My alarm clock was set for 5.55am... however, I woke up almost 10-15 minutes before the alarm buzzed.. since I didn't get the wireless signal in my room, I moved downstairs with my laptop and occupied a comfortable seat on the sofa in the common area of the guesthouse.. a dear old friend caught me online, and asked "How come you are up so early?".. I retorted with my usual terse reply "work".. Nandu, the guest-house attendant, came along with my regular cup of steaming hot ginger tea with one spoonful of sugar..
That's when Ravindra walked in from outside..
"Arey Ketan! Just go outside on the lawn.. it is so beautiful & pleasant.."
Early in the morning, Ravindra looked quite different - almost unrecognizable, without his usual turban. He was a recent acquaintance of mine - we had met very just a few days ago at the client guest-house itself, and I wouldn't have spent more than 15-20 minutes during my entire life in conversation with him. But Sardars usually make good friends very quickly.
Introducing me to his colleague, he said -
"अजय, इनसे मिलो.. यह हैं केतन.. हमारे परम मित्र..." and then continued to inform Ajay about what I do, etc.
Since Ravindra insisted vehemently, I finally gave in and went outside on the lawn... it was around 6.45-7am..
across the pleasant morning sky that appeared a little cloudy, a flock of birds appeared to fly or dance merrily to the notes of a soft musical note..
a pink bougainvillea plant that separated the two adjacent bungalows, became the perfect playground for a couple of chirping sparrows' 'catch-me-if-you-can' game..
a pair of pigeons were engulfed in their morning conversation atop the roof of the opposite house, constantly moving their necks in acknowledgement to each other..
a squirrel jogged happily along the compound wall of the guest-house taking small jumps all along..
Taking off my slippers, I started walking on the lawn.. the bare feet happily enjoying the soft ticklish feel of the lush green grass beneath them.. I walked towards one end of the lawn, and then turned around..
Unknowingly, I stared at my own footprints created in the dew laden grass. I had thought that I was walking carefree in gay abandon. Little did I realize, that all this while I had walked in a straight line.
All my footprints so far, stared at me in a simple straight line..
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It was the night of Janmasthami last year, as I left office at around 8.30-9pm. Bang opposite Shivsena Bhavan, was the venue of the "dahi-handi" at Shivaji Park, Dadar where I stood for more than an hour witnessing the 4-5 different groups that attempted to break the "dahi-handi". The entire atmosphere was electrifyingly chaotic.. the roaring sound of the drums, the deafeningly loud music..
Amongst the different groups that I witnessed, I couldnt help but remember Aditi. Every successful team was invited on the stage to receive their prize. Aditi belonged to one such successful team - she had reached the top of the human pyramid and broken the handi.
She was called on stage, and asked -
"Hi, little girl, what's your name?"
-"Aditi Nilesh Dhande!"
"In which class do you study?"
-"In class 2."
"How many days have you been training? For training, did you bunk your school? Which school do you go to?"
-"We have been training for the last one month. No, I didnt bunk school. My school is..."
"Aditi, you were atop a 7-storeyed human pyramid? Did you not have any fear at that height?"
-"No!"
"Why?"
-"Because my dad was at the 2nd level in our pyramid. If I had fallen, I knew he would catch me, so why should I be afraid."
Fear.. in absence of fear, is there any limit to what we can achieve.. and there again, each person has his or her own reason of not knowing fear..
And if for some reason, in event of the fear coming true, all you need is someone to take care of you.
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It was a Sunday August afternoon when I heard Rishi's booming voice in the client office.
"Hey dude! Do you never go home and stay away from office?"
Rishi was part of the marketing team of our client. He was working on some assignment which is why even he was in office on a Sunday.
-"Nothing much. You tell me, what do you need?"Having given him what he wanted, I closed my shop for the day and headed back to the guest house.
The client office was located in one of the corporate parks in Gurgaon that housed more than 15 companies. It being a Sunday, there werent too many people around. It has been quite some time since I had left from office during daylight...
