Vasai Virar Marathon - a tough one to conquer

Vasai Virar Marathon – a tough one to conquer

It was a late decision to run the Vasai Virar Marathon on October 14^th. There were a few other commitments coming my way and by the time those commitments were cleared and i was free to run the Vasai Virar marathon, i guess the entries were closed. But thanks to Anand and Bruno Goveas who is the main organiser of the race, i got a late entry.

There were no butterflies in the stomach at the prospect of running a 42 kms race because i was intending to take this as a practise long run for the marquee event in January i.e. the Mumbai Marathon.

So bibs received the previous day we went by Raj’s car to the Viva College in Virar which was the starting point for the race. Alongside me were legends of running like Bhasker Desai and Raj Vadgama and young upcoming marathon runner Sandesh Shukla. Sitaram Meena another young and refreshing marathon runner was in another car.

Mani had arranged with his friend for a room near the starting point which was a blessing in disguise for us because we could refresh ourselves before starting off for the race as well as relax afterwards. The starting point arena was agog with activity befitting a city marathon with pandals, police barricades, scores of volunteers, announcements galore.

The race was to be flagged off at 7.00 a.m. but almost got off three minutes before itself in the enthusiastic melee surrounding the event. Ultimately it got flagged off at the right time and off were at 7.00 a.m. along the roads of Virar.

The first five kms wound through a village and it was amazing to see the number of people out on the streets cheering and rooting for us with all their might. People of all walks of life and all ages and many school children were cheering, rooting, shouting, exhorting the runners amidst a cacophony of live music, drum beats, bugles et al. The adrenaline rush was tremendous and never before in all the races have i encountered such a cheering enthusiastic crowd. The non-stop cheering just lifted our tempo and myself along with Sandesh were going at a fine clip of 6 minutes per kilometre with nary a struggle or effort. There were plenty of water stations along the road and the two flyovers were encountered on the way up was dismissed with the contempt that regular hill runners give to such flyovers.

Sandesh had set a target of 2.15 for the first half but we were well within that time limit passing through 21 kms in 1.59.32 seconds, a personal best for me and a first time that i had run that distance in under 2 hours. So one achievement already under the belt.

From 22 kms onwards the pace started dropping for me but Sandesh was going strong so i advised him to carry on nevertheless. A combination of heat and traffic started affecting the runners later on exacerbated by lack of water and medical aid in the latter part of the race. There was only sporadic cheering from now on, but whatever cheering brigade was there they were very enthusiastic and rooting for even one runner. It was very enervating to the tired legs. The traffic started getting denser and the heat was affecting the runners more at this juncture. I had one gu-gel with me which i thought i will take only at 37 kms when i need it the most. There was one gentleman who was providing glucon-d powder and it was like a manna from heaven. I got one small packet of parle-g biscuits at around 24 kms which gave me tremendous strength to push through another 3 to 4 kms comfortably. I was looking for a banana vendor along the way but looks like Vasai Virar is not a banana country because i could not espie even one such vendor along the route. But the people on the street were very friendly and encouraging and clapping for the runners along the way.

At around 35 kms i got talking with a young guy all of 16 who had run the 7 kms race and had come 22^nd in the event. He was pretty enthusiastic about long distance running but i advised him not to overdo the stuff. The toughest part was between 23 to 30 kms but after crossing that milestone i was pretty damned sure that i am gonna finish and from the time on my watch, with a decent personal best. After 37 kms we again enter the village belt but this time the sun was beating down mercilessly though the traffic was negligible along this route. The only worry was water getting over but thankfully there  were many good Samaritans along the way providing water at exactly the right stage. Mulraj Gala came at around 38 kms and gave some cold water which was a great relief. Finally the end was in sight and ran down to the finish in a personal best time of 5.07.00 hours.

I would say it was a gruelling tough marathon due to a late start and not sufficient water on the return leg. More volunteers on the return leg and especially when the runners were finishing would have been great but i guess the organisers would improve upon it next year. Their heart was in the right place though and the sincerity was evident along the route. This is one marathon which i feel is going to grow by leaps and bounds in the future. .  .

So that concludes my racing calendar for the year having run 4 events only during the year, three of which were first timers.  

