Sunday Run at Borivli National Park - 31st December 2009

had a good run at Borivli National Park today for about 14 kms at 93.50 minutes. Met a lot of guys today from RRR RMR group.

Hand me a Figleaf

That is the title of the book by James Hadley Chase, which i completed today. Chase is one of my favorities, and i intend to read all his books, have completed few so far. His is a typical, hustling pot boiler with suspense, drama, murder, mystery and little bit of sex thrown in. He typically writes of the under dregs of the world.

Hand me a Figleaf

That is the title of the book by James Hadley Chase, which i completed today. Chase is one of my favorities, and i intend to read all his books, have completed few so far. His is a typical, hustling pot boiler with suspense, drama, murder, mystery and little bit of sex thrown in. He typically writes of the under dregs of the world.

Easy Run - Saturday, 30th January 2010

Did an easy run of 31.22 minutes today, perforce had to cut down my run due to an impending cold/cough. Just to keep the momentum going.

JD Salinger

The second in the line of famous authors passing away this year JD Salinger also has a cult book to his name "The Catcher in the Rye". Just like Erich Segal previously, Salinger achieved life time fame from just one novel.

Awards

The awards season is upon us, frankly all awards have been devalued a notch now. If last year's Nobel peace to Obama was a bad joke, then the previous year's shared Nobel Peace to RK Pachauri headed IPCC is a worse joke.  Chatwal being given Padma Shri despite being in the bad books of CBI was a disaster, then I wonder what for was Saif Ali Khan given the Padma Shri, just for being an average actor. Watch out for more bloopers this year.

Easy Run - Thursday, 28th January 2010

did an easy run of 62.20 minutes today, easy pace, had to run extra to complete one hour.

Sad Cypress

Just finished reading "Sad Cypress" the usual pulsating, gripping murder mystery from Agatha Christhie, who never fails to enthral.

--
Ram
Bombay
http://v-ram-online.blogspot.com/

Sad Cypress

Just finished reading "Sad Cypress" the usual pulsating, gripping murder mystery from Agatha Christhie, who never fails to enthral.

--
Ram
Bombay
http://v-ram-online.blogspot.com/

Chinese pop singer in Sanskrit

China promoting a pop singer in Sanskrit is the biggest insult to India on the 60th year of its republic. I wonder what is meant by Chinese Sanskrit, there is no such thing as that!! Besides the government press release says that she is promoting China's rich cultural heritage. Since when has Sanskrit become part of the China's cultural heritage!! I think this calls for vehement opposition both from the government and also people of India. Tomorrow, they will say whole of India is also part of China's cultural hegemony.

Giants of Science

Just finished reading "Giants of Science" a book of mini-autobiographies of leading scientists, innovators and thinkers starting from Pythagoras to Aristotle, Galileo, Newton, to Faraday, Hertz, Einstein, and Fermi among others. It gives a brief bio of their early lives followed by their scientific experiments and innovations, which has richly enriched modern lives. Highly recommended. My first book for 2010.

Goals for 2010

to complete 125 hours of running
to participate in at least 6 events during the year; already completed two
to reduce weight to 65 kgs
to explore migrating to full marathon

easy Run - Tuesday, 26th January 2010

Did an easy run of 57.29 minutes today, the full loop in an easy pace, to get back to proper running form after the Mumbai marathon.

Cadbury - iconic brand of Britain

Cadbury the iconic brand of Britain for more than 100 years has gone to American hands. Impossible to think of, can you imagine an iconic brand like Tatas going to foreign hands. I am sure there will be a big hullabulloo from the so called champions of nationalism if ever Tatas were to go to foreign hands. But the fact that it happened in England shows democracy of any kind and particularly shareholder democracy is alive and kicking in England. Truly a democratic country.

Kalmadi - the big bully

At last, somebody to stand up to Kalmadi's big bully tactics, that he has been perpetrating for more than two decades. To think he had the verve to take over Hockey India completely as his serfdom after obliterating IOC to mere pawn shop. Kudos to Pargat.

Sachin completes his 45th

Sachin duly completes his 45th test century. Now he is playing only for statistics. I am sure that playing against Bangladesh, is like child's play to him after two decades of playing at the highest level. With Ricky Ponting charging up behind him, he is likely to have more sleepless nights as long as Ricky continues to be in the form he is in all the time. Unfortunately for Sachin, BCCI has not deigned it fit to have more test matches this year.

Nano experiences

Extracts of my letter sent to Business Today

With reference to your story in BT January 24, 2010 about experience of Nano users, Nano seems to have completely missed its market for which it was originally intended viz. the first time car buyers or the two wheeler owners who want to migrate to four wheels. All the interviewees in the story already have multiple cars with them and are definitely not first time users. Has Tata missed something here.

