Experiences!

Where am I?

2009-12-08T17:16:00.004Z

Work - Sleep - Travel - Chennai - Idly - T.Nagar - Shopping - BITS alumni - 10k Run - Air India - Dahi papdi chat - Jet lag - Cycling

These have been some of the activities that have kept me busy for the past month. Hopefully I should be relatively free to post on my blog this month!

Bits World 5K Run: Register on BITSAA

2009-10-31T18:34:00.001Z

One of the most interesting TED videos I've watched!

2009-10-29T21:44:00.001Z

Is Cycling a BUMmer?

2009-10-24T01:05:00.003+01:00

I thought so . . . especially the first week of buying my bike, having to cope with a lot of Saddle pain. But as I got used to the phenomenon, and supported by a ten quid gel filled cushion, I think it is a pretty good work-out.

I like the 40/50 minute bike ride to work. It is my point of contemplation / relaxation, very similar to running, although not that stress free. Bike rides are a bit irritating, since you are not the most vulnerable roaduser, and you apparently have to respect road rules, unlike runners. The whole thing can also be a bit dangerous or scary, especially when you are overtaking a 16 wheeler, a bus pulling over, an accelerating Aston Martin wanting to show-off its low-end torque and some 100 similar situations. The worst part is the flat tyres and the Do-It-Yourself that follows when you wrestle with a tyre lever under dimlights trying hard to get back home before freezing in the cold. I've had to face the situation twice, and they weren't very pleasant days!

However it is still a great feeling and a high to get noticed when the smart red bike zips past the girls (wink wink), when the odd fella passing you greets a good morning mate!, when the taxi driver stops to let the lone cyclist pass and when you cycle your way at 30kmph on the bus lane laughing your ass off, when the losers with an expensive car wait in the traffic :) (I hope my friends with a car dont read this post)

I enjoy the 9 mile ride every day and evening and recommend to all those souls wanting some light sport/activity!

This is the route I take to work

Starting up!

2009-10-19T21:25:00.005+01:00

Starting-up/being part of an initiative is a rather interesting experience, comparable to none. I was never able to relate to the excitement of entrepreneurs, nor the seeming insanity of grad students jumping to start-up or bootstrap their companies. But there have been definite moments I have observed lot of spirited entrepreneurs who were driven purely by passion.

My examples are not the Ambani's or the Narayana Moorthys' although those are exciting stories I've read on paper. My first instance is a normal street vendor I used to see daily when walking to catch my bus to school. He used to sell flowers early in the mornings. But slowly he started alternating his days with other commodities like rangoli powder, vegetables, fruits until finally I stopped seeing him. I will only be right in guessing that he outgrew his humble beginnings. The second guy I've seen is my dad, who started up a proprietorship on a highly competitive and capital intensive petroleum by products manufacturing, processing and supply. When I graduated, the CEO of my first company was the next interesting personality. His face used to light-up when he talked about the product space he was positioning his company and how he expects to capitalize on the niche he has chosen. I saw many other instances then including a couple of college buddies jumped into their own ventures which was great.

My first hand at it (although not for a living) was when a friend invited me to join an initiative of a running club for my college. In the past 3 months, it has been a great feeling working on something I've enjoyed over the past couple of years, Running. Things are at a very small scale, and we are not even on our feet in terms of a sizeable membership, buzzing activity, events etc. We are still discovering and expanding our club to include many runners and get more "feet on street". But just to work as part of something you are passionate about is a great experience, and I can now understand the joy and pride of the "real entrepreneurs" out there!

What I do weekends!

2009-10-02T21:48:00.005+01:00

Friday eve conversation:

Mr. D: Jetairways have made all their planes linux compliant. apparently, too many windows on the plane already

Me: oh ok, I thought they did not want their windows to cause a CRASH

Being a Cyclist

2009-09-08T21:19:00.004+01:00

To the untrained eye, cycling does not seem much of anything. It is not as difficult as running, it is not as easy as driving and still cyclists looks like an absolute show-off. What with their coolers, flashy bike, lights, gears and the tights. I can imagine why almost all roadusers hate cyclists!

I started cycling to work almost 3 weeks back and it has been quite an interesting experience as of now. Ofcourse it is a good way to stay healthy, especially if you are not the kind who goes out of your way to workout and keep fit. There are some of these dudes flaunting their calf muscles, which are as big as a 150 pound woman who's worn heels for 20 years. On the other end of the spectrum are the ones who use it as a means for short commutes - the ones with folding bikes, mountain bikes with huge tyres, 1960's styled retro bikes etc. And then there are these confused bunch, not too serious but not too pointless, on a decent bike but not the perfect flashy gear, the category I fall into.

When I was running, I used to love the considerate pedestrians making way for the runner or taxis slowing down to let the lone runner pass. The willingness to excuse an erring runner or pedestrian is very high in London. However, cyclists are demons - they travel fast, jump signals, sometimes unpredictable and evenslow you down sometimes if you get stuck behind them. However, I am slowly learning to respond to these emotions of the traffic and still enjoy my 13 km ride each way to work. The respite I get is a 5km stretch from my house to Putney Hill, probably one of the most beautiful roads to cycle or drive through. The crazy patch is once I enter Chelsea, when all hell breaks loose.

Still I'm loving it and look forward to the early morning rides! :)

Edinburgh Marathon 2010, Here I come!

2009-09-01T20:49:00.004+01:00

My previous posts would make it obvious that I am in a real low of my running days. What with injury and complete substitution of running with cycling over the past fortnight, and no plans to re-start running for sometime.

But still, this did not deter me from registering for the Edinburgh Marathon happenning on the 23rd May 2010. It will be the peak of English summer, and the right time to run in Scotland, I presume. Really excited about this run. This time I inted to train carefully starting 20 weeks before D-day!

Apparently Edinburgh is the fastest run in UK (source: Runner's World), one of the best runs in Scotland and a paradise for people wishing to set their personal best (PB) timing!

