BUGS

I have been into bugging for a few months now, ever since my kabini trip (near Mysore at the Fork of kabini river) where we went on a nightly bug watch trail. It has made me more observant of the plants, ever on the lookout for the bugs, over under around the leaves, flowers bushes etc. And I fount that my small patch of garden outside the office has such a huge variety.

Some sample shots below :

THE EVIL DOCTOR

Over a pot of Darjeeling silver tips brewed a discussion of Evolution with good friend Drs. Shantanu & Sonali. Though in no way an equal discussion, them being trained and educated on the stuff, I was able to throw in some nice big words bluffing my way into making them talk and seemingly discuss evolution (it was more of a lecture).

But what came out was my understanding that this discussion was actually outstanding. I am quite surprised (or probably not well read) that this topic is NOT highly debated.

To keep it simple, our fore fathers (fore-mothers for the feminist) did not have many of the diseases we are facing now. That was because of a lack of medical science. If there was a diseased person, (s)he could not be cured, therefore (s)he died. That means the weakness died leaving the rest still physically strong.

Now that weakness is "cured". allowing the diseased genes to be preserved and passed on and also spread. The more cures are found the weaker we get. The adage of "survival of the fittest" is no longer true. The weaker are not only allowed but are helped to flourish. SO the gene pool instead of becoming stringer, due to evolution, is becoming weaker. Which is why man has taken onto himself to improve on nature as nature is no longer allowed to improve on itself !

Discovering genes and their effects and then manipulating them is no longer the stuff of fiction but a stark reality of our weakness.

Now my wife asked me, on hearing this surmise, will you forgo cure were you or your loved one be in need of one -- for the general good ? I do not have an answer. I am not great enough to take one for the civilization but being a human also means to be on the lookout for me, is that also not a survival instinct ? It is.

But the puzzle now is that in search of survival, the human kind is getting weaker diluting the genepool and making more weaker humans than stronger. If that is so, then it is not the survial of the fittest but SURVIVAL OF THE SCARED-EST. The more I am scared of being eliminated the more I work toward preserving myself, the more I work towards preserving myself, the more I have to lean towards medical science to preserve me which brings us back to Doctors.

So I am no longer able to make it black or white - Are the doctors good or evil ? I am inlined to lean both ways and will fall flat on my face right down the centre.

Coffee - my way

Coffee makes me happy. And I want it done correct... so I teach people , painstakingly, to do it, exactly the way I want it.

copyright - shannon wheeler

Auroville Marathon 13th Feb 2011

During the last years Kaveri Trail marathon I oft heard praises for the Aurocille marathon which got me curious. Luckily the next day when I checked my mails, there was an invitation to run in the Auroville Marathon ! I ofcourse registered immediately.

I arrived in Auroville on the 12th evening at the visitor centre to collect my bib. I drove in from Chennai which is approx 2hrs 30 mins away. It took me 5 hrs though as I had a business meeting at a place called Arkonam which has a huge MRF factory.

Met some known faces from my previous runs. The bib pickup was painless (except for the mosquitoes). They also had prepared a baggage tag for ease of drop of and pick up on race day morning. The there was the T shirt sale, which I think could have been better organised. Perhaps help taken from the various Auroville stores in a better setting up. It looked and felt like buying from a pavement setup except all were polite, spoke english and no bargaining. There was a Pasta dinner organised which I had to forgo as I had not confirmed for same. I headed to my hotel - Quiet healing Centre.

I reached around 7 PM, it is a a small distance away approx 8-10 K. The management leaves at 5 PM so only the gaurd remained, who had a key with my name on it. The room was quite simple and fulfilled all my basic needs. The batchroom however was a surprise. It was a cicular room and slits for windows all around and had a sky light. Of course tehse observations cam ethe next day with the sun shining. But that was nice. Dinner happened at 7 PM. a simple affair and not great.

I headed back to my room made preps for the run and fell asleep.

The next day I reached the venue around 5.30 AM. The weather was a bit cool, probably around 18 deg C. The marathoners were already off, leaving at 5.oo AM. Half started at 6.00 AM. People were in various states of warm up. A big banana branch with little babanas was propped for anyone to get their fix of carbs.

The race started on time, a bit crowded for the 1st half K. I got a easy pace on, approx 7 mins/km for upto 9 k. The track was a dirt track with loose gravel and changed to a trail and with stretches of sandy paths which made the running so difficult a sthe feet sink in and everytime you take a step you use more power on the back foot to lift which then shifts to the right foot sinking it deeper. Then i worked out a trick, there were some volunteer support in terms of cyclists and started following the tracks left by them, where ever the tracks seemed to be better defined, that was what i was going to follow as that indicated hard ground.

The surroundings were beautiful, with a lot of greenery, huge trees, narrow tracks, sometime enough for 1 person only which gave a feeling of being alone. The air was fresh and at many places the smells were awesome. There were volunteers every 2 k approx. with families, dishing out water, electrolyte, biscuits, lemons, oranges, bananas & motivation. There was one local percussion band, and sexy tempo, you just picked up your speed a few notches when you cross them.

At the finish there was a T shirt (no medals) breakfast, which i avoided because of my mental allergy to long lines and many vegetables.

Went back to my hotel looked at my colored feet, pics coming soon, and went to sleep for a couple of hours.

I recommend going to Auroville to just experience the international communal living, all the nationalities together, its an eyeopener. And ofcourse to use the opportunity to run the tracks.

I forgot - my timings. Which is fair. As at Auroville we were told it is not a race. there are no timing chips, no one is keeping any timings at all. I agree. It is about you. It is about enjoying your run. for when you are running long distances you are in tune with yourself and with nature. you are more aware of the pebbles in your path, the wind in your face, the smells, the twists and turn your body faces. You are in a meditative trance. You are in touch with you.

Ofcourse I cheated. I had my eye on my watch every ten minutes, but i also felt all the above.

My net finish time was 2 hrs 23 mins. I am happy as I dirt / trail marathons are tougher than road running. My last trail marathon timings of 2 hrs 58 mins at KTM were solidly broken. I was ache and pain free, happy & smiling, satisfied & sexy.

Mumbai half marathon - 2

The timings of the Mumbai Half marathon :

Bib	Name	Category	Net OverAll Rank	Net Category Rank	Net Gender Rank	split @8.1K	Gun Time / Chip Time
10612	Rishi Madan	OPEN	2414	1811	2197 / 5809	01:00:46	02:38:04 / 02:32:17

Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon

My running stuff all laid out the night before.




The lines in front of the loo, the slight nip in the wind probably had all the bladders aching for a leak....
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This is the crowd before the starting line, took me 6 mins to cross the start line from the point where i was starting. Real narrow, more like a 2 lane road.




The Bandra-Worli sea link, in a different view. The sun was just coming up and the mumbai skyline from the sea link was looking good.

The very Idea of running !

It's very hard to understand in the beginning that the whole idea is not to beat the other runners. Eventually you learn that the competition is against the little voice inside you that wants you to quit.
Dr. George Sheehan

So true. i do get occasional thoughts of why i am being crazy and until that one freakin loud voice hollers back, BECAUSE YOU ARE CRAZY ! now get on with it and finish the damn run, so you can start the next one.