White Holi : Mt. Moosilauke (4802’)

Known alternatively as ‘The Moose’ or ‘The Gentle Giant’, Mt. Moosilauke is the tenth highest peak in the White Mountains & Abhi & I hiked to its top yesterday! With a grueling 3,300 ft elevation gain and 8 miles (13kms) of hiking, the mountain truly lives up to its name -the ‘Giant’ part (I wouldn’t call it ‘Gentle’ by any stretch). Despite the steep ascent and super-gusty cold winds, the trip was very rewarding, made especially so since this was our second attempt. Last winter we attempted to climb it via the arduous Beaver Brook Trail and had to turn back 1 mile shy of the summit due to un-packed trail conditions. This time we went up the Glencliff Trail which I thought was equally steep for the most part, until it met the Carriage Trail near the summit.

We got off to an early start from Boston at 5 am. and were on target for reaching the trailhead the 8.30. Alas! we got lost and went almost 15 miles ahead. Fortunately, we realized our mistake & circled back in time so that the group we were hiking with had not yet set out. Arriving late and the ensuing haste to get ready, left me a little frazzled at the beginning of the hike. Our group started at a steady pace and the trail soon picked up a moderate elevation gain. I was so out of breath!! Inside my head I started blaming myself for all those missed days of exercise and got a little worried about how the hike was going to pan out. Fortunately, my exhaustion was short-lived and soon I got into the rhythm and rigor of the hike. It also helped that the leaders slowed the group pace a bit from what we started with.

I have always liked climbing more than descent. Although it is more work, it is filled with anticipation and somehow feels better on my legs (I routinely have injured knees & hate the pounding they get on descents). But this ascent was not an easy one! It was both steep and unrelenting. There were very few flat areas for respite and we had 2 infamous steep sections to encounter before hitting the carriage road. The best part was the absolutely wonderful New England day—crisp sunshine, clear blue skies, and warmer (20F!) temps made it fabulous to be outdoors. Since we were still below tree-line, there were only pockets of sun to be had, nonetheless it made things so much more cheery! And some good spirit was much needed as the strenuous climbing began – the incline must have been about 60 degrees, though it felt more like 90!! We took small but steady steps – I could feel my quads burn with every step, and recall thinking more than once about how/why I manage to get myself in these situations! And yet, each step got us closer to the top of the ledge and rekindled hope that it may soon be flattening out. After an hour of really steep climbing, we finally  came to intersection of Glencliff Trail with the flatter, though more exposed Carriage Trail. It did feel great to think that the major climbing was done -Yipee!

Soon the trees started thinning out and the bald summit of Mt. Moosilauke became visible in the distance. Viewing one’s destination surely acts like an adrenaline shot and the group hastened its pace to claim the summit. But first, we had to take a break to make sure we had our windproof jackets, face-masks and eye goggles on, to protect us from the 50 mph wind gusts up top. I underestimated the force of the winds and only wore my jacket. But ten minutes in, as the tress totally disappeared and the winds hit us with full force, I realized what a mistake that had been. I had to stop and put on the face-mask and felt a lot better after that. Hiking up the rocky and icy  terrain to the summit, I had to try pretty hard to not get knocked off by the wind! I was literally swaying to the right and fell on the rocks once, and Abhi teased me incessantly afterwards about how I was about to get blown off the mountain! The summit was marked by a board. We all got numerous pictures taken around it and also met up with a good friend SK who was solo-hiking that trail. Despite stunning 360 degree views, it was difficult to stay at the summit for a long time and we soon made our way down. At the intersection with Carriage Trail, we stopped for a quick lunch break, while a few intrepid hikers including Abhi made their way to ‘South Peak’ –  a 0.4 mile round trip.

Once everyone was back & refueled, the descent began. The slower and steeper the climb, the faster the descent!! For a change I felt great during the descent, and Abhi & I tore down the mountain at a brisk pace. By 4 pm we were back at the car. After 3 hours of driving we were back in Boston by 7.30 to catch a glimpse of the humungous ‘Super-Moon’. Home-delivered pizza, ice-cream and Holi wishes phone-calls to India turned out to be a perfect finale to possibly the last winter hike of 2011. Looking forward to spring!

India Calling

This is the title of a new book by Anand Giridharadas, an American author and son of immigrant Indian parents who grew up in Cleveland and worked in Mumbai for almost 6 years, first as a management consultant and then as a writer. He writes the “Currents” column for The New York Times and its global edition, the International Herald Tribune. This week, he gave a talk about his book at Harvard’s Humanities Center. It was followed by comments from Sugata Bose and Homi Bhabha, both well-known historians and faculty at Harvard. The talk was unusual in that it was held at lunch, which made it a little challenging for me to get out and attend. But I was keen on being there – whatever I had read about the book seemed very interesting and the Barker Humanities Center (where the talk was hosted) is a beautiful McKim Mead & White designed building that was even more beautifully restored by my firm a few years back. 