Can I conquer my 4:30 this time! I will!

PS: I kind of talked 2 innocent souls (one colleague and another college buddy) to sign up with me :) Spread the joy!

My Runner's Knee

2009-08-30T10:10:00.002+01:00

Not sure if I am realizing this very late, but I think I have a runner's knee. How I found out was when I was cycling uphill, back home from work!

2/3 weeks back I had some incisive pain in my right knee, while doing a run. It has been recurring ever since. Yet to find out exercises. Do let me know if you know any. I think squats / one-legged squats have always been my single strengthening regime.

Celebrating 63 years of Indian Independence

2009-08-15T01:39:00.003+01:00

August 15th:

- the day when colonialism ended and the world's largest democracy was born

- the day when Indians stopped taking orders and started putting things in order

- the day when 1000s of patriots took over from 100s of patriarchs, the responsibility of shaping up the future of a great country

We crawled our way until the 1990s and slowly started walking towards that dream. We are beginning to run towards it now and will succeed in achieving it !

. . . and when I look at my blue coloured passport with the Lion Capital, I feel proud! Jai Hind!

Runner's Blue??

2009-08-09T11:31:00.003+01:00

In the last 16 weeks (~4 months) I have run only about an average of 12 -14km per week, meaning I have been out on the road for less than 3 days and mostly short runs (the maximum has been a 14.5kms at an average of 7km per run).

I am not sure, when this Runner's blue hit me, I have had some injuries, not completely healed, shin and knee pain, and lacked a rhythm that I enthusiastically discovered while training for Paris and Brussels Marathons in the past year. Perhaps the reason is a lack of a running goal in the vicinity, the lack of time to dedicate to running, pre-occupation of my mind with other things like my career and future, or plain simple laziness coupled with a deadly mix of lack of motivation.

Whatever it is, I have to end it! Atleast 3 friends have told me to keep running / re-start in the past week, and I should!

Spartan

2009-08-03T22:52:00.005+01:00

Spartan by Valerio Massimo Manfredi is one of the best historic novels I've read. The story is set in 500 - 450 BC, and talks about the lives of two yound heroes of Sparta. While one of them experiences the upbringing of a distinguished Spartan warrior's family, the other is cast away after being born a cripple, by the cruel laws of Sparta, and grows as a slave amongst the Helots. The good part about the book is that it chronicles some of the historic events alongside the plot such as the battle of Marathon, the story of 300 Spartans led by Kind Leonidas against a Persian army at the battle of Thermopylae, the battle of Platea against the Persians and the great revolt of the Helots in 464 BC.

A must read if you like to read a bit about the history of the Spartans!

The Flintstones Moment

2009-07-18T15:45:00.004+01:00

Someone wrote in his blog that I live in the stoneage. Well, not far off I should say. I am moving homes and so one of my friends flicked the broadband hub as a parting gesture and I've been away from all signs of technology for a few weeks now (except when I am working in my cubicle for my company). Life is different without orkutting, the quick chat on gtalk, skyping with friends across oceans, facebook and what not. The one positive is the abundance in time that suddenly I have with me. I've had the chance to read the following books in the past 2 weeks:

- What I talk about when I talk about running - Haruku Murakami

- Six graves to Munich - Mario Puzo

- Live and Let Die - Ian Fleming

- Rising Sun - Michael Crichton

and currently reading Guns of a Navarone (Allistair Maclean) and A Short History of Almost Everything (Bill Bryson)

Well all I can say is, Yabbadabba doooooooo :-)

There will be blood?

2009-06-11T21:40:00.002+01:00

I was a little bit surprised to see England still thrown back in time when I went to a blood donation camp near my house. India is classified as a malaria prone country and you cannot donate blood if you have travelled to India in the past 6 months. I had gone home last Christmas and hence was told to come back in July, if I wanted to "give blood"

Although the lady was following protocol and being verypolite in explaining the situation to me, I had mixed feelings regarding the whole incident!

Is Health & Safety a boon or a bane to England???

Coming to Oslo!!!

2009-05-12T23:16:00.003+01:00

One of the cardinal rules of blogging, if there ever was a rule book, would be the more you delay, the lesser the drive to blog on the topic. I've been wanting to blog about my trip to Oslo for more than a month now, and here is the belated post.

We stayed in a bed & breakfast made out of a small steamer docked at the Oslo Port. My first experience, and pretty good I must say!

A view of the docked MS INNVIK from a foot over bridge!

Although sticklers of Geography would argue otherwise, Oslo is located on the Oslo Fjord and offers some pretty breathtaking sights. We took a ferry to experience it and was very good. A very breezy ride I should say, thank god it was summer!

Norwegians pride their ancestoral lineage from the Vikings, who were valiant warriors and adept sailors, exploring and conquering new lands. The Viking ship museum has some huge intact sea vessels from the Viking ages!

The Opera house is a modern structure, I clicked this one from the deck of our boat!

Like every other European city, Oslo had its own version of a Royal Palace and is the official residence of the (long forgotten?) Monarch

Perhaps one of the biggest flop shows was a trip to the Vigeland Sculpture Park. Blame it on a lack of the art enthusiasm in me, or the sunny weather making us sweat at 10 am, or the profound display of nudity, or the barren nothingness of the place ;) I did not fancy it a lot!

The Aker Brygge was quite a sight from a distance atop the Akershus Fortress!

I must have cycled around the city and explored the country side more. Oslo is a small city although it has some pleasant sights to offer. I would recommend it for a relaxed weekend, and suggest combining it with a "Whale watching" tour, winter train ride from Oslo to Bergen and a visit to one of the many Fjords on the west coast line.

As for me, I planned slow and stuck to Oslo!

Movies with a vengeance . . . .

