Mile-time-trial

Went to volunteer at the TeamAsha Mile Time Trial at the Palo Alto high school. Oh boy, what tracks they were... excellent surface. The kids here are pampered, I say!! Went there with my flip flops.. and couldn't resist running on the tracks, so, ran barefoot. It was great fun cheering runners on and pacing them - truth be said, running barefoot was so awesome (felt so light.. and more importantly the legs felt good). I was egging folks on, and just helping around, as we had sufficient volunteers for other stuff. And once everyone finished, the vols went for their time trials. I wasn't planning to do mine (first, I am not training with TeamAsha this year) but didn't mind running on that surface at all.. and if someone wants to time you and pamper you, grab it with both hands.. err.. legs. So I did that. And got a great kick out of it!

I ended up shaving about 21 seconds from my previous best to do a 6:36 mile. That means a sub-4hr marathon under ideal conditions. So, those hopes still stay alive.

After all, it looks like the legs are doing alright, with all the stretching and stuff. I have a 10k coming up in 2 weeks. Want to hit that in 55min. Let's see how that goes.. 

Playing to a gallery

It was a fun participating in the hole-in-one competition at Deep Cliff Golf Course. This is an annual event organized by the Rotary Club of Cupertino -- they hold qualifiers for ~3 weeks and winner from every day qualifies for the event. The proceeds of the qualifiers went to a different non profit association every day. I qualified on Asha for Educations's qualifier with a distance of 4ft to the hole.

Including sponsors and organizers, a total of 30 people teed off on this 165 yard par-3 hole. Every one got just one shot at it, and out of 30 people, just two made it on to the green! It is quite a tough hole with two bunkers and narrow fairway. The first one to get on the green was eventually the winner for the consolation prize for 'closest to pin' -- he got 3.5ft away from the hole. 3.5ft was the distance between him and a Mercedes SUV!!

It was my first experience of playing to the gallery, obviously.. and it was lot of fun!!

on the run again..

3 weeks back, to date, I had gone for a run -- this after a prolonged absence. Maybe even as far as October 2007 when I ran the Marine Corps Marathon. Picked up a hip/ITB injury during my training, and basically was taking a long break. I worked with a physiotherapist (not sure if it was during or after the marathon) but I basically refrained from going out running. I was out playing ping-pong and basketball once in a while but I was putting off running until I got myself a pair of sneakers. Finally, did that and ventured out to the gym.

It feels good be running again. I limit my running to only two days of a week though, don't want to stress out my ailing body too much. Thanks to my sneakers, I have ramped up the workout at the gym as well... and all of a sudden, just like that, it's gotten busy. At least it's not like the time when I signed up for TeamAsha training. Then, it was super busy! Mar - Oct seems to be the crunch time for projects around here at work, so, TA training coincides with that perfectly. So, that's some respite that I am on my own without commitments to programs like marathon training or Stanford courses or swimming classes.. just one commitment is the Asha SV chapter meetings & stewarding one project. At this point, that is pretty much what I can handle.

Oh, yeah! I am on the run again.. but I am not sprinting this time!

interesting rating I found on yelp..

Indian Buffet Rankings:
1) Turmeric, Sunnyvale
2) Passage to India, Mountain View
3) Priya, Berkeley
4) Bombay Garden, Sunnyvale
5) Mehak, Berkeley
6) Sargam, Walnut Creek
7) Madhuban, Sunnyvale
8) Rangoli, San Jose
9) Maharaja?, Mtn View --- on Castro St., can't remember name but it's not Sue's, maybe Godavari?
10) Tandoori Mahal, San Francisco
11) Mayuri, Santa Clara
12) Khana Peena, Berkeley
13) Sahib, Richmond
14) Taj, Sunnyvale
15) Swarna,Walnut Creek
16) INDIA GATE, SANTA CLARA
17) Mezbaan, Santa Clara
18) Grand Indian Buffet, Sunnyvale
19) Tandoori Bites, San Jose
20) India Palace, Berkeley
21) Raj, Oakland
22) Nawab, San Mateo
23) Udupi Palace, Sunnyvale

Dr. Strangelove?

Disclaimer: Movie plot & some details included.

'Dr. Strangelove or: How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb' -- that's the most ridiculous name that I had ever come across while playing charades.  Upon hearing it first, I thought it was some thing like an Austin Powers movie.

