Mission weight loss continues: It started on 13th April and despite the unlucky date to start it on, I have surprised everyone at home(none more than myself) with the regularity of it. I have not skipped it for a single day and now the limbs are getting to normal. I don't know how many of you have experienced it but if you play/exercise heavily after a long gap, the following days turn out to be a nightmare. All the imaginable joints and muscles in your body start aching like anything. For the best part of the week gone by, I felt as if someone had pumped a good 5 kg of Iron into both my thighs and shoulders. The entire body was feeling so very heavy but thankfully I stuck to the routine and now it is much better.
Two days back I proudly announced to my elder brother that I have hit 50 sit ups in a day, in 3 segments(25+15+10). It was then that the old IMA trainee in him woke up and asked me to show how I had been doing them. He showed me the "correct" way of doing it and the next day my 3 segments of sit ups had the count 15+8+3 !!
All in all, the exercising part is good and now I am addicted to it.
My N-73 roars back to life-This was the best part of the week. Normally I am not extravagant but when it came to buying a new mobile last July, I wanted it to be the best possible thing. I begged to my parents for increasing(nearly doubling) the upper limit set by them so that I could go for the nokia N-73. I had made enough money from my blog so I was confident of affording the phone, which is what I actually did.
Here is a short account of how I ruined it. I was hell bent on getting it repaired but some logistical obstruction(read money) or the other(read time) kept on popping up and I was not able to get it sorted out. The minimum requirement for the repairing was a four figure amount and I did not want to bother my parents with it. I decided to make some more money out of my blog apart from taking up a few sponsored posts and thanks to
this website, I was able to earn enough and get my phone repaired. That mobile and my wristwatch(gifted recently from bhaiya-bhabhi on my birthday) are my two most loved possessions and I can't really put to words how happy I felt on 17th April, the day I got it repaired.
IPL 2 - The Passion is back:The IPL started two days back and honestly, I was not really looking forward to it. I even missed a major part of the games on the first day but seeing Rajasthan Royals crumble to the spin of Anil Kumble was a great sight. Rahul Dravid's half century in the same game was equally impressive and that gave me an impression that this time round, there would be a fairer contest, as the bowlers are getting help from the South African pitches, something that was missing in India last year. The opening day was good enough to get my Delhi Daredevils T-Shirt on for the next day and the team didn't disappoint, giving over rated Punjab the battering they deserved(but somehow escaped) last year. All in all, I'm back in the IPL mould and that win covered up for Manchester United's semi final loss to Everton last night.
Getting rid of those THREADS:You can't keep everyone happy in life and there are times when you have to take a stand. I am an egoistic person and even if you're my friend, there's only "x" number of times I would compromise on my BIG ego to mend our relations. I decided a few days back that I had had enough of "friendship" with this person and in this "friendship" that lasted less than two years, I felt cheated. I have been trying to break free of the threads that surround all of us and hopefully this is the first step. I do feel a bit sad after having refused "any possibility of future communication" with the person but then, that is how I am. Once I take a decision, whether right or wrong, I stand by it.So, arrogant as I might sound, I have cut out the risk of deservedly expecting a birthday wish from someone and then not getting it.Time is a great healer and I'm sure in the coming days I will learn to move into the same loneliness that has been my faithful companion all these years.
All in all, life's been going fine and the only concern for me now is to get my mid term training report approved, signed, sealed and then sent to my college.Once that is done, I'll be busy preparing the industrial training report and then the final report of my last semester project. How I wish I was doing my project with someone who could do all this work for me..
Monday, April 20, 2009
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Indian Politics plunges to new lows this election season
I have never been a fan of politics and I never cared to know what the manifesto of the parties were going to be like, what promises they make and how many of them they actually keep. Politics for me has always been a pond full of mud where the person who has got the perfect balance of having the least corrupted image survives. I would never care for the front page of a newspaper unless it had news related to cricket or football and I hated news channels.
However, all this changed five years ago, when I cast a vote for the first time in my life and luckily, it was about a month after attaining the voting age. All four members of our family went together for the voting and surprisingly, it was the first time my parents and my elder brother were casting votes, making me the youngest voter of my family :)
It's not a film script so I would not say that I started following politics very closely after that but I felt there was a need to keep an eye on what the leaders of the country were upto. These days, when I don't have much work to do, television is the best medium to kill time and since I do not follow the music channels or the daily soaps religiously, it leaves me with little choice other than the news to watch.
So much of a prelude for what?? Read on...
