Reventon - My First Lamborghini

Merry Christmas Readers :)

Thanks for your support in 2017 and in the past too. For the auto enthusiasts, you already know that only 20 Reventon's have been made, so what am I talking about? I just bought a scaled die-cast model of Lamborghini Reventon. Also, this is the first supercar to go into my collection. Ok, I bought a die-cast car, millions of kids do, what's the big deal? I don't know about the big deal, it is just that I wanted to make a permanent note of this day and the story and share it with my near and dear ones.

When I was a small kid, I used to like Ferrari and BMW's. It is only in recent years that I took notice of Lamborghini and Aventador became my favorite. I don't have a specific reason to justify that why Aventador is my fav, I just like the name. I read a bit more about Aventador and fell more in Love with that.

I have couple of friends who are auto-enthusiast and one of them has a really good collection of die-cast models. After watching his collection, I wanted to own a die-cast Aventador immediately. I also wanted a special story to go with my purchase. I searched the internet and found that it was not all that cheap to buy a good scale model. Coming back to present and skipping what happened in between, I am happy to announce that my Lamborghini Aventador is on its way. There is a really good story behind it and I'll save it for some other post.

Merry Christmas in the morning and I was still not having any supercar with me. Since it was a holiday, my flatmate, Kartik, and I decided to go to a mall for some shopping. In the mall, we went to Hamley just for fun. While roaming we landed in the Die-cast cars section and were surprised to see the collection. Ferrari, Ford, Merc, Lamborghini and what not. 1:18, 1:24 scaled models. We spent nearly 40 mins scanning all the models. Today I was sure to pick a car, but it couldn't be Aventador. It was a couple of days back that I made arrangements to get the Aventador.

I liked a couple of Ferrari's there but still, I wasn't sure about which one to buy. There were dozens of Ferrari and half a dozen of Lamborghinis. I liked Ferrari California-T but came to know that it wasn't great for performance. Since I didn't have any particular favorite model in Ferrari, I decided to buy a Lamborghini. There was Huracan, Countach, Murcielago, Reventon, etc. I scanned all model and took help of Kartik to finally land on Reventon. It is only after the purchase that I realised that only 20 of these models have been made. I still have a long wait to go in terms of Supercar knowledge.

Car purchase was the main highlight of the day, thanks to Kartik too for helping me out. The other good things that happened today book purchase. Also, it was my Crush ka Birthday today ;) I learned and played Jingle Bells Guitar Tabs for someone. I turned more positive today as compared to yesterday. I don't see any big deal in this post, you may ask. Frankly speaking, I don't see a big deal either. I am just trying to write from a Kids point of view. how would she/he describe the first car purchase event. I want you to think of something similar events in your past and some events in 2017 too. Put down your story in the comment section below. Bring out the Child in you and open up.

For my regular readers - one or two more post will be coming up in next week so stay tuned. One will be regarding Sandy's 2017 and another one will be about what to expect in 2018 from Sandy.

Enjoy the Week and Party Harder

96

I walk into McD today with my friend, placed the order and sat down, waiting for our order number to be called in. Guess what our order number was, 296. This took me back to days when I used to have too many encounters with number 96. Whats weird or funny, the other order numbers were 198, 199, 202, 203 etc. Couple of months I decided to note down all the 96 co-incidences and write a blog, and finally here it is. I have changed the content a little.

Surprisingly, the number of encounters with 96 reduced in last two months, when I was intentionally looking out for them. So the events - I realised that one of my good office friend has 96 in his extension number. There was two proto vehicles in office and one of them had 96 in the number plate. It was a rare encounter with that vehicle, generally you don't get to see proto vehicles. My friends birthday cake cost 960. I saw a video about a cyclist and he had a cadence 96. From somewhere I landed on Athens 1 km record - 1:00:896. 96 is special for me, 896 is like blessing. I have encountered numerous 896s too, and so this record by someone is special for me.

These are the events I thought of capturing. There were other 96 incidences too, but the above examples are the ones with least probability of occurring and yet they occurred with 96. I am not sure about the exact year when I started noticing 96, but I used to notice it in college. Next I will just write down some of the most memorable co-incidences that I cherish about 96.

My best friends college ID had number 96. Once she sent me a pic of an object with some book in the background and that book was open to page 96. There were so many 896 number noted that I received throughout my life, I just don't take much note of the note numbers now. My GATE percentile had 9 and 6 separated by a decimal. I don't recall much from 2013 and back, but I do recall some recent ones.

My flatmate bought a car in Chennai and it had number 96 in it. My office drawer key has number 96. I met a friend online recently and her birth year has 96. One of first major loadcase in office which I worked on had number 96 (AIS:096). There is an auto quiz in Mahindra every year and I participated this year. The system randomly generates a numeric password and our team's password ended with 96. We cleared two online rounds and third round was in Mumbai. Co-incidently my room number there had 96 in the end, boy I knew it that this is some good sign and we have a good chance of winning and we eventually won :) My favorite player Rahul Dravid made a debut in 1996. This is all I recall as of now.

Most of my friends know about my obsession about 96 as they have been a part of it in some way or other. Please share any incident that I might have forgot. I am yet to find out the true connection of 96 and me. I thought that my connection with 96 is fading away, but suddenly the McD bill - 296. I am sure de-coding the CODE 96 will help me to understand myself and my destiny more clearly.

