Continuing from where I left off – [ Bangalore to Mumbai on a Thunderbird 500cc – Part 1 ]

I was exhausted and sleep deprived – and the moment the head hit the pillow I dozed off. It felt as if just a minute had passed when I woke up the next day morning. I got excited thinking about the ride ahead. A journey of 1000+ Kms awaited me. Bangalore was Bangalore that morning – the night rain had cooled it considerably and it was just perfect.

We packed stuff and hit the road around 9AM. This time we were heading to Nice road away from the peak hour madness and the traffic was light. I stopped at a Puncture shop to check the tyre pressure. The mechanic asked me to put center stand since he could not reach the back wheel’s inlet. I just couldn’t do it. I tried the standing on the stand technique but the bike wouldn’t budge. He helped me put the center stand.  Even though the bike weights 200Kgs, I did not feel the heaviness – till this instance.

We then entered the Nice road. Paid Rs.48 till Tumkur Exit – the only Toll I would pay. Bikes ride free on NH4. For Non-Bangaloreans – NICE Road ( Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises ) creates a big ring road around Bangalore.  NH4 is the double lane highway – which is part of the Golden Quadrilateral Vajpayee had envisioned.

The Nice Road was empty and I shifted gears to a good speed.. and could feel the power and for the first time I experienced wind like never before – it was loud and howling. Having a heavy bike helps I guess – I did not have to lean to offset the wind push or anything. Moment I went to high speeds I could hear the wind scream all around me – what an experience. This will continue for the next 2 days! The good riding jacket was a blessing.

Prithvi boy was very excited – and he rode with me for sometime in the front. I gave him the old helmet – which doesn’t have a visor – and he enjoyed the wind hitting his face real hard. After sometime I put him back in the car – he was satisfied and was smiling like crazy!

I was plain thrilled like the first time I experienced a Roller coaster ride and did not quite think much about the ride or bike – just let it flow over me the very experience.

After taking Tumkur exit and joining NH4 and riding at various speeds – I finally realised why these RE bikers are all mad about their bikes. I don’t know if I am letting out a secret of RE riders.

I was cruising smoothly and somewhere between 80 and 90kmph I hit the sweet spot. The wind was quite loud and I could not hear the engine noise. The bike was smooth and had no vibrations. I could only see the road and the sky – and the little round dash and the handle bar disappeared.

I felt as if I was flying close to the ground. I kept getting this feeling again and again throughout the trip – whenever I could hit the right speed.

I stretched the bike till 110Kmph once in a while – but felt I was going way too fast – partly because of the wind noise and also the bike started giving new vibrations, so I settled back to the gentle 80 kmph. The speedometer needle is at 12’O clock position at this speed so I could keep an eye if I was speeding. Also after half a day or so even without looking at the speedometer I knew when I was riding around 80kmph – because I will get the feeling of flying 🙂

Also whenever I had to over take I would raise the throttle a bit and could hear the sweet bud bud sound come and the bike will surge ahead. Felt like a kid – and I did it so many times and never got bored of it!

We reached Chittaradurga around 1:30 PM and stopped for lunch in Naveen Restaurant. Every now and then a toll will come – and I will go through the bike lane and San will get stuck up and she then had to catch up with me.

One side effect of 80kmph was Honda City gave amazing fuel efficiency at this speed. When we came from Mumbai to Bangalore we filled the tank twice. Return it was just once. I have to tally the bills to find out how much petrol we really saved.

It was uneventful till we reached Hubli. San was fighting boredom following me at low speeds and we bought few CDs from a shop for her – Kishore Kumar, mid 80s and latest. I cannot imagine a road trip without songs – but never felt the need for songs while on the bike. The bike ride was entertaining enough. It was evening and the sun was setting. For another 60 or so KMs, NH4 becomes a shared road  for both oncoming vehicles. It was the good old game of over take and hide after the slow moving vehicles and this was lot of fun.

And all of a sudden the twilight sun made its appearance when I went down a hill and what a sight it was. I thought it will make a great photo shot to take the bike with such a large sun so close to the ground – but I was too busy drinking in the moment – and did not want to spoil it. Kept riding and was in awe of this Star.

You cannot time certain things in life – it will just happen by itself. This stretch of the ride was like that. Had I reached this point a little earlier or little late – I would have missed this awesome spectacle.

The original plan was to get to Kolhapur, but it was getting dark and we decided to find a place to stay in Belgaum.

Now it became pretty dark. The medians and the edges were all well lined with reflectors and they all lighted up when I pointed the headlight. The roads had no pot holes or imperfections. The entire stretch till Belgaum is a 3 laner. The road curved well, and I could lean the bike without losing any speed – and it felt so natural to ride this way. I would vote this as the best stretch of the entire trip.

