Re-Calibrated Dreams

Did you ever wonder where the daughter of your house maid studies? Did you spare a penny of a thought to what hardships the son of the person who cleans your car every morning goes through? Do you know what could be the dream of the daughter of the watchman in your apartment, who says 'salaam saab' to you every time you pass by? Well, I did not, till some time back. I was in my own world, minding my own business, mostly.

It was a day that I would never forget in my life. A day, which taught me so many things and made me realize some of the hard truth of life. I and some other folks from office had received an invite from someone to visit an institute and meet the students who were preparing for their upcoming placements. Since I was involved with campus recruitment for our organization, I had received this invite. I was all pumped up to go and give a pep talk, motivate and inspire them to do well in the interviews. The organizers also wanted us to conduct some mock interviews.

We had to go to Tolichowki, a locality at the intersection of the old and new city at Hyderabad. On one side you could see flyovers leading to tall buildings with shining glass façade, housing the young urban professional, and on the other side was the massive expanse of living quarters of middle and low income group families. The location of the institute puzzled us. Nonetheless, we found our way to a nondescript building whose address was given to us.

We 4 colleagues from Capgemini, climbed the stairs to the first floor of the building where the institute was located. The first floor had a small reception, an office room and 2 class rooms. The walls were decorated with motivational quotes. In one of the room there were about 30 kids. They were looking nothing like engineering students. They were 18-23 year old students from slum areas and villages, all children of low income families. We were asked to address the students. Very soon, we understood that they would find it difficult to follow English properly. Hence, we used Hindi to address them.

We all tried to inspire and motivate them. I told them about having a goal and narrated the story of karoly Takacs, the Hungarian shooter who despite losing his right hand won the Olympics gold medal. I told that they, despite of their struggles and problems, can also achieve their goals, if they focus on it and work hard.

Then it was time for the mock interview. We divided the students into 4 groups and I told them that we would do a group discussion and I will ask questions to them and they can ask questions to me as well.

The group of 8 with me went to another room. We settled ourselves and I asked them to introduce themselves with their name, where they come from, what they are studying and what are their hobbies, interests, dreams & goals. That is when I realized that they were mostly 10^th class failed. Their parents were auto drivers or house maids or working in a tea stall or road side hotel. Most of them did not speak audibly. I had to really struggle even to understand their hindi even though I was sitting quite close to them.

I gave them some tips like saying hi/hello, smiling at others and saying their name loudly and confidently. After giving some other tips, I asked them to ask me questions. There were absolutely no questions from their side. So, I kept prodding them. I learnt that they were studying Sales – to be sales boy or sales girls in small shops, Hotel operations – to work in small restaurants and Computers – to be data entry operators. Most of them told me that their goal was to get a job and start earning. I understood, being financially independent by earning their livelihood and helping their family was something badly needed by all of them.

After asking them several times to ask me questions, Saba, a girl in a black burqa asked: Sir How big is Capgemini? Where are the different branches? Who is the owner? What is your duty time? Etc. I answered those questions patiently.

Then Saba asked,

Sir, what is your designation?

I said Senior Manager.

Sir, What do you do in a typical day?

I struggled to explain to them what system integration is, what is a merger and what are the challenges when an organization like Capgemini acquires another organization like iGate. But these questions still could be answered. The next one was a googly.

Sir, what is your salary?

I did not know what to answer to that particular question. The first thing I thought was that these kids were so innocent that they did not know what questions could be asked and what should not be. I was overwhelmed with their simplicity. But still I did not know whether to tell the truth or not. The truth, which I at the end of every month feel is not enough; but the same truth, I am sure would be sufficient to sustain some of their entire family for almost a year. If I tell the truth, I felt they might feel deprived and bad, and if I did not, I would be lying. Then it dawned on me that I am not supposed to disclose my salary.  Relieved, I let a long breath out and winged up a convoluted answer telling them what I earned when I started my career, and that it goes up with experience.

The next question was again a bouncer. Another kid asked,

Sir, if I want to become like you, what I should do.

I was at a loss for words. What could I say? My life and how I became what I am flashed across my mind in a second. And I realized how just plain lucky I had been to have been born to parents who could provide me with education that helped me get on the professional train. Should I tell them, that to become like me, they should get an engineering degree, then get an MBA and then get into a corporate life? Will it encourage them, or will it discourage them? How do you say that to someone who is 10^th fail and does not even know what the real world boundaries and limitations are? Would you just tell her that there is no way for you to join a large MNC? Or would you sugar coat your answer? Without knowing what to say, I just ducked the question asking them to dream big, to focus on the goal and to work hard – One day they could become like me.  My inner voice was shouting - how hollow these words were. What actions could I take for them?

Question after question kept stumping me.

Sir, what are the opportunities for me at Capgemini. 

I was just as helpless as before again. What could they do at Capgemini? Would they be happy to be the housekeeping staff, I thought to myself, to clean the premises, pantry and the washrooms? I was actually feeling very small because I did not have an answer. For several minutes, I did not dare to say anything. Finally, those hollow words came out from my mouth - You can be anything that you want to be!

Sir, how many years of service is required to reach your position?

Very soon I realized the reason why they were asking me questions about my designation and how much money I make. Perhaps, they were trying to imagine themselves at my position. Perhaps they wanted to day dream. Perhaps they wanted to understand that such a thing, which we in our society take for granted, is possible. It is possible to become a professional, to speak to one and to get to know one was a dream come true for them. They were re-calibrating their own goals and dreams. How could I ask them to become a cleaner or office boy and shatter their newly painted nascent dreams the color of which had not even dried from their eyes?