Thank You for reading till end! I appreciate it :)

Never Ever Doubt Your Capabilities

Below I will reveal the other side the coffee mug whose one side was revealed in my earlier post.

Readers are advised to read part one to have a better connectivity. Click here for part one

Why the delay between the two posts? I thought I had lost the image and so there was nothing to post. Lucky for you, I stumbled on it again tonight. Let me go on with my story.

Valentine day is generally preceded by Valentine week. Each day having a different name and purpose. Below is the rough order of the Valentine week Days

7 Feb - Rose Day - You simply give rose and hope for a happy beginning.

8 Feb - Propose Day - Well, things should be final by now. You will get yes or no as an answer. I think this should be on or just before Valentine day itself, nevertheless, this is the second day.

9 Feb - Chocolate Day - One of my favorite days, I never say no to chocolates.

10 Feb - Teddy Day - This is a separate chapter in my life book. More on this some other year.

11 Feb - Promise Day - This post is all about this day.

12 Feb - Kiss Day - Nothing over here so far.

13 Feb - Hug Day - Nothing over here so far.

14 Feb Valentine Day <3

Colour changing Magical Cup

11th February 2017 - I made couple of promises to couple of my friends. One of the promise being - 'I will Never Ever Doubt my Capabilities'

It helped me to sail through some tough times in the initial few months. ie till May - June and then things started to get too difficult to cope up with. The part one of the blog tells about how asking a question to yourself improves the quality of output of your work. Whereas this promise helps me to get start with a seemingly impossible task.

Sometimes you start a work thinking it is easy and then you realise it is out of your capability to finish it. Precisely at that instant I recall this promise and finish the task. I took up the challenge of running 10 kms daily for 15 consecutive days. (Click here - 150-kms-in-15-days) There used to be days and sometimes moments halfway in the run that I felt I can't do this and I should quit. Then I recalled the promise and rest is history. Mission accomplished.

Now, you all can make this promise and I am sure you won't get the kick/push/motivation that I got after making this promise. You know why it won't work? Because you would be making that promise to yourself. Plus it will be you who will initiate the promise. Why it worked for me - 

1. Someone else came up with this idea for me

2. That someone to whom I promised is a special someone to me

3. Knowing that somebody wants you to take such an oath, makes you realise that someone believes in your ability. It helps you to tap into your hidden potential.

Franky speaking, I had forgotten about this promise because of daily work life tasks. Now by writing this post, I retake this promise and I am fill with new energy tank.

Write about your special promises and inspirational stories.

Another Leap of Faith

I am excited once again. It is time to surprise my parents again. My last visit to Mumbai was in June. I made a promise to my parents that I won't visit Mumbai again untill Diwali. But promises are meant to be broken.

Mahindra organises AutoQuotient, an auto quiz for employees and may be one more version of quiz for non-employees. Thanks to my flatmate and roommate Kartik Ganesh, we cruises through first two rounds and now we are in semi-finals. This year's semi-final and final is to be held in Mumbai on 21st August Monday. I took one extra day off from work to surprise my parents on Friday. I am obviously not much into auto passion and it is mainly because of my partner that I qualified and got this opportunity. So again, where this Leap of faith comes in ?

I started reading some basic stuff about auto as soon as I came to know about semi-finals selection. My hopes are high and I am pretty confident about the win. As of now this is the only Leap of faith I'll be taking.

Going back to March and April Leap of Faith. In March I was suppose to take the most feared step but things didn't turn out as imagined. I took the leap in April and got the unexpected answer. Things were good everywhere post the failed leap.

Then in June I get some surprisingly good news which made my trip awesome But, as always the planned outings with friends and relatives didn't materialised leaving me with Bitter Trip Memories.

Life is full of roller coaster going up and down. After good long period of low phase my mood and energy level shoot up. I was on cloud nine again. So many surprises planned for some many people and again there comes a Big But. Just as my balloon of hopes and energy was rising high, someone (actually I myself) poked a pin and my hopes felt crushing down on ground. The positive peak phase lasted less than 10 days.

Forces of Nature, Myself or someone else, one of the three doesn't enjoy seeing me Happy and Smiling. I may temporary get bogged down but I am here to rise. I may or may not have same energy levels as before but I am going to rise. I am going to imagine my dream world with open  eyes and turn those dreams into reality. I won't give up easily on any aspect of my life.

It's the battle of Mental Strength, Hopes, Faith and Believe.
Mental Strength - helps you to keep moving with a smiling face even if things are not going your way.
Hopes - There will always be a better tomorrow.
Faith - You need to have faith in your support system (which includes my near and dear ones) and your methodology.
Believe - There is no use of above three qualities if you don't believe in your self.

150 kms in 15 days

4 am in the morning, my alarm goes off, I get out of my bed and hit the snooze button. I tell to myself, 'I will run in the evening'. 7 pm in the evening, after coming from the office, 'I will run in the morning tomorrow'. Then again, 4 am in the morning next day, I use to repeat this cycle. This cycle started in March, after my visit to Bombay and continued for months.

