Cricket and Emotion

Once in a while, when i question myself on 'commitment' levels, one answer helps me feel better  - Cricket. I've played that game for 20+ years , though i have not progressed much beyond the school /local league games. Cricket in general and Indian cricket in specific, defined my english vocabulary. I made most of my school pals on the cricket field. I played cricket all weekend long when i was growing up, even at 1 am, when the sun was burning us.  Fought with any one / anything, to allow me to play a game of cricket. Have had a broken nose and fractures, playing cricket !!! To improve my bowling, i used to bowl against a brick wall - Result : Ball marks all over all the walls around our house!!!I used to practise my batting stance and bowling run-up, all day and night. The mind ran the bowling run-up all the time. I still have the earliest cricket bat my dad got me. I've played cricket games the day before big exams, watched Sachin smash the aussies , the day before my 10th standard board exams. Listed to India cricket games on radio restlessly, on the journey from school to home and rush to switch on the TV. Felt depressed when India lost and like a conqueror of the world when India won. 

Suddenly, i stopped watching cricket. I was losing the 'emotion' i attached to the game. It became just another routine - to see the scores of India games. Winning / Losing not doing much to the feel.

When Anil Kumble and Saurav Ganguly decided to leave the game - the 'feel' which was missing for a few years, re-appeared. That seemed to be the emotion one feels on the departure of a friend, after a fantastic holiday at one's place. I grew up as these guys gave their best for India. Anil seemed to define intensity and commitment. He showed how much 'attitude' can do to anyone especially, if they lacked talent. Saurav taught us 'attitude'. He taught us to be 'aggressive' , paving way for the current assertiveness of Indian cricketers. 

These guys made my day happy, so many times. 

When i read about their departure on Cricinfo, it brought out the emotions hidden deep below. It made me think about the possibilities that lay ahead. I decided its time to recharge my 6 month- unusedTATA SKY cable box. Its time to watch every game that Sachin plays now on... 

When he leaves, am certain , its time to 'move on' ..

Entrepreneurship

Been at it since the last 18 months - Having the time of my life! Haven't made a better decision than to 'take the plunge'. Come here and you won't regret...

(Via : Meera )

ECR 8

East Coast Run 8

Date : 19 October 2008

Start / End Point : Mayajaal

Distance : 0 to 5 km , 10 km , 15 km, 20 km, 30 km and 35 km

ECR 8 was by far the best organised run from Chennai Runners - We had an event director in Vidyuth who led the show and a bunch of us played the support role ! We had a few 'firsts' with this event - First time we had a sponsor ( in Apollo DKV Insurance ) , First time we had the ambulance support ( from Chettinad Hospitals ), First time we had water / Gatorade support points ( thanks to Pepsi / Gatorade for joining in as the 'Hydration Partner' ) every 2.5 km all the way ( 0 to 35 km route ) and the first time we were on air spreading the running movement in Chennai ( Thanks to the 'Chennai Live' radio station ).  

Despite the very heavy overnight rains, over 50 runners turned up for the run. They were supported by about 15 sooper enthusiastic volunteers! Their energy and encouragement helped a lot of runners stretch beyond the limits.                                                                                             

Here are the 35 km runners, at the start point                                                                                                           

The runners at the start point at 4:45 am

Some of the finishers at the finish line. Enjoying the 'runners high'

Thanks Nithya, Shyam and me at the 15 km point. Nithya ran the 20k along with us ( she went from running nothing at all  to 20 km run , in all of 4 months )

Thats me at the 5 km point..

Personally, i had a good run - the longest since the chennai half marathon. I had only run 5k runs since the chennai half but the weather helped my 20 km run. It was a 'fun' run for me - i started last, after all the groups left and i stopped at all the water points ( every 2.5k ) to chat up with the volunteers. From the 10 km point, i ran along with Nithya and Shyam and exchanged a lot of stories ! We managed to finish the 20km run in 2 hours and 44 minutes. 

After the 'catching up'  with all the runners at the finish line and an 'ok' breakfast at the On-Shore resort at Mayajaal, it was time to head home. Another ECR run down and the run gets better with every edition. All this experience will help us at Chennai Runners to organise our own ' Namma Chennai Marathon' ... very sooon.

East Coast Run 8

Am running this one.. Are you ???

Chennai Runners presents ECR8, in association with APOLLO DKV.

Register Now at www.chennairunners.com (Last date for registration is October 15, 2008) 

ECR 8 Details.. 

Date: October 19, 2008 (Sunday) 

Start Time: 5:15 am 

Start point: On Shore resort inside the Mayajaal compound 

End point: On Shore resort inside the Mayajaal compound

Assembly time: 4:30 am

Events: 5K, 10K, 15K, 20K, 25K, 30K, 35K 

Entry Fee: Rs.250/-

Hydration Partner : Pepsi ( Aquafina / Gatorade )

This event is organized by runners. Runners will be taken care of well. Well stocked water points along the route. Breakfast @ On shore Resort inside the Mayajaal Compound for Runners and volunteers

Cell phone towers, Wind Turbines and a 4th std govt school kid

A Guest Post by my Brother Vishnu..

