Republic Ride

This is the first Republic Day after my school life on which I woke up too early. It is for the cycling event "Republic Ride" organised by Atlanta, a foundation for providing education to needy. The registration fee is 2k for everyone. The event is for a number of firms. Some of the firms other than Deloitte include TCS, CTS, Infosys, GE, Franklin Templeton, Aliens Group. 

I woke up by 4 30 am, but went to bed only above 1 am :) Was reading "Three mistakes of my life" by Chetan Bhagat. It was the climax part of the book. I couldn't sleep without completing it. The book was good. 

I am supposed to get a bicycle on my own as i couldn't register for the event when the mailer for registration came. So on Jan 26th morning, i had to go to Madhapur to get Sriram's cycle. Got cycle from him disturbing his sleep at 5 am. My goodness. There was no time for me that i could not ensure that the pressure in the wheels are good. So, it was a bad start. From Madhapur i need to go to Novotel which is the starting point of cycling event. Approximately 5 km travel with his cycle. Almost exhausted by that time itself :) There were three categories : 10 km, 50 km and 100 km. I had a plan to participate in 100 km. Since many cycles were available there, i thought of taking one. Another bad decision : Selected a cycle which was too small. 100 k event is supposed to start by 6 am. As it got delayed in distributing T shirt, i started only by 7 15 or so. Enough protection was given for riders. Police were standing clearing traffic. Felt like VIP :) As a mark of poor organisation, we were directed to a wrong path by a volunteer because of which i traveled an extra 4 km unnecessarily. A number of Rest stations are planted at irregular intervals, providing refreshments :) Reached Rest station 1. Met Manohar, my collegue. 

On the way to Rest station 2, my brand new cycle tube got punctured. I had to put it in the help vehicle. Reached Rest station 2. A colleague of mine in MOSS team was about to give up, as he was very tired. So took his bicycle. On the way from Rest station 2, i got the first muscular cramp when i tried to climb up an uphill road,which is the worst of all three spasms. I couldn't stand because of the pain. I had to lie down on the ground leaving the bicycle. Manohar came for rescue. He tried to relax thigh muscles. Organizer camera team came. One of the guys there provided first aid to me. They took photos of that :( Bad boys :)

In the middle of the paths i had two more spasms, but during the second time i simply managed myself, relaxing and walking for some time. Manohar went ahead. So i had no other option. Resorted to "Self Help is the best help". Started alone after relaxing for some time. Had 3rd spasm after some time. After this third spasm i decided not to stress anymore. So started to ride as slow as possible. There was this guy named Vikram from CTS, standing near a cycle repair shop. I stopped on seeing him. He told his cycle tube got punctured. There was no one in the shop to help him. But the required tools were all there. I decided to fix the puncture. Yeah i did it for the first time in my life :) After fixing, we both started together having a good talk. It is just another 7 km to finish. His cycle tyre got punctured again. No way this time. He had to resort to the help of help vehicle. He went along with it. I am determined to finish it completely. So i started alone again. After all uphill roads Hyderabad being a plateau, i made it :) But the time was 2 15 pm. I covered 50 km in 7 hours :) Some covered 100 km in the same time :)

In this travel of 50 km, I had three nimbooz, 3 Red bull, 6 bananas :) Even then i was very tired. I am provided the certificate on completion of 50 km. Even though i did not feel that hungry, i decided i should have food in the 7 star hotel :) All i had is fruit salad, a stuffed rotti, one nimbooz. It was awesome but :) Met another colleague who completed 10 km. Met college senior Allvin and his senior. Allvin is from TCS and the other one from Deloitte(forgot his name :) ). On the whole it was a superb day with a mix of feelings : joy, pain, exhaustion, briskness :) This is how Republic Ride went :) Good experience :)

23rd Sat, 2010 - a good day

Today is a remarkable day to me, being the first day I provided weekend support to my team. I am supposed to work from 5.30 am to 2.30 pm (weird timings !!!) from home.

