Read On........

So here I have been tagged by Pheonix, and I would love to do this tag. This tag came when I have again revived my hunger for books!!

A book that made you laugh: This has to be Calvin and Hobbes, my all time favorite the other one obviously being Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams

A book that made you cry: The Kite runner, Khalid Hosseini and we the living , Ayn Rand. the latest I have cried like a baby though was while watching Tare Zameen par, specially that song Ma.... By the way I get a lump in my throat pretty easily :-P

A book that scared you: mmm None, but on second thoughts Rise and Fall of the third Reich, William L Shirer. The part which describes the concentration Camps in Germany and Romania, and the way Jews were treated, its highly recommended, one of the most correct accounts of World War-II.

A book you loved in elementary school: Billoo, Lotpot, Radiant Reader (This was a part of ICSE curriculum) and last but not the least Nagraj!!

A book you loved in middle school or junior high school: The viking process, Hartley Norman (it was a thriller).

A book you loved in high school: Old Man and the sea, and I still love it.

A book you loved in college: This was the actual time I fell in love with books / Reading, there are many, to name a few:
- Tamas, Bhisham Sahni
- Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
- Macbeth, Shakespeare
- The day of the Jackal, Fredrick Forsyth
- Across Black Waters, Mulk Raj Anand
- The odessa files, Fredrick forsyth (this book also made me cry, the chapter where the Jew Police guy ends up revealing that the lady he has just sent to the Gas chamber was his WIFE....)

and many more

A book that challenged your identity:
Well doesnt actually challenged my identity, but definitely it changed the way I look at things, my perspective and my priorities, and to dream a Utopian dream.
- Veronika decides to die, Paulo Coelho
- The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
- Shantaram, Gregory David Roberts

A series that you love:
I agree with Taru here I would also go with Lord of the Rings

Your favorite horror book: None

Your favorite science fiction book:
Doesnt really like Science Fiction books, however if we talk of Movies then it has to me Matrix (the first part) :-P

Your favorite fantasy:
Lord Of the Rings

Your favorite mystery:
there was a time I used to read a lot of mystery, but not anymore, however at that time my favorite were: Sherlock Holmes, and later when I grew a little older Agatha Chritie

Your favorite biography:
- Its not about the bike, Lance Armstrong

Your favorite classic:
- Macbeth, Shakespeare
- Wuthering heights, Emily Bronte
- Discovery of India, Jawaharlal Nehru (actually doesnt quite remeber it, read a long time back, but at that time I like it)

Your favorite romance book: NONE

I wanted to list a lot of books, but then some books doesnt fall in any catogory, one of my favorites are:
- Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
- An Equal Music, Vikram Seth
- The Kite Runner, Khalid Hosseini
- A thousand Splendid Suns, Khalid Hosseini
- Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand
- Fountainhead, Ayn Rand

I pass this tag on to:

Rathi
Rays of Sun
Kanu
Nitin

Ran the spirit of Mumbai in 2 hrs 10 min.

Now Shantanu Singh keeps Mumbai running as well! Sunday I ran one of the best organized marathons in the country the Standard Chartered Mumbai marathon. Talk about the enthu level, the participants, the route the management this race is definitely far above the rest organized in the country!

We reached the Azad Maidan (near CST) at 6:15, and we could already see thousands of enthu runners, and the janta who came there to cheer us up! Now this is the spirit of Mumbai, even the non runner took the pain of getting up at 5:00 am and coming to the venue, I havent seen this anywhere else in the country. The race started bang on time, however I wished that it started a little late so that we could have had a little pre run masti, but never mind we had a lot of Masti during the race :P. I planned to finish the race in sub 2 hrs 15 minutes, so I thought of pacing with Pratibha, she is a fellow RFLer and a great runner. For the first 8 KM the janta and the crowd would just not end! thousand of people took part in a half marathon as well, I always thought that its the dream run where majority of Janta runs but in case of Mumbai Marathon I was wrong!

The best part of the run started as soon as we hit the Marine Drive, it is definitely an experience running on the Marine drive when there is no car on the road and its filled or rather overflowing with runners, getting some awesome cheering up from the supporters who are standing at the corners and to top it all see the rising sun! The sight was Beautiful. I managed to keep decent pace, and was pacing with Pratibha as planned. I paced with her till 11 Km and then took a U turn, one of my friends who was "overtaking" me told me to have some electral as my face was nearly white with the salt losses, so I stopped at one of the aid stations for getting some electral, and this is the period that my timing suffered, Pratibha and one more fellow I was pacing with went ahead....obviously!