Giants of Science

Just finished reading "Giants of Science" a book of mini-autobiographies of leading scientists, innovators and thinkers starting from Pythagoras to Aristotle, Galileo, Newton, to Faraday, Hertz, Einstein, and Fermi among others. It gives a brief bio of their early lives followed by their scientific experiments and innovations, which has richly enriched modern lives. Highly recommended

Why Have'nt you Written

Just finished reading "Why Have'nt You Written" Selected Stories from 1950 to 1972 by Nadine Gordimer. The stories belong to that era when South Africa was under aparthied rule. Most of the stories deal with subtle tensions arising out of racial strife.

A Series of Unfortunate Events - The Bad Beginning

Just finished reading the first book of Lemony Snicket's "A Series of Unfortunate Events". The first book is called "The Bad Beginning" involving the unfortunate events surrounding the lives of the Baudelaire children. I think post Harry Potter, children's books have undergone 360 degree change with calamities and disasters being the central theme of any series. Gone are the days of William series books by Richmal Crompton a delightful series involving the danger with which William regularly goes through his life. I guess, the danger part has been upgraded substantially. The first book looked good. Goodreads 4/5 

Andheri East skywalk goes haywire

Now that the contours of the skywalk being constructed at Andheri east is getting clearer, it seems the skywalk is going haywire or nowhere. It starts at andheri station and goes alongside the road towards sahar and joins the andheri west east bridge. That's all. What is the use of such skywalk which no one will use because nobody needs to go the west-east bridge at all. There are no offices there and from the bridge itself it is a long walk to anywhere. What's wrong with these guys MMRDA or BMC or whoever is implementing this project. It would have been better to take the skywalk along the andheri-kurla road and deposit it before the highway into an underground section and bring it out after the highway onto the chakala section, because thousands upon thousands of people walk this section everyday. Also crossing the highway will become easier because presently it is dangerous and time consuming. Who cares for people anyway!!

Basu alive even after death

It seems Jyoti Basu is still alive amongst us, even after his death. His two corneas has been transplanted to two different patients, while NIMHANS wants to study his brain. Let's hope that the two patients who has benefited from Comrade Basu's eyes are not politicians, otherwise, we it will be shudder time all over again. NIMHANS should make a deep study of his brain and find out how Basu continued to be a communist marxist while communism itself collapsed all over the world and also while his son was a staunch capitalist.

Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar Metro 1

Anil Ambani's consortium says that Metro 1 between Versova to Ghatkopar via Andheri will be ready by end of 2010. I can't see how that will happen, becase work is incomplete in many places, not started in certain places like over the Andheri railway station, near Asalpha, towards Ghatkopar etc. They have taken more than 6 months and still not completed the first station so far at Chakala, how in the earth will they complete the entire project by end 2010, i fail to understand.

Haiti quake and India's response

Sad to see India's callous ignorance of the year's biggest calamity - Haiti's devastating earthquake, which has resulted in more than 2 lakhs dead, thousands homeless and injured and a third of the capital's property damaged. Surely India should do something for Haitians and in their reconstruction.

Easy Run - Friday, 22nd January 2010

Did an easy run of 31.59 minutes, basically re-starting after the marathon. Next year's goals - sub 2.10 in half marathon; 125 hours of running, reducing weight to 65 kgs and running at least 6 events in 2010.

No Pak players in IPL-III

So there begins a drama, which threatens a non-existent state relations between two adversaries. If big bosses thought they were street smart by not bidding for any Pakistani players, then their naivete could be exposed if another issue flares up - that of Australian players in light of the continuous racist attacks against the Indians in Australia. I hope Australian thugs stop harassing Indian cabbies and workers, because without the Australians in the IPL, it is going to a big damp squib, please note.

Deemed University fracas

What will happen to the thousands of students who have enrolled in the deemed universities depending on the approval given to these universities. Government has said that the students will be protected, but not mentioned how this will be done. Is the government fooling people. Almost all the deemed universities are run by powerful politicians and they have built infrastructure running into crores of rupees. Why does'nt the government leave the education sector to private sector play and get out of micro regulating the sector.

Maharashtra Government retrogades on taxi permits

Not unexpected, but Maharashtra government decision to impose language conditions for obtaining taxi permits is certainly retrograde. Most of the taxi drivers ply in the airport area, don't they need to know English. Mumbai being a cosmopolitan area, most of the drivers need to know Hindi well to cater to their customers. What customers want is of paramount importance than what the government dictates. I thought with the passing away of Comrade Basu, government interference in silly matters would have lessened, but the chauvinistic leaders' mindset is always 50 years old. Would it not be better if the government did something about the shabby appearance, spitting habits and bad and uncouth language and ill tempered manners of the drivers and their refusal to ply to a distance not of their choice with impunity.