Finally, 2 of the 8 kids announced proudly – Sir – I want to become a Senior Manager at Capgemini. That is our dream. Their dreams had just changed from becoming a data entry operator to become a Senior Manager at an MNC. This was no laughing matter. They were dead serious about it.

How could I help these kids was the only thing that was in my mind. All of them had goals and dreams. Though their voice was weak, their passion shone clearly. One boy told that his father has a tea-stall. He wants to expand that. He wants to make it a hotel business. These were the kind of dreams they were carrying.

Later, we had a feedback session. We were supposed to give our feedback to them. I gave the feedback that I loved their passion, dreams and goals. I told them to work on their English speaking skills which can be a passport to their job. I told them to help each other and never feel that they are alone. And whenever they feel like they are alone, just ask for help.

At the end of the session, they came and asked for our autographs. I was afraid to sign as I do not consider myself worthwhile to sign an autograph. We were all simple office-goers, but were treated like celebrities. However, we wrote an inspiring message for each of them, not to disappoint them.

On the way back, the Hyderabad traffic was bad. Throughout the journey, I sat silently. Just one thought kept recurring  – Just how plain lucky I had been! Then, a sense of gratitude came over. It was gratitude to all those – my parents, teachers, members of the society, colleagues, everyone who helped shape my life.

I went there to inspire them, but I came back inspired. I went there to ask them questions, I came back with lots more questions, unanswered. I went there to show them the way, I came back having realized the path.

That night I kept asking myself, what I could do to help the kids. Now, I have a plan. And by will of God, I will be able to execute the plan, one step at a time. This blog is the first step. To spread the word.

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This post is incomplete if I do not mention the organizers, the instructors, the fund raisers at such organizations like AIF and CAP Foundation. They are all doing tremendous service to society by helping these kids find their livelihood. They go door to door, mobilize these students and train them free of cost. They also organize placement service for them. Just imagine, if such selfless people are not there, what would be the future of all those who due to financial and social circumstances have been deprived of proper education? My request to anyone who has ways and means of helping these kids to come forward and extend a helping hand, lend an ear or at least spread the word.

Thanks for reading.

Here are some pictures of the session.

AHM 2016 - Mind, Body and Will

The Airtel Hyderabad Marathon was scheduled on 28^th August, Sunday. I had registered for the half. 

On the previous day, I did not go for a run. I planned to take as much rest as possible. But I had some errands and ended up walking more than 6k and roaming in the city the entire afternoon. By evening, I was pretty exhausted by all the errands. For dinner, I had a bellyful of white rice which was my carbo-gorging (not loading!).  I planned to sleep early so that I could get up by 3:30 am. The cab was booked for 4:30am.

I went to bed by 10:30pm. I thought about the run in the morning and what would be my target. Though I was secretly hoping to do it in 2:21, my realistic plan for the run was 2:27. I had been thinking about my running splits and decided to scribble it on my left hand. It will serve me as a reminder if I am doing fast or slow, I thought.

I wrote:                    2k  -       15 mins

                                7k -        50 mins

                                10k-       70 mins

                                15k-       103mins

                                20k-       140mins

                                21k-       147mins                                               

(This picture was taken just after the run while stretching)

Typically, the night before a run, I do not get good sleep. Contrary to my previous experience, on that night, within a few minutes of lying on the bed, I was in deep sleep. Around 1:30pm or 2:00pm, I woke up, drank some water and tried to sleep. Surprisingly, I was feeling fully awake. I tossed around in the bed, unable to sleep any further. The 3-3.5 hours of sleep seemed enough. I just kept my eyes closed.

Around 3:40am, I got up and prepared myself. At 4:30am the cab came and I contacted 2 other runners, Dev and Amit who were car pooling with me. We reached the venue around 5:10am or so.

It had rained heavily in the night. So the early morning weather was cool. As usual, there was lot of light and music at the start area. There was a big crowd as well. The full marathon folks had already started at 5:00am and they were doing the loop around Hussain Sagar. We went to the hold area and were joined by the other RTP runners. Together, we took some snaps, did some warm ups and then there was a call for the line up as per different corrals. That is when we dispersed and I did not get to see any other RTP runner till the end of the run.

The run started exactly at 6:00am. I had a good plan. I started slowly. I was hoping that once the crowd thinned out I will pick up pace. But the crowd was huge. And it did not seem like thinning. All runners seemed very excited and but their speed was a slow jog. I also jogged along with them for the first hundred meters.

Hyderabad marathon is not known as the toughest city marathon just like that. The race starts at the benign and beautiful necklace road. But do not be beguiled by the beauty of start area. No sooner than you have covered even 500 meters, you meet the first of the several flyovers – the Khairatabad flyover. It is a small one, but it is a portent one. It tell us the shape of things to come.

By the time we reached the Khairatabad flyover, people had picked up speed. Most of the crowd ran past the first flyover briskly. Down the flyover, a sharp right turn takes the runners on the Rajbhawan road. I did 2k in about 13 minutes. I was running 2 minutes faster than my target and was happy. Around the 2.5k mark was the first water station. Some runners slowed down to take a sip. I continued my run.  

