her day seemed to wash over her

The fight seemed not a fight..... now just memories

They left her feeling drained nonetheless

Her camera lay on the floor besides her

Shots from the morning clipped, drying.... of faces on the streets

They gave her temporary peace

But now she fidgeted with the letter in her hand

Wondering what twist of faith had left it trapped in her book

He had written it to her....when she was still a child

Sandy came up wagging her tail

Ball in mouth begging for a game of catch

She smiled and obliged.... Sandy was a gift from him too

Together they would walk tomorrow

Past the bakery and school and mall

To the place filled with serenity and tears

She bought flowers along the way

They were his favorite....until 7 months ago

They were her favorite now

An Oddly Satisfying Day

Today I feel like I have achieved so much, even though I did not do all that much.

Went with Mom to do some of her chores and some of mine too. I had a double motive. I don't get to spend much time with her these days and wanted a day with just the two of us. We did bank work and bought some stuff for the house and churidars that I have been procrastinating about for ages.

We had lunch at Subway. The service really sucks at the stand at SGS mall. But having the sub of the day with Mom was fun and then she treated me to ice-cream that cost more than our subs...LOL.

Chilled at home for a while, then chatted with some friends and helped a friend out with her love life. Hope that works out for her :)

And then to end my day, I went for a run - the best thing to do to feel like you have done something worthwhile that day. Although I had hoped it would rain while I ran, it did not. No matter, it was still fun, all the while listening to my easy running song collection.

My legs felt pleasantly tired as I took a shower and then settled down to relax.....

Sweet Dreams

Troubled and forlorn
You drove into the night
Was surprised you were downstairs
We held hands, went for a walk

T'was quiet and peaceful
We did not say much
I looked at you, you smiled
All you needed was warmth

Suddenly, my house not in sight
Seemed - not yet night
We strolled along a sea shore
The sky n air around, soft orange

We walked a long time
Eventually climbed some rocks
Sat, watched the sun go down
Somehow... it never did get dark

Sing to my Soul

It's weird sometimes when you have so much to say but can hardly write it down. For sometime now my brain has been churning. I want to do something. No, not something wild. Something that brings me back to me.

All I think about for the most part is work. And the other times it is about other issues in life. Is life really only about struggling to stay afloat? I don't want to think about the troubles anymore. They will always be there, but they get better if you remember who you are and what you love.

On a large part it has to do with finding the wild carefree child in you. No more excuses of no time and no energy.

I want to be active, indulge in some good mental stimulation and sooth my soul.

There is something weird going on in me though. I have been singing and recording it and am quite liking it.

Mr. Green

Dear Mr. Green
I loved you right from the start
With your tiny wrinkles
You parked yourself in my heart

I bonded with you
Though we met only for a day
In my mind's eye
You will always stay

I craddled your tiny body
When in pain you'd cry
Rest in peace dear angel
My darling sweetie pie

In our Lives and Times

This post is not intended to make an interesting read, but is instead a record of a point in time.

I read almost every article in today's newspaper after a long time. Amidst all the spelling, grammatical and common sense mistakes there was so much to digest!

The headlines are horrible today. Shahbaz Bhatti (Pakistan's minorities minister) was brutally murdered as he left his Mom's home. 20 bullets riddled his body. There is a gory picture of all the blood in his car. This is only two months after Taseer was murdered by his bodyguard on the same blasphemy issue. Sometimes I wonder what can be done with countries that support terrorism though they claim not to. It is a scary thought. Is there not sufficient evidence to take some stringent action against them? But then how do you protect the innocent in the region? This makes for a good debate unfortunately....

There was another article about America helping to have found rebel groups in Pakistan to aid the fight against the Soviets in Afghanistan at one point in time. Now some of these rebel groups are part of the terrorist parties. How ironic that the very country that has declared war on terrorism should have helped it, even if only indirectly.

Another form of terrorism these days is the Somali pirates. Now the Indian foreign ministry says that they are trying to free the six Indian sailors held captive for the last six months just a week before the deadline issued by the pirates. We have seen how the pirates have turned nasty and have resorted to killing captives. And yes, the foreign ministry says that though they are helping out, it is not they, but the shipping ministry who is the nodal authority for this. Just somebody bring our boys back safe. Some of my friends are sailors and so this drives home a bit.

India always seems to be a little late in all its efforts to help out its citizens. Only now have we started trying to help the remaining 12,000 Indians still in Libya as the country heads into civil war. China has reportedly already evacuated 32,000 of its people. And still a lot of our efforts are all talk….

Gaddafi's son seems to be following in his father’s footsteps having plagiarized his PhD. The cycle doesn't stop. People still love absolute power. It is human though, right?

