Life's like that...

Keeping my word...or trying at least.

2011-10-23T05:41:00.005-04:00

Awake. At 4:30 am. With myriad thoughts chasing themselves round and round in my head. I'm trying to divert myself by making good on a promise made a while ago and so here I sit trying to write something, anything, after a long time...
...
...
...

Since that hasn't really yielded much, it appears, here's a poem instead -

TeeVee

In the house
of Mr and Mrs Spouse
he and she
would watch teevee
and never a word
between them spoken
until the day
the set was broken.

Then 'How do you do?'
said he to she
'I don't believe
that we've met yet.
Spouse is my name.
What's yours?' he asked.

'Why, mine's the same!'
said she to he,
'Do you suppose that we could be - ?'

But the set came suddenly right about,
and so they never did find out.

By Eve Merriam

How I started running...

2009-09-24T09:16:00.003-04:00

Since I finally bit the bullet and started training for a marathon this fall, plenty of people have said, "I didn't know you run, since when have you been running?" Therein, definitely lies a tale.

Summer 2001 : The treat I was getting after a (supposedly) gruelling 2 years preparing for the HSC board exams and the JEE was a Youth Hostels Association trek up in the Himalayas. It was a memorable trip up in the mountains. I came back sunburnt and happy, with lots of stories, pictures and a ravenous appetite. There's nothing like strapping on a backpack and trudging up mountains at an altitude of a few thousand metres to make you capable of eating everything in sight. It doesn't hurt on the trek but back at sea level that can be a different story.

Freshie times : So with all that trekking under my belt, I started college and got swept up in all the late nights, coffee, making new friends and the rest. While chowing down some of the greasiest, most terrible hostel mess food ever. It was a classic case of the Freshman 15, if there ever was one. Somewhere by the middle of the semester, I could tell my jeans were starting to complain. By the time end semester exams rolled around, it seemed like time for some action.

Dec break : The final straw on this camel's back came when I went back home after the semester. I come from a place that sends about a dozen strapping youths to IITs every year and people are used to seeing these kids come back looking like wraiths after a semester of not being able to eat mess food. And there I was, chubby cheeked and noticeably tubby. Definitely unusual. There were plenty of digs on the lines of, "Suna tha mess ka khaana accha nahi hota, sudhar gaya hai lagta hai." Gets embarassing after a few times.

So I decided to make a New Year resolution (apparently I wasn't embarassed enough to start something right away, in the middle of December), to go running with a senior in hostel who used to run fairly regularly. Seemed like a reasonable option for someone who never really played any sports as a kid. I already had sneakers, shorts (and an abundance of free T-shirts). All I had to do was get out and jog. And jog I did. I tagged along with Vidya on the 3rd of Jan 2002. We went up a hill which defeated me somewhere in the middle. Still, I was hooked. That started a habit of running for about 45 minutes maybe 2 or 3 times a week.

This is one New Year resolution that has stayed with me now for close to 8 years. I've given up on running in between, due to illness or struggling with adjusting to a new place (where I promptly put on weight again). But running has never been far from my mind. I'm happy to be running regularly again, challenging myself to do distances I've never done before.

A friend however, had a simple explanation for why I run. After watching me struggle with a piece of sushi and a pair of chopsticks for about 15 minutes, he said, "I know why you run, you're too uncoordinated to do anything else! "

NYC Half-Marathon, Aug. 16th 2009

2009-08-22T09:52:00.006-04:00

Finally, I'm back to running regularly. After 3 years of doing the odd 5K and 4 mile races, I signed up for the NYC Half-marathon as part of my training with Team Asha. Running has been fun so far, with a few aches and pains but no serious issues so far.

There was much planning for race weekend. The race coincided with Kray's much awaited trip to the US and so Saturday was devoted to walking around with Sup and Kray seeing the sights of NYC. The good thing was that I was tired enough to fall straight to sleep (post midnight) without too many pre-race day butterflies. There was plenty of advice from many quarters running though my head including, 'Please wake up in time for the race!'