2009-05-10T22:06:00.004+01:00

Very unlike me, I've been kind of watching a continuous string of movies over the past few months. Perhaps this explains my couch potato streak in the past 5/6 weeks, the laziest season in the past year. I've typically stuck to a mission of exhausting all movies starring Al Pacino or directed by Quentin Tarantino. And, I've been sucessful with the following:

1. Scent of a Woman (seen it a few times now)
2. Dog Day Afternoon

3. Glengary Glen Ross

4. Devil's Advocate

5. Scar Face

6. The Insider

7. God Father Trilogy (watched long back)

8. Heat

and of Tarantino

1. Kill Bill 1

2. Kill Bill 2

3. Jackie Brown

4. Pulp Fiction

5. Reservoir Dogs

6. Sin City (Directed a small car-chase scene)

With a little more effort, I could effectively exhuast all movies by these guys. Whoa, not sure why I liked all these movies. Loved every one of em!

watch em if u fancy! I recommend!

Waiting for this movie to be out!

2009-05-04T15:16:00.001+01:00

Past the quarter life crisis

2009-05-01T20:35:00.005+01:00

Well today I become 26, moving more and more away from my College(age) days.

I was thinking of what resolutions I should adhere to in the days to come. Still undecided, but intend to pay some attention to the below messages:

" The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays, is coming to its close. In its place we are entering a period of consequences." - Winston Churchill

I hope I act swift and smart and be successful, by god's grace!

. . . and, below is a customized e-greeting card, I received from buddies @ work :)

Wow, if only I can cycle like this :-)

2009-04-28T22:48:00.000+01:00

An interesting forum for Green Cars in India!!!

2009-04-12T18:23:00.009+01:00

Ever since Green Peace was formed in 1971 and ambassadors of climate change such as Al Gore started promoting the need for a cleaner environment, various manufacturing industries have been trying to take control of the situation by investing billions of dollars in making their products and services more green. The Automotive industry has been one of the forerunners, drastically cutting tailpipe emissions by multiple folds and now make technologically improved cleaner and greener vehicles. Although a global phenomenon, the awareness levels of this global green revolution and the willingness to pay for advance technologies that cut down emissions, has been quite varied across different geographies and type of vehicle buyers. India has been one of those markets where the traditional internal combustion engine has been the sole propeller of cars and cleaner fuel and powertrain dont command a huge mind share or marketshare. But there is a huge shift happenning in terms of carmarkers and buyers looking at alternate fuel types such as LPG, CNG kits currently and more action awaited in term of hybridisation.

Why talk about this whole big story?, because of an interesting website launched to fill a gap in terms of awareness building for green vehciles and technology at the consumer level by a new website. myCarQnA is a car forum and virtual discussion room for creating more consumer awareness of environmental-friendly cars and a first initiative of this order for Indian. The site was designed by a few Bitsian friends who launched the first version a few weeks back. I found the site simple to navigate and a quite a few interesting videos and articles, car comparison sheets, buyer advice. So, do play around and feel free to give me any feedback you may have on the way it is organized, additional content you would like to see, what is missing, what is awesome etc. Just anything

I hope it makes an interesting read for all of you!

Yo Adrian! I did it!

2009-04-06T21:56:00.017+01:00

Well that's how I am feeling now having run my second 42.195 yesterday in Paris. The 2009 Paris Marathon was a wonderful experience with all the ups and downs, the drama that you can associate with the run. I registered for this run in a post-marathon euphoria following my first run at Brussels in 2008. Perhaps the disappointment that I lost the 2009 London Marathon lottery could be the reason for that. But anyways it is not a decision I will ever regret. I intend to detail out every detail in this post and would like to warn readers it could drag on a bit, and I cant give an "executive summary" :) as they say in some part of the business world!!!

Marathon Expo: 4th April - 10am
One of the things I should definitely give credit is for the manpower and resources mobilized by A.S.O. Athlétisme. The organization was impeccable on certain ocassions although I will point out a few failures of the organizers later-on. I was at Porte de Versailles at 10:20am for collecting my running bibs. The lady behind the counter took a little more time than immigration officers at the airport, looking at my passport. I was then handed out the bib and a goodie bag, with an energy bar, shampoo (dont ask me, it was the organizers), moisturizers, sponge and a lot of catalogues of other runs happenning throughout the year. Personally the most useful thing for me in the bag was the bag itself :D there was also a huge display of shops selling running sports gear.

The Marathon Expo Hall:
Display Stands of Sponsors:

Well, being an Auto guy, I couldn't miss the stands of one of the main sponsors for the Marathon- Alfa Romeo with a display of the New Mito:

Pasta Party: 4th April 6pm
Frankly, I've never been to a Pasta party before and this one was just too good. I landed up once more at the Expo to see the crowd and get a feel of the pre-marathon atmosphere, and it was too good. There was good tasty Pasta & Sauce with lots of bananas for Carbo-loading. There was also a live band playing some pretty good music and a big screen showing the strides of elite runners at previous marathons.

I caught a happy couple dancing their way to fame on the available dance floor:

D-day: 5th April - 7:30am

I think the organizers chose the metro station "Charles de Gaulle - Etoile" as a good strategic move for all metro users. The station has an escalator and I was feeling like a Gladiator coming out of it to see the huge crowd on Champs Elysees. I quickly ran down to the security lockers for dropping off runners bags and I think this was the first hiccup for the whole organization. I easily lost 20 minutes queuing up and then depositing my bag, because of the huge crowed that had collected in the meantime, while it could have been a much more quicker had it been a more streamlined one. Now what this in turn did to me was I lost on my planned stretching time, something which has always killed me on any long-run I did. I love to stretch well and I always do, wherever I want to, on the streets, in the kitchern, near the staircase, just anywhere. I did some stretching on the road and the pavement, although I think it wasn't quite enough.

At the bag drop-off point on Avenue Foch:

Start Line: 5th April - 8:30am

The atmosphere out here was too good. There was Chariots of Fire - Vangelis music playing on huge Bose speakers (I assume they were Bose) all across Champs Elysees and there were more than 30,000 runners jumping, warming up ready to go. It was not until 12 minutes since the first runner crossed the start line, that I crossed it myself. The crowd was too huge and it was pretty packed for the first 10kms after which we were relatively spaced out. I started off with the famous inspirational speech of Al Pacino on "Any Given Sunday" and then warmed into my run with Rocky theme music. These are classic motivational mp3 bits for any sportsman or wannabes like me.