Just a week before my March Mumbai visit, I used to follow my morning routine very religiously. Waking up at 4 am, reading a book for half an hour, running for half an hour and writing a daily journal, that used to be my morning routine. Everything was going super cool, be it personal or professional life. You can read more about those days on - Day - 1 of 30 Day Miracle Morning

Fast forward to the second week of July. I had started reading Eat and Run by Scott Jurek, a Legend in the world of Ultra marathon. I started reading the book in the first week of July. In the book, Scott mentions about vegan diet and how it helped him recover quickly from long runs. This was going to be another chapter in my book of My Life as an Experimenter continues. I started to follow it by avoiding dairy products as much as possible. It was tough in the beginning, especially when I used to go out for dinner with friends. Anyhow, I survived week one.

After the first week, I was inspired by one more quality of Scott, long distance running. 8th July Saturday, I wore my running shoes, almost after 3 months, and went for a slow long run. I successfully completed 10 km in 65 mins. I expected to be full in pain and exhaustion, but to my surprise, I was very much fit and relaxed. So, Sunday I decided to go for another 10 km run and that too I completed in 65 mins.

Setting some context, 2 years back, when I was new to running, I used to run 8 km daily for 3 4 consecutive days and then take a day or two off. I had run long distances, 15 km, 20 km, 24 km in my practice, but never had I done it on consecutive days. This was the first time I ran 10 km for two consecutive days.

Things were not going great in the personal and professional world, so I decided to take up a new challenge which will help me get back on running track. I was confident that, once I get back on running track, I will be able to sort out other aspects of my life. I decided to continue 10 km daily run for a month. Sunday, the day of my second run was a long day. After the run, I went for a movie with my friends and came back late. We had a late night out after the movie.

Monday, the third day. It was obvious that I was not going to wake up early in the morning to go for a run. I came back home late from office (at around 6:45 pm). The earliest I could have started my run was 7 pm, and 65 mins for the run. So, technically my run should have got over by 8:15 pm, it was too late. Again, never before I had run so long and so late. That day I pushed my self, used my Marathon Mental Strength and went for a run. That day it was clear, that no matter how late it gets in the evening, I can always go for a run.

Things went well for another two weeks, running 10 km daily and following a vegan diet. Fast forward two more weeks, Two weeks of running had no visible effect. Neither my weight reduced nor my speed increased. 22nd July, day 15th, I started off slow and steady but I was not at all mentally prepared for the run. I just wanted to turn back, go home and doze off on the bed. Somehow I pushed and finished my 10 km. A 15-day streak Done. In the beginning, I assumed that I would be able to continue my 10 km running streak for at least 100 days, but it didn't turn to be false.

Yesterday I started a new routine. Cutting down my run distance and focusing on building some strong muscles to improve my running pace. I also gave up my Vegan diet. On 22nd the Saturday I had Paneer in the lunch and it felt as if I had done some sin by eating a dairy product. But the dish was too delicious and let go off my vegan diet.

An Ice Cream at night was all that was required at the end to celebrate my 15 Day Streak :)

New - Running Shoes

Its been almost two years now that I am running on thin sole shoes. I was inspired by the book Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. In this book he explains the benefits about barefoot running. He sites examples of special breed of tribal who can easily run 100s of kms without a sign of fatigue. One of the specialty of the tribe is that they use flat and hard soled shoes/sandals. This is in complete contrast of  modern day cushioned shoes.

2016 Mumbai Marathom

I was also fascinated by good cushioned shoes. I started my running with a moderate cushioned shoe. It really felt good and comfortable. Back then I was running only 3-4 kms daily. Things were going good and suddenly a book into my life as a gift - Born to Run. I also researched a bit and came to know about many ultra-marathoners like Milind Soman, Scott Jurek, etc who run barefoot or use very thin sole shoes. After reading the book, I decided to try out barefoot running. I was (and I am still) scared about the stones, blades, glass pieces etc on roads. It may cut through my barefoot and hamper my running. So I decided to go for least cushioned shoes, ie Canvas shoes. Good thing about canvas shoes is that as time goes by, the sole thickness keeps reducing because of the wear. This helped in smooth transition from cushioned shoes to almost barefoot running. I ran my first half and full marathon in these shoes. The pair requires a replacement every 2 to 3 months, depending on my run distance and speed.

Aqua shoes 50

After almost 2 years and using more than 8 pair of canvas shoes, I am now going for another transition. I am experimenting with Troibords Aquashoes 50. You can get it from amazon or decthalon shop. I bought one from Decathlon shop for 500 Rs. This is actually meant for use near beach or rocky slippery terrain. I decided to go use this for running, why? Because it has really thin sole, 1 mm only and small rubber studs in bottom for a firm grip. The sole is really flexible and gives me a perfect experience of barefoot running. Secondly it is ultra light weight. I haven't measured but it is too light. It has a fabric on it which fits tightly on foot and also takes the shape of your foot. Thanks to this fabric, my pinky finger injury is reducing. Weather you have a broad foot or flat foot or any construction, this shoe should fit. Also the fabric is netted, so your feet remains well ventilated. It is too easy to get into these non-laced shoes. Lastly, you can use this without socks.

Today was my third day with this shoe and so far all is well. I am doing almost 2 miles on flyover and 1 mile on flat road. I am assuming that I will be able to use one pair for 3 to 4 months. I would recommend this shoe for anyone wants to try going barefoot. Make a note - A slow and steady transition is required to go from cushioned shoes to these ones. Making an abrupt change will give rise to joint or calf muscle injuries. Drop in your experience, suggestions, feedback , queries or just a Smiley. I will be keep you updated regarding my experience with these shoes.

Keep Running and Stay Fit !