I walked outside the gate of the corporate park, towards an open ground that served as a parking lot for the corporate park. There was a cycle stand on one side, adjacent to which was the area for bikes. The rest of the parking was assigned for cars, and was almost empty.
Usually, you would find around three of four security guards manning this parking lot.. today, there were almost ten or twelve of them.. as I approached, all of them suddenly became conscious of my presence..
I smiled at Jatinder - daily he would wish me "Good morning Sir" as he handed me my visitors' card as I entered office in the morning.
"Hi Jatinder! What's happening here today? Anything special?"
-"कुछ नहीं सर! हम लोग तो बस ऐसे ही.. आप भी देखो.."
I stood aside, watching what these gentlemen were upto.
Around 25-30 yards away, there was a soliary black Atlas goldline cycle parked on its stand.
One of the security guards in his iron-clad uniform with thick heavy black boots, sprinted across the distance, and then jumped over the parked cycle in a nice, easy manner.
He sailed over the cycle, and landed on the other side, and looked behind with a beaming smile - he received a thunderous applause from all the other fellows watching him.
Coincidentally the Olympics were happening in Beijing, while these guys were enjoying their very own desi version of a high jump.
In their otherwise mundane lives, these guys were finding their own sweet little happiness. 'finding' doesnt exactly fit the description - these guys were not finding their happiness, they were 'living' it.
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On the last Friday of September, I received an email confirming my registration for the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon 2009. The half marathon was on January 18. And I was extremely happy to see that email. In my otherwise mundane, routine life, this was something different, something that I liked.
That day itself, I heard the advertisement of the Delhi Half Marathon on the radio,
"बचपन में खुशी थी.. हर बात पर दौडने की..आओ.. दौडे.."This marathon was scheduled on November 9.. and I immediately registered online for the same.
An adventurous thought then struck my mind. The Pune Marathon generally takes place in December.
November, December & January - 3 half marathons in 3 consecutive months!
Now, that would certainly be a challenge worth doing or trying!
I had never attempted anything like this ever before.
Infact, I was asking myself - what had I done before?
February 2007 - Tampa, Florida - 15 km - 96 minutes.
January 2008 - Mumbai, Maharashtra - 21km (half marathon) - 2 hours, 48 minutes.
3 half marathons in 3 consecutive half marathons - there was definitely no harm in trying, nevertheless it did prompt me to do a self SWOT analysis.
Strength: that would certainly be 'endurance'.
At Tampa, my friends, Anshuman, Praveen and Santanu used to call me ’दानव’.
Every evening, we used to go to Mcfarlin Park where we used to play cricket for 1-1.30 hours, followed by another 1-1.30 hours of tennis. And once in a while, I would also indulge in running 2-3 laps on the 1.1 mile jogging track in that community park.
Infact, when I ran the 15km at Tampa, the stamina was pretty good. However, when I had run in Mumbai this year, my 'endurance' had helped me in a big way to finish the 21km race.
Weaknesses: the ligament behind the right knee and stamina
The less said about my stamina, the better.
After the Mumbai half marathon in January, the ligament behind the right knee used to hurt for almost 3-4 months - not everyday, but only after climbing the Law college hill, and jogging on the hill for more than 30 minutes or so..
I was afraid that the ligament would hurt when I went on the Valley of Flowers trek in August, but thankfully, nothing like that happened.
Opportunity: motivation/challenge and timing improvement
I must complete at least 2 of the 3 half marathons.. rather, I must complete all three..
the last time in Mumbai, it took me almost 2 hours and 48 minutes.. this time around, I must complete at least one of them in less than 2 hours and 30 minutes..
Threats: laziness and recovery time
I have started jogging since Monday, September 29.. wake up at 6 every morning, and go for a daily jog.. I have missed only a few days in between when I had gone on vacation to Manali & Rohtang Pass.. its the 9th of October, and I have exactly 31 days left for Delhi Half Marathon.. every morning, it takes me a huge effort to actually wake up, get out of bed, and go for the daily run.. I need to shrug off my laziness, run everyday and increase my stamina.. and more importantly, I need to recover well in time, after completing one half marathon so that I can run the next one..
As I run, I look eastwards at the morning sun..