At 3.5 km, came the next hurdle. It was the Somajiguda flyover.  A flyover is never easy to run on. Though there is a downward slope after the upward incline, the thought of running up a flyover creates some hesitation in the mind if you are not used to it. But when you have to run, you have to. So, I persisted. The Somajiguda flyover gave way to the Punjagutta flyover.  By time the Punjagutta flyover forked and we reached the Banjara hills road number 3, we had covered 5k and yet another mental pressure was building up  just by looking at the steep incline of the road ahead.  The next 2 km presented a 50meter climb. It was difficult because it is a straight patch and you can see it. But since it was still early on in the run, most of the runners sped through. So did I. By 45 minutes since start of run, I had covered 7 km, ahead of my target by 5 minutes and feeling really happy about it. It was then I started dreaming about doing a PB (Personal Best). I clocked my Personal Best in 2012 at 2hr:22mins. At the same time, my mind started telling me that I need to walk a bit. I had not walked at all from the start. I told myself that there should be a water station in the next 500m to 1k where I can rest. So, continued running.

Around the 8k mark was a water station. I stopped and had water, grabbed some biscuits and banana. Then started running again. The next 1 km or so was still a slow climb. By the time I reached Jubilee hills check post, almost 9k done, the road flattened out and the running became a little easy. I took 65 minutes for 10k, still 5 minutes ahead of my target and still dreaming of my PB. I thought if I could maintain this pace, I will be able to do the run at 2:22 instead of 2:27 and just some extra push in the last leg will see me achieve my PB. But I was not aware of the things to come.

The downward incline continued. Again, my mind was begging me to walk a bit. It told me that I have 5 minutes lead. I can easily afford to walk for 1 minute. I kept repeating to it that I can slow down, I can run slowly, but I will not walk. This tussle went on for 3 more kilometers and after 13km, an upward incline presented itself.  The wicked mind, which was looking for excuses,  told me that you have crossed way beyond the halfway mark, almost nearing the 2/3^rd mark. Now, as a treat to your body,  you should walk. In a moment of weakness, I succumbed to it and walked for about 100 meters.

Around the Hitech city junction, it is a sharp 100m elevation in about 1 kilometer till the mindspace junction. That is a killer. I slowed down, reduced my stride length and increased the cadence a bit. Luckily, the 10k runners had not reached that point yet and hence it was comparatively crowd free. I remember, the previous year, due to my slow run, by the time I reached Hitech city, the 10k runners were all over the place - the road, the water stations, aid stations and everywhere else.

I reached 15k in exactly 100 minutes, still 3 minutes ahead of target. I was still dreaming of a PB. Infact, I was thinking about a 2:20 finish!

Around that time, I had some more banana, a bit of water and some electrolyte – fast and up – and that was yuck!

The run from 15k to 17k was mostly downhill. I tried to make up my lost time in the mindspace hill by running faster in this leg, with longer strides. There were school kids standing beside the road and cheering all the while. It was really motivating!

Around 17k I could see the last big hurdle, the Gachibowli flyover. I had good time till that, at 1hr:53min. I ran steadily. The school kids were all standing on the flyover divider and cheering. Some of them extended their hands out and I touched them. It was invigorating. Around 17.5k, I felt a tightening in the right leg calf muscle. I was surprised. A runner is not a stranger to pain. I remember I have had pain in all over my body during my marathon preparation, from toes, to feet to heel, to ankle, knee,thigh, back, tail bone, you just name it. But this was different. But I never had such an experience in my last 5 years of running. I slowed down drastically, almost to a walk. Slowly, the pain subsided and again I started running. I knew the 3 minutes lead I had was slipping away. I had already lost almost a minute. Hardly would I have gone another 200 meters, again the front tibia and the calf muscles of both legs tightened. I saw a medical aid station and limped along, determined not to stop till I reach that. The aid station folks sprayed the pain killer on my legs and the pain subsided to a great extent. I resumed my running. But, just 2 minutes and 200 meters later, both legs cramped again. It was excruciatingly painful. I could not even stand. I was in the middle of the road and had to move to the edge of the road to sit down on the divider. The legs felt like dead lead. I was really afraid by now. My mind told me to give up. But I did not want to. 

I sat on the divider, massaging my muscles, thinking about the 1000km of running that I had put in before this run. I thought about the tremendous will power I had to use to quit smoking in order to run well. Now, the PB was a distant dream. Not only had I lost all the time I had gained, now the dread of a DNF was looking straight in my eyes. In fight between mind and matter, mind always wins. But here was a fight between mind and will. No one was asking the body what it wanted. Mind was gripped with fear and wanted to stop. Will wanted to continue. I summoned all the will power that I had and stood up.   

The runners who were passing along urged me to keep running slowly and not to sit down. I gathered myself and started running again. The muscle cramps were still coming in waves. Whenever the calves of the legs were getting tight, I slowed down a bit and then started running again. But the intensity of the cramp was reducing. So, I took it as a good sign. With renewed vigor, I pushed ahead.

By the time I looked at my time, I had taken almost 10 minutes for that 1 km. As luck would have it, around 19k, the cramps subsided completely. The PB was definitely not in the scene. I did not even know if I could meet my 2:27 target. It was 2:11 and I still had more than 2k to go.

Slowly and steadily I pushed along and entered the stadium. All the way, the kids were shouting - last leg, 500 more to go. And even after going 500m, they were shouting 500 more to go. That was frustrating. But I knew that they were instructed to shout like that. The last leg inside the stadium, for some reasons, seems very difficult. I reached the red running track of Balayogi stadium. It was less than even 100 meters now and I could see the finish line. But my ordeal was not done yet.

