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Point Reyes National Park, CA

....the only thing that a man can do for eight hours a day, day after day, is work. You can't eat eight hours a day nor drink for eight hours a day nor make love for eight hours—all you can do for eight hours is work.....

—William Faulkner

OFF THE COUCH

I was never a sports person, not even the kind that spends time watching and cheering for a favorite team.

An uncle of mine, a yoga exponent introduced me to sun salutations. I never imagined myself to be flexible enough to do yoga, yet I started practicing sun-salutations; more to stay trim than as a fitness regimen. Over time, I was exposed to more yoga. To my surprise, I found that I was pretty flexible (at least more than I had imagined) and was able to do the asanas pretty well. That sure motivated me. Somewhere during my late teens, staying fit gained as much priority as staying trim. Also, I began to feel the need for some aerobic activity - as a consequence I started jogging/running. The sprawling campus of the colony where I lived provided the perfect environment; serene, quiet, pollution-free and traffic-less.

And so I have been running for many years now; for this post, let us focus on running for fitness and stay away from all other connotations (for those of you who know me - running away from being a responsible organized adult and whatever else your mind can conjure). My running regimen has always been ad-hoc, unstructured and prone to long lapses; of course one can’t run during the persistent monsoon and I used to find it extremely difficult (maybe impossible) to wean myself from my warm rajai in the cold winters and summers are too hot to be out running anyways. Despite my irregular running schedule, I have observed that I enjoy running. I like it for the meditative rhythm that it puts me into while I am at it…for the ‘runner’s high’….and also for the sweet hurt. Considering my cushy, laid-back lifestyle and proclivity to gain weight, I decided, it was time to embark on a regular fitness regimen and make running a part of it.

I stumbled upon the ‘couch to 5K’ running program while surfing the internet. I found that the program has been around a while and has many followers. It seemed simple and doable; I decided to give it a try. ‘M’ jumped at the idea and decided to be my running buddy. I also discovered Robert Ullrey’s podcasts for each of the couch to 5K workouts. The podcasts are wonderful; they save you from keeping track of time or distance and make the workout a lot of fun. 3 cheers to Robert!! :)

We run MWF and I am in the middle of Week2. I hope to complete the program by mid-May and continue regularly with my 5K runs. Who knows, someday I might even run a marathon!

If you are looking for a program to get off the couch, this is worth a try. Go for it!

I’d also like to hear your experiences about running, couch to 5K and anything related that you would like to share. Well, its almost time for today’s run. Adieu for this time.

Happy Running!

MY EXPERIMENTS WITH ABSTINENCE

No! I don’t smoke or drink or am not into any other weird stuff that the title of this post might help you imagine. I am an Internet junkie. I can, and, I do spend hours online, most of the times doing stuff that does not ahem qualify as ‘value-adding’. School got me used to 24 hours of high speed Internet. Post-graduation, I found myself in a big city where people were hard to come by. In these testing times the WWW was my only solace. My work in the tech-sector only further fostered this friendship and I guess I never realized when we became almost inseparable. Granny’s rants fell on deaf ears, dad’s disapproving look was quickly dismissed and mom’s Gandhigiri also failed to instigate a change. Like every addict, I was aware of my addiction and its ill-effects; yet I wasn’t doing anything about it and I liked to think I was helpless.

New Year’s time is usually a good time to take stock of life and make amends. It is during this reflective juncture that I happened to read this quote. Write it down. Written goals have a way of transforming wishes into wants, can’ts into cans; dreams into plans and plans into reality. Don’t just think it – ink it. It made sense, and so I penned all the do’s and don’ts and proclaimed it to the entire world here. Most New Year resolutions never go past the first few weeks of the New Year; so a research article claimed. It partially attributed the failure to the fact that the goals are not SMART goals. A quick look at my list and I realized that I needed to be more specific. With a long weekend on my holiday calendar I decided to take some real steps towards tackling my addiction. I promised myself that I would stay away from the Internet for 3 days. Talking about resolutions makes you stick to them, I’d heard; so I dashed a quick “Miss Me” note to some friends telling them about my resolve.

I lingered in the living room after dinner. “What’s the matter today? Aren’t you going to surf?” Granny asked mischievously. I was about snap back; “No I am going to be off it for 3 whole days and spend time with you instead.” I proudly announced. We chatted for a while before turning in. Yess! I had made a start; I congratulated myself. “What’s the username for our Internet connection? Have you changed the password?” - Dad. “There let me help you with that.” I promptly offered jumping out of bed. I was tempted to have a quick look at my email as I got him connected, but checked myself. “You will have to watch out for these weak moments for the next 3 days. They will be waiting to pounce on you at every corner.” I reminded myself.

Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise. I sure felt great as I awoke to the sounds of the birds early the next morning. Chai-walk with Granny-jog-meditation was to be my morning ritual for the next 3 days. Gone was the feeling of “I need more sleep”, the dark circles and moi’s beauty gained a new dimension. As Dad busied himself with some work, I pulled out my lappy. “I am going to play you music over the Internet” I suggested enthusiastically. All I got is a cold stare to which I succumbed. Ah! Another small victory. Temptation usually comes in through a door that has been deliberately left open. Remembering this, I gave my lappy a goodbye kiss and tucked it safely into the laptop bag. This bag then went into my sister’s wardrobe. Out of sight, out of mind – I hoped this would work for me. The first day was really tough, every few hours I was seized by a strong urge to pull out lappy, hook it up and surf. Those times I tried to divert my attention by reading. One way in which the Internet has taken its toll on me is – lessened concentration. So reading didn’t come so easily too, but I just kept at it. “This would make a great story.” I thought and started observing my moods and thoughts more closely. Saturday (2^nd day) went by smoothly; I was travelling and out of home all day. By Sunday I had sort of gotten used to not starting my day by booting the lappy. I busied myself with some household chores.

By the end of Sunday night however I was bursting to tell everybody what a good girl I had been. So out I pulled lappy dear and woohoo I was connected…

Looking back the 3 day abstinence worked out well for me. I felt relaxed and satisfied that I had not splurged my holidays. I think I am going to practice this more often….

Simbly Z(S)even

Alrighty………I have been tagged……..courtesy Kusum…..so here it goes…. :)

7 things to do before I die:

1. Globe trot (….squeeze in road trips and backpacking trips….fly business class)… Okay, if not anything, at least take a trip to Kailash Mansarovar.
2. Pamper my family crazy.
3. Anger management, learn to be more tolerant.
4. Start my own restaurant.
5. Be a cool dancer.
6. Stop swearing completely.
7. Do my bit for old people and/or something related to Indian heritage.

7 things I can't do: (for now…except the last couple )

1. Prepare Bhakri. (yumm….my favorite.)
2. Write poetry.
3. Think w/ my head instead of heart when required.
4. Tinker w/ gadgets and stuff.
5. Initiate and carry on a nerdy conversation.
6. Swim.
7. Be false.

7 things I always say:

1. Tch….or Mtch….
2. Whateverr!
3. I’m hungry….
4. I mean…
5. Like Helloow…
6. Cool….
7. Anyhoo…..

7 books I have loved:

1. Love Story
2. The 7 spiritual laws of success
3. The Monk who sold his Ferrari
4. Time Machine
5. A Cup of Comfort for Friends
6. arab bhASheteel suras va chamatkaarik kathA
7. badalata bhArat

7 things I get attracted to:

1. Nature
2. Rain
3. Smells - Cologne/after shave, earth after the first rain, warm spicy food.
4. Good vegetarian food.
5. People - Creative, Funny, Good cooks, Philosophers, Achievers, people like me ;)

Sorry can’t think of more….

7 movies I love to watch over and over: (Well not over and over…’coz I am not a movie buff…..but I could modify this to movies I have enjoyed)

1. Life is Beautiful
2. Iqbal
3. Dumb and Dumber
4. Austin Powers
5. Terminal

Sorry can’t think of more….

1 Person I am tagging

• Kedar
  

IDEAS

“Umm….I guess the write-up was the result of a rare creative burst that happens to me once in a while,” I told my father when he genuinely appreciated something that I wrote.

“Maybe. But you should continue to write. I think you have a flair for writing,” said Dad, as always, trying to encourage me.

“I don’t know how it works, but these ideas don’t come see me everyday! They are like these friends with whom I do not hang out regularly, yet meeting them out-of-the-blue gives me immense happiness,” I complained.

Dad smiled at my analogy. “Make it point to write down your ideas WHEN they come to you,” advised Dad. “Do you remember chasing those feathery, white seeds as a child?” he asked. I nodded a yes and waited for him to continue.

“Remember, our ideas are like those seeds floating in the air. If you grab them they are yours, else they float away never to be seen again.”

Dad’s explanation made sense. Now, I keep a small diary and pen in my purse. The moment I sense an idea floating past, I make sure I scribble it in this diary for later reference.

Thought I’d share this ‘lil tip…