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.

I tried mindfully eating the other day.

Ordered a Masala Dosa in the canteen in a hospital last week.

Was alone. By habit I pulled out my phone to read or browse something while eating.

Then I stopped and put the phone back – had been reading Awakening the Buddha within – thought let me try mindful eating – a practice as suggested in the book.

Tore off a small part of the dosa – dipped it in sambhar and chutney and ate it. Chewed it trying to discern the contents – the dal, rice, coconut, onion – thought from where all the ingredients would have travelled. Relished the taste of different ingredients – it was just like listening to a symphony and trying to identify the music instruments.

Then my mind drifted away – don’t remember what it started analysing – and after sometime realised I should be mindfully eating – and again started focusing on the food and the moment.

Man it is tough. The mind keeps drifting.

After that day, have tried a lot of times when I eat alone to remind myself to eat mindfully – no phone, no ipad, no book, no TV while eating. To think of only the food and trying to keep my mind around food and eating – and not let it go on its journey on work, or judge people or the billion things it can think at any moment.

There is another advantage of mindful eating.

I am paying more attention to nutrition, the flavour, the taste, the texture – food never tasted this good. Even a simple preparation is tasty now. I have taken a new interest on Rasam – it is so simple but has got some amazing taste if you just close your eyes and take just a sip. If I drink Coke mindfully, I will think of all the harmful chemicals in it or the 10 spoons of sugar they have put – will not be able to continue drinking coke anymore.

If I eat mindfully – the food I pick automatically becomes healthy and wholesome and in tune with the earth. And as a bonus my daily quota of meditation also is met or exceeded – because mindful eating is also a form of meditation. We get 3 or 4 times a day to eat – these are beautiful opportunities to practice meditation.

Rest Easy Chickens.

I am not going to eat you.

And also you – the Baby Goat, Goat, Fish, Prawn.

And this time I think its for real.

Here is the path to reducing consumption and finally zeroing it out – if you are a carnivore who is in doubt you can continue reading this post. If you are a carnivore who doesn’t care – you need not read any further – but if you want to amuse yourself – go ahead and read it 🙂

2000

Went to LSU to do my masters. I figured out that chicken was cheaper than Veggies. Also cooking chicken was much much easier – drop in some masala and within 30 minutes a tasty preparation would be ready. No brainer.  Also in US everyone ate meat – 3 times a day. The poor Veggie FOBs all suffered – some converted. I did not have any 2nd thoughts ( not that I had ) that eating Meat had any issues in it and it was totally fine.

2006

Got back to India – and had to visit Chicken shops – as there was no pre packaged meat like in US. I would say 1/2 a kg – if the vendor doesnt have stock, he will take one chicken from the cage, go behind the counter, slit its throat and will drop it into a drum. There will be a commotion and slowly it will subside. He will give me 1/2 kg in a black plastic bag – and it will be warm. It disturbed me – but only till the time I dropped it in the kitchen. My mother ( an ex-carnivore herself ) would cook some delicious dishes – and all was forgotten.

2009

Reliance Fresh opened a Meat section near our home. It was back to good old US days – it was all packaged – and zero guilt. Also this time I started running – thought I needed protein and started getting meat almost on a weekly basis.

2011

This is when I read Born to Run – ( http://kvrlogs.blogspot.in/2011/10/three-running-myths-busted.html ). Learnt that you don’t need to be a carnivore to run better.

And I was reading more and more spiritual books. Had lot of questions in my mind – every time I tasted a meat preparation – always a doubt will come in my mind.

2012

We moved to Mumbai. The area we moved in – Kandivali – did not have any meat shops. There was only frozen stuff and we completely stopped cooking chicken at home. Fish continued but I was getting weary of eating fish – too cumbersome. However we checked out lot of famous foodie joints – Bade Miyaan, BBC, Candies..and meat eating continued.

At the same time – Mumbai gave lot many good veggie options. Banana Leaf, Cream Center.. we liked visiting often – so when we went out as a family ( my mother being veggie ), we always went out to the veggie joints.

2013

Sangeeta tried to spring a surprise on me in June – by taking me to Meating joint in Colaba – not a single veggie item in the menu. Actually the variety was fantastic and would be a delight for any meat eater. In my weird conflicted mind – I could not enjoy the food like before.

Few weeks back I had to go to Navi Mumbai for a demo. At lunch I went to a food court in a mall nearby. I ordered hummus. Next to me someone brought a chicken sizzler – I didnt feel jealous or wanted that. Was very much at peace with the hummus dish I got.

Then I picked up Eat and Run by Scott Jurek.  It was an eye-opener.

For those of you who don’t know Scott Jurek – he is an Ultra Marathoner.

Marathon is where people run 42Kms under 6 hours. Ultra Marathoners run 24 to 48 hours at a stretch and cover crazy distances – 100,150.. even 300 Kms, on hills and rocks, through deserts and snow. Totally ridiculous inhuman race.