At the start line with 4:30 finish target people. Can you see the start line at adistance?

The Run:
I am not sure why, but I was having a constant feeling of suffering and things are not fine feeling thought out the run. Maybe the crowd was too much, or the streets were boring because I knew Paris too well, or if it was just the feeling of so many elite runners belittling me. By the way, the course was the best you could beg for - starts Champs Elysees, runs through Place de la Concorde, into Rue de Rivloi passes L'Ouvre hits Bastille and then through to Tour Eiffel etc. until we end again on Avenue Foch. I know the route well until Bastille and I have run in this part of Paris, and the later part along the Seine. I was sailing until 24 when there was some heavy feeling of my legs.

When I almost thought I was slowing down, a fellow Chennai Runner, Shahid patted me on the back telling me the status of other runners on the course. He was looking pretty good and we wished each other luck as I saw him disappear in the crowd. At 26 kms there was a searing pain and my Calf muscles were screaming out to me to stop. I slowed down and continued to walk run, when an asshole pushed me from the back since I was on his way. It was so annoying for me and as I continued, the pain intensified at the 28km point and I had to stop. I stopped stretched for sometime and continued on but was forced to walk. I think I would have walked a good 1km as I hit the 30km mark along the Seine. At this point I met an Indian from Texas, Austin who flew down to Paris for the event. He asked me about Chennai Runners and where I was from for a brief while as I proudly told about our pedigree.

The views were fantastic and everything was well except my calf. Nothing seemed to relieve it as I stretched hydrated, had energy bites etc. I was looking at the clock ticking and getting upset when the 4:30hrs marker runner ran past me. I thought there was still hope and continued running for another 1.5kms and touched 34 when the pain intensified and stopped me again. By the time I reached 37, I was too slow. I went into an aid station to ask for a spray of pain reliever on my calf. They told me I had to wait for sometime. I dont know why, because that was reasonable of them, but I was pretty bugged then and simply continued cursing them silently. At the 38km mark I was pushed the second time by an old hag and I almost screamed Crazy b****

A Belgian who was running behind me was equally annoyed seeing her behaviour and then we chatted up durin our walk run mix for the next 2 kms. We talked differnt subject where I was from, that he ran the Brussels marathon in 2007, has his son who works in London, retired from business etc. He also gave his opinion about the Auto industry and asked me if I still had a job, when I said I was an Auto Counsultant :-) And then I saw it was close to 5 hours with just 10 minutes left and 3 kms to go. I wished the old man luck and started on one final effort to push myself "Till the end"

and finally reached the goal in one piece. Although I ended the race in a sobre mood because I missed my target, I soon realised I had accomplished another big goal of running the marthon and was cheerful again.

At the Finish: Official results from the RFID chip (for the not gizmo people, there is usually a chip that the runners are asked to tie to their shoes and there are reception points throught the course. So the participants exactly know at what time you crossed a running point. Obviously you could tie your chip to the elite runners, but there is no fun in doing that is there? :-)

5 km 00:31:52
10 km 01:03:13
15 km 01:34:08
21.1 km 02:14:13
25 km 02:42:23
30 km 03:23:22
35 km 04:09:41
42.195km 05:09:35

. . . . . and finally, Touche

The Guys Who Made it Happen: I think everyone's wishes and words was a source of inspiration. But I'd like to thank a few people who have made running a habit and a part of me.
KK - A college buddy, he introduced me to long-distance while I thought I had a future in six-packs and body building (not that I had or have one :)
Hari - One of my fellow running companions on Chennai runners, he's been a silent inspiration for me. I ran my first 10kms with Hari at my heels screaming comeon Vignesh, you can do it. I still think of that first run and draw a lot of inspiration
Chennai runners - A bunch of enthusiastic runners, they've definitely inspired and influenced me a lot. I've got a lot of training advice and injury free running tips from the elite runners in the group, thanks guys
My Dad, Mom & Sis - My family has been a huge support, encouraging me to participate in many races and stressing on the need to be fit. My Dad has kicked me out of bed on many sunday mornings at 3:45 am for me to hit the road with Chennai runners on ECR runs or at 4:15am for weekend runs.
My Friends - Oh, how can I foget the support I got from each one of you, everytime I told you I was going for a training run, or when I wierdly said during my early days as a runner, that my weekend plan was to do a long run on sunday morning and use the rest of the day for recovering :)
Nike - Ok, I dont know how many of you will face reality but I will. My first shoe din't cost me a penny, Nike sponsored some shoes for Chennai runners and I got one when I was not a runner but more of a visitor in the club. And everytime I looked at that shoe, I was ridden with guilt and wanted to run more :) yeah that's my story

What I will do next: I saw a lady wearing a T-shirt that read Croydon Runners. So now I know there are some clubs around my area, so Croydon Runners, here I come :-)

Paris Marathon 2009 - This Sunday!!!

2009-04-03T19:28:00.002+01:00

160 days of wait since registering for it

615kms of running training for it

Shin injury, knee pain and exhaustion while preparing for it

. . . and finally, it is here.

This weekend I will put all my heart and body into running my second attempt at conquering the 42.195 that has emotionally become an inseparable part of me. I am not sure if my injury is gonna pose any problems during my run, I sincerely hope it does not.

Obviously I have all temp songs with Rocky being the first loaded onto my MP3 :)

I am targetting a 4:30hrs or less, since my last one at Brussels came at 4:57, Godspeed!!!

Will post on my experiences next week when back at home. If you happen to bump into the Paris Marathon website, do look out for Bib No: 47273

Natural selection in the Auto Industry

2009-03-19T00:14:00.003Z

News about the big 3 is all over the place, and news about the federal bailouts and packages from other governments across the globe are getting maximum air time in debates across coffee shops and media houses.