We reached Belgaum around 8:30 PM and checked in to Hotel Eeffa – they also had complimentary breakfast and it was a good deal. A similar hotel in Bangalore or Mumbai would have costed a bomb.

Finally – will answer the question you all have in mind. How was my body after a day of riding? Did my back, arms, bum hurt? – Not a bit. I felt little exhausted as I was alert and excited throughout the day – but had no pain anywhere. This is what cruisers are all about I guess – can keep riding for hours at a stretch.

We slept off watching Hindi Enthiran. Remember seeing the Robot’s dance last. ( To be continued..Part 3 )

At the Beginning of the long ride.

2 Happy Kids!

More than Tolls, this guy delayed us a lot

Some jain temple in the middle of nowhere.

This is how you get on a bike!

Waiting at a toll

Yep – Did a crazy ride from Bangalore to Mumbai.

Here is the full story.

On May 23rd ( the night before we released the new UI – product plug 1 – http://apartmentadda.com/blog/2014/05/23/myadda-a-brand-new-ui-for-apartment-residents/ ), I was doing QA on the site.

I stumbled upon this Classified on Buzzar ( product plug 2 : an open post-it area for buy / sell related stuff for ApartmentADDA Users ) about a Bangalore dude trying to sell his MH Thunderbird. As part of testing on the new UI I clicked I am interested and sent him a message. Immediately I got a call from him – and we started chatting.

If you know me – I am not a biker. A biker is one who grows a thick moustache, has a beer belly, has a tattoo on his biceps, can explain to you what the C in CC is in layman terms, and can fix his own motorcycle. I am none of the above.

I love the idea of riding a cruiser – like a Thunderbird, or a Harley or a Triumph. I drool on all the pictures in Top Gear, or Team BHP. I would read the stories of solo rides, long rides, crazy rides and imagine.. some day.. some day I can do these trips.

And then I  read about the horror stories of the bikes from Royal Enfield. Oil leaks, clutch cable getting cut, vibrations above a certain speed – and the fanatic RE fans.. who like Apple fanboys phoo phoo any criticism of their bikes – and I would drop the idea and go back to my life.

Now the dude I was getting the bike from is an avid rider. Has gone to Ladakh, Bhutan, Mum to Goa and in this very bike he was selling – had just done a trip to Kanyakumari. The bike was well run and he offered a good price. I thought this is like buying a trained puppy.

Not only that – the bike was in Bangalore – and I had to go there to get it. I was bit by the idea of a long ride.

It came to convincing San, the wife. Actually it was easy. I told her – I am getting old – there will come a time when I have the time and money but I will not be able to ride a bike. And my soul wants this badly. Sold.

Bike guy came to office the next saturday, he gave some useful tips and we signed the papers.

I booked a bus immediately to Bangalore. But then the forces who love me started working against me – send it through packers, you crazy or what to ride it back? Thankfully San was behind me. We had to move some equipment to Bangalore and back and also wanted to checkout the new office the Bangalore team is moving into – so it was decided that we will drive down – and I will ride the bike back,  and San will escort me in the car.

Started on a Sunday morning and when we stopped for lunch – around 2PM I had my devil1 creeping into my head. You sure Venkat? – this is so damn hot. You will get cooked in this heat and you have never ridden a Thunderbird before. But again another devil2 whispered – isn’t this a nice challenge? Should you not push yourself to the limit – how will you know what is your limit then? Throughout the drive I kept listening to the arguments of these 2 devils.

Reached pretty late on Sunday night – and couldn’t sleep. Was listening to Queen title song full blast on the way – and it kept running in my head and the thought of Thunderbird and was imagining how it will be to finally ride it.

Woke up pretty groggy.. and planned to go to Cramster shop first – this was a brand the bike guy had suggested. The wind hits you pretty hard on long rides and if you do not have a good wind cheater –  it tires you out. He swore by this brand – said it also has elbow, spine protection. Decided to check it out. This shop was in Cunningham road, and had to wade through Bangalore Traffic from Bannerghatta Road – from San’s sisters place where we sheltered – a Route drawn in hell.

We go there and the shop is closed. I had checked the website twice before going. Luckily the cleaning lady said – Bharthaarae ( they are coming ).. so I waited and kept avoiding the question San asked – did you call to see if they are open? which I hadn’t. The shop guy came finally – and tried out the jacket. 5k – worth every paise. Picked up gloves too.

Then went to Whitefield to pick our colleague and also meet the bike – it was parked in at her home. And it was disappointment at first sight. The Thunderbird I see in Top Gear and all auto magazines look stunning. And here was this dusty bike with no glitz or glamour. I did not show my disappointment, but kept a fake enthu face – oh its just dust. Then went away to the office meetings and got sucked into it.

By 6:30 was out of all engagements and noticed it was raining really bad and all the roads were jammed. By 8 we reached her home and borrowed a cloth and dusted it off the bike and finally started it.

