Car Drives - So Far

Blog post has become one of the key aspects of my Bombay visit. Generally, I get to spend an hour at the Chennai airport after the security clearance and before the boarding the plane. Earlier I used to read books to kill time and I still do, but now I spend an equal amount of time blogging too. So what is this post about? Since past 2-3 months, I have been thinking about writing on this topic. Basically, it is just a short summary and/or story associated with the cars that I have driven so far. Before we start - All these cars are owned by my friend and none by me yet!

Let's start with the car on which I started learning to drive. I was part of BAJA (Off-roading vehicle competition) in my engineering college. Back then we used to design an off-roading car to compete in a nationwide competition. The entire team including the driver were pursuing their degree while working on the project. So yeah, I felt that I too could have been one of the drivers, just a small faint desire. Already there were established drivers in our team who did good justice but it is here that my desire to get a driving license reached a pinnacle and I enrolled in a driving school.

The driving school was in my locality in Mumbai and I was trained on Swift. Frankly, I don't recall if it was diesel or petrol but I do remember that it was blue in colour and a hatchback. Each session consisted of 20 mins and I drove it for 22 days. You can understand the level of skill I would have developed in such a less drive time. Anyway, this was sufficient to clear a very basic driving test and get me a license. One big myth was broken. I used to feel that one needs to accelerate and de-clutch at the same time to make the car move. Fact is, the technology advanced so much that I could launch a car from a stop without the use of accelerator pedal. I had to make sure that I left the clutch gently and the car would roll without stalling. So yeah - Sandy on Road ---

Getz in Somaiya - Akshat. My friend in college and BAJA teammate had a Getz and City too. He was a pretty decent and a very safe driver. I made many college trips in his car and at times I drove his car for 500 mtrs to 1 km near the college. The fun part is, I used to drive slower than the pedestrians walking by. That was like one real-world car experience where complete control of the car was with me, unlike learning vehicle which had two sets of control. Then few years went by and I almost forgot how it felt to drive a car and what was it like to hold the clutch at bitting point. Then came IIT, one of my professors had Tata Nano and Maruti 800. My professor didn't know the level of my driving skills and he was a good chap to hand me the keys to his Nano. Here I learned that how difficult it can be to launch a fully loaded less powerful vehicle. These were very short stints and mention here just for the sake of the record.

Then came a big turning point in my life. I moved to Chennai for my first job and also my first outside Mumbai posing. I met really cool friends here and I still keep meeting them. I can go to a complete book about the adventures with my friends here. Let me get to the point I mean the car. Mainly there were two main cars to talk about which I drove in the same era. Both were by flatmates.

Swift Petrol of Rohith and Grand i10 Sportz Petrol of Kartik. With the swift initially, I had some emotionally bounding and let me tell my bound just got stronger after the ride. Both, Kartik and Rohith are auto enthusiast and I learned a lot from them. Initially, it was the Swift that I drove the most. It was quick but at the same time wider. Rohith stressed the importance of driving slowly at around 30 kmph and learn to control the car. Back then there were no speed breakers in our society, Aqualily so I could drive at a constant speed and in a single gear. Main challenge there was the maneuvering. The lanes were just wide enough for one car and the majority of the turn were blind ones. It was with these driving that I got the confidence of driving on street roads. The second major thing that I learned on the road was launching a car on the slope using the handbrake. Earlier I used footbrake only. Now, there can be a lengthy debate about whether to use handbrake or not. My point is that one should know both the methods and I personally found the handbrake method easy and relaxed. Later on, I came to know that Kartik too used the same technique and I blindly started following the same.