Just about 50 meters from finish, the body that was ignored all the while revolted. The cramps came back again with a vengeance. It was a sharp pain again, freezing me on the track. My face crinkled with pain. I simply stopped then and there and bent down.  My mind was happy to prove itself right. It was saying – look, I told you to give up. You did not listen. Now suffer. This is what you deserve. My will was just observing all that was happening, without passing any judgment at all. There were no thoughts of PB. There was no thought of reaching my target. It was just soaking in all the pain, the dream and the sweat.

A few seconds later, still writing with pain, I picked up my run and crossed the finish line. I looked up at the large watch put up beside the finish gate. It showed 2:30. I stopped the app on my phone that showed the actual run time. It was 2:26:13. In spite of the trials, I had managed to just beat my target. The will triumphed.

A few minutes later, my phone buzzed. I received an SMS from the timing company. It read a chip time of 2:26:59. 

Woohoo!!! I had beat my target by just 1 second! The feeling, priceless!

It was a journey from a dream to pain to finally happiness. It was a fight between the monkey mind, the obedient body and the indomitable will. Finally, the will triumphs!

                                                          ~o~

Sandeep, Deepak, Vivek, Vasudha and other folks from RTP runners were already there, having finished their runs. We stretched, had the breakfast and then returned back.

Before I end this, a big shout out to Hyderabad Runners (HR) for organizing the AHM. This is the 6th year that they have organized the race and I have participated in 4 of these 6 years. Every year, the organizing team adds something new and the bars are being raised higher. This year, I especially liked the music bands, traditional dancers, tribal musicians and kids on route who were doing a great job of cheering and encouraging the runners. A huge Thanks to you all AHM Organizers, HR members and volunteers for the great experience!

Airtel Hyderabad Marathon 2016 – The Preparation.

This story starts on August 30^th 2015. It was the last Sunday of August last year and it is the day of annual pilgrimage of runners at Hyderabad - the Airtel Hyderabad marathon. I had registered for the same enthusiastically, but my preparation was not good. However, having completed a half and a full marathon in 2012 and 2013 respectively, I was confident to complete this half. I did. But my time was dismal. It was dismal by my own standards - the standards of a slow runner. I had finished the half in 3 hours and 2 minutes.

While analyzing my run, I found that I was taking a lot of walk breaks in between. I was getting out of breath and was not able to sustain my runs for a longer period. Thinking more about it, it dawned on me that the reason could be my habit of smoking. Smoking impacts the lungs. It destroys the lungs and drastically reduces the capacity of lungs to hold and assimilate the oxygen from our breath to blood. And hence I was feeling breathless and had to walk every 500 meters or so. I still do not understand why I did not face this breathlessness in 2012 and 2013 when I ran the marathon.

As it happens after every run, I set up a few new goals for myself. One of them was to do a respectable time in the 2016 run. This meant that I had to practice regularly. I decided to do a 5k run almost everyday as a practice.  Apart from that, I also decided one more big goal for myself which would help me in running well – that was to quit smoking.

On 30^th November 2015, I had the last drag of a cigarette and quit after being a smoker for 16 years. My trials and tribulations in quitting will be a story for another day! I was amazed with the results of quitting. In just about 3 days, I could run a loop of 2.5 kilometers without stopping. In 7 days, I was elated when I did a 5k run without a break! In about 3 weeks time, I was running 10k continuously without walking at all!

I kept my running rhythm going. By January, I set some new goals. I told myself, I will run 35 km a week. It will be 5k every day and since I will be taking 1 or 2 days rest in a week, I will do a 10-15k long run on Sundays. It was just what I have done till now. I did not do any other strength training or hill running or tempo runs.  

Here is my running chart from Dec 2015 till August 2016:

The year has been a good year of running for me. I have been running quite consistently and clocking 100+ km per month regularly. On August 26^th, I completed 1000 km of running in this year and was looking forward to the half marathon on 28^th. I had put in the effort, demonstrated progress and was confident on my ability to finish quite well.

In my training runs, I had done a half in 2 hour 30 minutes. So, I was confident that I will be able to better that. Secretly, I was hoping that I will get a PB by going below 2 hour 22 minutes that I achieved in 2012. 

Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach - Book Review

Long back, almost 20 years ago, someone I do not remember now, told me that this book was a really good book. It was one of those long boring summer vacations when I found a copy of this book at my cousins place. Summer vacations, though now nostalgic, used to bring a sense of ennui and boredom back then. Since I had nothing better to do, I picked up the book to read and read a few pages. It was a story about a Seagull. Now, a seagull is an alien bird to an Indian bred in a landlocked city.  The funny thing was that the seagull was trying to learn different nuances of speed flying. I read a bit further but it didn't really appeal to me. It was a fable and birds were talking. I didn't read it further.

Over the years, I still heard about the book. Though one copy of it was lying at our house in Bhubaneswar, I never picked it up as somehow I thought that this book was overrated.

During my vacation early this year, I was in a reading spree. I found this book in a shelf at our house in Bhubaneswar and decided to give it a go. I had to read it completely once and then give my judgement.

And here is my summary and review.