I am sure all of us have, by chance or choice, followed the methods adopted by the political parties to lure the voters by all means, fair or unfair. I expected this campaigning season to be no different but sadly, it was. What was expected to be another two months laden with allegations, counter allegations, mud slinging and making and breaking of friendships has turned into something much filthier. The candidates have started using foul language on national television, in an effort to pull down others.
It all started with Varun Gandhi's famous hate speech in which he made no secret of his way of dealing with people of a particular community.
After that it was Lalu Yadav's turn to speak his mind about his preferred way of punishing him and no surprises, both were hauled up by the Election Commission.
Mr. Narendra Modihas been trying desperately to project himself as a National Leader ever since the Vajpayee Government was formed and then the Godhra issue just added to his cause. Thus, he, along with Mr. Advani, jumped into the campaigning by criticizing the Congress Party for being old!! I mean, what prevents these people from thinking sensibly before they make such speeches?
Priynaka Gandhi gave him a very apt answer, asking openly to the journalists that,
"Kya main apko boodhi lagti hoon? Mujhe nahi pata Modi ji aur Advani ji ke dekhne ka kya nazariya hai"
This reply has kept him mum for the past few days and I really appreciate the lady for the way she carries herself and distances herself from active politics, restricting her participation only for the campaigning purpose.
The BJP - Congress rivalry has gone on and on but the good part is that they do not use any vulgar language against each other.
This was the time when a totally unheard of Candidate from BSP, Mr. Akhilesh Das, came into the fray. The person joined BSP after parting from Congress about an year ago and here are some of the lines that he used (which reflect his family background and his mindset) to criticise Mr. Amar Singh's inclusion of film stars to his party:
" Amar Singh ji Nafisa Ali ko le aaye hain. Unki film line mein itni hi chalti hai to Aishwarya Rai ko hi le aate. Hum bhi itne boodhe nahi hain, hamara bhi mann laga rehta.
By virtue of her marriage Nafisa’s full name should be Nafisa Sodhi and not Ali since her husband is a Sodhi; but of course that depends on what relationship she has with her husband. Pata nahi pati hain bhi ki nahi, woh to hum hi keh rahe hain.”
I mean, what depths can these leaders scale in their bid to attain power? I would like to leave you with this and I hope there are no more of these quotes in the months to come. It has really brought shame to the entire country.
However, all this changed five years ago, when I cast a vote for the first time in my life and luckily, it was about a month after attaining the voting age. All four members of our family went together for the voting and surprisingly, it was the first time my parents and my elder brother were casting votes, making me the youngest voter of my family :)
It's not a film script so I would not say that I started following politics very closely after that but I felt there was a need to keep an eye on what the leaders of the country were upto. These days, when I don't have much work to do, television is the best medium to kill time and since I do not follow the music channels or the daily soaps religiously, it leaves me with little choice other than the news to watch.
So much of a prelude for what?? Read on...
I am sure all of us have, by chance or choice, followed the methods adopted by the political parties to lure the voters by all means, fair or unfair. I expected this campaigning season to be no different but sadly, it was. What was expected to be another two months laden with allegations, counter allegations, mud slinging and making and breaking of friendships has turned into something much filthier. The candidates have started using foul language on national television, in an effort to pull down others.
It all started with Varun Gandhi's famous hate speech in which he made no secret of his way of dealing with people of a particular community.
After that it was Lalu Yadav's turn to speak his mind about his preferred way of punishing him and no surprises, both were hauled up by the Election Commission.
Mr. Narendra Modihas been trying desperately to project himself as a National Leader ever since the Vajpayee Government was formed and then the Godhra issue just added to his cause. Thus, he, along with Mr. Advani, jumped into the campaigning by criticizing the Congress Party for being old!! I mean, what prevents these people from thinking sensibly before they make such speeches?
Priynaka Gandhi gave him a very apt answer, asking openly to the journalists that,
"Kya main apko boodhi lagti hoon? Mujhe nahi pata Modi ji aur Advani ji ke dekhne ka kya nazariya hai"
This reply has kept him mum for the past few days and I really appreciate the lady for the way she carries herself and distances herself from active politics, restricting her participation only for the campaigning purpose.
The BJP - Congress rivalry has gone on and on but the good part is that they do not use any vulgar language against each other.
This was the time when a totally unheard of Candidate from BSP, Mr. Akhilesh Das, came into the fray. The person joined BSP after parting from Congress about an year ago and here are some of the lines that he used (which reflect his family background and his mindset) to criticise Mr. Amar Singh's inclusion of film stars to his party:
" Amar Singh ji Nafisa Ali ko le aaye hain. Unki film line mein itni hi chalti hai to Aishwarya Rai ko hi le aate. Hum bhi itne boodhe nahi hain, hamara bhi mann laga rehta.