Ban 3-Idiots

Considering the spate of suicides which has assumed alarming proportions, it would be wise to impose a temporary ban on the screening of 3-Idiots, which ostensibly is the reason for students committing suicides as the film has one suicide and another attempted one. I am sure film fraternity will jump in alarm at my suggestion, but that seems to be practical at this juncture. Art imitates life or life imitates art. Well, when life imitates art, the consequences are unintended

India labour to beat Bangladesh

India huffed and puffed their way to a victory in a game which they had to win, after their stand-in captain made a foot in the mouth statement at the start itself, leaving the team red faced in the first innings. Quality of cricket is getting pathetic day by day.

Erich Segal

Erich Segal dies at 72, the first of the writers to take their final journey this year. I have not read his monumental "Love Story", but will definitely have a dekko to understand the fascination people had with this work.

SCMM 2010 in a PERSONAL BEST

Successfully completed my 6th Mumbai Half Marathon in a PERSONAL BEST time of 2.25.56 hours today. The race started with a melee today at the starting point, and I started with a good pace and kept at it till about 9 kms mark after which i started sagging a bit. from Mahalakshmi race course onwards, the sun was directly affecting the runners and the pedder road climb took a heavy toll on the legs. Passed the magificient african athletes at about that time. The marine drive stretch also took a heavy toll and i started walking to the count of 30 steps each time to recover my energy. From just before the turn into V.N. Road, i started again strongly, and kept at it without stopping, slowly increasing my pace all the time. At the flora fountain turn, i was determined to run strongly to the finish and i started accelerating my pace all the time and from about 200 metres to the finish, i started sprinting strongly to finish strongly in a good time of 2.25.56 hours. If i had not taken those walking steps, i could well have finished under 2.15 hours, which was the target.

South Karnataka

Had been to South Karnataka on a temple pilgrimage from week ending 6th June to 11th June 2009. Covered Kollur Mookambika, Murdeshwar, Dhareshwar, Idugunji, Shringeri, Dharamstala, Kukke Subrahmanya, Kateel and Udupi. Total distance covered in excess of 1000 kms. The scenery was breathtaking throughout the entire journey starting with drive from Kundapura railway station onwards. Dense and thick forests along the way all throughout was absolutely breathtaking. Udupi was a busy town, though other places where we halted for the night viz. Kollur and Kukke Subrahmanya left a lot to be desired. Power situation is absolutely poor in these parts. Food was no problem and in fact it was scintillatingly delightful. Karnataka is a mystery left to be discovered by one and all. It was indeed beautiful. The drive up to Shringeri was breathtaking and Shringeri itself was a delight in itself. What beautiful facilities have been created there a mix of the old and the new, the heritage stone temple being almost mystical. Kukke Subrahmanya was a surprise because there were book stalls inside the temple complex itself which is a new attraction for me. Picked up Gandhi's autobiography for just rs.95/- only. Got some more books from Udupi, there were some three small stalls where we purchased lots of books that we do not get otherwise in Bombay. At every place food was served free in the temple complex itself. The method of serving food was unique in all the places and the innovative methods adopted for serving at a time, more than 1000 persons deserves to be patented. Murdeshwar had a breathtaking statue of Shiva which was about 23 foot in height and near the Arabian Sea. There were other statues as well, which was an absolute wonder.

The Cry of the Halidon

Just finished reading "The Cry of the Halidon" by Robert Ludlum. It probably is one of Ludlum's worst effort, because he does'nt manage to hold the readers' attention. It is not his usual riveting, fast paced thrillers. Goodreads review 2/5 

Golden age of cricket - no more

Letter sent by me to the Times Crest Edition today

Refer to Ayaz Memon's article on Saturday's Crest edition, page 20, probably the golden age is just past us now. Where are the bowlers of esteem, bowlers who could take wickets on any track, bowlers whose name spelt fear, people like Glenn McGrath, Allan Donald, Shane Warne etc. Cricket has completely become a batsman's game now, with bowlers not getting any help from flat tracks. Also too much cricket in one form or another has taken the mystique away from some performers. Bowlers who could have made a difference are perenially injured, like Brett Lee, Shoaib Akhtar, Shane Bond etc. In my view the Golden age of cricket has gone away never to come back. Statistics don't make a golden age, the beauty of the game has been lost.