Taking the Swift on road - Disasters at few initial outings. Now, Mahindra World City, where I stay is famous for notorious speed bumps. I used to go too fast over them which caused discomfort to the passengers and also damaged the underbody of the car. Then I learned to go slow and with that, I started to stall. I went through the worst nightmare - Stalling on a speedbump which was on a slope and there was a bus just behind me honking continuously. Now, if I stall once then I am sure to stall 4-5 times more in next one minute. I was literally in a panic mode and then Rohith is like - Relax and after a deep breath I was able to get out of the situation. Now, I don't panic anymore, no matter what the situation is. Earlier I was all attentive and in a very rigid posture. Now I am more relaxed and movements and gear changes are smooth. At the same time, I started driving i10 too. Next couple of months it was a good driving lesson for me with Rohith and Kartik.

Grand i10 - Kartik - As on date he must be having more than 10 years of driving experience and God knows how many cars. I tried to copy him and tried to be as fluid as he was. Soon I realized that it was not an easy task. He made driving look very easy but at my skill level, it was not that easy and smooth. Anyway, I tried my best to improve and I am sure I did. At times I used to take the car out for a ride at night, connect the phone to the speakers and enjoy a long chat my near and dear friends and long drive. Now I had started to realize the difference between brakes and acceleration capability of different vehicles. I could sense the difference in easiness of gear shifting across the different vehicle. Of course by no means, I am anywhere near to the expert level, but I am better than what I was when I came to Chennai. I have spent a great deal of my time in both the cars - both on the driver and non-driver side. Frankly speaking - this post isn't enough to write a complete story about both the cars. Some of the trips that I would like to mention is - Trips for dinner in our locality, then trips to Phoenix mall for movies, and one and the only long trip that I had was to Rameshwaram. At that stage, I was not yet ready for GST, ie highway driving. It was all local within 5 kms of my society.

Then there are other cars that I drove too. Polo - Jeeva, my colleague. My teammate owns a polo and I drove it at times when we used to go for team lunch. That car is really sporty, fast and worth the money.  Swift - Kamal, one of other teammate. His Swift was a diesel variant and I liked driving it. Mostly it was from office to home and back. I also drove it once to my friends home who stayed 40 kms away. There was no highway driving but the distance was long. The longest I ever drove. Kartik once showed me the real power of diesel engines and from that day onwards I fell in love with diesel power. Anyway, my first choice will always be petrol for no apparent reason. Time to board the flight. Will resume once I am inside. This was also the first car that I smashed it into another car at a very slow speed. Only few scratches were observed and nothing critical.

Then the famous WagonR - Abhijay. Abhijay was my batchmate in IIT Bombay and in Mahindra too. We both had a good 6 years of togetherness. Driving Wagon R was a completely different experience. Especially when taking it over a bump. I had to take care that it didn't touch at the bottom and secondly I had to accelerate it enough so that it didn't stall. I admit it, I don't rev-up the engine as much as required while launching it from start out on a slope. With this was the first car that I took it for a proper highway ride. Initially, it was short 30 kms ride in total on the weekend afternoon. Thanks to Abhijay for showing enough confidence that he gave me the keys to drive it from Phoenix market city to our residence. It is a good 35-40 kms stretch with few speed sections and few narrow ones. The highlight of the trip was that I didn't stall even once. That was the last major ride that I had.

I am really thankful to my friends who showed enough confidence in me and more importantly my driving skills. Kindly forgive me if I missed any major and/or minor Car rides. Kindly drop in your comments and your first car drive experience. Thank You !!!

Happy Driving Friends !!!

Bangalore Trips

Flying from Chennai to Bangalore in SpiceJet 3426 and this is the first time that I am flying in a twin propeller aircraft. I had a plan to meet one of my friends in Bangalore before going to Bombay. I booked my Bombay ticket long back. I was planning to travel to Bangalore by bus but due to some reasons my plan changed and I booked a flight. Today morning only I came to know that it is propeller aircraft, 80 seaters.

I am seated in row 8 and there are a total of 20 rows. Two seats on side of the aisle. I thought I'll get a good view of the wings but I was wrong. I am very much ahead of leading edge of the wing. On my immediate right is the propeller blade rotating at a very high end. All the aerodynamic flow goes for a toss once the wind hits the blade, as a result, there is a lot of noise at my location and vibration too. It is okay for a short flight like this one.