Leap of Faith

Leap of Faith

7 am in the morning !!
Coffee shop is some 30 metres away from. People are all over the places have some hot coffee while chatting with their friends and colleagues. Televisions lined up and playing news channel so that people of every age group can watch or atleast pretend to watch.
There are people having coffee without any colleagues and there are few people chatting without coffee. I am surrounded by human beings of each possible type.
30 year old someone is busy on phone discussing about his today's presentation. Then there is a 14 year boy holding his not so smart phone near his ear for almost 10 mins now, i wonder what is he discussing about and with whom. May be his new world changing idea or his recent achievement in last week's school sports meet. Boy looks much more energetic than the guy next to me who is discussing about office work.


Apart from coffee house, there is a toy shop, purse shop and what not. there is also a gift shop selling all the costliest items in the world at a premium rate. Not to forget my favorite book shops. I was actually standing in front of one of the book shop for good 5 mins starring at the shelf. i was looking at different book covers and doing a mental check about which book I read, which ones are in my bucket list and which are ones that I hearing it for the first time.
Subconsciously I was taking a note of all the free space available in the display and filling it up with new launches yet to be come. Reading - there are few newspaper racks having all the latest happenings of the world. For a change, I am not reading a newspaper today. A new gang of three friends just came in my line of sight, reminds me of Dil Chahta hai.

7 am in the morning, people in this age can't be imagined without smart phone. There is a guy and a girl at different locations busy clicking selfies. So yeah, selfies are now so much gender specific. I am trying my best to get into atleast one of the picture. Some are busy chatting on phone, while very few are playing games. I can also see some people struggling to get their phone charged at free power outlets. Some are busy updating today's presentation on lappy. Some Gen-Z, current generation, guys are busy watching old but funny episodes of friends.  I watched Friends last year assuming that it will help me improve my English for so called CAT exam for MBA.
People are anxious, majority of them look happy and few look neutral. Few look confuse and are running up and down and asking for help at inquiry counter.

7:30 am in the morning. This is all what is happening on my left hand side. If I see straight, I see Milestone kind of numbers reading 4, 5, 6 to infinity. Housekeeping staff busy cleaning the floors and seats. There is a good amount of security, let me not get into detail of it. There are screens showing timetables of today's schedule. Some advertisement boards for smart phones. The ceiling is made up of tubes forming a truss and covered with thin metal sheets.
On the right there are people wearing reflective jackets and busy doing their work. Looks like its very routine job for them. There are buses, trucks, road train, fuel tank and AERO-PLANES. Yes, i am at the airport. A plane just came in at the terminal where I am sitting. looks majestic and let me not delve into the beauty of the plane. Travellers and baggage getting off loaded at one end, at the other end there is a long queue of passengers waiting to board the same aircraft.

What am I doing here. I am at Chennai domestic airport waiting for my Mumbai flight. this is one of my routine visits at home. A long routine visit.

Leap of Faith - This was my FB status a month ago when I was at the same place and going Mumbai for Holi. The title seems catchy and you may or may not find a direct relation between title and post content. For me, Leap Of Faith, this is what is constantly running in my mind.
That trip was planned just two weeks before the departure for some special reason. I was trying to dive into an unknown territory and hoping that I would get results that I had dreamt of for so long. I am really glad that my manager approved my last minute short trip. I enjoyed my trip at home. The only issue is I wasn't able to accomplish the task that I had planned. That was a good learning lesson for me. May there was really no need to go for that impromptu visit, anyway, past is past - can't change it.
This time again I am trying to accomplish the same task. It is matter of trying and trying till I get there. There was a phase after the last trip that I gave up on my dreams. Somehow, after some encouragement from books and stories. Strong motivation from my friends, I am back to where I was a month ago. This time with a stronger sense of purpose and a deeper conviction. I am trying to dive into the unknown in a hope that all my past good and evil deeds will form a net and catch me.

8am in the morning - My English, i can't find proper words. This may well turn out to be yet another crazy step/chapter in my life book, but I have decided to go for it. There are lot of things that I have done in the past which I shouldn't have. Some were non-logical, some were crazy some were pure stupid. Those past actions give me strength to take my next future crazy step and I am proud of it. They say ask and don't be afraid of rejection. Just a change of seating location for me at the airport. So, there are some personal leap of faith and some professional. Three months have already gone by 2017, there hasn't been much of difference in my life as seen from outside. I tried miracle morning, continued for 50 days and then again went back to being old me by not being consistent.
But let me tell you, there is some change in my attitude from the inside. Have read around 7 books in last three months. Many more books to read in next three months. 100 days of running challenge is also going to start from April end. So, lot of activities lined up.

My flight just came in and it is time for me to board. See you guys later.

Please do leave your feedback and comments below.

Are You Giving Your Best

One of the life changing questions that I ask myself these days. I seriously don't remember if I picked this up from some book or ted talk. The source doesn't affect the effect this question has on me.

Have read articles in which people say ask yourself - What would you do, if today was your last day? I tried answering this question and became sad after answering it. I would like to be in Mumbai with my parents and near and dear ones and let them know how much I loved them. If today was my last day, then I wouldn't spend time running miles and miles, or cycling by keeping bum on saddle. I would spend all my money and eat as much dark chocolate and Brownie as I want.