Hello people,

Cell Phone towers with wind turbines. I came across this idea about a week before my departure to US at NGRI (Govt School – near my home at Coimbatore). There was a science competition for govt school students. A 4^th std boy from Dharapuram (small village in TN) came up with this idea and I was impressed at his out of the box concept. The sad thing was when the judges came to examine his idea; they thought it was a joke. I told the teachers about the creativity these boys had shown but they mocked at it and left.

 Came across a link, yesterday – Ericsson (Telecom Major) is developing cell phone towers fitted with wind turbines. 

http://earth2tech.com/2008/10/09/ericsson-unveils-wind-powered-cell-tower/

 We should have a platform to bring the innovative ideas of these children to life. Especially in a field like clean tech – were out of the boxes are need of the hour. If the same boy was here in NYC - he would have won the best innovative idea competition under any age group

 Cheers,

Vishnu

Idea 5 - The Real Need ..

The last driver we had at my parents' place, was a very special man and when he decided to quit, it must be a very special reason that made him to. He was more an extension of our family than a 'driver'. Though his primary 'duty' was to help with my mom's transporation needs, he was a passionate 'gardner' , helped my dad's office with some odd jobs , helped my bro with the aquarium 'maintenance' and many other things. I had lessons to learn from him - i still remember the times when he used to push my dad into buying more saplings and make the little space around our house GREEN !!! He was always treated well - his kids education expense were taken care of and my mom would treat him, the same way he would treat his sons.

So, when the special man decided to quit, there must be only reason - Entrepreneurship. Yes, he is an entrepreneur now !! He got some money coming his way and he decided to 'start-up'.

When asked what he was going to do , his answer was to supply drinking water to some areas in Coimbatore. He had planned to buy a mini delivery van and get a contract with one of the drinking water bottlers.

But what struck me was his answer to the question 'why this business ? ' - " Water is a basic need and people will always buy water. There is a REAL need for water and i can satisfy this need. "

He, sure, has thought hard about solving a 'real' problem - Simple, responsible thinking. Not a surprise.. coming from him.

Having known him, am sure his new venture will be a huge success. 

My Best 26th B'day Gift

The greatest satisfaction and happiness comes out of making some real impact with the things we do - Ever since i quit my regular job, the need to make a real impact is what drives me largely, to do things that i do now.

So, when Meera , an active volunteer at Deepam, e-mailed this on our e-group, it was a huge boost to the small effort a bunch of us had made thus far at Deepam ( Despite, me knowing that Meera was being a bit nice to us :), given her talents )

Here is the mail

Subject : How Deepam landed me ( Meera ) a scholarship

" The interview went well, but there were a couple of determining factors. Here's how - 

Interviewer- So Meera, your work ex all seems ok. Also, we sometimes need to use complex software which is unknown to us. Right from our faculty, to the staff and students, we might need some instructing to use the software.

Have you ever had a chance where you taught people to use new software or technologies? 

Meera -This is really exciting. I, in fact really love teaching, especially computers/software. 

' I gave them a brief gist of Deepam and what we do here. I told her that we are a small group working to make literacy for lesser privileged children a reality. That we, apart from teaching them to use computers,also try to work on so many concurrent things like building their english, trying to get materials ready,and setting up a system for them, give certificates, encourage them to questions, read up on news.. etc '' 

She ( Interviewer ) was very impressed. 

Finally, this is what she ( Interviewer ) said - These kids, am sure are smart, and catch these software and concepts real quick. If you can teach lesser privileged kids, you surely need to stretch a bit more and be patient with our faculty and students here, and I'm sure you can teach them too. This is a really good job you are doing here. 

This came from the head of the department! Considering that this department is a behavioral science department, they were all the more impressed, and knew the impact of such voluntary work in the society. They told me they'd keep me informed about the position after the weekend. But, they gave me a call 30 minutes after the interview and told me I got the position. I was elated. 

The Deepam factor sure gave me a definite edge over the others.

I know working in Deepam gives immense satisfaction, but additionally for me, it helped in landing me a job + assistantship :) :)  "

Thanks Meera !!

That was the best b'day gift i got , this year ! ( Yes, i turned 26 last week :) )

Chennai Marathon 2008

Some months ago, i watched a short clip of the 1982 Boston marathon - Alberto Salazar won that closely fought race. What stayed with me was a line from the commentary - " Salazar runs longer than anyone else at the 'red line' - the point of pain. He continues to run at the red line longer than his fellow runners "

That line was a big motivation for me when i started training 3 months ago . I wanted to run for a good amount of time at the 'red line'. That was the goal, since, i had always given up at the red line.