My flight to Bombay from Bangalore is at 7:30, means I have more than 4 hours to spare/waste at airport. It has been a long time that I last wrote a blog and I had planned to write one post while waiting at airport. It would be about my four visits in Bangalore and some memories/incidents leading up to the trip. I started writing early, as I said I am in flight and writing. You can see the view from my seat.

Trip One - 2010 - KJ Somaiya Engg college Industrial Visit

In engineering college, we have these long Industrial visits. It's actually industrial visits plus some fun and all. Our trip comprised of going to Bellary first. There we had 3 days Jindal plant visit. It is close to Bangalore. From there we came to Bangalore - ISRO visit, then Ooty to chill and back to Bombay. It was during this trip that I first went to Amoeba, MG road, Bangalore and played Bowling. It was a thrilling experience, especially when you get a Strike !!! All my friends were good and we had a fun time there. Remember, this was also the first time that I went away from my family for such a long trip and at such a far distance.

Leading to the trip - there was some fight I college regarding which faculty will come with us and will girls be a part of this. In the end management won and only boys went. This left a bitter taste before the start of trip. Everything was sorted out at last and it was a good trip.

Trip Two - 2011 - Virtual Baja, Mahindra

I never imagined I'll end with Mahindra as my first job, but it is good I got I to Mahindra Chennai. More on my job in some another post. Baja - an event organized by Mahindra (along with few more) for college students. In this, a team has to build an off road vehicle under certain rules and regulations and then the car is evaluated for different performance measures. Few measures are braking distance, acceleration, etc and if your vehicle has passed all tests it will go for some endurance race on an off track terrain. Fuck, what kind of braking was that. We have landed in Bangalore. Post to be continued later.

Bangalore Airport

I get down and walk into washroom and there is a housekeeping staff guy greeting you Namaste. The placement of tissue papers and the dustbin is just amazing. Then you walk in and you see so many charging points everywhere. Then there are side tables where people can keep their coffee mugs and all. Plus you have separate tables where you can use your laptops and charge it. If required you can also access the free wifi. I am currently on one such table. The tables are placed in such a way that you will be facing the aircrafts and runway. The cleanliness is too good and as mentioned the staff is very supportive.

Back to where I left off - Baja. Before we can compete in actual car event, we need to present our design and business case to the jury. If they agree, then we will go ahead in building the vehicle and then compete. So, I was in Bangalore for virtual Baja. Out of 25 people team, only 5 can visit and present in Virtual Baja. Initially, I wasn't sure of going. As always I showed some typically Sandy behavior, but at the end I decided to go. That is how I ended up in Bangalore. I don't remember the college name and all. I do remember visiting few places after the event. Some temples and gardens and what not. I went to MG road but didn't get a chance to play because of the huge crowd. Overall it was a good trip.

Trip Three - 2017 - LSDyna Conference

LSDyna - In my company we use LSDyna solver (mostly explicit) for our day to day simulations. There was one conference in Bangalore to update about new releases and have a client connect. It was on 27th or 28th April and I was in Bombay until 25th April. I was very skeptically about my nominations. I thought I won't get a chance to go but luckily I was nominated and I made it. We went by company cab - Xylo, 5 people from Chennai.

A day before the conference we had our own companies annual communication meet. It is supposed to be a grand event and no one likes to miss it out. In order to make to Bangalore before 12, we needed to start from Chennai by 6. So, that is what we did. We missed the second half of our meet and left early. That was the first time I went through Bangalore highways. They are wide and clear and flat. You can easily go at 100+ for 2 hours.