Few positive things did came out of this question, I started conversing more with parents and near and dear ONE. I started sleeping really less (it backfired and since a week I am back to 7-8 hour sleep pattern). I started eating loads of chocolates. Negative side - I stopped exercising for few days, I started spending on unwanted stuffs. I was not focusing much on work and studies. I was totally carefree. Then suddenly Happy Realisation Moment occurred and I changed the question. Still not sure if its my own creativity or from some book, but the question did wonders.

Are You Giving Your Best !

This is my new Phone wall-paper. Whatever work I am doing I ask myself - Are you Giving Your Best ? If the answer is no, then I go back 15-20 mins in time and redo the in a better (if not best) way. The change is slow but steady. Let me start from morning - I started waking up early again. Running some 3 to 4 miles daily, eating healthy breakfast and doing many other activities. There might not be a huge impact now, but the change has started taking place at slow and steady rate.

At work - At times I have to do some meshing activity (related to finite element analysis). I am not too good at meshing and somehow my productivity used to drastically go down as soon as I start meshing. But since a week or so, after meshing few parts, I ask myself, Is this the best that I can give? If the answer is no, I go back to the mesh part and make it better, if not perfect. While making a presentation, I will insert few images in my presentation and then just casually check my phone to see if I have any new notifications and then the above wall paper pops up, Am I giving my best, again, if the answer is no, I will go back and change those images. Small small improvisation, expecting huge impact :P

I have customised a coffee mug too. The other side of it contains a promise that I made to someone. Let me not get into detail of the other side. It has made its own impact and I will surely share that story someday, but not today.

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Thank You and Keep Reading !!!

Click here for next part

What's the Use ?

Well, the posts should actually have final draft of document, garnished with fluent English and what not. In this post I would be sharing the draft one of the poem that I am trying to write. Comments welcomed. The poem just tries to convey what is going on in my mind and so you may not find one centralise theme. Just go with the flow and drop your comments.

What's the Use ? ? ?

What’s the use of mobile if it doesn’t bring me your voice?

What’s the use of watch if you can’t give me time?

What’s the use of Activa if I can’t ride it with you?

What’s the use of pen if you don’t write letters to me?

What’s the use of melody if it is not melodious?

What’s the use of suit if I can’t go out on date with you?

What’s the use of webcam if we can’t skype?

What’s the use of CCD and brownies if nothing happens over coffee?

What’s the use of boxing if we can’t fight?

What’s the use of running if we can’t run together?

What’s the use of Full Moon if there is no one to walk with?

What’s the use of song if there is no one to dedicate to?

What's the Use ! ! !

Part 2 of current poem - That's the Use



Check out the other Poems on my Blog

The Clock Struck 12

A Patch-up Poem

Day 20 - 30 Day Miracle Morning Challenge

Woke up on time as always. Did prayer and other stuffs. Went for long 80kms cycle ride with one of my friend. Today i had decided to not drink water or take any food intake for the entire route and that made the ride difficult. Bought my first cycling short and a jersey too. Jersey is tight and I can my Stomach bulging out, motivating me to thin myself :P

Talked with my Bestie at night for sometime - Highly Motivating. Finally I have got hold of two books that I wanted - Miracle Morning and You are a Badass. Starting with miracle morning first. Tomorrow is day 21 - ie the next phase of 30 day challenge. it is called unstoppable. Also there is a big match coming up tomorrow - May be match of 2017 for me :)

Ending my short update for now. Good Night Readers !!

Day 19 - 30 Day Miracle Morning Challenge

Woke up on time and did my prayers, affirmations and visualisations. After that instead of going for swim, I went to bed again just to wake up at 6:45. Finished my reading part in the morning only. I decided to go swimming in the evening, but had to skip to watch Nadal's Australian open semi-final.

Marathon match, just shy of 5 hours. Finally Nadal won and after a real long time it will be Federer and Nadal in a grand slam final, so called Super Sunday. So plan for tomorrow - go swim and cycling in the morning. Total of 1 hour to 90 mins, depending on mood and also weather. Looks like it might rain in the morning and I would Love to go for a cycle ride in that rain.

Happy Weekend Friends :)

Day 18 - 30 Day Miracle Morning Challenge

Happy Republic Day !!

60% of Miracle Morning Completed,
Woke up on time, actually slept for 10 extra mins. Did all my routines. Started the run late 6:30 am. Planned for 10 miles (16 kms) but I could achieve only 8 kms. Came back had breakfast and slept again. Finally woke up at 12, successfully wasted first half of the day.

Went out for lunch and did some grocery shopping. I wanted to see Federer and Wawrinka Australian open semifinal match. The Dish tv had some issues and was not working. Googled for live streaming links and realised that it was possible to watch the match on Sony Liv. Internet Rocks. I should have done this before to catch up on Nadal's match. Anyway, second semifinal tomorrow, but I will be in office and will miss it.

So, watched the thrilling match till early evening and again did some time pass activities :P Going out for dinner now. Not getting enough motivation to cook my own dinner, although I have all the ingredients ready to home. As I told in my previous post, 4 to 5 times a week I 'll try to make dinner and other days I 'll go out.

Have a Nice Day Tomorrow - Thank God Its Friday :D

4 Ball Basic Pattern

Day 17 - 30 Day Miracle Morning Challenge

Good Morning !!

It was tiring, rather i felt sleepy after lunch yesterday. May be it was the effect of waking up early. Gradually I should get used to it. In the evening done some technical reading too. Again started making salad saute for dinner. Plan to have that dinner atleast 4 times a week. I am waiting to get back to normal work routine, ie next week, then only I will be able to see the positive/negative effect of Miracle Morning.