Woke up at 6 :) and opened the laptop. I was so busy that i had no time to brush teeth at the right time. Didn't drink or eat anything till 2.30 pm :) Was simply working because doing something is always better than doing nothing. Had food around 4 pm, till then was watching "pudhu kotaiyilirinthu saravanan" in sun tv. Power went off signalling me to atleast clean the room today. But didn't clean it yet :) Instead in the pleasant evening started watching "Aayirathil oruvan". Unfortunately i dont have the complete movie. So planned to watch "2012". Wow :) Movie was simply superb. Awesome scenes. Kudos to the technology. Scenes were very realistic. It has a good concept. Imagine that earth's crust to going to dismantle owing to emission of radiations from sun. Then everyone thinks about the ultimate truth of life : Affection, care, love. Thats all everyone yearns for. Movie's baseline is so good that it should have kindled the hidden love in hard-hearted fellows :)

After the movie, i thought of talking to chennai akka. Left home for a walk besides talking to akka. Had a nice walk and talk :) Returned home after an hour and watched "Transporter 3" in Star Movies. It is a very good action movie, with each stunt encouraging to build your body like the lead actor Jason Statham's. Prepared rotti and had dinner after the movie.

The day was good with little problems. After all life without problems will be a bore :) As long as you can control yourself in any situation, you can actually enjoy problems. There could be problems which could make your temper bad. The very first thing you should think at that time is "You are going to lose enormous amount of your energy by losing your temper". Instead focus all your energy on the problem, not on the person. A person's behaviour at a time depends on a lot of factors. So it is better to think well and do something rather than thinking after committing a mistake. For every problem comes with an equal or greater opportunity, one should be thankful to the problems he get. Only at times of crisis you will come to know about the true color of others. Be thankful to God for whatever you are. Thank God by being good in whatever you do. He knows what to give to whom and when.

Life is of course a mystery full of puzzles with all clues scattered all around you. You just need to figure out what is the right stuff you need. Automatically things will fall in your hand once you figure out what you need. To stay happy you just need to do what you like. Dont think about what others will think. As long as it does not hurt anyone you can actually do anything humble :)

One more philosophy : If you think bad about a person however he/she good is, it wont matter to you. It is better not to come to a conclusion about a person. Accepting the way what others are is the best way to live a cool life. Because no one can change others. But you can change yourself. You can change the way you think. Starting thinking differently and in all possible ways and coming to a wise decision should be the right turning point to develop personality.

Btw, day was overall good with all these incidens and thoughts.

Signing off now with the following principle of life

"Don't believe in everything what others say"

- Vedathiri Maharishi

Sunday, 17th Jan 2010

This is how my last week's sunday went.

Golgonda fort - One of the places which reminds me of my Industrial Visit. It was hyderabad IV, the third IV. It is one of the nicest industrial visits in my college life. I imagine how lovely college life is :) Except for the fact that you can't earn, college life is simply the greenest part of everyone's life :)

This is the second time I went to Golgonda. It is relatively nearer compared to the distance I thought it would be from my home. I reside in Madinaguda. It is on Mumbai National Highway. It was Sunday noon 2 pm and I heard my mobile ringing while I was still on bed enjoying the Sunday sleep. It was a call from a friend asking me whether I could make it to the Golgonda trip that evening. I thought for a while and decided that I could make it as I always wanted to visit as many places as possible. But this decision has once again made me unable to clean my room. I had to go to Toli chow, a place on the way to Mehdipatnam from Gachibowli. There were colleagues waiting after their lunch. Reached Golgonda after a 10 min travel from Toli chowk.

In my Industrial Visit, we guys rocked taking the path through all "No entry" points of Golgonda fort. That time, it was really good to enter "No entry" areas, breaking all rules :) It was fun.

This time it was a fun of different kind. Enjoyed thoroughly though :) Evening six alarmed the arrival of mighty night. Planned to go somewhere else. So we agreed to the plan of going to Landmark, a novelty center in Banjara Hills, but pretty bigger one. Decided to get some books. Bought some and satisfied with the weekend :)

Excerpts from MEGALIVING - Robin Sharma

There is nothing noble about being superior to some other person. The true nobility lies in being superior to your previous self.

- Proverb

When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all of your thoughts break their bonds, your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction and you find yourself in a new great and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than your ever dreamed yourself to be.

-Patanjali

There is no such thing as a negative circumstance, only a circumstance that you may learn from. There are no mistakes in life, only lessons which will allow you to grow and advance higher on the path of self-mastery.

Stop being a prisoner of your past - become the architect of your future. Every event happens for a special purpose. Every problem is a special challenge from which we can learn and prosper to new heights of achievement.