After reaching Bangalore, it took us half an hour to search our guest house. We reached and we all were tired. Now, next day event was at 9am and the location was just 15 kms from our guest house. So max to max 40 mins, but no, it took us more than 90 mins and that's when I experienced the infamous Bangalore Traffic. In my previous trip I may have the traffic, I don't recall much. I was too busy enjoying the journey with my friends back then. Here, we had a target time and we were racing against clock. Credits to the corporate rules and regulations, we were supposed to be in the office the next day of our conference. We left at around 6 and expecting to be home at 11. We trusted our driver since it is almost a weekly routine for them. Not this time, he missed one turn on the national highway and we landed in Salem. I am not sure about actual distance between cities but we traveled 180 kms more between Bangalore and Chennai as compared to the direct route. We reached post 1 am.

Now, let me go back one more week, I was not in the best shape of my health. I was having a cold, cough and some breathing issues. This extended trip just worsened my condition. There were just 4 of us while coming back from Bangalore and I took the last seat to doze off. It was not easy and I was not able to sleep. Either it was getting too cold at back or it was suffocating, depending on AC setting. There was no balance between the two cases. The conference was good for me. A week before the conference they had showcased something similar in our office which I had missed because of my Bombay trip. I write automation scripts for my team for Oasys Suite. Now, Arup is the company which distributes Oasys and LSDyna licenses to us. As a result, I was able to meet of the members of Arup's coding and automation team. Overall I would rate this trip very hectic.

Trip Four - Today - Not Sure What to Name

This trip to Bangalore is like Medal/Trophy on my Wall of Fame. Wall of Fame of what? Well, you can call it as Sandy's Crazy Adventures. I can write a chapter if not book on my Crazy Adventures and Tasks. Let me just focus for a brief moment on the current trip. I just saw the start of my post and you guys already know why I am at Bangalore. Why this is crazy - seriously, there was no need to take such a step to meet a friend. Some lesson learnt though. A similar lesson was learned last March during Holi. Not similar but exactly same lesson and it repeated that again and so I say Crazy.

That should be all for you guys as of now. It is around 5:30 now and so 90 mins more to spare at the airport.

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 !!!

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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

MoM - Man on Mission

A real big title. This post again comes from 36000 ft above ground, cruising at not less than Mach 0.80. After half n full marathon, I used to look 3 year back. I was having breathing issues or asthma and taking 2 capsules a day. Things were under control provided I took care of what I ate and when.

Then running happened n my dose came down to 2 capsule per week. I was clocking in miles after miles at good pace. And then suddenly I completely stopped my medicine somewhere in June 2015. I continued exercise and ate what I wanted. No restrictions. Over- confident crept in and I started taking things for granted. I used to have occasional colds and blocked noses. Running  reduced and so did the endurance limit. It is in this form that I participated in full marathon which was nothing less than a disaster.

I used to give examples to my friends how my running n little dedication helped me to quit my medicines. Deep down I had one question for myself, why do I always compare myself with what I was 3 years ago? Why don't I say that last year my health was ABC or running speed was xyz n this year it improved IJK. Answer lies in the fact that I became complacent. I stopped improving just because I took things for granted.

Every time I caught a cold, I used to say to myself that I won't let this repeat again. But it came back again and again. Last week I was in Gujurat. Too much of heat and improper diet deteriorated the health further. I was forced to take my medicines again, 2 capsules a day for 3-4 days. I just that medicine.

Now, as I go back to my second home n into my daily routine, I will attempt to achieve the highest quality of health. Started following healthy diet since a week and it has made me a pinch slimmer. So, Man on Mission is me moving towards a healthier me. Have started cycling and skating to increase my endurance and also serve the purpose of cross training. There is an endurance event in Chennai in July and again in December, which is my prime focus currently.

Taking out 90 mins daily for  exercise seems no big deal. But then I have other passion of juggling which required minimum of 5 hours a week. Then reading non-acadrmic books for an hour daily. Then some office related technical studies. I decided to make a nice plan and follow it religiously a month back, but nothing materialised. This time, MoM is determined to make the things work.

Let us see how much endurance I have to smartly Juggle these stuffs.

Happy Flying !!

Race of my Life ?