Today - Woke up on time and did all the planned tasks. Cycled fo about 35 mins, 15+ kms at 90% effort. Cycle needs some maintenance to make it go faster. As of now it doesn't matter even if I feel bit sleepy in the second half of the day as long as I am following my morning routine. It holiday at work tomorrow and so I will be having more time to relax and cover up on my sleep. Need to make list of affirmations that I should be using in morning. Visualisation board - have to make one, but too lazy to do so.

Have Wonderful Wednesday Folks !!!

Day 16 - 30 Day Miracle Morning Challenge

Good morning Friends :)

Had plans to wake up at 4:30 am and add juggling in my morning routine list. But I woke up at 5 and did prayers, affirmations and visualisation. Read some technical stuff today for half an hour. As per plan I went for swimming and completed 10 small rounds, only 20 mins.

Had to fight a lot to push myself to go for swim. Once the costume was on, all the thoughts of procrastinating my swim to evening vanished. It is 7:10 am and I am almost ready to head out for office. Since there is still some time available, i will practice 5 ball juggling, rather learn 5 ball juggling.

Remember - The Miracle is Within You !!!

Day 15 - 30 Day Miracle Morning Challenge

Halfway through and I have already missed two days of my Miracle Morning. Day before yesterday I forgot the blogpost and today I just skipped the entire Morning Routine.

Woke up on time, but then hit the snooze button like thousand times to finally wake up at 6:45am. Just 3 weeks ago, i used to wake up at 7:30 and get ready for work, now even waking up at 6:45am feels like I woke up late. Certainly some change is taking place.

Don't intend to miss a single day in the second half of the challenge.

Day 13 + Day 14 - 30 Day Miracle Morning Challenge

Another exception was made yesterday as I skipped the blog post for the day. So here it is, 2 days in one shot.

Yesterday - Woke up on time tomorrow and did all the SAVERS task except blogging. Went for 25 km cycling. It was overcast and it did drizzle at times. It was really fun to ride yesterday. After coming home I slept. Then the maid came and so had to clean my room and other stuffs. Finally I slept again, woke up had lunch and slept again. Finally took shower at 5 pm and then just relaxed, not doing much.

Today - Woke up on time ie 5 am. went for a run, was planning for 5 or 10 kms but did only 3 kms. I was listening to audio book - Rich Dad Poor Dad while running. It felt good and refreshing, takes your mind of running pain. I don't intend to make this a routine, I still prefer running with no headphones. Writing a post now and so that all the task in my SAVERS will be complete.

I restarted reading the book - Stay Hungry Stay Foolish, short stories huge impact. Still struggling with technical books, need to fix a daily time to read atleast one hour. It is just the starting inertia which is stopping me back. Once I overcome it, then the reading will be unstoppable. Still not able to find the exact reason why this inertia got built up. Either I can sit and brainstorm the reasons or just start reading a book. Choice is Mine :P

Have a Super Sunday Friends :)

Day 12 - 30 Day Miracle Morning Challenge

Woke up on time and performed most of my tasks. Had plans to go for swimming, but its too dark and cold outside. It has been just one hour that I am awake and I am already  feeling sleepy. Started reading Stay Hungry Stay Foolish. Had stopped reading it months ago, restarted  it and I will soon finish it. Thank God its Friday !!!

Day 11 - 30 Day Miracle Morning Challenge

Woke up on time, did my prayer and slept back again. Didn't read any book but heard Rich Dad Poor Dad audio book for more than 90 mins. Came back to office after a week and got some new assignments to complete. As always, my work quality still needs lot of improvement.

Btw, this post comes from my friends new laptop. Using a Dell after a really long time. Marathon done, vacation done and January almost done. Time to look at yearly resolutions. One of the last years resolution was to do a triathlon. I bought a bike (cycle) last March and started 50 km cycling by September or so. Started swimming in May and kept on struggling with stamina. There were Sundays where I used to do 30 mins swimming (including breaks), 30 kms cycling and then around 3 kms running. Suddenly everything came to an abrupt end. The bottleneck is still swimming stamina. My plan for next 1 month is to do one activity a day. ie Swimming on day 1, then Cycling and then running the next day. I don't see much gain from this routine as of now. I also want to start on high intensity gym workouts, once or twice a week. May be after a month I should get more clarity on training plan that I should follow. In a month all my muscles should get ready for more strenuous workouts to be done in March. If not half (1.9 km Swim, 90 km Cycle, 21 km Run), I should atleast be able to do Olympic triathlon (1.5 km Swim, 40 km Cycle, 10 km Run) by December. There is a desire to improve my long distance record too. More on that in my next post.

Day 10 - 30 Day Miracle Morning Challenge

Finally the first phase ends and today my SAVERS went for a toss. Woke up late, no reading or exercising. Author Hal Elrod talks about the power of the phrase - Can't Change It. I think I should accept what happened today, ie waking up late. I can't change what happened, forget it and focus on present to make a better tomorrow. Going back to Chennai tomorrow, morning flight. Not sure how my miracle morning will go tomorrow.

I feel tired and exhausted. Not sure if I will be entering my work place with renewed energy or same old enthusiasm. The post on marathon is still pending. The next 10 days ie day 11 to 20 are suppose to be uncomfortable. Also I will resume my training session on my new bike. I'll give more updates about my new bike (cycle) once I master it.

