Bang Bang

Chinni enjoyed Bang Bang! This is her third movie in theater. First being 2 States, then Mary Kom. She is more excited to have pop-corn while watching the movie. She can't give rest to her mouth. Either it has to speaking or eating.

She enjoys with any new friendship. Rinaz being the latest one. I am not sure if its her age or her character to make new friendship faster. Either of them, its good.

Hrithik was the showstopper. Amazing dance if I want to praise. Literally, I can't wait to start learning  dance. Its been high time. My next year's resolution might be dance. There are few in the line though Guitar, Swimming and Marathon 2015. 

Vodka - I am loving it

It all began during Rajesh's Bangalore visit in Jan this year. Organized a get together with Nitya, Ibrahim, Dev and N on a Saturday afternoon. These fellows started ordering beer. My eyes were wide open. Rajesh came up with his usual dialogue "yen aagangilla togo le". Ibrahim suggested "Screw driver", its vodka and orange juice combination. Till then I had tasted beer a couple of times, but had never liked the odor and taste, always wondered how the hell people drink which has such a bad taste.

But then Screw driver was totally orange flavored, because vodka doesn't have it's own taste neither does it smell bad. All went well, sip after sip I finished the first peg. Started with second one. Before I could finish 1/4th, started feeling its kick. A slight headache, felt like I have started loosing control. That was the first time.

A few months later.....

as we visit Navneet's home often, he pushed a little to join him for drinks. And there it started. Again the screw driver. It became a trend there after. Every alternative weekend, I enjoyed vodka's kick. Then slowly it became every weekend. I have screw driver and we stayed back at Navneet's home.

Recently, mom had been to Kukunoor during Ganesh Chaturti. We invited Navneet to our home. That was an awesome get together. I gulped a quarter of screw driver, the max till now. And the experience was amazing. For the first time I had lost control over my body. I had realized why people drink. I am yet to experience the next stage :)

I just want to experience it, not that I will get addicted. 

Teaching getting tougher

I always think, how did I learn reading, numbers, number names, rhymes etc etc. Don't remember mom or dad spending so much time with my studies. 

And now if we don't give time to Chinni, she just lags back. During the last month, she had written exam of 3 letter words. She has written 3 or 4 words correctly. When we inquired, got to know that she is weak in phonics. We didn't teach her phonics!!! How bad.

Just getting her home work done isn't enough. The lessons taught have to revised at home, only then she will get well versed. Some how I have to take care of "teaching", N being busy and short tempered, there is no escaping for me.

Chinni is now good at numbers and their names. Sometimes she gets them wrong, otherwise she is consistent. After teaching phonics, she is getting familiar and is able spell the words properly. She learns what we teach, her mind is fresh, it fills in what we pour.

Ride to Kanakapura

It all started with an alarm at 4 am on a Saturday morning, 20th Sept, 2014. But I had planned to be part of the Bangalore Unity Ride long back. Believe me, I went through the Yes, No, Yes, No in between.

Preparation:

Got my bike serviced on the previous day. Got a pair of glasses and a bag to hold stuff.

Packed the bag with chocolate bars, puncture kit, a shirt, 2 bottles of water and my wallet. I knew I forget.

Woke at 4 am, had a hot water bath to warm up myself and started off. Just when I crossed a couple of kms, I realized I had forgotten helmet and hand gloves.

Kickoff:
I reached the starting point well before the scheduled time 5.03 am :)

Anil Kadsur's welcome and cycle enthusiasts at the venue boosted my confidence. The strength was around 42-45. At around 5.20 am, people couldn't hold back and the first batch took off. It was still dark and hardly few street lights. I still had no concrete plans on how will I get back. I didn't wanted ride to Mysore either.

As the marathon begun, people started ride in groups of 2-3. I didn't know anybody, kept peddling thinking to find somebody down the line. After a km or two, I found this guy riding alone, said "hi", he responded "hi" and the conversation never stopped till Kanakapura. Thanks a lot Naveen for accompanying me all along.

It was a slow start, for couple of kms, until I crossed the metro junction, the road was shabby. But then the road was totally smooth. In fact the road were smoother as I crossed Bangalore. The pace was steady, I didn't wanted to race as I had to complete a stretch of 50 kms. Along the way, me and Naveen got familiar with each other. He had been on the ride the previous year and hence learnt a lot of things from him.