Had started writing a post for new year and my running updates but somehow it remained unfinished. Here is a new one mainly focused on my upcoming marathon race on 17th Jan. It is a flashback post as I look back into past one year post my half marathon run. There are few things that make this post more special. First of all I am writing it at airport. Secondly it is a new phone being used by me which was a gift from a Special SomeOne, my Bestie :)

Flights are delayed due to poor visibility and I am waiting right in front of plane docking area. I see flights landing about 200 m away from me and other flights picking up passengers n going towards runway. I'll finish the blog midair and publish it as I land. Checking in for now.

Seat belts warning off n electronic devices on. Now getting back to blog title - Is this really going to be a race of my life ? This is certainly my first but not the last marathon. After this I can officially call myself a marathon runner and/or long distance runner. Till I run next marathon I will be under the category - 'Also Ran'. Generally used for one time runners.

I never imagined that any of my close ones will ever run such a long distance and then I find myself in that shoe. In the process I discovered that there are few cousins of mine who do long distance running. One of the few memories that plays in my mind is of a Sunday morning, 10  12 years ago. I accidentally stumbled on live telecast of some marathon (mostly Mumbai). I so very admired those guys, I had just woke up lazying around on Sunday and these guys had already finished 42 km run. Looking back it now, it feels that you can easily achieve what you want. Some might say you need to have a dream and passion and what not. Frankly I never dreamt of being an athlete at any level, nor was I passionate. Just that 2 years ago I decided to go for it to stay fit and achieve something out of my comfort zone. Discipline is also a very essential ingredient to achieve something phenomenal, I wasn't disciplined either. I believe that make your plan and it is more than enough if you follow 80% of it.

Haven't done long distance running practice after Diwali but still let me share another wondering memory that flashes in my mind. I think back of December 2013 and January 2014, the time I started running and building my stamina. I used to be dead in 2.4kms, my friends use to cross the line a minute before me and still fresh. Things have come a long way since then. My SPEED has almost been the same all these years. The feeling of comparing myself with my old myself is breathtaking. You see yourself and things around you very differently.

I read few blog post by marathon runners and one thing all agree is that - no matter what your speed and stamina is, you start respecting everyone running or taking up any other similar activity. You admire runners faster than you, you know what it takes to reach there. You respect slow runners, since they are trying and making a beginning. Don't be afraid of moving slow, be afraid of not moving at all (bhaag milkha bhaag).

Flashback of a year, after not achieving my half marathon timing target, I decided to go for full marathon within 3 hours - a very not unrealistic but a challenging target. First thing I did after half marathon was to chill and in the process lost all my stamina. Then I started working on my technique, changing foot strike pattern in particular. My shoes wear off in couple of months and sole wear pattern is a good indicator of my foot strike pattern. I now land on ball of my foot, outer side first and then inner side and the the front of foot and then push. I also changed my attire, moving to synthetic from cotton. Really short shorts and regular dry fit T-shirt. Last month I moved to sleeveless, feels so  relaxed.

Around may June I started following some diet regime too, salads and fruits. Beetroot is my  favourite since it helps a lot in building more RBCs which means more oxygen can be absorbed and so more energy and faster I can go. I also decreased the percentage of runs I did in evening, mostly morning runs only. All was well in Mumbai, since it was home sweet home and mom took care of all my diet demands and made sure I followed my running routine. Dad motivated me specially after my long runs. Then came Chennai and each and everything changed. I eat chocolates and sweets as much as I want. No control on rice intake and no fruits at all. There was no running at all, finally my roomies Kartik and Rohith directly/indirectly helped me out. Kartik and I started off with 3 4 kms slow run and then gyming started in which I used to do trademill runs and some skipping too. Kartik has played football amd cricket at a very competitive level and it was good to restart my running with him. Since last 3 weeks Rohith has been a long distance running Buddy of mine. Running 7 8 kms almost 5 days a week. Rohith hasn't been into long distance running, but see him pre and post runs and you know he can make it big.