Day 9 - 30 Day Miracle Morning Challenge

Day 9, still no sign of my marathon post
 I am becoming master of procastination. Woke up on time and did my daily routine. Till struggling with my legs, so I just went for slow walk in morning. For a change, I started listening to an audio book while walking. Rich dad poor dad, walked for an hour and was completely hooked up to the book.

I was not as open minded as I thought. I always used to think that morning walk or run should be done while listening to surrounding sound, ie no headphones. I used to see people with headphone and say to myself - this is not the correct way to start your morning. Today that view changed as I too had a headphone with an audio book playing on. There might be people listening to songs, prayers, audio books and may be no music at all. Ie using headphone only for noise isolation.

Need to be more open minded and less judgemental. Good Night Readers !!

Day 8 - 30 Day Miracle Morning Challenge

Too tired today too and so writing this post late at night. Woke up on time and finished my prayer and visualisation and affirmations. Went for a slow morning walk. Legs still paining. I can walk but going up and down the stairs is still a big challenge. Started reading a small book, which should take around 1 hour to read. I think I will finish it off tomorrow morning. Things will back to routine once I go back to Chennai. Good Night Readers :)

Day 7 - 30 Day Miracle Morning Challenge

A very late post. Had my marathon today and somehow completed in just under 5 hours. Very exhausted as of now so keep this post as short as possible.

Woke up at 2:30 in the morning and did short version of my daily prayer, affirmation and visualisation. For exercise - I ran 42 kms :P , race started at 5:45 am and I slept a lot after coming home. I hardly had any practice in last month and so recovering is going to take some time. Didn't read any book or article, and scribing - I am writing this late post.

Good Night Folks !!

Day 6 - 30 Day Miracle Morning Challenge

Woke up at 6:20, almost an hour late then my intended time. I am on vacation and nothing specific to do at a specific time. I am still doing my SAVERS, a relaxed one. Reading is still left, but remaining parts are covered. Realised that hitting snooze first time is very very hard as compared to doing it second time.

Ok, so here I am in garden. My childhood mini picnic spot. I remember on Sundays my dad used to bring me here and I used to have loads of fun. I used to enjoy horse riding, camel rides, popcorn etc. With friends - we used to bring sandwich and chocolates from home and have our mini picnic. It is just 300 meters from our building but as a small kid, it was a great place to celebrate.

Now the things/infrastructure has changed a lot. Mornings have become too crowded here as people have become more health conscious. The laughing club comprising of oldies goldies is still functional. Some basic exercise equipments have been set up for senior citizens and it is motivating to see them make use of this facility. A new skating ring has been opened in the park, how desperately I missed it during my training days. What is more exciting is that a kid was actually learning to skate there. All these sites are simply motivating.

Either the situation has drastically changed in last 10 years or my way of looking at things. May be both have changed, nonetheless it is motivating.

In my next post I'll try to focus on the mental talk I am having with regarding tomorrow's Marathon ! It is going to take each ounce of Mental toughness in me to cross the line, since there is no physical strength as of now due to lack of training and training discipline.

Happy Pongal
Happy Sankrant
Happy Weekend

Day 5 - 30 Day Miracle Morning Challenge

This is Sandeep reporting live from Mumbai :)

Like everyday, today also my eyes opened up at 4:30 an. Went back to sleep and woke up at 5 am. Prayed and meditated and then read. Today I read for 40 mins, it was too dark at 6 in Mumbai to go out for run. Not having my regular running shoes, I decided to keep my run short. Ran for 5 kms. I am so used to Chennai now, that I found my route too congested and polluted. So the breathing was somewhat hard.

Had tea made by mom to kick start my day. I am certainly late today in completing my SAVERS. It is 9 am and I am chatting with parents and Uncle and at the same time blogging. I have many products on my list to shop today, hopefully I should be able to buy them all. There is a cat that comes in our building everyday and we try to feed her milk everyday. Today I went down to pour the milk in her bowl. It was 6 am and complete dark outside. i went near to the wall and heard some meow meow and realised she was close to my feet. I was 4 step away from the bowl and she just leaped up on the wall and started giving angry looks to me. I thought she is gonna attack me any moment and so I just kept the glass there and she started drinking from that itself. I took 2 steps close towards the bowl to bring it close but she didn't let me go there too. So finally I stopped and went on for my run. Crazy Cats.

This time Mumbai Marathon team provided singlets to all marathon runners. Asics singlets, sleeveless and blue colour. It is one of the best running jersey I have ever had and I am planning to run my this year marathon in the same. Need to buy new running shoes too. It is said and believed that you should never try anything new on race day,I too believe it. So, I am going to have one or two short runs in this new kit and head on for the race.

Thank God Its Friday !!!

Day 4 - 30 Day Miracle Morning Challenge

It was just a little difficult to wake up at 5 this morning, may be coz I slept at 1 yesterday night.Also I didn't properly focus on prayer today. Too much of thoughts regarding today's travel, office work, etc. In the exercise section - I went for slow 2.4 km walk. Relaxing body and mind. Finished reading the book - Power of subconscious mind. Interesting read, explains why some of our prayers don't get answer. It also explains why we end up getting stuffs we didn't dream of. Not sure which will be the next book and what genre.