Power will always be with the ruling parties in most cases. Bangladesh's Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina seeming to have won her battle with Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen bank and who is the nation's only Nobel peace prize winner. He has been sacked from his role as managing director of the very institute he founded because he may have shaken her a little when he announced his plan to set up a political party.

Another leading man is Rajat Gupta who is now being charged with insider trading. He seems like a man most of us would aim to be like in the business world, rising so high internationally. Now he fights to clear his name. Let’s see what comes of that.

There are the more typical articles on people dying in accidents, custodial torture, prostitution, urban poor living in shantis and money for betterment being blocked. The lack of importance for life in India is no longer surprising. It is just something we live with and something I hope to get out of.

The Budget was out a couple of days back and still has some space in the paper. Health cover prices to go up, subsidies on oil reduced in absolutes and the likes.

And closer to home there seems to be other issues causing heartache amongst the local public with Medical fees being hiked up. From what it looks like though the fees were way too low to start with. I paid more for my engineering degree than what they are now proposing in the new medical fee structure. But then, this is for the government colleges.

One minor article vainly bears significance to me, mangoes and grapes have been discovered to be prebiotic (word editor doesn't know this word yet). So I guess these are the fruits I am going to be buying soon.

My scientifically drawn brain is also interested in the article as to why the sunspots have not been seen since 2007 and how this is advantageous to India's maiden mission to the sun, Aditya, scheduled for 2014.

And yes, the paper has a funny note to end with - the sports section. With the Cricket World Cup on, Indians are glued to their television sets. The surprising victory of Ireland against England has caused quite a stir! The paper says that an Irish fan wore a flower on her head. It was a Clover for crying out loud!! Any person with some knowledge of the world would know the significance of that.

Something that attracted my attention in one tiny corner of the paper was the fact that Cognizant's Frank is the highest paid CEO in India with an annual gross of Rs 6.14 Cr in 2010!!

Ta Bootleg Trippers @ Sadanand Pune 26/2/2011

- By 'Just a Layman'

The afternoon was hot, but the mood was cool. I could hear the music play behind closed doors on Taboot Street. They were still at it - practicing. So I took a stroll down MG road and memory lane, browsed around and and chatted with some old friends.

Finally done, the drums were packed into the car and off we went to Baner, searching for Sadanand. I always thought the hotel looked old and dilapidated from the highway. But we entered the lobby and it was quite nice. The hall was exactly what was needed for the show - nice large stage, tables, food and plenty of space to move around.

The trippers started work, setting up their instruments, while I hogged on some chicken mayo sandwiches, playing around with the recorder and chatting with some ex-IITians.

The band had Ouch, Rohan, Shahshank and Naveen from IIT and Hoshnar and Ashdin. The crowd was primarily family and friends of the band.

They started the show with a Blues run up. Wow! I thought... this was better than I have heard them play before. After a short burst of songs, they took a break and then went in for the long haul. Music played from 8 till 11:20 that night. Was a chilled event and the only critics were the trippers themselves.

Song after song, Ouch sang and the band played.... Coming into LA, Cocaine, Smoke on the Water, Born to be Wild.... all the old favorites were belted out in quick succession. The band had practiced hard and they were on fire!

The rest of us mingled, had starters and sang or hummed to the songs they played - California Dreaming, Another Brick in the Wall, Oye Como Va, Proud Mary, Locomotive Breath, Play in Time....

We were taken to a stress-free place and life was all about good music and good food...

Ramesh jumped in for Child In Time and did his own take on it.

Rohan finally came on stage and we got to hear White Room - Cream, Like a Rolling Stone - Bob Dylan (complete with Ro on the Harmonica too), Sultans of Swing and Down to the Waterline - Dire Straits. The guys were flowing easy now.....

Wish Ash had sung I Shot The Sheriff (he really nails that song - I got to hear this one through closed doors too), but Ouch did a good job of it too!

The finale was The Way You Look Tonight - soft and beautiful.... But then the crowd wanted another and so the band obliged and played Lazy... wasn't the best they had played that night, but the mood was light and all was good.

With everyone happy, the food all gone.... everything was packed up and we said good bye and left in high spirits into the night.

Just Shoot Me!

In the past few weeks I have been getting a little more serious about photography. Well in theory at least. I have been reading up a lot and sorting out various modes/features/exposures in my head. All, so that I am ready to pick up my camera and start shooting some elementary pictures.