Sunday, 4:00 am - Woke up to a blaring alarm on a beast of a Nokia 3315 phone (haven't seen one of those in ages) followed by two more alarms 15 min later on Sup's phone. (I am immensely grateful to you guys for those alarms, my phone alarm never rang!) Had my morning chai, lots of water and a couple of bananas and headed to the park. Got to the park by 5:40 am and spotted some orange Asha shirts by the baggage truck which turned out to be Poorva and some other fellow Asha runners. Checked in my bag with the UPS truck and meandered down to our corral. Caught up with some more Asha runners and we all hung around, took some pics and made our bathroom stops.

Sometime during all this the sun came up and race day dawned bright and beautiful...No, make that, 'Race day dawned hot and humid'. There had been heat advisories issued on the NYRR website for the race a few days in advance but I was not prepared for it to be hot at 7 am. There were the announcements and the singing and the gun went off! Of course as far back as we were in the corral, all we could do was inch a little further to the start line. I , however had to make a break for the bathroom again thanks to all the hydrating I had done an hour before. After a visit to the porta-pottie from hell (the first 5 I tried to use were out of toilet paper) I finally crossed the start line at 7:15 by myself, keeping an eye peeled for any familiar orange shirts either along the course or on the sidelines. Turns out there are quite a few organisations that picked orange for their team shirts because it's a distinctive colour and the first orange shirt I waved to on the side stared at me completely blankly. Caught up with Sheila and some others who were running together and stayed with them till the first water station. Surprisingly, we were feeling the heat and humidity even at 7 am and we were ready for some hydration as soon as possible.

Mile 2 (Water Station): With the heat, everyone was crowding the water/gatorade tables all thirsty and sweaty. The only problem was that there seemed to be no water in sight! All I could see was one hapless volunteer balancing 3 jugs of water desperately trying to hand out water to hordes of runners. Rumour has it that a lot of volunteers failed to show up at 7 am :( I decided not to get any water and hope for some further along the course. Sheila was starting a headache and wanted to walk for a bit. I decided to keep going at my pace. Caught up with and went past Manish along the way. I passed the 5K point at about 35 minutes on the clock. I felt comfortable with the pace, I was sweating buckets but the water stations along the way were better equipped than the first one. Caught up with Nilesh and Veera along the way. I spent my time looking out for friendly orange shirts and waving at anyone who made eye contact.

Mile 7: After one circuit of the park and some, we were finally out and in Times Square. This turned out to be my favourite part of the run. The road widened so there was more space to run and there was a lot of energy with all the crowd support and the bands playing all kinds of music. (I think the fact the I took a Gu-gel before I exited the park also helped with the energy levels). People were friendly and waving, there were Asha volunteers to high-five along the way and Nilesh had caught up with me so I also had a running buddy. The 10K point went by super quick. I made sure I waved at whichever brightroom camera I could spot along the way, since Kray and his giant camera were nowhere to be seen :) We seemed to be going strong and we knew that there would be a cheering squad at the 10 mile point so that was definitely something to look forward to. I was starting to feel the heat and went straight for the misting station as soon as I spotted it.

15K : As we turned on to the West Side Highway, I spotted the 15K sign and a cheering squad led by Jess. She high-fived us with a cheering, "Take it home, guys!" From there on, I figured it was another 5K, I would finish eventually. The last 5K turned out to be harder than I had thought. It was getting hotter, and there was no tree cover. We were on the West Side Highway and I should have seen the river on my right, but I have no recollection of it. My thighs were starting to complain and I was just focussing on getting from one water station to the next. I was drinking Gatorade for some energy but after two Gatorade stops I was feeling full so I had to stop. Nilesh went ahead, I could still see him but I had no real desire to try and catch up. From Mile 11 to Mile 12 seemed like a while. After a seemingly long time, I finally hit the finish line. The gun time was - 2:26:13, better than the gun time on my previous Half-Marathons in Mumbai. Gratefully took a cup of Gatorade from Abhishek at the finish line and slowly meandered through grabbing a cold towel and some pretzels. Eventually found other people, including Coach Uli. From there on, it was all over but the posing for pictures and grinning inanely at having finished another Half-marathon!