Jonathan Livingston was a Seagull who was living with a flock of over 4000 birds on a sea shore. Seagulls have their primary aim of life pretty well defined. It is to eat. So they spend most of their waking time flying after fishing trawlers and fighting for a small fish or bread thrown by fishermen. But Jon was different. He was not interested in wasting his life running after food. He did not want to be part of the rat race. He wanted to perfect his flight. So, he spent all the time practicing and discovering new ways to fly.

But the other seagulls did not like his antics as he was not confirming to the expected behavior and norms for seagulls. So, they make him an outcast.  Thus, he goes away from the flock and lives alone on his own. There he continues his practice and becomes an expert. Due to his superb flying skills, he is able to catch different types of fish and insects and relish them.

Jonathan spends many years in solitude. He grows old. He looses some of his strength due to old age. Then one day, he falls in his flight. Though the author doesn't say that Jonathan dies, but the reader can understand it.

Then Jonathan reaches a different shore where there are 2 suns. He finds a few seagulls there. They are all experts in flying. They welcome him to his fold. He learns various other tricks there. He gets an elder Seagull who becomes his teacher. He teaches him various new things. He says you learnt travel in space. Can you learn to travel in time? Can you learn to travel at speed of thought? The elder Seagull teaches Jonathan the new ways. One day he declares that he has to go as he has to continue his own learning further. Asking Jonathan to focus on love, he vanishes.

Jonathan spends some more time in that space and slowly he longs to find other seagulls who are trying to learn superior flying skills. He goes back to the shore where he was born. A little away from the shore, he finds a few seagulls who are trying to fly fast. He tests their skills. He is satisfied that they have learnt many tricks. He becomes their mentor and teaches them many new skills.

Few more seagulls join. They all are outcast from the flock.

One day Jonathan decides to go to the flock. His students also follow. They display their skills. Most seagulls in the flock are appalled. A few follow them and become new students.

Jonathan tells his students that their bodies are nothing but thought. They are not able to understand it. One day, his first student, Fletcher dies. Jonathan meets Fletcher after his death. Fletcher understands the meaning of bodies being thought. Jonathan tells Fletcher that it is time for him to leave and further his own learning. Fletcher becomes the new teacher for those seagulls who are eager to learn more.

There are many lessons from this story. Now, I understand some of the deep meaning in this story.

1. Focus on perfection and a higher goal in life.

2. Complete dedication to goal ignoring nay sayers and obstacles will help achieve it.

3. All limitations are in mind. One can even transcend the all distances of space and time back and forth in time, move at speed of thought.

4. Love for all is the highest goal.

I think a single reading may not be enough to understand the book and extract all the lessons. It has to be reread.

When I read the book during the initial part, I was having an ambiguity in my mind on the book. My mind was scientifically questioning the contents of the book. The author said that the Seagull was flying at 90 miles per hour or say 214 miles per hour. I was asking, how did the bird know it? Later I realized that the author had taken some literary liberty and we as a reader need to ignore that and focus on the core message.

The author has used quite a lot of flying and acrobatic terms which may not be understood by the common reader. But they are not required to be understood as long as you get the message. Some of the messages are very philosophical and are difficult to decipher. In the book, there are many pictures of seagulls flying. I felt that those were not necessary part of the book as such. While reading the book, I was continuously thinking about an animated movie with this story. I wonder if anyone has made one on it.

Overall, I liked the book and it's idea. All the messages may not be accepted by a questioning mind. But, being a short book, it is worth a read.

Hacks to wake up early every day

Most of us want to wake up early. But we find it difficult to do the same. We use different methods and techniques. Some people succeed and some do not. I have been trying to wake up on or before 5:00AM every morning for the last 1 month or so. And I have been pretty successful. No matter how my day has been, the latest I woke up has been at 5:20AM. In 90% of the days, I have been waking up at 5:00AM or earlier. Here are some of the hacks that have really helped me wake up early in the morning.

1. If you have a strong why, the how becomes easy::

Have a reason or a purpose for waking up early. Have a very clearly defined life goal. You should believe that the goal is achievable. Then, tie up the goal to your waking up by defining recurring actions that will help achieve your goals. This will give a meaning for waking up early. Your waking up early will have a purpose. You will know exactly why you are waking up early and what exactly you have to do after you wake up. This leads to the next hack.

2. Develop a Morning Ritual::

As soon as you wake up, follow a set of activities that will contribute to your long term goals. A morning routine may consist of making your bed, preparing and drinking tea, doing meditation, practicing affirmations, visualizations, reviewing your long term goals, setting up daily goals that supports the long term goals, reading some inspirational books, going for a work out, having a good breakfast, etc. Apart from the benefits that these rituals have, they help in waking up early in an interesting way. Create a checklist with each of these rituals on a daily basis. You can use an excel spreadsheet for the same. Give 1 point to each of these rituals. Add the totals to find the daily score. Keep the score for a month. This will help you invoke the competitive spirit within you and try to score more points each day trying to better your own score.

3. Leverage Social Media::

Create a social network group in whatsapp or Facebook with like-minded people who want to wake up early. Announce your goals to this group publicly. Then support and encourage others in the group to wake up early. Other group members will also encourage you when you succeed and support you whenever you fail. You can ask any questions related to waking up, sleep and post other motivational quotes and posters to the group. Read as many inspirational articles on waking up early, it's benefits, motivational videos and other hacks to keep yourself motivated. Post your daily wake up time to this group. Ask other members to do the same. 