Had ran lot many 10 miles (16 kms) back in Mumbai and one 24kms too. There was good variation in running too, fast 2.4kms, medium and slow 8kms. Gruelling 16 kms. Then hill repeats and hill sprints. I exercised more and included skipping and cycling too. But all this was in Mumbai.

Plane is about to land, 10 15mins more. Now, again coming back to blog title. Why this race is so important. I practice a lot for half marathon except last month before race. I carried through somehow and finished it. This time I lost all that was gained till November end. I am fit for half, full I doubt. I am confident I will run slow and finish but at the same time I can't forget the troubles I had when I ran 24km when I was in good form. It is going to be a complete mental game for me. I have to turn deaf ear to my body. About the timing, if I go by my half martagon pace then it should be 4 hours 30 mins and I will be a happy finisher if I can do that. This is the personal cut off time I am keeping for myself. Wish me Luck :)

Hello Mumbai !!!

The First Juggling Performance of My LIFE

There was some technical function in my office this week (16 and 17 December) and all the new joinees were busy in volunteering and looking after the arrangements under the guidance of our seniors. The event helped to break the monotony of regular office work. At the end there was a small dinner party was arranged for us (Volunteers) by office. There were few batchmates performing musicals and also planning for few games. I thought of putting up my juggling show but quickly turned it down, since it would be too immature a show.

This idea pops into my mind before 5 pm and we had show at 8pm. Some Solid encouragement from friends and I finally decided to give it a try. Dropping balls in front of the crowd was the least of my concern. I was worried about the time slot, I didn't had enough tricks to go for more than 3 mins. Juggling show - a lot is expected than just 3 ball basic cascade. You also need to be a performer and I was assuming that I would be busy focusing on juggling and no crowd contact.

Office, Home and Party venue were in close proximity and so I was able to go home after the office and practice for 30 mins and have a dress change too. I wanted to time my practice but the change over time between office and party was late and just warmed up with few tricks. There was one more trick I practiced a lot, picking a fallen club by kick. It worked at times in practice and times it didn't.

Finally the party started and first performance was a musical. They just rocked, Guitarist, the Singers - super Awesome. A perfect start for a perfect evening. My roomies were next to me and kept telling them - 'This is the first time I am nervous about performing on stage' I remember there was a time I told to myself - 'Ok, you are nervous, but you will be soon performing on stage. A property of performers is to hide the anxiety and fears inside and put up a good face. Moments later I was like who cares, I am nervous and I can't get over it.' They calmed me down and at the same time motivated me.

Finally the time came and Juggling balls first. I spoke that I am a beginner and I am nervous too and it was visible since I dropped in first few seconds performing basic trick. After few deep breaths and claps I got in the rhythm. 3 ball tricks and under the leg throws. Before going for the actual under the leg throws, I tried to copy one of the juggler's show trick that I saw. In that you pretend to throw the ball under the leg but don't actually do it and then ask audience if they saw it. Then you follow it up saying that you will do it in slow motion and then you actually throw it under the leg, that really generated some laughs among the friends. Then 4 balls, something that I am not good at, but still few throws here and there and the trick was done. Then the rings, three rings. There is a way in which you end the trick by putting all the three rings around your neck, I tried that trick and it worked, although bit clumsy.

Finally, the new props, Juggling clubs. Again, three club cascade. I tried the kick pick up and wow, It was perfectly executed and ended perfectly too. For the show stopper I tried one of each, a ball, a club and a ring, one of the toughest of all the remaining tricks that I performed that evening. !0 to 15 throws got executed nicely and I was done. A final Bow at the end- felt majestic.

Finally all the participation and fun-games-winner got some Smiley balls and it was majestic. Finally the nervousness was over-shadowed, not in an ideal manner. Thanks a TON for my friends and roomies for motivating me.

I registered my First Juggling Show. I started somewhere in mid-jan after running the half-marathon and was able to have my first show within a year of my training. The main concern that show will end within 2 mins was a highly inaccurate judgement, It lasted for almost 5 mins. Signing Off for now - Keep JUGGLING :)