I am flying back home today evening for Mumbai marathon. Now-a-days it doesn't feel too different going home. The day of travel feels just like any other day. I am planning to cut down on sleep during this visit and spend more time with friends and parents.

In the book Miracle Morning, Hal says that most of us wake up at a particular time just because we need to be somewhere else at particular time. Like, I would wake up at 7 so that I can reach office at 8 or 8:30. So he suggest to wake up early (may be 1 hour) and do some particular tasks like meditation. Basically after waking up we should be at ease and not rush things up. Then I had one thought, now I wake up at 5 just because i need to do some tasks before going office. Is this correct thought process? Let me also remind me that past two days, my eyes used to open up at 4:30, much before the alarm. May be this is the state one needs to be. Ending my post abruptly now, since I need to finish my packing.

Happy Travelling Folks !!!

Day 3 - 30 Day Miracle Morning Challenge

Instead of typing today, I wrote the post in a dairy and uploaded it, something that I am trying out for the first time..

Do - Comment to give feedback and share your viewpoint..

Day 2 - 30 Day Miracle Morning Challenge

Good Morning !!

Lovely Cold Morning, just finished with cycling and sipping cold cup of milk. Woke few times in the middle of night. Woke up at 4.30 also and I had to remind myself that I have 30 mins more to sleep. So in a way it was like snoozing. Anyway, I woke up at 5 am like yesterday. Finished my prayer and affirmation by 5:30 and then read for 30 mins. Now its 6:50 and about to finish the last activity - ie blogging :)

So, what is this affirmation? Blogging is the last activity to complete the Miracle Morning, what are the other activities then? In the book Miracle Morning author Hal Elrod lists down 6 activities which should be done - SAVERS

S - Silence - Practice meditation or prayer in this section;
A - Affirmation - Talk positive to yourself about yourself to strengthen your belief;
V - Visualisation - Visualise all the activities for the day. Visualise how it would feel if your dream(s) come true;
E - Exercise - The word is self describing;
R - Reading - Read a book, may be self help book, technical books or something else which is thought provoking;
S - Scribing - Write down your thought, feelings or any idea which comes to your mind. I am blogging for this activity.

The goal is to have some ME time in the morning before you head on for work or your day to day activity. You may do one, two or all the activity for varying duration of time. Morning is the Best time to set the tempo for the rest of the day, so the above activities need to be done in morning and hence the name Miracle Morning !!

Have a Nice Day :D

Day 1 - 30 Day Miracle Morning Challenge

Good Morning Folks :)

Woke up at 5 am,prayed and meditated for about 15 mins. Read a book for 20 mins or so. Ran a slow 5 km and now blogging. In the past there have been time where I used to wake up at 4 or 4.30 and then go on a 8 km run, almost daily for almost a week. So, today didn't feel that extra ordinary. The main purpose of taking up this challenge is that it has outlined some 6 to-do things and for a specific period. As the days pass by, I'll be telling more about those 6 to-do tasks.

I was very close to hitting the snooze button when it started waking me up at 5 am. After putting up the alarm, I sat on bed for about 5 mins and almost dozed off so lost sometime there. Anyway at the end I recalled the purpose for which the alarm was set at 5 am and went about my routine. The posts are getting shorter and shorter. The frequently I write the shorter they become. In future I take extra efforts to select a topic/theme to write on. Need to take blogging more seriously, not just an update notepad.

Need to get ready for the office, see you guys tomorrow.

Have Marvelous Morning !!!

First Post of 2017 and a trailer for new blogpost series

Happy New Year Readers !!

Its late at night and I have taken up a 30 day challenge which will start from tomorrow. It is nothing new, just waking up early at a fix time and going through some set routines. I want to talk in detail about this, but it is getting late now. The first and most difficult task about this challenge is waking up at a fix time daily, may be 5 am, 4 am or 5.30 or any other time that suits. The goal is to get minimum 60 mins of me time before you start your day/office. ie you should wake up and spend 1 hour doing some specific task related to your development before you open your office email. or before you start getting ready for work.

I have heard that it takes 3 weeks or 21 days to develop a habit. last year I took up a 100 day running challenge, where I was required to run minimum of 2 kms daily for 100 consecutive days. I completed the challenge but that habit didn't sink in. may be the motivation wasn't correct or I wasn't focused. Although I improved my average running speed in those 100 days but I didn't continue the activity after the challenge. Hal Elrod (author of Miracle Morning) believes that 30 days is required to build a habit and sustain it. First 10 days will be unbearable, next 10 (11-20) will be uncomfortable and last 10 (21-30) will be unstoppable. In last 30 days you would be at ease with the new habit and it will be easy to sustain it.

My 30 day challenge revolves around this book (which I haven't read yet) and I am going to wake up early from tomorrow and start doing exercise and other self development stuffs. A part of this exercise requires writing, so i decided to write a blog instead of personal journal. The topics will be based on my mood and events going on in and around myself. I will certainly talking about the effect of this 30 day challenge too.

Running - Mumbai Marathon is coming up next Sunday and I have tons of excuses that why I didn't train hard and follow my diet etc. I am not sure if I will run or not, but if I run, i am determine to complete, no matter how much time I take. Might not be the best run of my life so far, but still a run to remember for a long time.

Juggling - No updates as of now. Working on some tricks which I was suppose to learn last year. Hopefully I will come up with a video by March end.

See you guys tomorrow Morning :)

#GoForGlory