It did not sound like the heavy thump of a bullet – which I like and dislike ( when it wakes me up in the night ). But it rattled a bit. I am used to riding Japanese bikes  ( Sleek, Splendour and Unicorn ) – and they are all silky smooth. Felt perhaps this is how REs are – very rough and unfinished.

Then went to the Petrol Pump ( the E was blinking in the digital display – you bike guy… grrr.. ) and took it for a spin in AECS layout. It was dark and was raining. I did not know what gear I was in, did not see what speed I was in – tried to change gears and it was clunky – my disappointment grew. It was really hard to ride it at low speeds.

Then started from AECS Layout to Bannerghatta road – via Kundalahalli gate – Route drawn in Hell just got revised –  on a rainy day around the time all the 2nd shift ITPL shuttles return,  on a bike – which does not ride well slowly. It was an inch by inch traffic. And to make matters worse – I did not have the gloves – and the rain and gripping clutch made my hand numb and the palms started itching with all the vibration. I never touched more than 60 kph. Doubt if I went to even 5th gear. It was not fun. Devil1 was laughing its head off.

At home everyone was asking – how is the bike. Said could not really ride the bike well, there was too much traffic. But did say that the bike feels rough – and gave some explanation of how cool this is or whatever. I think they all felt sorry for me.

Depressing so far right – hope things will turn for the better tomorrow. ( To be continued…  Part 2)

I am starting on my Fad Series.

Well now and then I hear a crazy idea and try it out – sometimes it sticks to me ( like running, buddhism, meditation, vegetarianism ), sometimes it remains a fad.. like my standing desk.. which is yet to become a full time habit.

Whenever I try something weird – I get challenged – oh is this your newest Fad. I say yes – and now onwards will blog about it – so when I look back I can see how many Fads became habits.

Before I begin – I checked what “Fad” really means.. 

“an intense and widely shared enthusiasm for something, especially one that is short-lived; a craze.”

So the Fad of the moment – Juicing 

South Indian Vegetarian Fare is actually not that healthy. We boil everything, use a tank of oil, and use lot of salt and masala. There are so many of my Uncles and Aunts – who are vegetarians – and yet suffer from Diabetes, High Blood Pressure etc. 

Have been reading about Juicing – how the vitamins and minerals are not murdered by boiling, how it is all preserved etc. and how the raw fiber is good and all that. 

Decided to give it a try. I assembled the following : 

2 Beetroots

3 Carrots

1 Apple

1/2 inch Ginger

1/2 piece White garlic

I washed them thoroughly and scraped the outsides without any mercy – wasted quite some good “meat” – cannot take any chances you see – pesticides and all that.  Put them all in a “mixie” and some water – and it became pulp – not exactly a juice. 

What came out was – hmm.. not as delicious as a milkshake.. but got an interesting taste – a little rough on the throat but sweet. I also got my soy milk to wash it down. Prithvi was munching on Nacho chips watching me eat….I borrowed 2 to neutralise the good effects of this preparation! 

Btw – I had gone for a 1 hour run in the morning and this was quite filling. I did not feel hungry till lunch. Also I had made close to 800ml. I put half of it in a small container and took it to office. Had it in the evening for snacking. It did not go bad – was just sitting in the pantry – not even refrigerated. People used it like Chutney with Neer Dosa that had come to office in the evening. 

Side effects – people at home warned me – be prepared you will get loose motion. Nothing like that happened – felt perfectly normal like any other day. 

Next to try out more combinations – and perhaps try and make a juice.

For an ex-meat eater the temptations are there all around me. However I have not relapsed – it has been more than 10 months now since I shunned meat.

Heard of buyers remorse? It is a similar thing – once I stopped eating meat I started reading more on Vegetarianism. And the more I read, listened to podcasts – the more I was convinced and did not fall back to eating meat.

Here is some of the stuff I gathered.

1. Eating fear.

This one I picked up from the movie – August Osage County – 2 of my favourite Hollywood Actress – Julia Roberts and Meryl Streep have acted in this. A teenage kid who shuns meat, while eating in the dinner table has this to say. When animals are killed, at the moment of their death, cortisol gets released in their blood. This is the same hormone that gets released when we are stressed. Its bad for our health. The meat when we eat, we are eating some of the stress hormone in it. The poor kid is laughed at and they make fun of her – “I am eating fear”, someone in the dinner table jokes putting a morsel of steak in his mouth.

2. Death is painful. 

I am reading Buddha by Osama Tezuka. In one of the chapters, the Buddha to be prince – falls into a deep slumber and remembers his past life as a bird. In another chapter a Saadhu puts the prince into the body of a rabbit about to be killed. Both the bird and rabbit die – and the prince experiences death.    The graphic accompanying the words is scary and left a mighty impact in me. The pain / fear of death is the same – be it for humans or animals.