Guess what? – Scott Jurek was born and brought up in Minnesota – his dad presented him a Gun in his 10th birthday – so he can go hunt rabbits, deer and fowls. The family will eat these animals – they were big meat eaters.

Scott Jurek started running – and like any new runner got injured. He figured out that eating plants helped him recover very quickly. Also the plant based fat burnt faster than animal based fat – he was leaner and stronger. He started doing lot of research and found that eating Animals are bad for the running form.

He turned vegan – not vegetarian – vegan – absolutely no animal products. He won ultra marathon after ultra marathon – inspite of eating just plants. He is the most accomplished and distinguished Ultra Marathoner of all – and has won every race in the world.

Combined with this book – I started reading on Buddhism – which abhors violence to humans and animals alike.  I also remember reading a quote somewhere.

“You can eat meat. There is absolutely no problem in it. However if you are in the path of awakening you will question this habit.”

And this was a question in my mind the past few years – is it alright to eat meat?

Am I missing something? – Maybe.

I have not yet visited Taj and had some fantastic signature meat dish by a renowned chef.

I havent visited Ponnusamy or Anjappar in more than 4 or 5 years.

I will probably not have the Bade Miyaan Bheja Fry – and the weird taste texture it had.

I was joking to Sangeeta – when Cigarette smokers quit they would smoke 2 3 packs and quit in style.

I did not do any of that. The transition just happened smoothly. Don’t even remember the last meat dish I ate.

So – dear Chicken and all animals of all kinds – relax. You are safe in my presence.

This week, after working for almost a month without a break ( except for a sunday when we went to Lonavalla but the drive to and fro was more stressful than a work day) – my body just slammed on the brake – by picking up a nasty cold. I had to stop and slow down.

This led me to think – what is Born Lucky.

At one point while growing up – I wanted my Dad to own a motor bike like other Dads instead of the bi-cycle – a vehicle that was also showing its age. After some time I saw my class mates who rode around in a car. Some wore fancy “jerkins” with multiple pockets and zips. I wore a sweater – served the purpose though – for the Coimbatorean chill. I thought they were born lucky – to be born in a rich family.

Then went to College. Saw folks who were gifted. They had amazing memory and analytical skills. They could solve complex mathematical problems and seemingly knew the answer to any problem in any subject. They could easily ace the exams while I had to work hard to understand the concepts. That time I thought they were born lucky – who are gifted with such good memory and IQ.

Couple of years later, work life started – and would admire those who speak fluently, articulate complex thoughts really well, who can put across their points of view firmly and influence an entire team, who will walk into a party and everyone would take notice – who are charismatic and are born leaders – being born lucky.

And so on – the definition of being born lucky kept getting updated as I see more and more “lucky people” in my life!

I thought being born lucky was to be born rich, or to be born with high IQ or to be born with lots of charisma.

I was so wrong.

To be born lucky is simply to be born healthy – without any defects ( reminds me of the Avaiyar poem –  translation is at the end of the post ) – that is truly being born lucky. We get a body – which has been honed to perfection through evolution over millions of years.

Yet – we throw away our luck. By over working ( like what I was doing ), or smoking or eating junk or having a sedentary lifestyle.

And being Healthy is complete in itself.

If I have a Honda City, I yearn for an Audi, someone having an Audi yearns for a Lamborghini.

Someone who is gifted with prodigal IQ – may perhaps be not satisfied – and may want to get famous by cracking a complex Mathematical puzzle or find cure for Cancer and win a Nobel Prize.

And for the person with oodles of Charisma – perhaps will think – wish I was like King Khan – and for King Khan – perhaps he is thinking how can I get to be the next Bachchan.

There are no levels in Being Healthy – much like running – I do not compete against anyone else but I am a happy content runner.

If we are having the gift of a healthy life – we should work hard to protect the gift and keep it with us as long as possible.

Getting rich or intelligent or becoming charismatic – all take lot of effort and hard work.

Protecting good health is quite simple – just need to live a stress free, simple, active life style. Sounds lot easier than the other 3.

Also just being healthy – all the above 3 can be achieved – the reverse is simply not possible.

Here is Avaiyar’s poem which makes sense now. And the great sage has suggested a path when you are born human and luckier to be born healthy and luckier to get educated..

“It is rare to be born as a human being,
It is still rarer to be born without any deformity.
Even if you are born without any deformity,
It is rare to acquire knowledge and education.
Even if one could acquire knowledge and education,
It is still rare to offer service to the mankind and contemplate on the higher self.
If one leads such a selfless divine life,
The gates of heaven open to greet such an evolved soul.”

[Above Translation is from  http://risingabhijeet.blogspot.in/2011/09/avvaiyars-favorite-poem-rare-to-be-born.html ]