By virtue of her marriage Nafisa’s full name should be Nafisa Sodhi and not Ali since her husband is a Sodhi; but of course that depends on what relationship she has with her husband. Pata nahi pati hain bhi ki nahi, woh to hum hi keh rahe hain.”
I mean, what depths can these leaders scale in their bid to attain power? I would like to leave you with this and I hope there are no more of these quotes in the months to come. It has really brought shame to the entire country.
Monday, April 13, 2009
About Birthday, aftermath of chess and losing weight!
The gap since my last post has been eventful, to say the least and I had planned at least 3 posts during this time and here I am... writing a post that I had not planned for at all!
Birthday:After the chess tournament in which I underperformed to an extent, it was my birthday to take over the spotlight for a day or two. It came just two days after the tournament and somewhere in my mind I had thought of gifting myself one of the 6 awards from the tournament that were for the taking for the unrated players. Nothing of that sort materialized and I spent the two days leading up to my birthday on a very low note, not going around much, not studying, not blogging, not playing chess and not joking around with bhaiya and bhabhi.
The family members were quick to realise this and they planned a mini party for my birthday and as a prelude to that,I was taken to the Lajpat Nagar market to choose a new wrist watch, which bhabhi had promised me some time ago. I chose one form the Casio Edifice Chronograph Series and I must admit, costly as it was, it went a long way in pepping me up.
I had not paid any attention to my mobile because of my low mood that day and I missed dozens of calls, the maximum of them from Omveer, who even mailed me to enquire what I was up to the whole day. It was in the evening, after the usual cake-cutting mini-ceremony that I got the best birthday gift. Weekend was approaching and bhaiya and dad had 3 days holiday on the trot. Bhaiya kept pressurising dad about how badly we needed a break from the usual routine, hinting at a short trip to somewhere. Nainital, Shimla and Jaipur were shortlisted as the options and we finally zeroed in on Jaipur and Ajmer, despite the weather conditions, as we had never ventured in the Western Part of the country. It turned out to be an excellent trip and it deserves a separate post with pictures(it was one of the posts that I had planned). Hopefully I'd be able to put up an account of that trip very soon.
It felt nice to get calls from the 4 genuine friends that I've made in manipal.Given my quiet nature, combined with my growing interest in chess, I could not spend as much time with them as I would have liked in my final semester there and I still feel guilty about this. I think they know me well enough now and have accepted this as a part of my nature. The paradox is that I realise it now,when it is too late and those days would never come back. Proud to have friends like Omveer,APS, Sagar and Anubhav( in no particular order of preference).
NTPC exam...almost missed:Yesterday I was done with the NTPC exam and how I reached the examination centre is another story(the second blog post that I had planned). In short, I reached the venue at 9.55, 15 minutes after the "NO ENTRY" time and somehow managed to get in and put up a decent enough performance in the test.
The Interesting Part - A pleasant change in lifestyle: I have become used to taking taunts from bhabhi and mummy about my bulging tummy and I never paid much attention to it. I do admit being overweight but it is only about 2-3 kgs. I wished to wait and watch for a few weeks and if it gets out of control, then I'd have done something about it. But, when my mamaji commented something along the same lines a few days back, I really gave it a serious thought. He is a person I respect a lot because of his discipline and the lifestyle that he commands as a Lt. Colonel in the Indian Army so when he says something, you are better off taking it seriously. I immediately checked up my height to weight ration in the Body Mass Index chart and my BMI came out to be 24.
The key to the chart read:
19 - 23: Healthy
24 - 29: Overweight
30 - 35: Obese
35+ In danger of dozens of diseases related to heart, liver, etc.
The conclusion was that I had just entered the "overweight" category which was not alarming enough for me to rush into doing something. However, when you have difficulty putting on a 34 waist jeans, you know things are not all that well. That was the moment that I decided to "lose weight" and as I did some research on it over the net, I changed my priority to "burning fat", as the two things are vastly different. The second one is more of a permanent and healthy option.
So, my day now starts at 6 am with a 2 km jog to the IIT grounds, where I do a variety of cardio exercises, push ups, sit ups, short sprints,etc, in sync with the advice that I got from a "Mylot friend" of mine here on the net. I return home really tired at 7.30,freshen up have a short breakfast( having 5 short meals a day is critical element in speeding up metabolism that eventually burns fat .... whatever that means!), go through the newspapers and by 9 a.m. (which used to be the time I got up from sleep until a week ago) I feel so fresh in the mind. Now I have time on my side. I can do a lot of things throughout the day and still have time left in the evening to go for another 30 minute walk. Its amazing how systematic I have become.