3. Mindful Eating.

I picked up this habit of mindful eating a few months back. When I am eating alone I think of food.  The components. How it got planted somewhere by a farmer. How it got harvested, transported, picked up from a grocery store, how it was cooked and mixed with other ingredients. The flavour, texture, smell. If I try mindful eating a Chicken Biryani – I would not be able to eat it anymore in a mindful manner. Because I will have to think of the way the Chicken would have died, how its parts cut. I dread to even think of it.

4. Leaving a light Carbon Footprint.

I cycle to work now. If its cyclable distance, I will cycle, even if its in the hot sun. I want to leave behind a very thin carbon footprint. Plant based diet is in tune with the ecosystem. It takes more water, more land to manufacture meat. Each bite of meat I take has used up way too many of the earth’s resources – which is finite and scarce.

5. Usher and Greg Chappel.

I was listening to an interview of Usher – the TV celebrity, Songwriter. He is an Australian and a vegan and an ultra marathoner. When he was growing up he got inspired by Greg Chappel’s Handbook for Man. Greg Chappel – the famous cricketer ( and also ex-coach of Indian Cricket Team ), turned vegan at the age of 50 and narrated how he felt better than he was during the peak of his career. This inspired Usher to kick off meat from his diet. Its fascinating how someone in a Meat based culture can turn a Vegan. It is a no brainer for me to turn Vegetarian. Tasty Veggie food is available wherever I turn in India – except perhaps Meating joint – the last place I ate meat.

So there you go folks – if you are an ex-meat eater it is not that hard to continue being a vegetarian. And if you are planning to go easy on meat – don’t think too much – it is not as hard as you think.

And for my next goal is turning a Sugar Free Vegan.

I am reducing intake of Paneer and Dairy. Can’t still kick off the morning filter coffee. I am reducing Sugar intake drastically. Found that Sugar is bad from every angle.

Peace and love.

Yes, this is a fan boy post. You can skip – or continue reading to take pot shots at it.

Scroll back in time. To a really long long time.

Perhaps to the age where there were a few crazy nuts named Gandhi, Bhagat Singh, Subhash Chandra Bose were getting started.

You and I are in a cushy job working for the British. And this Gandhi and Bhagat Singh are creating a ruckus. We both read and laugh at Tweets and FB posts about these people who do not want to join the system but want to trash it. They are questioning the status quo – and are trying to destroy the comfortable life we now have living under the grace of the queen.

I don’t see much of a difference to today. We have grown used to gross in-efficiencies in the system. Corruption has become part of life. We pay high utility bills, taxes without questioning. We slow down for every pot hole on the road, and let it injure the spine.. and not complain. This is India – this is how roads are done. Poor contractor, he has to also make a profit after paying the corporator and inspector – and has to cut corners of course.

Today Kejriwal is creating a ruckus – and we are all laughing at him. At his follies, at his dharna – and we label him as an anarchist. Very much how the intellectuals would have called Gandhi or Bhagat Singh or Bose.

Later  the intellectuals joined the Anarchists – and we all know the story now. When history books were written – Gandhi and Bhagat Singh were made heroes. But just before the intellectuals joined –  perhaps they were also labelled as anarchists and laughed at. If Twitter, Facebook, Blogs were there that time we could have browsed and found what the intellectuals were thinking.

Perhaps 50 years from now, Arvind Kejriwal would be written as a hero – who brought important changes in the country – brought down corruption, brought in accountability, destroyed dynastic and   family politics – infused a new breed of entrepreneur politicians – with no money muscle but sheer determination and will power to create a positive change.

I may be entirely wrong or right – but what excites me is the very idea of it is intoxicating – what if this crazy Delhi CM can bring in the change in the system and remove all in-efficiencies? How wonderful it will be?

And for this very hope I root for Arvind Kejriwal and his crazy party.

ps : For you future historians researching on Arvind Kejriwal – you can use this post for reference. You are welcome.

I do this yearly roundup of books I have read. [ Here is the 2010, 11, 2012 ]

I let myself be influenced by books. And for this reason I choose books carefully!

Books made me a runner. Books made me a honest salesman. Books made me a Vegetarian. Yes – books are dangerous 🙂


Black Swan – The Impact of Highly Improbable
by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

I did not get to the end of the book. Dropped out somewhere in the middle. However it was an eye opener. It made rubbish of the expert analysts – in every field – especially economists. This book resonated with Tim Ferris’s philosophy ( 4 Hour Work Week ), that it is futile to read news daily – and to read magazines instead – as the news gets consolidated and refined. When World War 2 was being fought – no one called it World War 2 when they were in the middle of the war – the historians later christened that phase as World War. 