The road was almost sloppy, most of the times we just rolled without effort. I realized that if I had to peddle back it was a himalayan task. My mind kept on saying "let's not ride back". But beyond that thought I started enjoying the ride. The trees, the wind, the open ride, clean air all pushed me till Kanakapura. 

There were ascents too, short ones but what kept me pushing was the descent after that. The cool breeze during the descents killed my stress. Around past 25 kms, I felt like taking a rest for some time. Naveen agreed too. We sat for 10 mins looking at riders pass by. There weren't many riders behind us. What's a point in just riding all the way without enjoying the nature ? After all it was a ride to enjoy and no goals to achieve.

We kept on strolling slowly, ups and downs, very few vehicles crossing us. After sometime, we started seeing the distance reduce. I remember the "Kanakapura 15 kms" board and I started having goose bumps. It kept on reducing "Kanakapura 10 kms", then "5 kms" and we were almost there.

After I crossed 40 kms, I just wanted a speedy ride, so shifted gears ups. Looks like I attained a speed of 35 km/hr for that short duration. Totally enjoyed that stretch.

And there was the Vasu hotel, cyclists hogging on yummy dosas. I just parked my bike and had a delicious masala dosa. Naveen's comment was "anything after a tiring course will be yummy", I agree :)

So I started finding how do I return. Checked with KSRTC, but none of buses had a top to carry my bike. Looked around for private buses to carry by bike, there weren't any. What do I do ? The thought of "himalayan task" riding back was written in bold in my mind. I was confused. Stood on road for around 5 minutes thinking should I try or no? should I try or no? darn, it was so difficult to decide. For a moment thought of calling up wife and ask what should I do? But then how would she analyse my situation? I am the best person to suggest and take a decision.

When I had asked the same question to Naveen, he had suggested to ride back with breaks in between. Had also talked to an elderly person(Ravindra) who gave an inspiring thought "go for the ride just because you want to ride and not because you want to reach a goal". I mixed up both a suggestions and decided to ride back. And I started off.

I just kept on going. I couldn't measure my performance for some time, neither did I had watch nor wanted to open mobile to keep a watch on performance. So I just kept riding. Again there were ascents and descents. There were several instances when I wanted to stop, when I saw an ascent it meant there was a descent ahead. This kept me going and going.

At some time felt like taking a break, opened up mobile and I was astonished. I had covered 10 kms in 38 minutes. Wow!!! The pace was quite good, confidence grew, decided to reach Jayanagar on cycle. Again I started.

As soon as I reached Harohalli, my left leg knee started complaining and got acute pain. Stopped and sipped plenty of water. Started riding, pain didn't recede. Just looked around and found a truck. Talked to driver and he agreed to drop me till nice road. Hence the ride got split.

Thanks to the ride from Harohalli till nice road, I got a good rest and knee had also recovered. Again I started peddling towards Jayanagar. I maintained a good pace, traffic was a bit on higher side in the city as I neared Banashankari.

Reached the starting point and felt accomplished of taking a longer route than I normally ride. But regretted of not completing 100 kms. A century on debut is always special, isn't it ? But then "Jaan hai to Jahan hai" ;)

Overall Stats:
Distance : 75.3 kms
Duration : 4 hours 37 minutes
Calories burnt : around 3000
Feeling : Awesome

Special thanks to Anil for organizing the ride. Naveen who accompanied all the way till Kanakapura.

Too much addiction to Chess, again

It's come back again. Addicted to Chess like hell. I am playing around 20-25 games daily, all of them being 3 minutes games (Blitz). So it turns out to be 2 hrs - 2.5 hrs.

Total number of games played since 2 years.

On 10th July, I have played 38 games.

On 9th July, I have played 31 games.

I am, myself, astonished to find this.

All the credit goes to N, who got me a handset which supports the chess app :)

Got a new cycle for myself

Yeah, cycling is more fun as it used to be in childhood days. With my first cycle Rockrider 5.0, I used to enjoy but with pain. The riding position always suggested me to step back. The interest somehow sustained for a long time of 5 months.