I'm mostly recovered from the race, navigating stairs was a little difficult for a few days. But, the real challenge starts now. As my mentor put it, 'Film abhi baaki hai! ' I've run this long before, from now on as my runs get longer, I'll be running distances I've never run before. I'm a little nervous, let's see how things go from here!

Memories from school...

2009-05-06T13:59:00.002-04:00

Here's a poem I recited when I was in primary school. I had forgotten all but the first two lines but I looked it up and it is a lovely, mysterious poem...

Some One

-by Walter de la Mare

Some one came knocking
At my wee, small door;
Some one came knocking,
I'm sure-sure-sure.
I listened, I opened,
I looked to left and right,
But naught there was a stirring
In the still, dark night.
Only the busy beetle
Tap-tapping in the wall,
Only from the forest
The screech owl's call,
Only the cricket whistling
While the dewdrops fall,
So I know not who came knocking,
At all, at all, at all.

As the days go by...

2008-11-02T15:56:00.002-05:00

The summer has flitted by. As usual, there were plans and wish-lists. And of course, most of those were thrown to the winds and other things came up to keep me occupied. The leaves are turning and winter is slowly setting in. And this time, I've really picked a crazy plan, a long-cherished desire : running a marathon next fall. At least it seems more realistic at the moment than a triathlon, simply because I haven't made much progress with learning how to swim (that is another epic tale). Our training program has started at a fairly gentle pace, with 30 minute runs twice a week for about 3 weeks now. It's getting harder and harder to wake up in the mornings to run, what with the cold and everything. I've started tucking my running clothes under my pillow at night so that they'll be warm in the mornings. Only the sneakers have been left out so far. This will only get more interesting from here on...if the plan doesn't get abandoned soon.

Lunchtime conversation...

2008-10-09T23:01:00.002-04:00

I seem to always find friends who make bad puns or pounce on a pun unintended. The days of tripping around verbal minefields at Coffee Shack have simply given way to jokes at the lunchtable. Here's a sample -

K: My quesadilla froze in the fridge!

Me: Yeah, the fridge in my lab froze my salad, I had to toss it.

Everyone: Hee hee....

...10 min later

Me (in a small voice): I just got it.

Break's over, time to go back to homework...

Structuredly procrastinating...

2008-06-14T19:45:00.002-04:00

The idea is not mine. But it's something I've been doing most of my life. In case you're wondering what I'm talking about, here's an explanation. It's interesting reading (definitely more interesting that what I have to say, for sure).

The transition from procrastination to structured procrastination happened when I started cleaning my hostel room before a quiz instead of reading a book/whining/going out for ice-cream. Right now, I'm sitting and writing this, instead of packing for a trip tomorrow. Heading out to a conference in Columbus, OH. I'm relatively relaxed since I'm not presenting anything. Hope to meet an old college roommate, maybe get in some table-tennis and finish my paper for my qualifier. Oh, and listen to lots of practice talks, probably.

It's raining! Why am I excited? Because that means that the skies are watering my tomato plant for me:)

Round and About...

2008-05-29T14:28:00.004-04:00

Been up and about doing this, that and some research. On Monday (Memorial Day), my life was uncannily similar to this.

I've been plucking up the courage to try and get back to learning how to swim. Haven't made it into the pool yet this year:)

The YMCA Sweetheart run, Feb 16th, 2008.