I have the Sony Cybershot DSC-HX1. I thought I should first explore my camera theoretically. I am all about being prepared and knowing what you are doing before you actually try something practically. It has stood me in good stead, although there will be many who contradict that train of thought. They would tell you to just go out there and try your hand at it, albeit you know not what you are doing. And so I hunt for the manual and realize that I have probably left it behind in the States and so now have to look for it online.

At the same time I am looking to upgrade my camera to a DSLR, coz that is what anybody who is serious (and some not so serious) about getting into this art would do. I think I am going to go for the Cannon Rebel T3/2 i or maybe the 50D.

But now that I look up their site to read some reviews to help me make up my mind, I find so many positive and negative ones that I am now confused whether they make good cameras at all.

And then you have to question the veracity of the person writing the reviews since I think they get influenced by other people's reviews a lot too. People love to write bad stuff in their reviews. Very few who are happy and technically know what they are doing actually go back to write an in depth review to help us lesser mortals out. One guy actually wrote about the sounds that the camera made and referred to it as being a 'noisy' camera. Get a life dude, go learn what camera noise is before writing in a technical forum!!

I am not deterred yet though. Still reading/learning, going to check out my manual and will still continue with my research on DSLRs.

Ocean Spray

You move towards me... so confident

In the setting sun.. and golden dust

Teasing me with bubbly laughter

Your silky caress pulls me in....

Your gentle rhythm mesmerizes

Your soft whispers tug at the soul

You don't seem to know your own power

Well maybe, just maybe, you do...

Poems

A long time back I was sitting in my Patni office in the second shift and did not have anything to do. I was new to the corporate world and was not given much responsibility yet.

Carlton sent me a link to some poems he had written. There was one called 'The Rise after The Fall'. It was about an eagle fledgling that tries to fly from its nest on the mountain peak and starts falling. Then he gets the hang of it and starts rising. This was his poem in response to another one called 'Rise and Fall' by a friend of his. So I thought, what the heck and wrote 'The Fall after The Rise'. Totally different track.

THE FALL AFTER THE RISE

HE WAS A SWEET BOY

SO SMART SO INTELLIGENT

HE ROSE SO VERY FAST

WAY UP THE LADDER HE WENT

SUCCESS CAME OH SO NATURALLY

HE ABSOLUTELY, TOTALLY LOVED IT

MONEY POURED FROM HIS POCKETS

ENSURED ANYWHERE HE WUD FIT

HE PARTIED AND HE DRANK

GATHERED MANY SO CALLED FRIENDS

THEY ROAMED THE TOWN TOGETHER

FOLLOWED ALL THE LATEST TRENDS

WITH POWER CAME ARROGANCE

HE GREW MOODY AND RUDE

NOT BOTHERED ABOUT TRUE FRIENDS

HE THOT HE WAS SUCH A DUDE

PEOPLE WERE HURT

THEIR FEELINGS BADLY BRUISED

SOON THEY CAME TO HATE HIM

WHEN THEY SAW HIM THEY ALL BOOED

HE LOST ALL HIS FRIENDS

PEOPLE HE THOUGHT HE KNEW

WHAT COULD HAVE HAPPENED?

AND SO OUT OF THE BLUE?

HE COULDNT UNDERSTAND IT

WASNT IT ALL ABOUT FIRST PRIZE

ALAZ YOUNG, IGNORANT BOY

THIS IS THE FALL AFTER THE RISE

And the next day, was bored again and so wrote:

THE LAST SOLDIER STANDING

SMART FITTING UNIFORM

BRIGHT RED HAT

SHINY BLACK SHOES

HOW PROUDLY I SAT

THE TRAIN RODE ON

WE WENT STRAIGHT INTO BATTLE

FOUGHT REAL HARD

SITTING PROUDLY ON THE SADDLE

MY HEART FULL OF HOPE

OF A FUTURE SO BRIGHT

THOUGHT I COULD NEVER LOSE

IF I FOUGHT WITH ALL MY MIGHT

THE WAR WAS HORRID AND DARK

NOT AT ALL WHAT I THOUGHT

WHERE WERE THE GLORIOUS FACES

THAT WINNING SHOULD HAVE BROUGHT

WHERE WERE MY FRIENDS

COULDN'T SEE, NOT EVEN ONE

THE AIR SEEMED TO BE CLOUDED

BY THE SMOKE OF MANY A GUN

THE VEIL STARTED TO LIFT

MY HEAD FULL OF FURIOUS BANGING

AS DAWNED DREADFUL REALISATION

I WAS THE LAST AND ONLY ONE STANDING

These two poems caused a massive rush of responses from my friends...." Are you depressed?" lol

Haven't written a decent poem in a while. And even though these two poems are childish, atleast I wrote something. So true that IT drains the brain.