I doubt if there is any useful takeaway from this book other than the fact that it is foolish to trust Expert Analyst Reports on anything – as they are as wrong as a layman – and base your career or investment on that subject. 

In Search of Schrodinger’s Cat
by John Gribbin

Somewhere in 2001 I met a Masters student who had a Graduate Assistantship in Physics Department of LSU and had the opportunity of going to Antartica for a field study – don’t remember if he made the trip. I got bitten with the thought of exploring Physics further and thought I will do a dual degree on Astro Physics – but I was lazy and wasn’t daring that time – and let a good opportunity pass by. The curiosity of the outer space is what is pushing me to explore spirituality. Perhaps I will enrol myself as a student once again and explore the unknown. 

Coming back to this book was an interesting journey through Quantum Physics and how scientists are slowly unravelling the mystery around us.  If you are a science head – you will love this. 

Snow Crash
by Neal Stephenson.

I heard about this book in 2006, and searched in Strands Book Store in Bangalore – but couldn’t find it. Finally got hold of this through Audible.com – and accompanied me through almost 2 months of my runs and long local train journeys ( bad for the ear as I have to keep full volume on my phone ). This book is all about Virtual World and some major history lesson on languages and its viral nature. Tough one – kept losing interest but since I run listening to this had no option but to continue listening through the boring parts. 

Clockwork Orange
by Anthony Burgess

The movie by Stanley Kubrick is based on this. Its a book of violence and gore – not for the faint of heart. The language is very British – once you get the hang of it you can start enjoying the flow. This book is captivating in a weird way and perhaps might explain how some can commit crime without any remorse. 

Eat and Run – My Unlikely Journey to Ultramarathon Greatness
By Scott Juke

Even if you are not a runner, not interested in running or ultra marathon ( crazy sport of running for 24 / 36 hours at a stretch through forests and deserts ) – you should read this book. He makes his super human feats look so human – I brimmed with pride listening to his exploits – much like the feeling you get when you read about Man stepping on the Moon.

And it will make you rethink about food – like it did for me. One of the primary reasons me turning vegetarian [ Rest Easy Chickens ]

I can attest for the dietary change and how it impacted my running positively. After I quit meat I can run for a 10k and still go around that day without any pain and go for a run the very next day. It was never possible before – plants heal me faster and helps me recover quickly.

My Big Toe Awakening
By Thomas W Campbell

This is a very tough book. He is a nuclear physicist. He tells all the secrets from the other side. Could it be true, or it is just his imagination. We will never know. Fascinating nevertheless. 

Thinking Fast and Slow
By Daniel Kahneman

Our Brain is made of 2 parts – System1 and System2 – the Left Brain and Right Brain. One is parallel, one is sequential. One is emotional, one is analytical. One works on Gut, one works on Facts. 

This book is like reading a research paper. Study after Study on how both these systems work and how they are different. 

I couldn’t get to the finish – as I kind of got the idea after a while and also lost interest. There is only so much of case studies my Systems can take. 

Enders Game
By Orson Scott Card

Brilliant Book. If you dig Science Fictions you should definitely read this. After Dune by Frank Hebert – this book captured my imagination and kept me in Enders World for the period I was reading this book.  A movie based on this book also came out in November but I missed it. 

Buddha
By Deepak Chopra

This is more of a fiction and less of spirituality. The story takes one through the formative years on how Siddharth became Gautama and then Buddha. After Buddha became enlightened he lived for 40+ years – and gave countless discourses – this book does not go into that – just till the day Buddha got enlightened – which is itself an interesting journey. 

This book triggered my curiosity on Buddhism and I started reading more on Buddhism. 

Awakening the Buddha Within
By Llama Surya Das

This is the book I am currently reading and here is where I am now. [ Buddhism. ] Its a difficult read as it is dense on the Buddhist philosophy – but its practical and logical – which I like and appreciate. 

Buddhism is not demanding and does not force one to accept the spiritual truth blindly – but lets you analyse and internalise it.  

Thats it folks for 2013. 10 books. Not bad when I look back – a few books have changed me tremendously. Like I said before – books are dangerous 🙂 

I have seen myself and other Developers I have worked with miss on obvious silly things – may be an obvious typo – or a mis programmed checkbox etc. Really obviously silly things which will make me kick myself  ( or my pair ).

Well here is psychology to the rescue.

Invisible Gorilla

A study was commissioned by a psychologist long back.

He played a video of  a basketball game between a team wearing white shirts and team wearing black shirts. The participants where asked to count the number of passes made by the white team.

Most of the participants got the total number of passes correct.

Here is the twist. In the middle of the game, a girl dressed in a gorilla suite, walks across the floor. And most of the participants who were busy counting the passes – totally missed it. When the video was played back to them they were shocked at how they could have missed the gorilla.