I do agree that the financial deadlock these companies are facing is partially due to the unsystematic business performance of some of these car makers, brought upon by themselves. However, I do question the critical eye with which the market has looked at the bailout demands of automakers, which is for example in the range of US$20-30 billion in the case of GM. A bigger and more colossal failure is that of investment houses with companies like Northern Rock, AIG etc. that are drawing 10 - 15 times the loans requested by vehicle manufacturers.

The Auto market is a tough business to be in, where even the best premium makers make only 10% Operating margins. I had a chance to discuss some of the overall challenges under current conditions and what options are open for the Auto market in terms of re-structuring, either form outside or within the Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection framework, today at CNBC in the morning. I have loaded my interview belo. Do let me know your thoughts about this market!.

Deepam 1st year Anniversary

2009-03-08T21:56:00.005Z

Deepam, an NGO in Chennai, India, is dedicated to offering computer literacy to under privileged students. The organization was gathered by a group of friends and completed its 1st year this weekend. Please visit www.deepam.in if you wish to volunteer or donate!

Deepam has been nominated in a contest by the Knowledge comission in India, please visit the link below to support Deepam by casting your vote:

http://knowledgeportal.in/contests/node/290

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imvkeqnfaXI
* Please View / Rate the video here ( to rate, please sign-in to youtube )

A collection of movies on Genocide in the 20th Century

2009-02-22T21:34:00.005Z

Well the title says it all, some of these movies are the best directed and winners of a many academy awards. The good part about them is that at the end of the movie, I end up going to wikipedia and typing out about the incidents narrated. So time definitely not wasted!

1. WW II

I think probably the most documented and narrated killings have been that of the Holocaust and some very good movies have been made on it. Below is a selection I've watched:

- Schindler's list
- The Pianist
- Life is Beautiful
- Defiance (Recent release)

- The Good German - (post holocasut lives/events)
- The Reader (Recent release) (post holocasut lives/events)

Shoah, The Grey Zone, Amen and the Deputy I reckon are also quite famous ones.

2. Rwandan Genocide

Hotel Rwanda - is one of the best movies and is compared as the African Schindler's list, a must watch

3. Sabra and Shatila Massacre

Waltz with Bashir - This is an Animation movie about the war in Lebanon and about the killing of palestinians by Phalangist soldiers right under the nose of Israel's army. The movie is in Hebrew with English sub-titles. It has been nominated at the acacemy awards 09 for the best film in the foreign category.

Do let me know if there are other good ones out there!

One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich

2009-02-05T23:08:00.002Z

A labour camp set in Stalin's regime for a mix of prisoners purportedly supposed to be agents against the motherland, is blatantly elucidated by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Apparently the book was a daring effort and its publication an event of its kind, since there was no formal account of repression under Stalin's rule, at the time the book was released (1962).

The book is actually quite depressing and I almost felt like I was having a life filled with excesses, with the hangover of its contents unwilling to be compromised by my consciousness. It is an excellent read and a must for history lovers.

Car-mageddon

2009-01-15T20:06:00.006Z

It is not very often I write about my line of work in this blog, and I break that rule today. I had an opportunity to give my views on the impact of the global economic slowdown on the Automotive industry. Below are links to the videos!:

http://www.france24.com/en/20090113-the-debate-auto-industry-crossroads-crisis-1

http://www.france24.com/en/20090113-the-debate-auto-industry-crossroads-crisis-2

Feel free to leave a comment on if you concur or disagree!

and another one on CNBC . . . .

http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1000732062&play=1

Wow, That's a cool feature!

2008-11-22T03:41:00.005Z

I've always used Gmap Pedometer to calibrate my running miles since I don't own one of em gadgets for calculating the distance I cover. So when I logged in today, I was pleased to see the below:

Google automatically finds out if there is a subway or pavement diversion that pedestrians need to take and then calculated the total distance covered. As accurate as a GPS gadget, for free - that's Google!

Euro Tour in Pictures

2008-11-09T15:12:00.010Z

The one reason I love Europe is that there is always some new place to visit and experience. I had been travelling a bit and seeing some new places. been wanting to do a travelogue out of them, but because I am bloody lazy, I've decided to do blog a post filled with pictures! :)

Brussels, Belgium

It was very suprising to believe that the Manneken Pis is a huge landmark, although ironically the statue itself is very small. Legends have it that the statue is to depict a certain Duke Godfrey III of Leuven who was two years old and peed on enemy forces before going on to win the war. The statue is dressed up with different costumes on some days. Quite a sight heh!

One of the mistakes I did was to not taste Belgian food. Never had any of the waffles too! A trivia is that "French Fries" actually has its origin in Belgium. Eat lots of those in McDonalds!!!

The other place I visited in Brussels was the Atomium, which is a 100m structure that depicts an iron crystal zoomed in about 165 billion times. This was the site of Expo 58 the 1958 Brussel's world fair.

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Canal rides and Amsterdam are inseparable, apparently the city has a huge network of canals that helped traders and merchants to transport goods into the city, from ships that get docked outside the city.

Wind mills have a special place in all our hearts. These fascinating structures occupy some of the most beautiful landscapes in Amsterdam. Took this picture at "Zaanseschans" a place supposed to have had more than 1000 mills, although only 6 can be found now!

Was a pity I missed to take a tour inside the mills :(

As part of the bus tour I took, I was taken to a Diamond cutting and polishng factory. Well I couldn't do much there, except to stare with my mouth agape at the sparklers. Never knew this was a big business in Amsterdam too. Absconded from the place without trace when they led me finally into the diamond shop :-)

I definitely did not see all of it, and the place is definitely worth another visit. Plan to visit again to see the naughty part of it!!! ;-)

Confirmation de votre inscription

2008-10-20T21:59:00.003+01:00

I dont know if it is because I am shit bored, or if I have gone crazy, if I can afford it at present, or if it is because of the high it gave me the last time, if it is because of the discipline I go through training for it or if it is because of the sheer anticipation I felt the last time I did!