Couldn't withhold the strain I was going through, decided to upgrade my cycle to buy a better one which can keep my interest going and without making me suffer from wrist, elbow and back pain.

Had visited a couple of shops before picking this one. All cycles were quite not affordable, attractive though. It was the budget constraint which made me pick this one. But after my first ride to office, I am kind of happy choosing it. Its Btwin Riverside 3.

Let me enjoy this for sometime. I am sure it's gonna stay with me for a year long. If my interest picks up even more, then road bikes are the one I am interested in. Till then "happy riding".

Throw that clock

It's 7.40 am. N has been trying to wake up Chinni since 7.15 am to get ready for school. No prizes for guessing, Chinni's sleep isn't over yet.

Finally Chinni responds "throw that clock". Not only that, she also complains "daily I have to do su su, kakka, su su kakka". 

Listening to this my sleep vanished within seconds :)

She is bored of this routine just after 2 years of schooling. Poor child, she doesn't know that this is a never going to end, not atleast for another 15 years. I don't remember of myself complaining about such routine even after finishing my post graduation. Can't imagine what will the kids of this generation going to do in future.

Dad's demise

He had been struggling with cancer for a very long long time, almost 12 years. A roller coaster of his health's ups and downs. Every 6 months he had faced one or the other major issue, but he returned back with strong health improvement. And the reason he breath is last (13th April, 2014) was a brain stroke.

He had a brain stroke in Aug 2013. After that he never walked on the recovery path. Slowly he diminished. He was suffering so much but yet he never expressed his pain neither to doctor nor to family members. In fact, during the last 4-5 months, whenever he talked to me, he talked to me with a smile. I felt so devastated and helpless looking at him smile. There have been days together when I didn't talk to him in last 2 months. He used to call me "avin avin .....avin" and mom used to give him a reason that I am busy with something. 

I don't even remember when did I talk to him before his demise. Probably 4-5 days before. On 11th, Friday doddamma and doddappa had visited home. So we made him sit on wheel chair, brought him to hall for few minutes. He was hardly conscious. He couldn't lift his head and he didn't respond too. I knew there was something wrong, but didn't take him doctor. Probably I was wishing "its good if he passes away". To such an extent I had controlled my heart and mind. I had given up a long ago. It was time for him to take rest.

Not a single drop of tear flowed from my eyes after his demise. Don't know why did that happen. May be I was convinced that "what happened is good!" or "it was expected". But when he was being buried and I couldn't see him any more, there was a sense of loosing him. I cried like a child. 

I lost a person who never complained (to me) of anything till date. He never showed anger towards me, no never! I was his favorite. When he was bed ridden, the only name I have heard him call was "avin", that's me. And I was not with him during his last day. Even when he was admitted in ICU during Aug'13, he used to ask me and none, not even mom or naina or anybody else, but me. And I should have been the person sitting beside him during his last moments. I regret.

Cycling updates for March 2014

A month gap in blogging ??!!

Lot of things happening on Chess and Cycling front.

Going at a steady pace as far as cycling is concerned. Got mapmyride app installed and tracked a couple of rides last week.

The above image consolidates the workout.
Had decided to go for the 5th April 100km ride. But a couple of other pending tasks will take a back seat. So right now the decision is looking a bit shaky.

Want to update on Chess, but not the right time yet. Will need to have a detailed post on it.

All of it is fine, where as personal life is taking a beating. Its hard to manage all 3, personal, professional and hobbies.

Cycling continued

The hand injury, which I got during biking, kept me far from cycling for atleast 3 weeks. I was so much eager to hit the road. That Monday morning, I was still in a dilemma "should I go for a ride or no?!!!". After yes, no, yes, no I decided to take it to office !!!

The route being Bommanahalli, Silk board, HSR layout and Bellandur, a total of 14 kms. The road was smooth enough and it seemed as if its not going to be difficult affair.

The hosur road stretch was very bad with traffic. And since I am inexperienced to handle it, the struggle exaggerated to some extent. Till silk board I didn't put much effort to peddle but struggled to get over traffic. The real test came in after I crossed silk board. My stamina started reducing drastically. The remaining path seemed much more than the entire distance from home to office. Slowly I moved.