The logic behind is that our brain operates in 2 modes – the Analytic mode and the Intuitive mode. When the Analytic mode has been turned on and is in full swing ( counting the number of passes ), the Intuitive mode switches off or is suppressed ( which watches out for such oddities as a gorilla enter a basketball game ).

The Gorilla Bugs 

When we developers work on a feature – the analytical brain is fully fuelled and does not stop till the feature is complete. We have to watch for syntax, potential bugs, unit tests, failing tests, code beauty, backward & forward compatibility – apart from developing the functionality.

The obvious things ( in the eyes of the world ) get ignored when we are immersed in dishing out the functionality.

This is my defence – to the questions – “Did you not see it”, “How can you miss it” – for most of the simple cosmetic things – that we developers miss out at times.

Now to myself, and you my brothers ( and sister ) developers

After we finish our coding session – we have to switch off our analytic brain and switch on our intuition.

Shut down the editor window, fire up the app, think you are a user – and see it through their eyes. I bet we can find a few Gorillas chilling out while we were writing code.

That is how we grow from being a Code Monkey to a Zen Master Coder.

I picked up Deepak Chopra’s Buddha.

It was more of a fiction – of how Siddharta became Gautama and then Buddha. The story dwelt more on the love and war during Siddharta,Gautama period and dwelt little time on the really interesting part – how Buddha attained enlightenment and the aftermath.

I was more curious and upset that what I wanted to know was covered little – perhaps the book wouldn’t have sold if it was all sermons – the enlightenment part would have been boring.

This man attained enlightenment at the age of 40 or so – and lived till 80 years. Daily he gave a sermon to his disciples. He answered any question thrown at him – and these have been captured and compiled as the Buddhist Philosophy.

Taking a step back – my quest on what is God has been running for more than 4 years. Ever since I started reading Paulo Coelho’s books I had this nagging feeling – something more is there to this life of ours. Then I picked up Conversations with God – and after some inner turmoils later became completely disillusioned.

Change in Lifestyle

Whatever the religion demands of us – to pray and follow customs – are totally meaningless.

Why should I pray? – for a good comfortable life ( or more money ) and good health?

If I don’t work smart and hard – money will not follow – how much ever I pray. I pray in the temple and go out and binge eat – whatever disease has to come will certainly come.

So what is the point of praying if my work-life and lifestyle is not tuned correctly.

During the same time I was reading ( actually listening as an audio book ) Eat and Run by Scott Jurek. He made a case for not eating meat. As it is detrimental to recovery and burning fat during long runs. A doubt had already got planted in my head about the love for all living beings – how I can love all beings if i am still eating the flesh of a defenceless bird? The only reason I was clinging on to eating meat – so I can run better – was now trashed – and I gave up meat.

Religion ( or spirituality ) is not just a matter of praying – it is actually practising the Right Action and Thought. Telling a mantra a million times is not going to give us enlightenment. We have to first tune our life to know and receive the unknown.

The more I try to imbibe Buddhism in my life – the more I find my lifestyle is changing.

Eating plants, being more kind, being gentle, helping those not lucky as I am.

Death

Alexander the Great during his conquests met many Sages. One of the sages refused to meet Alexander, and Alexander went to his cave. The Sage said you are very unhappy  and you will be unhappy the day you die. He was right.

The man who conquered the world was extremely unhappy the day he died. To his aides he said when you carry me in the coffin – let both my hands hang out – let the masses see that even the great Alexander when he died – could not take with him even a single fistful of earth he had conquered.

Buddhism looks from the outside as a very depressing religion – they talk about death at all instances. However I find that it orients us to the big picture. If we remind ourselves about death at every decision point – the decision we will take will be more gentle and kind – and not for a short term gain.

Tamilians wear sacred ash daily after taking bath. The sacred ash is to remind them – this is what will happen to you in the end – ash – so take good decisions through this day. Alas – this has been turned a ritual and no one thinks of the deeper meaning in the sacred ash.

The Path

To become a Buddha – or a better human being – there are only 3 things or the Path – we should know and follow.

1. Right Thoughts.
2. Right Actions.
3. Meditation.

Meditation is the glue between Right Thoughts and Right Actions.

No mantra, no praying, no religious holidays and customs to follow – just practice the above 3. Need not even brand myself a Buddhist to become a Buddha.

I will add one more.

4. Running.

And this Ladies and Gentlemen – is my path and hopefully push me to attaining enlightenment – whatever it means.

Finally about the question of God – interestingly Buddha refused to answer this question – Is there a God? There are a set of 16 or so questions which Buddha refused to answer during his lifetime.

It is for us to discover what is God – perhaps knowing really what God is enlightenment. I don’t know.