BEST A.C bus service to andheri east

Letter which I sent to Times of India regarding the transport situation in Andheri East.

Reference to your news item in today's Times of India, Mumbai edition, page 5. I am surprised to note that BEST has completely bypassed Andheri east in introducing new A.C. Buses. Andheri East is probably the fastest growing suburb in Mumbai today especially from the office goers point of view. There are numerous CBDs already existing here such as SEEPZ, MIDC, besides which numerous office complexes and buildings are coming up here. The number of people working in Andheri east far surpasses that working in the original CBDs such as Nariman Point, Cuffe Parade etc. The bus services to this area is completely pathetic. Auto-rickshaws totally refuse to ply to Andheri East mumbling some idiotic reasons. One should come down in the evening rush hour to witness a spectacle - that of thousands of people walking down from everywhere to the Andheri station. It is therefore imperative that more A.C. buses start plying from andheri east to the western suburbs of Goregaon to Borivli, central suburbs of Ghatkopar to Chembur to Mulund and to south Mumbai.

True Believer

Just finished reading "True Believer" by Nicholas Sparks, did not realise it was a romance fiction, my first and hopefully my last ever. There was nothing in it.

Easy Run - Thursday, 14th January 2010

Completed my running workout for the SCMM 2010 today, ran 63.56 minutes, easy pace.

Easy Run - Wednesday, 13th January 2010

Completed a 85.50 minutes run today, part of tapering off, coming after yesterday's rest, today the pace was good. Overall satisfactory.

The Ambler Warning

Just finished reading "The Ambler Warning" by Robert Ludlum, a book published posthumously in 2005 after his death in 2001. This is Ludlum at his brilliant best, beautifully woven story, excellent narrative, a genius at story telling. Goodreads review 5/5

Easy Run - Monday, 11th January 2010

Did an easy run of 93.16 minutes, part of tapering off, good rhythm, easy pace.

Sunday run - Borivli National Park - 10th January 2010

Did a long run of 101.55 minutes today at the Borivli National Park, managed to climb comfortably and come back also with good strength in the end.

Easy Long Run

Did an easy long run of 95.24 minutes today, had good pace probably because of yesterday's rest day and also managed to up the pace towards the end. Overall satisfactory effort.

Katha Prize stories

Just finished this book series Volume I. Katha series is basically the translated versions of short stories originally written in various Indian languages. There are some lovely stories here such as "Crows, Crows and Crows" by Bhupendranarayan Bhattacharyya, "Kashi" by Ashok Srinivasan, "Hands" by Rekha and "Reflowering" by Sundara Ramaswamy. A delightful collection.

The Firm

Just finished reading an exciting, throbbing, pulse pounding book "The Firm" by John Grisham. This is one of Grisham's earlier works hence very interesting, His later works are disappointing. This has been later made into a movie, but the movie is not as good as the book. Tom Cruise is wooden in the film and it moves very slowly and ponderously. Goodreads review 5/5

Easy Run - Thursday, 7th January 2010

Did an easy long run of 101.36 minutes today, no pace at all, good rhythm.

Tyrannosaur Canyon

Just finished reading "Tyrannosaur Canyon" by Douglas Preston, a science fiction with murder, crime, action, etc. a fast moving, exciting book.

Easy Run - Wednesday, 6th December 2009

Did a long easy run of 102.40 minutes, tapering was on, but ended up doing more than before

Easy Run - Wednesday, 6th December 2009

Did a long easy run of 102.40 minutes, tapering was on, but ended up doing more than before.

Quite Honestly

Just finished reading "Quite Honestly" a hilarious book by John Mortimer of the typical Brit humour type. The story just stands on its head and takes you along impressively. Absolutely must read.

Quite Honestly

Just finished reading "Quite Honestly" a hilarious book by John Mortimer of the typical Brit humour type. The story just stands on its head and takes you along impressively. Absolutely must read.

Easy Run - Tuesday, 5th January 2010

Did an easy run of 100.02 minutes today, started with tapering off from today.

i-race at IIT Powai - Sunday, 3rd January 2010

Ran the 10K i-race at the beautiful IIT powai campus, came home in a time of 1.01.05 hrs. Was the personal best so it is okay. Was able to sustain higher pace almost throughout the race except for some time towards the end. Felt could have done better in the end stages, maybe picked up more pace. Overall satisfactory, but not entirely okay, could have improved on the timings.

Easy run - Friday, 1st January 2010

Started the new year 2010 and the new decade with a bang, ran for 2 hours today determined to notch that much time today. Finished the route in 1 hr 36 minutes and did 2 rounds plus little inside the inorbit park. overall satisfactory.