I crossed HSR layout with difficult, then things started looking positive. Felt as if I am moving faster and destination is closer. Reached Sarjapura cross and I felt much much better, it was an accomplishment waited for. The destination wasn't far away.

As I reached the entrance, I was celebrating already :)

Posted my achievement on facebook and lot of kudos came in.

After that I have peddled 2 more times to office. Its a lot more easier now. Cycling to office is going to be a normal affair from now on. This should definitely help me in strengthening my calf muscle, to loose weight and to run.

First dinner together

20-Feb-2014 This date has to be remembered.

Pappa and Chinni had dinner together at home. Pappa finished 2 chapatis while Chinni finished 1. There was quite a lot of chit chat and I thoroughly enjoyed.

Chinni asked "Why is Nakul's pappa so dumma ?" and I laughed to the core. Made up a reason as to "he doesn't exercise!!!".

And I asked "Is Chinni's pappa dumma?", for which she measured pappa's tummy and said "it's only so much small". 

The chit chat would be more interesting if me, N and Chinni have dinner together. The "having dinner watching tv" tradition has to go away.

The biking bug woke up

Was roaming around fb 2 weeks back in the suggested pages list and hit upon Trailbug and Wanderlust. Little did I knew about it. Opened up the page and the first thing I noticed was a breakfast ride on 2nd Feb. I was excited. Immediately decided to join the ride. There was this pending wish to go for a long ride on my Avenger, even though I had done Nandi hills just after I bought it. Thought this would be a great experience riding with a bunch of experienced and enthusiasts. Believe me it turned out to be a very good experience. Here goes in detail....

The Route

1. Start from Flamenco, 4th block, Jayanagar

2. Kanva Reservior

3. Magadi

4. Back to Bangalore

The schedule for the 1 Feb- 2 Feb weekend

1. Sports day organized by Klay School for Chinni on Saturday at 9.30 am

2. Bicycle maintenance workshop at Cadence90 from 3pm to 4pm

3. Barry's show at 10 pm

4. Kanva Reservoir ride at 5 am on Sunday

That was a tight schedule and I wasn't quite sure which one I am going to drop. Couldn't go to Barry's show.

Woke up at 4.10 am. I already had a give-up symptoms. Mind was wobbling yes, no, yes, no. It took 2 minutes to decided, ofcourse it was yes at the end. Got ready and was at Flamenco sharp 5 am. Couple of guys were already present. We started at 5.30 am sharp.

The next stop was at Bidadi for breakfast. Was hoping to have some yummy dishes at Yatri nivas, but the guys stopped at a Thatte idly junction in Bidadi. And it was in no way less tasty that Yatri nivas breakfast.

We reached the reservoir around 7.30. It was almost empty, but the environment was quite nice, calm. Spent good enough time enjoying the surrounding. The guys had a good chit chat and laugh riots sometimes. 

Then we headed towards Magadi via small villages. But the roads were amazing good and curvy. At a point of time I couldn't take the steep curve and the slope made me go out of control, 50 meters I managed off road and bang!!! I fell. Fortunately wasn't hurt much apart from my right palm. Bike could also hold on to the impact with only the handle bending a little. Vishal and others were of great help with the first aid and setting me back on track.

There on I was a bit afraid during the curves, didn't cross 40 kmph till we hit the main road leading to Magadi. Abhijit filled in some confidence. The ride from thereon till Bangalore was enjoyable (speed wasn't more than 60kmph though).

In total, there was pain and gain. 

Religion defying love for grand daughter

Mom always was too traditional and religious from the day one I know her. It was very hard to break those religious rules by any means. But I started hating these rules from age 11-12. I wasn't comfortable with idol worship and with a lot of other rules which didn't make any sense to me. Neither did mom answer as to why I need to follow them.

I stopped worshiping idols. It slowly turned into disbelief of god. My prayers were never heard. Neither did I know how would god fulfill them. All in all I stopped believing him, but always prayed to make "all" human beings live happily.

As the years passed mom could not maintain all the principles and started relaxing one by one. The main "being vegetarian" will and shall be followed. So we never brought even egg related food to home.

Chinni has been curious to eat egg since couple months. I have always wanted her to taste it and make it as part of her diet. But never dared to ask mom since I knew she would disapprove of.