Every step that I run, I keep telling myself "no pain"..
आंधियों से झगड रही हैं लौ मेरी..
अब मशालों सी बढ रही हैं लौ मेरी..
नामो निशान.. रहे ना रहे..
यह कारवां.. रहे ना रहे..
उजाले मैं पी गया..
रौशन हुआ जी गया..
क्यों सहते रहे..
रुबरु.. रौशनी....
The next 31 days.. I need to practice everyday.. need to control my diet..
As the Australian cricketer Michael Clarke, once said,
"the pain of discipline is preferable to the pain of disappointment"..
There's a hell lot of fun and incredible pain when you run 21km.
After a while, you feel like stopping and quitting midway.
That's when, DJ says "after the body reaches its limit, the mind takes control over the body"..
When that happened while running in Mumbai, I remembered Sylvester Stallone from Rocky..
while preparing for his boxing match, he was running in the streets of Philadelphia, and had run atop the stairs of the Musuem of Art with the soundtrack playing "Gonna fly now" in the background..
The "Eye of the tiger" from the same Rocky had inspired me a great deal..
as much as I endured all the pain, I kept telling myself just like Rocky with every stride, "no pain.. no pain.."
A lot of times, I face self doubts.. will I be able to complete this.. that's when I remember the old Rocky telling his son who had lost his own confidence..
I'd hold you up to say to your mother, "this kid's gonna be the best kid in the world. This kid's gonna be somebody better than anybody I ever knew." And you grew up good and wonderful. It was great just watching you, every day was like a privilige. Then the time come for you to be your own man and take on the world, and you did. But somewhere along the line, you changed. You stopped being you. You let people stick a finger in your face and tell you you're no good. And when things got hard, you started looking for something to blame, like a big shadow. Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place and I don't care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard ya hit. It's about how hard you can get it and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done! Now if you know what you're worth then go out and get what you're worth. But ya gotta be willing to take the hits, and not pointing fingers saying you ain't where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody! Cowards do that and that ain't you! You're better than that! I'm always gonna love you no matter what. No matter what happens. You're my son and you're my blood. You're the best thing in my life. But until you start believing in yourself, ya ain't gonna have a life. Don't forget to visit your mother.
I have 31 days left for me..
Like Aditi, I wish to have no fear and scale new heights..
Like the security guard, I want to 'live' my happiness..
Like Rocky, I want to keep telling myself 'no pain' and raise both my arms towards the sky as I cross the finish line of the marathon..
I wake every morning at 5.45 before the alarm thats supposed to go off at 5.55.. and I hit the ground.. listening to the music.. breathing the early morning fresh air.. watching the gardeners watering the flower beds.. smile at the kids waiting for their school bus.. and tell myself with every step..
तुझमें अगर प्यास हैं..
बारिश का घर भी पास हैं..
रोके तुझे कोई क्यों भला..
संग संग तेरे आकाश हैं..तु धूप हैं.. छम से बिखर..
तु हैं नदी.. ओ बेखबर..
बह चल कहीं.. उड चल कहीं..
दिल खुश जहां... तेरी तो मंज़िल हैं वहीं...
as the guitar strings hit the crescendo, my pace increases too..
and I keep telling myself with every breath that I take..
"No Pain"..."No Pain"...
~ I completed the Delhi half marathon on Sunday, November 9, 2008 in 3 hours, 6 mins.. i wish i had done it faster.. but i had plenty of excuses.. lack of practice (after writing this post, i jogged not more than 5 or 6 times in the remaining 31 days).. laziness.. sweets during Diwali :D
nevertheless, the recovery was much better than i expected it to be.. I then completed the 10km in Pune on Sunday, December 7, 2008 in 1 hour, 20 mins.. followed by Mumbai half marathon on Sunday, January 18, 2009 that was completed in 3 hours. You can read about my 2009 Mumbai half marathon here in marathi.
The threat of laziness still rules, but the desire and motivation to complete a half marathon in less than 2 hours, 30 minutes encourages me to attempt 3 half marathons in 3 consecutive months yet again.