4. Develop a Bed Time Ritual::

A typical person needs 7-8 hours sleep every night. Plan your time to sleep accordingly.  Do  not watch television or use mobile or laptop at least for an hour before bedtime. Eat a light dinner. Make the room dark and use a mildly fragrant room freshener. Then go to sleep. While sleeping, think about the ritual that you have to complete the next morning. This will help put you to sleep quickly and you wake up early, fully rested. 

5. Be Prepared::

This is difficult. This requires consistent effort and loads of patience. You can be sure that you will not be able to achieve your goals of waking up early every day. Some days you will get up late. But don't lose heart. Introspect why you slept late and attack the cause. Try again the next day. One day it will be effortless. 

6. Set Alarm ::

Last but most important, do not forget to set up the alarm. I typically set up 2 alarms, 10 minutes apart, so that, even if I snooze it once, I will wake up the second time. 

These are some of my tips to wake up early. Your life will change if you establish this habit. This is a Keystone habit as many other good habits depends upon this one. 

All the very best for your life changing journey!

My First Full Marathon

‘The magic of a marathon isn't in the 26.2 miles on race day; it's in the nearly 500 miles of training that happens in the months before. It's in the countless feelings, frustrations, and fears I have worked through while running down those desolate, tree-lined roads. You see, I wasn't supposed to be a runner. But I am. And my life is better because I chose to be one.’ - Stacy Lucier.

                                         ~~~~~~~~~~oo0oo~~~~~~~~~~

As the M-day- 25-Aug-2013- came close; my mind started casting doubt about my ability to finish the complete course of 42.2 kilometers. But since I had anyway announced to the world through my daily Facebook status updates that I was going to run the marathon, backtracking was not an option. I forced myself on my training plan focusing on the taper period.

24^th August being a Saturday was a holiday for me. In the afternoon, I went to the Hitex exhibition centre at Hyderabad for the marathon Expo to collect my race packet. This time it was a much bigger expo than last year. There were many more stalls. But, I went directly to the stall where full marathon bibs were being distributed. I showed them the confirmation email, handed over photocopy of my id proof and collected the bib no “1487”. Last year, we had a timing chip that was supposed to be tied to the shoe. So, I enquired about the timing chip. The amicable volunteer pointed me something pasted on reverse of the bib and explained that the shining strip there was the timing chip.  Then he guided me to another stall to verify my timing chip and collect my T-shirt.

Back home that evening, I was wondering how to go to the start point. I messaged couple of friends and one of them suggested we can pool in a cab together. Then my cousin Arya called me and offered to drop me at necklace road which was the start point. I had an early dinner, arranged my running gear and went to sleep by 9:00 PM. The full marathon was to start at 5:00 AM. My plan was to start to necklace road by 4:00AM. I had to get up by 3:30 AM. But quite like the night before the half-marathon last year, I could hardly sleep this time. This was not unexpected. Various things were running in my mind. I just lied down and kept my eyes closed all throughout. When the alarm rang at 3:30AM, I got up. Arya was ready with his car by 4:00AM to pick me up and we started. On the way, we picked up Satyajit and his Italian friend Gio. We reached the venue by 4:35 AM.

The full marathon crowd was much thinner than the half crowd that I had witnessed last year. Also, at that early hour, it was not a hotspot of activity. I realized that, unlike half marathon which attracts a lot of crowd, the full marathon crowd is not that popular. Only serious runners take it up. I guess the crowd would have been around 500-600. Arya took a couple of snaps and left. I mingled among the sea of runners and found a 5:30 pacer. My plan was to stick to them. I knew that 5:30 would be difficult. But I wanted to start with them. Satyajit started along with the 5:00 hour pacer. We parted ways.

The sky was still completely dark. The air was charged. Exactly at 5:00AM, the run started. As the crowd moved ahead, I kept pace with the 5:30 bus. We moved along steadily. The initial run was around the Hussain Sagar. After about 2 kilometers, my shoe lace came off. I secured them carefully and ran again to catch the bus. There was light banter and folks were talking about various things. After sometime, as the first water station arrived, the group slowed down to sip some water. Since I was not thirsty yet, I kept running and left the group behind.

In the faint light of the dawn, just ahead of me I could see another person running in an Orange T-shirt. I ran closer and saw that it was a “Chennai Runners” T-shirt announcing the TWCM on 1-Dec-2013. While running just behind him, I noticed that he was wishing “good morning” to all the police personnel who were managing the traffic. Some of them responded back. Many of them ignored him. Nonetheless, I liked his friendly attitude. I moved closer to him and started a conversation.

We ran almost together for the next 20 kilometers. I found that he was a very active member of Chennai Runners. He has completed 6 full marathons at various places. He advised me on many things like how to tackle the hills, how to pace etc. It was a very good conversation. Most of all, he asked me just to enjoy the nature than have any time target.

As we looped across the Hussain Sagar lake, the sun rose from the east. The sun had its resplendent reflection on the lake water. It was a sight to behold.

By the time, we looped back to the start line, the half marathon had been flagged off and we could see the massive half crowd just in front of us. The course took us up the first flyover and having crossed that soon we were running on the Rajbhawan road. There were lot of police personnel deployed there. Soon I saw a very tall, fair and well built gentleman and a lot of police officers were milling around him. My friend from Chennai told me that he was a commissioner of Police. When we went near him, he shouted and wished him. Mr Commissioner told him that his wife was running the half this time and he was here to cheer her. A short distance ahead we crossed someone in a batman dress. Again my friend shouted “Batman! Save the world!!”. Batman waved and he waved and we moved ahead. I was really glad that I was running with him. Some of his enthusiasm also brushed against me and I also started waving and shouting at the crowd.