2008-02-21T21:32:00.004-05:00

They weren't kidding when they said 'The course consists of rolling hills.' I realised somewhat belatedly that I was asking for trouble when I scrolled to the bottom of the race homepage where it says -

" A challenging course which begins and ends at Boothe Memorial Park. Plus, we'll be stationing pre and post race festivities INSIDE, so the weather won't be a factor. It's not going to be an easy course, but if you're willing to race in February, you are obviously tough enough!"

...Or really really clueless :) No prizes for guessing which category I belong to.

So here's my story of how to train (or not to train) in a week for a 4-miler in February in close to freezing weather.

Friday, Feb 8th: Drag self out of bed at 6:45 to run at 7. Run 15 min., start getting cramps, walk/run till 7:30 when it starts to snow/rain/other indeterminate forms of precipitation falling from the sky.

Saturday: Register late at night to pay the early registration fee (that day being the last to pay the early fee, a very important motivation for an impoverished grad student).

Sunday: A blur of shopping, eating, lots of noble intentions of running which are abandoned as the weather doesn't co-operate. Make plans to go running Monday morning.

Monday morning (6:45 am): I call Kathy (or the other way around, it's a blur now).

Me (mumbling): Don't rea..lly waa..nt to run.
Kathy: Me neither.

ZZZZZzzzzzzzzz...... :)

Tuesday: Go to the gym at 8 pm after a full day at lab (spent mostly doing homework) and teaching section. Hop on the treadmill and jog a full 2 miles in about 27 minutes. Use my standard funda of 'If I can run half the distance, I will finish since I'll have to run back anyway'.

Wednesday : Lab, teach till 8:45 pm since I'm besieged with questions and think grand thoughts of running the next day.

Thursday: Chance to read all the way to the bottom of the race home page and come across the quote above. Spend rest of the day cursing myself (and Kathy, who suggested the race in the first place) and venting it on other people.

Friday: Abandon all thoughts of going running and keep checking the weather forecast for Saturday.
Eat some fantastic sushi at Miya's and turn in by 11 dreading what is to come.

(As an aside, I do recommend sushi as a pretty good pre-race night meal.)

Race Day: 8 am: Check weather - -1 Celsius, feels like -5. Curse myself some more.

I bundle up in sweatpants, fleece and woollen hat and arm myself with tissue because when I run, my nose runs too, every step of the way...

9:45 am: Get to the park, pick up registration packet and politely decline to be teamed up with someone (since that would mess up their timing too). Borrow Kathy's bright orange gloves and head to the start line with very fatalistic ideas running through my mind. When I said that I might not survive the race, Kathy very kindly pointed out the cemetery nearby saying, "Don't worry, we'll just put you there."

10:00 am : The race starts and I chug along. The wind had died down and the sun was out. If I hadn't been running, I would have admitted that it was a bright, beautiful day. (Yes, it could have been worse, it could have been raining!).

Finished Mile 1 in 9:24. That's when Kathy decided to take off and I decided to labor on through the gently rolling hills for the next 2 miles. I've realised that I do better running uphill with my almost doubled-over shuffle than downhill where I keep trying to not roll over.

Oh well...Labored upto to the end of Mile 3 to be greeted by a mile marker, a cheering volunteer and the steepest hill I've ever contemplated running up. It made the Sameer hill in IITB feel like a gentle stroll downhill. Plus it was about 0.6 miles long. The 'almost doubled over shuffle' worked though it seemed to take forever.

And suddenly, with a last push I was over the top and the day seemed a little cheerier. Chugging along, I spotted Kathy on the side, suggesting I run faster to try and beat the 40 minute mark. I did try sprinting (for all of 30 seconds) but I finally made it around the final curve to the finish line to make a timing of 41:31.

Have been feeling very proud of myself (and rather sore) for the past week. A little part of me is also already dreading the next crazy race I've already signed up for.

At this rate, I'll be ready to run a half-marathon in a couple of years...

Currently listening to: Carmina Burana

The Kite Runner and Bhool Bhulaiya...