Whatever be the reason, I have decided and registered to run the Paris Marathon 2009 and registered for the event scheduled to happen on the 5th of April.

Marathon de Paris, here I come!

Things I will do . . . . . . . . Run a Marathon

2008-10-15T22:53:00.004+01:00

About a year ago in September I blogged on "Things I will do" and one of my desires was to run a full marathon before I complete 25. One year later I successfully completed the Brussels Full Marathon with an official timing of 4 hours and 57 minutes!

I was surprised to see a few old friends tell me they could not believe I actually did it. I can understand especially given the fact that I was a couch potato in college, never played a sport ever (except for occasional recreation) and was highly unfit about 2 years back. As I was reflecting on this I was reminded of the below anonymous quote, its source I am unable to recall:

"Others will underestimate us, for although we judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, others judge us only by what we have already done."

Felt over the top on completing my run!

Been a bit busy the past week ... will post a detailed account of my run soon!

. . . and the rest is history

2008-10-07T22:58:00.011+01:00

12 weeks, 306 kms, around the streets and pavements of London, running lonely, training for a race, of which I had no clue, except the fact that the road was going to be very difficult. But finally, it all paid off, as I completed the 2008 Brussels Marathon with a really satisfying timing of sub-5 hrs. The numbers are as below:

Rank - 1126

10 kms - 1:07:50

21 kms - 2:22:30

30 kms - 3:27:07

42.195 kms - 4:57:36

Being my first attempt at the whole distance, my target was completion and if possible withing 5 hours. I think in that sense it has been a good one for me and I hit the numbers. The whole experience was mind blowing although there were several ups and downs.

Saturday 4th October, Georges Henri, Brussels

After a day of mild walking around the Atomium, I headed back to my Cousin's place and cooked a Carbo-rich potato curry and rice for dinner. Hit the sack early and surprisingly felt very sleepy, though not tired. I've heard friends and fellow runners talk about being unable to sleep on the eve of a Marathon due to the built-up excitement. So I was surprised with this, although it would be unfair to say I was not excited :)

Sunday 5th October, 5:40am

Woke up to the first bell of my alarm set on my mobile phone. Usually I require 5/6 iterations of snoozing and ringing, but not today. Now there was big sword hanging atop my head the whole of the final week, and this was the fear of rains. The weather man was unfortunately right in predicting that the day was going to be a very wet day with heavy rains (though not monsoon rains like India) combined with strong windy conditions. This is not ideal especially because of the fact that winter had pushed the maximum temperature in Brussels down to 8-10 degrees, something I am not used to. In any case I got myself hydrated had a light cereal breakfast, did a good deal of stretching and wore sufficient layers to keep me warm until the point I started running at 9am.

8:10am, Cinquantenaire Park - Start Line

This was the one part I was looking forward to and the place where I got shit scared and uncomfortable. It was raining continuously, very cold and I was feeling cold inspite of my layers. No sign of any sun and I was hardly an hour away from the start. Now I knew it was going to be cold in Brussels in October and had done some late night running to simulate cold temperatures, but I did not have the running gear for cold and wet conditions. I even thought if I should run in my jacket and throw it off once I am warmed up or when it starts raining. Thinking back, it would have been the worst mistake I ever made had I done that. 10 minutes before the start, I shook off my fear saying, I trained without any layers or wind cheaters and I am going to run in my usual gear, save a pair of gloves and skull cap that I had bought to beat some of the cold. I was thankful to my cousin who agreed to shake-off his sunday morning sleep and come to support me at the start line, it was very important for me especially since I was running alone in the crowd.

9:00am, Start

A the sound of the gun, the runners started trotting across the start line slowly gathering speed down the hill. Now came my fear factor once more - Brussels is a relatively small city marathon and there were only around 1,200 people doing the full marathon. Another challenge is the fact that the marathon is officially open only for 5 hours and an addition 1 hour for slow runners, although these runners have to manage running on pavements for the final one hour. The latest finish time for which the run had a pacing team was 4:30 hrs and I had taken a position in the fag end behind these runners. Within a minute and a half of the start of the run, I realized that I was in the last 10 runners, which was a big low, especially this being one of my first big runs. The good part is I had a runner who paced along with me and I kept my cool. I did not try even 1% hard and started very slowly 1. to warm up my muscles before exertion and 2. I had recovered from a shin injury during my relatively short training period of 10 weeks and did not want to put a wrong step.

9:35am, 5km mark

The dutch running by my side was good company, we paced ourselves really well and gave a slow 35 minute 5k finish and by this time I was not the last runner and was running within the vicinity of atleast 5 other runners. I was already a bit wet, but the rain had stopped to bother me and I was feeling pretty comfortable. At the 5k mark the dutch guy stopped for water and I continued sipping some energy drink form my fuel belt. The 5 - 8 km mark was also very smooth as I slowly started picking up speed and confidence, my gloves and cap were keeping me a bit warm and I was very comfortable and finished my 10k in 67 minutes, not my fastest but a decent speed.

10-15km mark

I think this was the part of the race I really enjoyed and felt was my fastest section in the race. I was feeling strong and after a couple of ups and downs the terrain became flat, my muscles had warmed up a bit and were ready to work harder and I sailed through, with the only irritation being the rain. My progress was slowed down a bit after the 17km mark, since there was a more than 2km steep incline in the course and I was running very slowly and took a walking break, fearing injury or exhaustion. After the incline, I slowly started runnning and proceeded on until 20.5 kms when I decided to take an energy gel and a leak. This actually slowed me down by a few minutes, anyways I clocked 2:22 which is a good timing given my running standard.