Then, I watched it. It was a B/W movie. It was a war movie.. well, at least something about US carrying out an attach on Russia. I won't reveal much, but by the end of it, I wasn't sure what the movie was about. Maybe I should have read about the movie before watching it - I probably could have appreciated it more.

This is a userreview on imdb:

Stanley Kubrick's first and only comedic masterpiece is still the finest ever made. I love everything in the movie: the brilliant acting, sensational script, flawless direction, and even those quirky visual effects. Not only was this film hilarious, it was a breakthrough for the entire film industry when first released.

In the end, 'Dr. Strangelove: or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb' is the best comedy. It's also another milestone in film making and another reason to be astonished when looking at the work of Stanley Kubrick.

Sure, there was satire in the movie that I had recognized, but I wasn't even ready for it & failed to have a good laugh. I thought it was supposed to be a serious movie! What amazed me (post-movie research) was that Dr. Strangelove, the President and Captain Mandrake were all the same actor!! I sure missed that.

It was another Kubrick movie that had failed to impress me - Clockwork Orange, The Shining, Dr. Strangelove. Maybe I don't get him. I heard Full Metal Jacket (another Stanley Kubrick movie) was the best war movie ever made. Now, I have to judge that myself! Maybe, read a user review first.

ekla cholo re

Beautiful lyrics:
Jodi tor đak shune keu na ashe tôbe êkla chôlo re

"If they answer not to thy call walk alone "

A very nice harmonica rendering:


Complete translation:
If they answer not to thy call walk alone,
If they are afraid and cower mutely facing the wall,
O thou of evil luck,
open thy mind and speak out alone.

If they turn away, and desert you when crossing the wilderness,
O thou of evil luck,
trample the thorns under thy tread,
and along the blood-lined track travel alone.

If they do not hold up the light when the night is troubled with storm,
O thou of evil luck,
with the thunder flame of pain ignite thy own heart
and let it burn alone.

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ekla_Chalo_Re

Oscar night (feb 22)

That was an eventful weekend for me. Got my weekly dose of basketball on Saturday and gotta play Scrabble with the big guys. And I had a flop-show in making double-ka-meetha for Oscar night party at Manju's place. Manju threw a party to cheer for Slumdog Millionaire at her place. She cooks great food, and in great quantities - biryani, bagara baingan (all the good stuff from Hyd) - and it was delicious as usual.

We were about 15 people watching Oscars and rooting for Slumdog, and it was almost a slam for Slumdog! Kudos to Rahman and Resul. I thought it would have been blasphemous if the award for original music score went to the other person instead of Rahman - somehow when they performed live at the Oscars, it didn't seem like any competition at all. AR Rahman has made some great music over the decades, and I guess it was high time he won the Academy award for music. We also had our own entertainment in the form of Oscar trivia from Manju and some charades.

There is always a hoopla (and a bit of going overboard) with everything (every success, and much the same damning with every failure) in India -- ranging from wild celebrations to wild media coverage debating how and why we should celebrate it. After all, it was a movie.. made by a British director with Indian cast, and it won some awards. That's about it . I guess the movie was a good one, even though it might not be a great one but surely worth celebrating the success of Indians who won the Oscars. It is surely a matter of pride that Resul and Rahman have won, and it surely opens up some opportunities for future collaborations. Let not celebrations mean putting people on a pedestal, only to plunge them from their heights when they fail to live up to the unfair expectations that we build upon them! I believe people should lead their lives on their own terms.

There is an interesting debate on NDTV (The Big Fight: Slumdog reality): http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/Ndtv-Show-Special.aspx?ID=11

I thought Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri was very negative about the movie and was surprised to look him up to find this profile. Having such a negative take from 'a management guru, philosopher and economist' was kind of surprising to me! I saw the movie, and didn't feel anything negative about the main story (about how Jamaal rises from his circumstances to lead a life of dignity) - sure Anil Kapoor's character was obnoxious, but I felt that was beside the main theme of the movie. I was more interested in what Jamaal eventually achieves rather than all the people and factors trying to undermine him. Other debaters had some very valid points.

I could go on.. but I don't see a big issue celebrating the success of Slumdog! I liked the movie. I did think it was over-hyped, but hey, what the hell.. sometimes movies are. I was particularly delighted for the kids from the movie.