2008-02-07T15:25:00.000-05:00

Watched 'The Kite Runner' and 'Bhool Bhulaiya' within the last two weeks. I had been following the whole Kite controversy on the news (this is one of the things one does in grad school, keep track of all the news about everything while pretending to work) and so after some initial doubts about when it would release and what not, I was all excited when it finally released before I went home in December. Turns it out it was a limited release and so it didn't show at my friendly neighbourhood theatre. The first weekend that I was back from India though, I saw that it was playing nearby. The two hapless souls who were in the vicinity were immediately coerced into coming along.

I still remember the night I read the book. I had a mid-term exam at 9 the next morning and at 3 a.m. I was reading in bed, unable to stop reading (or bawling). Anticipating a similar emotionally battering experience, I armed myself with a whole pack of Kleenex and warned my company that the theatre might get inundated with my tears. (A fair idea of my capacity to cry in movies can be had from the fact that I went through almost a whole pack of tissue while watching Taare Zameen Pe. I have also been accused of crying in Dhoom 2 but we shall dismiss such baseless allegations.) Also it turned out that the multiplex/theatre/call-it-what-you-will was the same one where I was one of a crowd of 2 people who came by to watch Happy Feet. This time however, there was a fair-sized audience. So far so good. The movie came and went. I sniffled a little in parts and even touched a tissue to a teary eye at one point. But overall, the movie largely failed to affect me. Was disappointed I guess. I'm contemplating going back and reading the book again...

Last Saturday was another movie screening for SAGA. This time it was Bhool Bhulaiya. Was extremely entertaining. What added an extra dimension to the humor was that the spook in question haunting the palace was Bengali. One of my favourite scenes was where the woman who's possessed by Manjulika (the Bong bhoot) has been completely taken over by the spirit and is ranting at the man she's out to kill.

Manjulika (Eyes glowing maniacally, hair dishevelled, spooky look on, growls menacingly) -

Me all agog waiting to hear some bad name-calling in Bengali so that I can expand my vocabulary -

Manjulika (with great effort and venom, manages to come up with) : BOD- MAA-YESH! (Translates quite simply to Badmash!)

So yes, it was quite fun...And was quite excited to see shots of palaces in Rajasthan I tramped around on my trip to India. ( I think practically all the places I visited also show up in Jodhaa-Akbar, which is going to give tour guides lots more fodder for their spiels, i.e., the fact that Ash et al shot there, not that I visited :P )

Choti si baat...

2008-01-29T11:06:00.000-05:00

One thing I haven't figured out in close to a year-and-a half of living in America is how to respond to 'How's it going!?'/ other variations of small talk that I face almost everyday, everywhere. I did quickly realise that no one was wanting to hear 'I have a bad cold and tons of homework (and a pile of dishes to do), I really hate my life today.' Also, if this question is coming at you from a person walking towards you in a hallway, if you time it right, you have just enough time to say, 'Good!' before you cross them and keep going. Basically, I haven't figured out the right response, not too terse/not too long-winded. Oh well...

This is not to say that I have not learnt anything at all. While teaching a lab course over the past year and feeling that just a tepid Bye as people were leaving was not enough, I figured that this usually works -

Monday/Tuesday - Have a good week!
Wednesday - Any plans for the weekend?
Thursday/Friday - Have a good weekend!

For those however, who really want to know what's up, I did have a bad cold and lots of jet-lag last week. Being up every morning at 3:45 am is *not* fun. But I'm now back to my lazy self, sleeping in when I should be getting ready to run to class and making lots of enthusiastic plans to work out and just staying indoors and eating lots of cheese :)

Jet-lag has its uses...

2008-01-22T07:13:00.000-05:00

I actually got to see the sun rise for a change, for instance...and move my blog, bag and baggage (emotional and otherwise) to here. Speaking of baggage, time to go unpack. The stories I shall save for later.