The Wall

Although I was very conscious about the timing and distance I was covering every metre beyond the 21k mark, I did not feel any pain until 28kms when I felt a sharp pain in my thighs and right knee. I quickly stopped to stretch in a heavy downpour of rain, and walked about half a kilometer to recover. The 30 - 31km mark was again one of the steepest inclines in the course and inspite of some peppy music my Sony walkman was playing, I had to walk this interval. I had my second gel and some energy drinks and felt strong. The usual runner's wall was when I re-charged and felt strong to start towards my goal. I sailed until the 35 km point where a dutchman confirmed it was 4hrs and 6 minutes since we started. I was amazed and happy that I was doing well and did not feel any restraint.

And then it came, catching me unawares, the final and killing inclination in the course after the 36km mark, which made me walk. My walking pace was so slow that a Chrysler suppoert crew van stopped and a lady offered me to rest in the van for a few minutes and then continue. I knew this was the wall and was not ready to hit it. I started running in front of the van, telling myself "no pain, no pain" just like Rocky! After that there was no stopping until the finish. I was briefly confused by a police car that kept tailing me with announcements in French and Dutch alternatively on the speaker. I stopped to ask them if it was already 5 hours and if I had to start running in the pavement and get off the road. The gentleman smiled and said, "No, I said you are almost there and there is just a small distance more for you to cover. It is my job to motivate you." I thanked him and gave a smile and he screamed back with a smile, "If you have the energy to talk to me at 39kms, you can run". Just the final push I needed, I ran without stopping and ran with all my energy into the finish line (although it seemed to viewers that I was slowly limping to the finish point"

I was reminded of 2 things at that point:

Emil Zatopek's quote - "If you want to win something, run 100 meters. If you want to experience something, run a marathon."

Dick Beardsley puts it in an even better way - "When you cross that finish line, no matter how slow or how fast, it will change your life Forever"

and it has!

Flora London Marathon

2008-10-02T23:36:00.003+01:00

Kind of got some disappointing news today. Got busted in the ballot for London Marathon and did not get a running slot for 2009 and also lost the money (apparently the organizers have mailed me a sweat shirt, although I am pretty sure I ticked the right boxes in the application form to get a refund!) :(

Anyways, can let all this steal the thunder . . . I am off to Bruxelles et Amsterdam . . . Woo hoo!

Brussels Marathon 2008

2008-09-24T23:35:00.005+01:00

. . . and it is official!

The list and chest numbers for the 2008 Brussels full marathon, scheduled for the 5th of October, is out and I am participating in this one. This will be my first attempt at a marathon, a distance I have never run and I intend to conquer on the 5th. The course undulates through the city of Brussels, although there are some ups and downs in the track. I tried to google the topography and it is pretty scary to see the course:

I learnt a bit about last year's race through some desk research. I think the Brussels marathon is not a very big run in Europe and from the registration list I see that there are about 1,300 participants for the Marathon. Interestingly, the race happens in Autumn, just before winter begins, and I expect a slight nip in the air. Two things pre-occopy my mind for this race, 1. the hydration levels required and 2. the difficulty in treading the ups and downs in the course.

There are a dozen other things that I dont know and which kind of worry me. But I think what is most important is the urge that I have to reach the finish line and prove something to myself. I hope this will be a good one and I am sure it will be!

Like the call of sanga kaala thamizhargal - Vetri Vel Veera Vel!

Saapdei

2008-09-21T00:02:00.003+01:00

had a sooper 3 course dinner at a friend's place . . . burp!

Aditi Devo Bhava . . . and I sure feel like god.

Adithi

Counting down .....

2008-09-19T23:53:00.004+01:00

. . . and so it begins

. . . . it will change your life Forever, Is mine about to change???

2008-09-13T23:05:00.002+01:00

I was watching this trailer of the movie, "Spirit of the Marathon". Although it released quite some time back I haven't watched it as yet and raring to go at it since the DVD is out. It sometimes kind of makes me nervous when I see the video and think about it and especially because, I am yet to capture the distance.

I personally think I cant call myself a runner, until I have this milestone under my cap. Need to just do it!

Now that's a real surprise check!

2008-09-13T01:25:00.003+01:00

I know that the German tube, tram and rail system are sticklers and punctual to a scary level. Train timings are 13:29 and arrive precisely at that moment, a bit unsettling for someone who is used to the "Grand Trunk Express" that arrives 6 hrs late or MTC Chennai buses that never arrive at all. But I noticed something even more exciting and fascinating this week when I was in Frankfurt.

It is a shame that I still havent found out how to operate the ticket vending machine, although I have been and travelled by train within Frankfurt quite a bit. For the innocent souls out there, it is a fact that there are no helpdesks or ticket desks in German train/metro/tube stations and your saviour is just the vending machine, unless if you are in the central station or the Airport. Anyways, I stood in a long queue of tourists, got a ticket and was waiting on the platform, wondering if I should start running in the opposite direction since I was not even 10% prepared for the conference I was attending the next morning. The platform was filled with a motley of German men and women minding their own business.

The train arrived again sans delays, and I boarded it along with a lot of people, but notably 2 men - 1 young wearing jeans with a goatie, another middle aged with a bag, blazer, glasses and a respectable look. And then it happened . . . the train started . . . the two men looked at each other and nodded at one another . . . I was like what are you guys upto now . . . and suddenly the one in Jeans comes upto me flashes his ID card and said something in German, which I did not even get one bit. But I instantly flashed my ticket, which he checked and left me alone and went to the next passenger. I have never seen a more disguised but effective ticket checking mechanism to parts of the world I have been too. It struck me then that the whole German system goes with their culture of being organized and perfect. Now that's a tip for the so called MTC Checking inspectors in my city, Chennai, who stand by a shady tree, stop a bus that is filled with people during the rush hour and are a virtual pain in everyone's butt. The sad part is they are so predictable, do their checks at the same bus / train stop and people know how to avoid them.

It is time we learn from best practices!!!

Run on the road, its free!

2008-08-18T23:10:00.003+01:00

Saw a mail where a runner had mentioned the above quote, apparantely part of a campaign of some sports shoe company. Liked it :-)

Happy running!