Attended my first Mumbai Barcamp ( http://www.barcampmumbai.org/index.php/BCM12 ) yesterday. Reached there at 10:00 am on the dot and the orientation session was going on.  Do not take off your shirt – one of the rule items had. Moving on..

Picked up a sticky and put my session ( 3 Running Myths busted ) on the wiki. I had to move it around so I could attend another Running talk.

Went to the first session – it was on Meditation by Kiran. He showed a simple technique and asked the audience to try it out. Folks had mixed experience. Interestingly half already knew some kind of technique or the other.

Each session was 20 minutes with a 10 min break in between for any discussions and change over time. The volunteers cut off precisely after 20 minutes and did a great job in keeping the sessions contained.

I moved on to the next session – How an average runner can run the toughest foot race in the world and you can too! – this was a paisa wasool session for me.

I have read so much on Ultra Marathon ( especially my last book – Eat and Run by Scott Jurek ) and had not heard of any Indian from my gene pool who has run it – and here was this gentleman – Girish Mallya ( http://twitter.com/GirishMallya ) who has done it – and that too the toughest ultra marathon.

The run was 250kms over 6 days in the Sahara Desert and the runners had to carry their own backpack of 10kg weight. They had to run a full marathon daily and were burning almost 6k calories a day. Their daily intake was 2k calories. The muscle mass was being burnt to make up for the calories being burnt. In his words – this is very unhealthy.

He trained 4 years in preparation. He ran with his office backpack, going to and fro from work. Slept on floor for a year – as he had to sleep on the desert sand.  He ran 15 half marathons consecutively.

Every year more than 1000 runners register. There is a country wise quota and there is a waiting list of 2 years for Europe and USA. 95% of the participants completed. There were 2 blind men, one obese man and they completed it. It is more mental than physical – and anyone can do it.

Snapped a photo with Girish. I am an un-apologetic hero worshipper.

Then it was my turn on 3 Running Myths busted.

Actually I had planned for more Myths – thought 20 minutes wont be sufficient so threw away a few slides. My talk was over in 12 minutes. Luckily Girish and Kunal -the cycling hero had come to the session and we had a nice discussion going.

1. Running around a 400 meter track on the same direction will damage one leg. So keep changing direction if they allow. Some joggers park do not allow that.

2. Running on roads is also bad for the legs as towards the sides of the road it slopes to drain water – and if we keep running on the same side over long distances it will injure the ankles. By alternatively running on either side of the road – this can be prevented.

3. When I said I have started substituting milk with Soy-milk ( I went from a Meat eater to Vegetarian and now going towards a vegan diet ) – someone in the audience said that he has heard that Sperm count will go down. Bhagwan – now when I think back my response is this – heard that the polluted air we breathe will reduce the Sperm Count.

Anyway – it was satisfying. Hope I would have inspired a few to get out and run.

Next session I attended was by Kaushtubh Shirdikar, a 2nd year Electronics student from VJTI.

He spoke about his philosophy on how technology should be simple. He has created an e-bag which can charge your laptop, phone, keep coffee hot and water cold. It is still in prototype stage and has used arduino controller and weighs 5kg. I loved the idea. Had a chat with him and gave my requirements. I travel often in trains and I am always tied to my laptop bag on the fear of losing it – I can’t fully doze off with my bag on the top shelf. Imagine if the bag could alert my phone that it is moving out of my range and/or the bag can sound a loud alarm too. And if it is little light, I will happily pick one up.

Also learnt about Eklavya at VJTI ( http://sra.vjti.info/eklavya ) – they have free training sessions on arduino, raspberry pi. He gave some tips on where to procure these things, programming languages you will need etc. Time to make time for this – an adventure is waiting here.

Then lunch – had to pay for my own food. I liked it! But wish the organizers had made arrangements for coffee at a minimum. If they are against sponsors I would suggest for anonymous donations.

Post lunch attended Kunal ( https://www.facebook.com/kunalmithrill – ) – our cycling hero’s session – on travelling around the world on a cycle. My knowledge on cycles is nil – and this session was an eye opener.

The above photo is a typical touring cycle – and Kunal showed all the parts. The back wheel has 36 spokes. I guess it varies for different types – commuter, racing etc.

Here are some tidbits I noted :

70 pedals per minute is a good average.

A brand called shwalbe – the tyre lasts 30k kilometers and is tough

Learn to fix puncture – takes 5 minutes. Learn to change spoke, even if 1 spoke breaks in the next 1 hour all spokes will break.

Travel with Bungee cords and duct tape – they are so useful.

Bike lock – kryptonite. He also morphs his cycle with stickers trying to make it look like a bhaiyya cycle and not reveal the brand – to discourage thieves.

7 to 10 litters of water a day when you bike 70-100kms… otherwise you will get cramps – which is not at all nice.