Soon, the second flyover came and we took that on the stride. Even before it ended, the third started. By the time we were in Banjara hills road no 2 it was another hill to cross. I was looking for something to eat. I could not get a banana. Grabbed a couple of glucose biscuits and some Gatorade and kept running.

By the time, I reached Jubilee hills, I could see some folks collecting the litter that was lying on the roads. They were the waste warriors who were doing a superb job of collecting the bottles, paper glasses and banana peels. Hats-off!!!

Also, on the way were numerous photographers who were taking snaps. Then there were volunteers who were cheering and showing the way, guiding and encouraging us. I felt really glad and humble that so many people were helping and supporting us to run the marathon.

By the time I reached Madhapur, I was running among the half crowd. We took a left turn at Hitec city and went towards Gachibowli. On the road from Hitec city to Gachibowli there were many daily labourers who were waiting beside the road on their way to work and were watching us. I was pretty tired by then. I asked my Chennai friend, who seemed to run pretty strong to move ahead as I wanted to slow down a bit.

I kept running slowly and reached highway. Taking a right I went up the last flyover. On the way up, it was hard. I looked around. There were some mikes which were blaring out some local songs. Everyone around me was walking. I also eased down to a walk. The walk gave my tired legs some rest. By then it was almost 26-27 kilometers from the start.

Again on the way down the flyover, I started running. It was a busy road. Kept running till I reached IIIT junction and finally I could grab a couple of bananas there to get some fuel in the system. Had to wait there for a couple of minutes so that volunteers could stop the traffic and let us go. From there the half crowd separated as I took a left turn and started running on the ISB road.

The ISB road is my regular weekday route to office. In contrast to the heavy traffic that I witness on weekdays on that road, on the Sunday, it was pretty empty and desolate. There were a couple of volunteers beside the road. I grabbed a bottle of water from them and mixed some Gatorade powder and ran. By the time I reached the Wipro junction, I could see several volunteers standing there and cheering the runners. I could count only 5-8 runners ahead of me. At the water station, I had some water and popped some sugar boiled lozenge in my mouth and kept running. By that time, almost 31 kilometers was done. We had been running for 4hours 15 minutes by then. I was running with the 5-6 other runners from Mumbai. They were talking that they would finish the run remaining 11 kilometers in the next 1.5 hours and targeted a 5:45 finish. I thought it may be difficult, but if I stick to them may be I also have a chance for a sub-6 hour finish. But it was getting increasingly difficult. I had to start walking again. So, I decided to do run walk for the rest of the distance.

By 33 kilometers, a motorbike with 3 folks stopped just ahead of me. One of the guys jumped from it and started running. I just realized what happened. What is the use of running a marathon and cheating it? One does not run a marathon against anyone. One competes against himself.

I kept pushing myself. By 34 kilometers, my fingers started getting swollen. My hands accumulated a lot of blood. I never had similar experience earlier. While running and walking, I had to raise my hands up to let the blood flow down. When I entered the university, there were few people still cheering. I pushed on. Now it was more of walking than running.

Finally, I managed to come out of the university on to the highway. On the highway, there were those conical red road dividers that separated the incoming traffic from the runners. I was a bit afraid running there as some loose chips on the road could come hurtling from under a vehicle tyre and hit any runner. I was quite fatigued and exhausted by that time. But I knew that it was only mental. I knew that having run so far, it was only the last mile. I knew I have to finish it.

By the time I saw the Balayogi stadium, I was bit relieved. But I knew that inside the stadium there was a circuitous route to the end. It was almost 6 hours of running by then. I pushed along inside the stadium and kept running slowly. Finally, someone told me that medals distribution will be stopped within the next 2 minutes and that I need to dash. By that time, I was fairly inside the stadium and started my last victory run on the red turf for a strong finish. As soon as I finished, someone put a medal around my neck.

I checked the time. It was 6 hours and 10 minutes from the start. I didn’t feel anything then. I was neither happy; nor tired. I was calm. My mind was blank. The feeling of completing the marathon had not sinked in yet.

It was 11:10 AM and by that time, most of the crowd had left. I dad some snacks, drank some water asked someone to click some snaps on my phone. Then I called home and reported all is well.

Took a public transport to come back home.

Back home, the exertion of the run was creeping up on me. I felt exhausted but the feeling of achievement was also brimming up. I realized that with the marathon, one item from my bucket list was ticked off. I was elated that I kept another promise to myself. Running the marathon was not the big deal, but the months of dedication, determination and discipline in the practice was the big deal. That was the real triumph. That was the real accomplishment.

                                         ~~~~~~~~~~oo0oo~~~~~~~~~~

I would like to dedicate this post to all those who were involved in organizing the Airtel Hyderabad Marathon 2013. I thank Hyderabad Runners for organizing this awesome event and giving all runners a chance to run and test our mettle against ourselves. There is so much effort involved in organizing such an event.  You guys do it for the love of running and for the sake of runners. You forgo your own running to provide a wonderful experience to the other runners. Each detail was taken care of. The more I say about the medal, the less it will be. I do not many medals, but this was arguably one of the ‘awesomest’ medal that I have ever seen. Apart from the organizers, the policemen and the volunteers did a wonderful job as well. Thanks to you all.