While coming back there was a couple of tough inclines near the Peddar Road, and to make the matters worse the pain in my shin (yes the same damn pain, which came in Ultra) started again, but this time there was no stopping I knew that I had to go for 21K only and now probably the "running aginst myself" funda starts, I again came back onto the Marine drive that was the last 5 Km and believe me with the heat and Humidity of our commercial capital ever meter seemed like a Km , then came Noel (another RFLer) and I heard hin shout "Just go for it!! Mumbai Baby!!" and then immediately after that saw the 18K mark, with only 3 more Kms to go we (me and Noel) decided to do a sprint now till the finish line, I think in the last 2 - 2.5 Kms we must have ran at an average speed to 10-10.5 km/hr. AND YES I COMPLETED IN 2 hrs 10 Minutes my personal best till date.

That was an account of the run, now the experiences. I saw the Janta who came from far off places just to cheers us up!! Take this on the peddar road people actually came out of their flats and were offering water / bananas/ glucose biscuits. You can see small kids cheering you up, whenever I stopped for a wile to relieve my pain in the shin, the janta would just start clapping and cheering up, and I again started running, the legs seemsd to move on their own seeing such a fabulous cheering up, I forgot all pain, yes it is Mumbai, the spirit of Mumbai which gave me my personal best timing!!!!

Other Blogs on Mumbai Marthon: Efactorial by Nitin


*RFL= Runners For Life

Song Today: Pyar main kabhi kabhi aisa ho jaata hai...
Film: Chalte Chalte

BIAL Run

Have you ever tried running on a "runway", yes you read it right, this Sunday we went to the Bangalore International Airport 2 months ahead of its inauguration, to RUN on the "RUNWAY". We all assembled there at 6:16 am Marcel (CEO of BIAL & a fellow runner) gave us the directions about the dos and donts, rapid exits and the length of the runway, and withing 5 minutes after the instructions we were zooming on the runway!! I must admit the feeling is inexplicable. runners straight road, all filled with runners. Running on a road which is 80 mts wide and 4000 mts broad is totally a different experience, and probably this was the first and last time my running shoes actually touched any runway, in two months time the same runway would serve domestic and international flights, and on Sunday we were the first to run on this road!!!

Apart from the excitement of running on the "runway" we all were pretty excited to see the development of the Bangalore International Airport, a hot topic in Bangalore, and I found the airport to be just awesome, probably there is only one building, but the finishing of it, the quality of duty free shops, the processes are all of international quality, By the way the consultants building this airport are the same as we have for the Frankfurt airport, one of the world's biggest transit airports! There is a talk of making this airport as a transit airport as well, but at the end of it they are all talks, and they will go on forever.

The most important question connectivity from Bangalore City: well BIAL has already bought 55 VOLVO buses in collaboration with BMTC, these buses will operate from bangalore and only people going to the airport would be allowed to board this bus, that means you cannot use it as a normal city bus. Apart from this, there is car parking available for 3000 cars, and the good news is there would be long term parking as well !!!

Finally we all came to the conclusion, that it was a fabulous run , and above all the taxpayers money has finally been put to some good use!!!

Song: Do naina aur ek kahani
Film: Masoom

Bangalore Ultra : Rajat's way

I know I am late in reading the post by the Ultra man Rajat! But when I read it the whole Ultra Trail, the moment, the dirt, the red shoes everything came live!

Read an awesome account of the Ultra

FlipKart

Now this is an amazing website, exactly what we needed in India! www.flipkart.com is an online bookstore, with a great collection, well at least it happened with me whatever book I searched for I got it there, I found some books for which I was searching since the last one year, and the best part is, when you are bored on office do a search and get the books delivered at your doorsteps within 3 days, and yes free shipping.

The best part is I find the books cheaper than the market here, you have a book preview so that you have an insight on how the book is, my monthly trips to Landmark and crosswords are going to stop now and I guess flipkart is the website I was waiting for !!!! I loved the UI, siple and hassle free, however you will find this website somewhat similar to the amazon website but then who cares, it gives me exactly what I want in cheaper prices that the market.

Try this out, yesterday I was just checking out this website and I ended up ordering 5 books!!!

Song Today: Suraj Hua Madham...
Film: Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gam

Another Drama by Andrew Symonds

Now this is really frustrating, whenever Australia sees a draw or a defeat why do they have to cry every time, this time again its Andrew Symonds, who says that Bhajji racially abused him, come on give me a break he is not god that everybody would go after him giving racial remarks.

Hey but did I just say racial here, I thought that the people who are having the racial remarks problems are always the Africans / Indians / Chinkis, but an Australian? Dude I guess get a better hair style, you actually look like a monkey, and please concentrate on the game rather than other craps.


But these things apart, God of cricket (to be read as Sachin) is in heaven finally!!

I read this interesting Gtalk status message from one of my friends:

"Commit all your crimes when Sachin is batting. They will go unnoticed because even the Lord is watching"




Song Today: Mauja hi Mauja
Film: Jab We Me