Now I even want to study some time during the day because I have so much time left after watching T.V, going through the chess e books, playing online chess, replying to mails, earning a bit of money online and yes, I now have time for blogging too!
I really hope I stick to this regime for a few weeks at the very least.
Birthday:After the chess tournament in which I underperformed to an extent, it was my birthday to take over the spotlight for a day or two. It came just two days after the tournament and somewhere in my mind I had thought of gifting myself one of the 6 awards from the tournament that were for the taking for the unrated players. Nothing of that sort materialized and I spent the two days leading up to my birthday on a very low note, not going around much, not studying, not blogging, not playing chess and not joking around with bhaiya and bhabhi.
The family members were quick to realise this and they planned a mini party for my birthday and as a prelude to that,I was taken to the Lajpat Nagar market to choose a new wrist watch, which bhabhi had promised me some time ago. I chose one form the Casio Edifice Chronograph Series and I must admit, costly as it was, it went a long way in pepping me up.
I had not paid any attention to my mobile because of my low mood that day and I missed dozens of calls, the maximum of them from Omveer, who even mailed me to enquire what I was up to the whole day. It was in the evening, after the usual cake-cutting mini-ceremony that I got the best birthday gift. Weekend was approaching and bhaiya and dad had 3 days holiday on the trot. Bhaiya kept pressurising dad about how badly we needed a break from the usual routine, hinting at a short trip to somewhere. Nainital, Shimla and Jaipur were shortlisted as the options and we finally zeroed in on Jaipur and Ajmer, despite the weather conditions, as we had never ventured in the Western Part of the country. It turned out to be an excellent trip and it deserves a separate post with pictures(it was one of the posts that I had planned). Hopefully I'd be able to put up an account of that trip very soon.
It felt nice to get calls from the 4 genuine friends that I've made in manipal.Given my quiet nature, combined with my growing interest in chess, I could not spend as much time with them as I would have liked in my final semester there and I still feel guilty about this. I think they know me well enough now and have accepted this as a part of my nature. The paradox is that I realise it now,when it is too late and those days would never come back. Proud to have friends like Omveer,APS, Sagar and Anubhav( in no particular order of preference).
NTPC exam...almost missed:Yesterday I was done with the NTPC exam and how I reached the examination centre is another story(the second blog post that I had planned). In short, I reached the venue at 9.55, 15 minutes after the "NO ENTRY" time and somehow managed to get in and put up a decent enough performance in the test.
The Interesting Part - A pleasant change in lifestyle: I have become used to taking taunts from bhabhi and mummy about my bulging tummy and I never paid much attention to it. I do admit being overweight but it is only about 2-3 kgs. I wished to wait and watch for a few weeks and if it gets out of control, then I'd have done something about it. But, when my mamaji commented something along the same lines a few days back, I really gave it a serious thought. He is a person I respect a lot because of his discipline and the lifestyle that he commands as a Lt. Colonel in the Indian Army so when he says something, you are better off taking it seriously. I immediately checked up my height to weight ration in the Body Mass Index chart and my BMI came out to be 24.
The key to the chart read:
19 - 23: Healthy
24 - 29: Overweight
30 - 35: Obese
35+ In danger of dozens of diseases related to heart, liver, etc.
The conclusion was that I had just entered the "overweight" category which was not alarming enough for me to rush into doing something. However, when you have difficulty putting on a 34 waist jeans, you know things are not all that well. That was the moment that I decided to "lose weight" and as I did some research on it over the net, I changed my priority to "burning fat", as the two things are vastly different. The second one is more of a permanent and healthy option.
So, my day now starts at 6 am with a 2 km jog to the IIT grounds, where I do a variety of cardio exercises, push ups, sit ups, short sprints,etc, in sync with the advice that I got from a "Mylot friend" of mine here on the net. I return home really tired at 7.30,freshen up have a short breakfast( having 5 short meals a day is critical element in speeding up metabolism that eventually burns fat .... whatever that means!), go through the newspapers and by 9 a.m. (which used to be the time I got up from sleep until a week ago) I feel so fresh in the mind. Now I have time on my side. I can do a lot of things throughout the day and still have time left in the evening to go for another 30 minute walk. Its amazing how systematic I have become.
Now I even want to study some time during the day because I have so much time left after watching T.V, going through the chess e books, playing online chess, replying to mails, earning a bit of money online and yes, I now have time for blogging too!
I really hope I stick to this regime for a few weeks at the very least.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)