Helmets don’t protect.. above 30kms you are gone.. but it makes people think this guy is serious – atleast in india. In a few countries helmet is banned.

marino wool – sheeps wool – expensive. underpant costs 2.5k…highly recommended.

1 soft fibre trek towel – only product to buy from decathlon – small and soaks nicely and dries in 20 mins

Note to self : have to checkout this book Kunal was reading – hitchhiking across ireland with a fridge.

He can easily do 100 to 130 kms a day.

In night – dont cycle at night. Europe is pretty safe. UP Faridabad are really bad. Gujjus fed him cashews and gave sumptuous lunch dinner wherever he went.

Then went into a session – The Rational Thinkers – forgot to note down the name of the presenter – will update once I find it.

Was an interesting concept – He wants to create an online debate group, 1 topic each week that directly or indirectly affects you, no judgements and they will publish the discussions every week. He will keep the debaters limited to 100 or 150. The comments from the audience was enlightening. Hope he carries on with the idea. Today all the opinions we hear are only from people with an agenda ( You : Paid Media ). If this project of his succeeds, will make us more aware and educated. Hats off to a great idea.

When I came out saw Kunal had gathered a crowd and was continuing a session on the corridor.

Kunal was talking about the interesting characters he met during the tours. And topic went into tips and how to do cycling – he doesnt get bored talking of cycling!

My body reminded that there was no more caffeine in the system ( organizers, next I time I will sponsor  just coffee / tea anonymously if you will allow me to ) – and also I had to get home to prepare my kid for the school next day as Sangeeta was on a day trip to Pune. Missed the last hour of session and got back after a well spent day.

Sep 18th, 2008.

You might have forgotten – this is the day Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy. The world came to know about Sub Prime Derivatives and economies around the world started collapsing one after the other.

And this is the day I started my journey as an Entrepreneur.

And just like that I have travelled 5 years of my life.

If I look back – was it easy, was it fun, what did I learn? – let me take one at a time.

Was it easy?

Hell No. I am totally out of my comfort zone. I hate talking to strangers, hate small talk, I am an introvert to the core. But I was pushed to deal with prospects, vendors, investors, partners – day in and day out.

I have to sell – and have to speak a lot – to strangers. I have tricked myself into enjoying this but inwardly I prefer the comfort of a keyboard and a good Editor.

I have to speak in Hindi ( thank you for nothing Tamil politicians ).

I have to say No ( mostly fancy requirements or things which I know will set them up for a failure ) and have to defend it while saying an Yes would have been easy

For the most part I had to manage an economic downturn within the family. And dealt with shifting from Bangalore to Mumbai – and have to deal with expenses of various kinds with a thin wallet.

Zero vacations. In fact I dread vacations – when anyone core in the team takes off, I become the backup by default.

I work 7 days a week. Continuously till my brain melts, and I force myself to take half a day off.

Even though the above looks like Cribs – each one has its own upside to it.

Initially the economic downturn was hard – having been spoilt being on a double income household – but we got smarter, and learnt to maximise on any luxuries we indulged. I started valuing money and quality of service more. Realised “less” is actually “more”.

Speaking and interacting with strangers – I learn a lot from each and every one of them. My Hindi has got better – ( passed Madhyama just in border – other than that knew hindi only from watching movies ).

Was it fun?

Of course.  The first year was fantastic – I call it the honeymoon period – could do whatever I felt like developing – not many customers, not many competitors.

There is always a kick I get when a new customer signs up – its very intoxicating. Each win is a culmination of lot of effort and thought – and years of planning and execution. Little things which have gone into making a well rounded product and service culminates in a sale. And if the customer picks us after a thorough evaluation – its doubly satisfying. This is much like the runners high – which cannot really be described unless you experience it.

Small nice perks – Can go for a hair cut when the crowd is less on a weekday. Am there for my kid whenever he has a performance or an event.

Did I learn anything?

Lots. Much like the equivalent of a Double MBA.

The last 5 years has been an all round growth for me.

I started running and meditating to become sane. The chatter in my head – always scheming, reacting to angry customer calls or analysing long past it had subsided – all started giving me sleepless nights. I found that as I ran more and meditated more I became calmer and could handle crisis situations better.

I crunched a truck load of books on various subjects – marketing to project management to business.

I might have never picked up these books – and would have remained confined to technology or philosophy. There is an ocean of ideas out there waiting to be harvested.

I have created my own theory on Sales – drawn from various books and my experience through trial and error.

I met an interesting gentleman during one of my sales meetings – and he put me onto a spiritual journey by suggesting a few good books.

So thats my brief round up.

This is very much a journey to be experienced from within.  I have started writing a book ( with some spice of course ) on my spare time – you can read it all some day!

Don’t know where the next 5 years will take me. But I am sure of a few things –

I can handle it.
It will not be easy.
And it will be fun 🙂

See you in 2018.