Ultra Marathon Man

Just finished reading "Ultra Marathon Man - Confessions of an All-Night Runner" by Dean Karnazes - an absorbing and overwhelming story of his early athletic prowess, loss of his sister to accident, his subsequent forays away from running for 15 years and rediscovery of running to running ultra marathons to running crazy distances and impossible feats like running the south pole marathon, running 199 miles non stop etc. His heroic attempt at running the Western States 100 miler and succeeding first time and the Badwater Marathon and failing first time have been very poignantly told. A very nice inspirational story with dollops of quotable quotes for keeping in one's mirror or desktop. The paperback edition has given details of his training plan, nutrition, strategy etc. at the end so that helps in people who are planning to run short distances like the marathon instead of crazy distances like ultra marathon and beyond. A must read for all running addicts. 

The Accidental Billionaires

Just finished reading the brilliant biography of the founding of Facebook "The Accidental Billionaires" by Ben Mezrich. The book cover says "Sex, money, betrayal and the founding of the Facebook". Sex and money are definitely not connected to the founding of the facebook though money is all pervasive connection because of the greed factor. Mark Zukerberg is portrayed as a near genius programmer but with little flair for business. Business ethics and gentlemen's agreement is the basis on which betrayal is suggested. But i guess any business has to be founded on the blood and guts of somebody and it is blood of one person and guts of another. I hope young entrepreneurs or wannabe entrepreneurs do not get ideas on how to found their business upon reading this book. But Indian readers might as well say in Gujarati - "aa ma soo che, aa tho bhadha normal che na bhai!!" Nice narrative style of Mezrich makes for compelling reading.

Non resident guarantee for non fund based facilities between two resident entities

Hitherto RBI had allowed a resident entity to make payment to a non resident entity who had given guarantee on a ECB loan on the invocation of the guaranty. Now it has extended this facility further by allowing the same even for non-fund based facilities between two resident entities in India (i.e. letter of credit/ guarantees/ letter of undertaking/ letter of comfort). The provisions of FEMA will become applicable only when the guaranty is invoked so when that happens the non resident guarantor will satisfy the guaranty to the resident lender in India and the principal debtor in India will then make the necessary arrangements to repatriate the funds to the non resident guarantor.

http://www.rbi.org.in/scripts/NotificationUser.aspx?Id=7531&Mode=0

Hedging facilities for QFIs

Hedging facilities have been made available to Qualified Financial Institutions to hedge their currency risk on account of their permissible investments in India. QFIs have been allowed to invest in rupee denominated units of domestic mutual funds and listed equity shares and to purchase debt securities on repatriation basis. Contents of the RBI circular allowing this can be found at http://www.rbi.org.in/scripts/NotificationUser.aspx?Id=7537&Mode=0

Service tax on remittances

Ministry of Finance, Central Board of Excise and Customs has clarified that no service tax is appliable on remittances from abroad in foreign currency. The "service" as defined in section 65B(44) of the Finance Act, 1994 excludes transaction in money. Since remittance amounts to transaction in money, the service tax becomes not applicable. Any fee or conversion charges levied by the foreign banks or by their Indian counterparts to the foreign banks are also out of the ambit of the service tax because the place of rendering the service is outside India and therefore the Place of Provision of Services Rules 2012 does not apply to that service. A welcome clarification from the CBEC, but I wonder why it is issued as a circular by the CBEC and not as a notification by the service tax department.

I would also wonder if the CBEC would clarify how "acting" becomes a service and actors have to pay service tax on their acting!! Bizarre!!

A copy of the CBEC circular can be found here

service tax on railways

Service tax on travel by Railways in first class or air-conditioned coaches as well as transport of goods by railways exempted upto 30th September 2012. So expect increase in train fares from 1st October 2012 for those travelling by first class or air-conditioned coaches, of which latter is usually the norm even for middle class passengers looking to travel in some comfort. Also with service tax on transport of goods kicking in from October 2012 do not expect inflation to abate. I think looking at the government inability to curb the monster called "inflation" of which the supply side constraints is baffling the government the most, it would have been wiser to leave transport of goods from the service tax ambit. But don't expect the revenue mandarins to think in the same way as the economists or the politicians who of course do not think at all of the common man!! The copy of the service tax circular can be found here