The Olympic Spirit

2008-08-16T12:50:00.006+01:00

Those who know me will say that I am not a big follower of any sport in particular, and keep picking up stuff from all over the place at times when I feel doing so. So, how can I even comment about Olympics, which I have not followed much either? Well, they say opinions are like *** holes and everyone has one, here's mine!

I was skimming through the start list of the Women's Marathon which is scheduled to start tomorrow, the push coming from all the hype surrounding Paula Radcliffe, who hold's the world record for fastest completion at 2:15:25 in the women's category. I was disappointed to see that India had no entries at all. In a way my diappointment is unjustified, India did not qualify to play even Hockey, its national sport. Running is not even a concpet, an idea, or a thought in India. (although it is fast changing) I am not sure how many parent's face would change into dissappointment and disapproval if their child told them that he/she wants a career in running!

http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/INF/AT/C51C1/ATW099101.shtml#ATW099101

I think sports is important for a country and a means to show prowess, create international presence and in a macro sense improve the lifestyle of the entire population. I would not be surprised if statistics point towards an unhealthy lifestyle creeping into Indian families, with heart attacks, diabetes and cholestrol on the rise. But I am not undermining the potential in India by any means, through this post. I think at present India is dormant, asleep, concentrating efforts to more pressing issues. While the west had the Industrial revolution and rising economies in the 19th and 20th centuries, India saw its first IT revolution in the software industry in the end of 20th and beginning of 21st century. What should be a matter of pride for Indians and surprise the rest of the world is that the rise to power and gain of International stats has been swift and sweeping!

I await the day when we produce our own Paula Radcliffe!

The Road to Clifton

2008-08-10T23:29:00.012+01:00

Came back from a wonderful trip away from the city and pampered with good home-made food. This is my second outing from London (on non-business purpose) since I landed here this year, and this time it was Bristol. I have heard praises for the small town south west of London, and this week was special with the world famous Balloon festival scheduled to happen. (although there is a sad part to it!! sob sob)

I scooted early from work and rushed to take the bus from Victoria coach station. I had planned this one well, and chosen the right movie based on the travel time. I was watching Mangal Pandey - The Rising, with all Brits around me through the bus journey. When I was 10-15 miles away from the city, I saw the skyline dotted with a lot of Balloons, some even wierdly shaped (how would you like to fly on a dragon shaped balloon?). Ofcourse some of this was just for the advertisement and the publicity, IKEA, Discovery were some that I spotted. Anyways the evening was supposed to be official rest day and I stuck to my agenda, stuffing myself with some yummy food!

Saturday was almost half over when I woke up at noon, thanks to some shopping and chatting we were doing through the night. Anyways I started my first tour of the city with a short 4km run along the river, castle park and some floating restaurants. The castle park was a beautiful sight, an 18th century Castle, abandoned and falling apart but the remains preserved amidst a lush green park. I have always felt that running is an excellent way to go around a city. The slow pace of pounding feet in the morning hour, take you through the sights and sounds that the bus hoppers and lazy walkers can never get to!

However, all's not well sometimes like the next day. I planned to do atleast half the course of the Bristol half marathon, and with a lot of enthusiasm absorbed the map of the city. The next morning I set out slowly and was caught un awares by a searing pain in my shins in less than a mile. I slowed down to a halt, tried stretching but the pain would not go and so walked for a few minutes and slowly paced to a jog. Then came the steep incline near the University of Bristol. I knew the route was exceedingly steep and had chosen it since it would get me trained up for some hills I would face in a future run I plan to do. However, the hills aggravated my shin pain again and within another kilo meter, I had to stop again. By now another factor added to my difficulties, it started raining and quite heavily

Things could not have been worse and I thought the best to do, especially since I was starting to feel cold with the rain and the killer winds, was to return. I was almost fully drenched and slowly started to jog back, when something caught my eye. Sarah Kenny, office of a letting agent, a landmark that meant I was close to clifton bridge. I knew was run was screwed, I did not want my visit to Bristol also to be a total disaster and so turned back and started running towards clifton once again. I followed the direction in the blinding rain and in about another 1.5 kms reached the bridge. It was a massive structure and quite a sight with the rain!

I got chatting with an extremely fit middle aged woman heading a peleton of cyclists who were meeting up at the bridge to start their weekly run. In about 20 minutes, the rain stopped and I headed back through the winding roads and the harbour back home to some yummy food! What started as a purported tryst with the balloons ended up as a food fiesta and training runs. Well all's well that ends well, spent the return bus journey watching Tom Hanks starrer - Road to Perdition. Liked the movie which was very well made (although could not stand Tom Hanks as a murderer :)

Below are a few more shots from my tour de bristol!

An old cathedral that I caught on the way to the harbour!

That's Bristol University, man that structure is huge!

... and that's me after successfully capturing the Clifton bridge!

Road Runner

2008-08-02T20:57:00.004+01:00

My new prized possession is a Nike Air Zoom Structure Triax +11 that I found at a store in South Kensington. I've never done a gait analysis before, and althought the shop I bought it form did not have a treadmill and pressure sensitive pads or stuff like that, the sales man seemed very knowledgeable. He spend about 10 minutes consulting about my running habits, took a look at how I ran, how my legs have shaped up etc. And finally, this is supposed to be the one, an upgraded version of the Nike Air Perseus, my earlier shoe!

So . . . run Forrest run!

Scene-1 Act Smart

2008-08-01T23:23:00.002+01:00

Well it is rather typical of most personal blogs that I have read to have started as an accident. I myself am not very sure if this one belongs to that pack or not, although it is not a coincidence that I am writing this at 23:28 hours on a friday night, after hogging some left over food since I was lazy to cook and watching a depressing movie since my good friend recommended it!

I intend to keep my blog filled with some of the changes that have been happenning over the past few months. My experiences in the UK and Continental Europe will hopefully fill these pages, my opinions on working, running, lazing, and much more . . .

Readers please digest! :-)