Yesterday Chinni came to groceries shopping Long with me and my mom. She started grabbing all that she liked and putting them in the basket. Eggs couldn't hide from her eyes. She picked up a pack of 6 eggs and requested me. I denied. She started arguing. I straight away pointed her to my mom and asked her to get permission from her ajji. That was a smart move :)

My mom approved it immediately. I was little surprised since I knew she wouldn't deny anything for her grand daughter. Mom loves her too much. 

Rs 17 more worth than Rs 20

Chinni was returning from her long vacation, so I asked what does she want from pappa. She paused for few seconds and replied "I want chocolate". Got a Rs 20 chocolate yday. Today morning when she reached home, she saw it on the bed and grabbed it. The smile and curiosity in her face gives a sense of peace of mind and happiness :)

I got ready to office and moved on. Mom had not prepared breakfast since I was leaving to office early. I stopped at a darshini on the way for my breakfast. A kid, around 7-8 years old, comes to me and tells "I didn't have food since yday", with a sad face. I could make out he was hungry. I didn't respond. Finished by plate and took tea. The kid was still standing near the counter staring at the food. I paid for a plate of idly, of Rs 17, and gave the token to him. He exchanged the token for idly and had it.

I thought throughout my way to office, the Rs 17 idly was much more worth than Rs 20 that I spent on chocolate. Isn't it ? Like wise we have spent so much of money on only chocolates. Chinni wastes a lot of food which is takes it has tiffin to her school. There is so much food waste that we do and there are kids/people starve days together. There is so much inequality. The inequality has widened much more as the decades have gone by.

Life can't exists without this inequality. Assuming all are building constructors, then who is going to lay the foundation of the building ? Assuming all people are managers, then who is going to take up the work of a developer ? If everybody has equal amount of bank balance, why would somebody take up the ground work ? This is the reality of life. It's hard to digest but it's true. 

Equality can never prevail with each and every human being !!!

Cycling, a new hobby for the year 2014

N and Chinni were travelling on Friday night. I dropped them to bus stop and returned home around 11.30 pm. They are out of station for more than a week. So what do I do with the "freedom". My empty mind freezes when its free. But this time it thought of something constructive rather than killing time. It came up with cycling and since 14th was a holiday, I had good time to plan and execute. I posted on fb.

I hardly got couple of replies, but had made up my mind. Inquired bikes for rent but didn't work out well. So I visited Procycle, HSR branch. The bikes were too expensive, the least price was 19K. And renting out with them was also not convenient. Hence, I had to look for other solution. Returned back home, time was ticking.

Googled a bit more and found cadence90 which had bikes ranging from 10k. So decided to have a check. Headed to cadence90 on Sunday. Quite a small setup but they have good number of bikes for display. After understanding some basics of choosing a bike, I opted for the hybrid bike. And as per suggestion, I bought the least costing one, Rs 8999/- only.

I picked up the bike on Monday after office hours.

Started my first ride around 7.15 am. It was quite cold and sun had already thrown lot of light on earth. Here are some pics taken during my first ride.

The road was very bumpy, my bums had to sustain a lot of pain. The choice of route was bad. Apart from road it was not a good experience. I didn't enjoy the ride much. Back was paining, couldn't lean for a long time. Left leg knee started paining while heading back home. I took a lot of trouble to complete the 13-14km ride. Hoping these problems will get sorted out as I move forward.

And also hoping this would help me in my Marathon goal.

Another year 2014 arrives

Wishing myself a new year, so selfish ??? Not really, I want to wish myself so that I can be my best and the advantages reach my family, friends and foes.

2013 hasn't been a good one. Nothing much happened to write a whole post about. Comparing to 2012, which was such a high point in my life, its been very low. All the health issues, professional draw backs and its effects, not executing the resolution all adds upto the dull year.

1. I did participate in a marathon, 

2. Started learning swimming, which was the year's resolution.

3. Managing finance was a difficult part.

4. 2 trips Ooty and Goa

5. Chinni's dance performance, that was such an astonishing, surprising, delightful event.

6. Pintu's arrival, he has been such a darling and the affection he shares with both N and me.

Those were a few memorable moments last year.