My Full Marathon Training

I completed my first full marathon - Airtel Hyderabad Marathon - on 25^th August 2013. The Airtel Hyderabad Marathon is one of the toughest of the road marathons in India. Since I stay in Hyderabad and had ran the half marathon last August, and since the running bug bit me, it was a no brainer for me to participate. I had planned for running a full marathon at least once in life. So, after I recovered from Chicken pox in March, I started preparing for the marathon earnestly since April. I customized my own marathon training plan and followed it religiously. I ran for 4 days a week with 3 rest days. The 4 days consisted of 2 short runs, one medium run and a Sunday long run.

When the registrations opened in May, I got a mail from the organizers having participated in it last year. Immediately I signed up for the full, though I had my own fears and apprehensions. But I continued in the training.

To make it more interesting, I posted my runs in facebook so that my friends could see and comment. Their comments kept me motivated through out. Overall I ran for 85 sessions over a period of 5 months and covered almost 840 kilometers in training.

The training progressed slowly starting from about 24 kilometers a week. The initial few weeks were short runs and gradually I increased the mileage. I started with short runs of 5 kilometers and long run of 8-9 kilometers.  In one of the long run of 13 kilometers after about 4 weeks of starting the training, I felt pain in the back. I realized that I need to do some core strengthening exercises to keep the back pain away. Also, need to sleep properly the previous night to keep the fatigue away. I also realized that back pain would stop as soon as I corrected my posture. The next Sunday, I reduced my mileage of long run. It was a recovery week and the back pain during the sun did not appear.

I followed a different strategy the next week for the long run. Slept almost 19 hours on Friday night and Saturday night and went for the long run. Ran 16 kilometers absolutely pain free. Followed similar approach for next few weeks and kept increasing my long run distance.

But one weekend, I ran a 24kilometers long run and injured my left foot somewhere. The pain in foot started after the run in the afternoon. The pain was severe and threw me out of track. Took rest for 2 days. Went out running on the 3^rd day and could not run more than 3 kilometers. Had to limp back home and took rest for next 4 days. I felt bad. I was afraid as well. I thought I may not be able to run the marathon. But assured myself that time will heal me.

Again, the next week, I started running and slowly increased my mileage. By this week, my mid week runs were 12-15 kilometers. I had a bit of pain in feet. But the long run of 27 kilometers that Sunday was pain-free. Those days, my weekly mileage was almost 60 kilometers. I used to feel very sleepy in the night. I had to retire to bed latest by 10:00PM and did not have much energy for anything else. I think I should have slept more.

Due to a week of incessant rains in July, I had to miss few runs. This was the second week when my training hampered. In the subsequent weeks, I ran 2 long runs of 34kilometers in alternate Sundays. In these long runs, I also realized that the fatigue was more mental than physical. The last 10 days before the marathon was easy on running but difficult mentally. I still had a lot of fear and anticipation before the D-Day. I was not confident if I could finish it. But I focused on the taper period and reduced my running mileage.

Here is my training mileage chart:



Weekly mileage - Actual



p.s: I will post my race report shortly

A Fulfilling Life

Some of people live a very fulfilling life. In their life, they set various goals and work hard to achieve them. They are known as the achievers in our society. They are recognized as the successful ones. And then there are some who did not know when and what hit them. They just go through their life without ever thinking and wondering what they have achieved and what more they can. But some, as per Thoreau, live a life of quiet desperation. In other words, their lives could be more fulfilling.

What do you need to accomplish in your life to feel fulfilled and complete?

Had this question been asked to me 15 years ago, my answer then would have been different than what I would answer for it now. If I think back, my answer to this question 15 years ago would have been exactly what my current state is now. Back then, I thought that having a good education, good career and being able to satisfy my own needs and those of others dependent on me would be considered a good accomplishment. Well, I did not really have any lofty goal or aspiration. And that is my present state. But the irony is that though I should have been contented with my life accomplishments, I am not sure that I really am. The goal posts have changed in the last 15 years. Though today my needs are more or less the same as they were 15 years ago, my goals are different. My priorities have now changed. And they will keep on changing as long as I am a living, thinking human being in an environment that keeps changing and I keep on adapting. As for feeling complete, my take on that is different.

For all who want to break free from the life of quiet desperation, there is one solution. It is to identify your goals and strive to achieve them. As for me, now my goal is to live well, love much, laugh often, learn everyday and leave a legacy. I understand that daily progress in each of those components, no matter how small it is, will make me happy. I have broken each of those components into actionable items that I have taken up. I have taken up a few of them and not the whole laundry list of action items. I am striving to work daily on each of the chosen action items. They include taking care of my health by exercising, taking care of my family by caring for them and spending time with them, reading and writing for my intellectual growth, meditation for internal growth and socializing for friendship. Also, I have a desire to be a teacher, mentor or coach to help young people be prepared for life. To achieve that, I need to prepare myself first and all that I am doing now is part of that preparation. As of now, I think that if I see myself on the path of reaching my goal, I will feel accomplished.

Not sure, when that actually happens, may be 15 years down the line, will I still feel fulfilled? May be or may not be. I am not sure. By then my goal post might have changed. But, would I feel complete? Yes for sure. I will be complete just as I am complete now and I was complete earlier. I will be complete all the time in the future. No doubt about that.

In life, if you take concrete action towards your goals and see your progress in terms of actions taken, you will feel fulfilled. If you strive to see progress in terms of results achieved, you may not feel fulfilled. Thus, we can change our point of view and live a fulfilling life.