I can see some improvements - I ran for 2 hours continuously on 2 sundays in the last 1 month (Before this, the longest i've done is 1:35 , for a non-stop run ). My breathing which was shallow, has improved as well. And importantly, i've become more regular at the runs and i run atleast 4 days a week - whether it is at 5 am / 8 am / 1 pm / 8 pm or 1 am ( Yes, i've run at all these times in the last 2 months ).

So, with all of this behind me, i ran the chennai half marathon last sunday - I finished the 21 km in a disappointing 2 hours and 38 mins. Disappointing, since i was targeting an under 2 hour run.

The heat was not the excuse since i was all ready for the big day – I even ran from 1:30 pm to 3:30 pm , one of the Sundays. I trained for the hot conditions. But, i just couldn't change into 'overdrive' mode because of a mild fever i was carrying.

The first 40 mins of the run was smooth for me and I ran at 10+ kmph. Around the 40 min mark, I started to walk... That was the hardest part of the race – the mind playing games and suggesting that I quit the race ( I always had the ‘fever’ excuse ). I decided to walk for a while and shut those thoughts out. It was hard when a fellow runner ( ofcourse, he was being nice :) ) , asked me not to ‘give up’ and run… just the other week, I ran a 2 hour continuous run…

I just decided to finish the race and 2 hour target had to wait for another day. 

I kept walking for another 10 mins and i had a chocolate bar. I decided to walk the ‘shade’ part of the course and run in the sunny parts. Soon, I started running and ran the next 4 km. From then on, running in the sunny parts and walking the in the shades, I managed to complete the run in 2:38. 

It was a great feeling, running the ‘home’ marathon – knew lots of people who were running this one and the encouragements and simply, running with a ‘known face’ kept me going. Towards the end, I ran with Rekha – Shes a mom of 2 and used hit 81 kgs on the scales 3 years ago. Currently, she is possibly one of the fittest women one would meet . Despite the hot conditions, she was pushing herself and we finished the run together.

About the run,

Positives

• Great participation - it was a nice feeling to see so many runners on the road
• Closed roads - the roads were closed for vehicle traffic for over 3 hours

Negatives

• Organisers didn't have a clue on conducting this race - From the BIB distribution, water points, route planning, volunteer involvement and many many more
• Poor crowd participation ( except for a few sections ) - Run the Mumbai run, to experience the crowd participation
• It was sad to see the water bottles / polythene covers strewn all over the roads and 'kid' ragpickers going after those - afterall, a lot of us were running to raise money for those kids..

It was clear that the Chennai Marathon has miles to go, before it can hold a world-class , runner-friendly marathon. NOBODY cared about the runners - they are the focus of the running events. The focus was on ' getting the attention' than ' doing the job '.

P.S Thanks to Karthik at chennairunners for the photos.

Runs and Podcasts!

I stopped listening to music during the long runs - I used to listen to music mainly to keep the boredom of a long run away and distract my thoughts on 'stopping'. But, i figured out that listening to music held me back from improving on my run performance. Without the Ipod , these days, am able to focus on keeping myself relaxed , maintain posture and importantly, work on my breathing and keep it steady.

Last sunday was an exception - i listened to the interview of Intuit's Founder and CEO Mr.Cook ( www.iinnovate.blogspot.com ) . One of the best interviews on starting up, i ever listened to. Very honest and very real life !

I was into the podcast so much, that i ended up running for close to 2 hours, despite running between 1 and 3 pm on sunday ( and the cool weather helped :) )

2 for 4

"If you want to run, run the 100 metre race. If you want to experience something, run the marathon" - Emil Zatopek

Can't agree more with this great Czech runner's words. The marathon experience , when contrasted with my 100 metre experience, has so much more to offer to life - the friendships, the lessons, the 'collective' high's , the opportunity to run and raise money for a cause and many more. The last aspect of Marathon running is something am mailing on here -

A bunch of us are working on 'Deepam' - A program to take computers to underprivileged kids in Govt. Schools , Slums and Orphanages. More about the group can be found here www.deepam.in . It has been a fascinating journey for us in the last 7 months - Taking 'Deepam' from just an idea to teaching 40 kids every weekend in Chennai, right now. Personally, the class is something i look forward to - 2 hours of being friends with the little kids, answering their questions , learning from them and experiencing a high - to witness 'Deepam' connect with the kids and seeing them take to computers with curiosity !

Am running the Chennai Half - Marathon on Aug 31st 2008 and the Singapore Marathon in Dec 2008 . In addition to finishing these runs in less than 2 hours & 10 mins and 5 hours, i wish to raise money for the Deepam activities through these runs.

2 for 4 : Through these 2 runs, i wish to raise 4 lakh rupees - this money will be utilised to get computers, Internet connection and reading material for the kids. We wish to place the computers permanently at the locations we teach - Govt. Schools, Slums and orphanages.

I request you to support me in this effort - If you can donate / spread word about the program, i would really appreciate it.

Please do get in touch with me, if you can support in some way.

Thanks
kk

( karthikeyan dot vijayakumar at gmail dot com )
+91 9884217276