There are simply no limits for a person who accepts no limits.

Two States - my views

Two States - a novel by Chetan Bhagat under the Fiction category. This is the fourth novel by the IIT-Delhi, IIM-Ahmedabad pass out, manager turned writer. I remember my friend Ashwin telling about Chetan Bhagat's first book, " Five point someone", in college. I downloaded the e-book, but never read it. "Two States" is the first English novel I have read completely in my life. I went Chennai for x-mas. On returning, it was a 14 hour long train journey. I thought of ways to pass that time well. Reached Chennai Central station one hour prior to the departure time. Went to Higgin Bothams book shop in the station and thought of getting some books. I saw "two states" with Chetan Bhagat's name in the cover page. I had a flurry of excitement from within to buy the book as the subtitle in the cover page read "the story of my marriage". Along with it, I bought "Three mistakes of my life", the third book from the same author.

Started reading the book, even before the train started to leave the station. The very first page of the novel was charming. Since the novel is about the story of author's marriage and since the bride's home town is Chennai, I decided to read it till I would feel asleep :) The narration was fantastic that I laughed well as I read through the book.

I felt angry about the author when he was telling bad (eventhough some of them are facts )about my birth town Chennai. I feel like he should not have written those tamil indecent words in his book. The words in this book were written so correctly that I doubt whether the author is a punjabi :) I wish he should not come to Chennai. What the hell do punjabis think about tamilians ? Just because they are fair-complexioned doesn't mean that they are the best. After all it is not the look that matters, but it is the character. Author's mom referring the bride Ananya to Jayalalitha is absolutely not acceptable. How dare Chetan Bhagat is to use Jayalalitha's name like that !!! (Chetan Bhagat - You better don’t come to Chennai. If you come, it may become your worst trip. I appreciate your writing skills. But don’t dare to come chennai again.)

The world has a great opinion about Indians, specifically to Tamilians, specifically to Brahmins. The things mentioned in the novel about the so called Tamil Brahmin Ananya is 100% obnoxious. She eats chicken, drinks beer, makes love before marriage, kisses a guy in public. My goodness. How dare you wrote like this. It could be a novel. But it should not affect anyone. It should've insulted many in Tamil Nadu I suppose.

The parts of the book where he had written about Citi Bank is depicting real life corporate world. I particularly appreciate some sentences in this book which made me laugh like I have never laughed on reading a book. I am grateful to you, Chetan Bhagat for this. The book is worth the money 95 rupees. Even though it has some disapproving facts, the book is a good time pass to youngsters. I don’t know how old people could think about this book as it has lot of spicy stuff.

Looking forward to another Chetan Bhagat's novel,

Signing off with smile :)

Flowers in my plant :)

2009 - A look back

Key events in 2009 for me :

1. Completed my Diploma in Yoga program.
2. Completed my BE in ECE from PSG Tech in May.
3. Joined Deloitte on June 29th.
4. Started learning Swimming.
5. Danced for the first time on stage after my dance in 6th or 7th standard.
6. Organised a two month Yogasana program in PSG hostel during the last semester.
7. Went aliyar as a volunteer for twice or thrice.
8. Bought a scooter, Suzuki Access 125.
9. Sounds funny but truth (boarded a train in a sleeper coach after a long time when I had a NCC trip to New Delhi in my ninth standard, i always travelled in general compartment hitherto as all my travels were mostly unplanned).
10. Went to Kerala for the first time(Went to Veega Land).
11. Got admitted in a hospital for the first time as far as to my knowledge owing to a bad fever.
12. Travelled in a sleeper coach bus for the first time(Trip to vignesh's home in tuticorin). Visited my ancestral origin town after a long time.
13. Got Siva as my sister, friend and even more than that (equivalent to mom).
14. Got a flower plant as a part of Greening Day event. It blossomed nine flowers till now :)
15. Learnt car driving and got License.
16. Got PAN card, Passport.
17. Got a laptop on the first day of employment (Din't even know how to switch it on that day :) )
18. Lost my precious Nokia 1108 mobile in Gachibowli swimming pool on the first day of swimming class.

I consider point no 13 to the best thing that happened to me in 2009 :) I pray God to give my akka Siva everything she wants.

I wish all a very happy 2010 :)

Let God give us everything needed to face 2010 with ease:)