Anyways, so the talk…It began with Anand giving a bit of an insight into his relationship with his subject – contemporary India. A remark he made particularly struck me- he said that as a child born to immigrant parents in the US, his first introduction to India was a country that his parents left. It unconsciously implied for him that there was something that was worth leaving. While it was not intentional, many of his parents’ references to India recounted how life had been somewhat limiting in India and liberating in the US. His mother would often narrate how she could not dress in a certain way in India but could do so half way across the globe in Ohio. His childhood visits to India somewhat ratified his parents’ accounts. When he made a decision to live and work in Mumbai as an adult in 2003, the India that welcomed him posed a strikingly different picture. It was this shock that prompted him to write the book. He made it clear at the outset though, that the book is not about the technological and economic revolution that has taken place in India. Rather it is about the cultural changes that are rampant in Indian society yet are rarely talked about. The first major change that he identified was a greater emphasis on the ‘self’. Many personal decisions such as career, marriage, place of residence etc. that were once taken to appease family members, were now based largely, if not solely on personal happiness. While rapidly embracing lifestyles of their western counterparts, the Indian youth were different in that they lived comfortably within ‘simultaneous truths’. They lived in the ‘both/and’ rather than the ‘either/or’ world. While they partied, smoked and doped their way into the evening, they still found time (and sobriety) to have dinner with their grandparents at night. The book chapters are organized under headings like : Love, Anger, Ambition..and so on.  He talked briefly about anecdotes in the book – there is a story of a poor kid from a village who was able to make it big in Mumbai. He counted his conversation with a school principal about the usual complaint that Indian kids are not creative thinkers and are unable to think out-of-the-box. The response he received was that parents and their over-protective attitudes (born out of love) are to blame - the culture of Don’t do this! Don’t go there! breeds compliance and kills ingenuity amongst kids. Under Anger, his book talks about the Naxalite insurgency. There is also an extended interview with Mukesh Ambani.

Anand’s talk was followed by comments from Sugata Bose. After briefly praising the book for tackling an overwhelming subject, Prof. Bose proceeded with some critical remarks. The first being that Anand’s story of India is really the story of Urban India –and not the vast majority of the country which is still primarily rural and agrarian. He asked – where are the stories of farmers’ suicides and the abject poverty of tribals? He asked why there was not a chapter titled ‘Greed’ that talked about the gargantuan scale of corruption that has pervaded every aspect of contemporary Indian life. He also proposed that the ideas of ‘self’ and ‘social equality’ are not imports of the West or ideas that the Indian Maoists have borrowed from China, rather their roots can be found in Indian culture itself—in the texts of Kalidasa and Mahabharata.

I had to leave early so couldn’t stay till the end. Also I haven’t yet read the book. Nonetheless, I thought the talk was very interesting. I agree that Anand’s book seemed biased towards urban India, but I agree with the explanation he gave later, that the subject is so vast he chose to tackle it as a ‘sliver’ of society. He wrote about the cultural changes that he observed living in Mumbai & while he did make an attempt to cover the hinterland, the reach was decidedly limited. Also while Prof. Bose’s comments may be right that historic Indian texts are rife with concepts of reconciling the ‘self’ with ‘society’ and notions of equality etc. their connection with contemporary India is unarguably and unfortunately broken. This is perhaps why the Indian youth turn to seemingly radical ideas from elsewhere around the globe, instead of reaching in-house to our rich past.

Shantaram

The novel came out quite a while back – I read great reviews everywhere – was super-intrigued by the plot, its author and the unusual story behind the book. Yet, somehow I never got around to reading it. Tried to borrow it from the public library a couple of times – but all copies had never-ending queues. Well, finally the public interest faded and I got my hands on a pretty worn and battered copy a few weeks back. And am I glad I finally read it!

Shantaram is definitely one of my favorite books from now on. From the minute I started reading it, I was taken by the remarkable story telling of Gregory David Roberts. The best way I can describe the book is that it is so ‘vivid’ – each location, each character and each sub-plot feels so alive and real. While, of course, this can be attributed to the fact many events actually happened in the author’s life, yet the skill with which he tells their story and fuses it with figments of his imagination is truly commendable. The book takes its readers on a journey of emotions that juggle between suspense, empathy, joy, sorrow and just plain old interest in how the story unfolds.  I have to admit I enjoyed the first half or two-thirds of the book more than the rest. It is very unusual that I jot down lines that I like from a book I’m reading – too lazy to pause and make the effort! Yet, this time around, I felt compelled to do so- I wanted to be able to read them over again. And so I diligently managed to do that for almost two-thirds of the book and then the laziness-effort-part and the anxiety to finish reading took over.

I visited the author’s website a couple of days back and learnt about how this was slated to be a big movie production with Johnny Depp in the lead. But seems like all plans fell through. Anyways, it would have been a mammoth task to represent it all in a 2-3 hour movie.

Logging off for now & hoping to be more regular with blogging! Btw, my favorite character in the book was Prabhaker and the most annoying was Karla.

#2 : Lodge, Peak, and everything else in between

Just got back from a wonderful weekend up in the White Mountains, where we (thankfully!) didn’t camp for a change, rather stayed at the beautiful AMC Lodge at the base of Mt. Cardigan. Part of AMC’s Winter Hiking Program, the trip gathered some 65-odd hikers just like us and involved numerous hikes, a bonfire, bunk beds, fireplace happy-hours and lots of delicious food that we didn’t have to cook ourselves! Still a newbie, I often get overwhelmed by all the gear required for winter hiking as opposed to 3-season – numerous layers, crampons, snowshoes, micro-spikes…etc etc.. As a result I was a little frazzled by the time we hit the road on Friday evening after work. Driving in the dark through winding mountain roads is also disorienting, so by the time we reached the Lodge I was feeling somewhat lost and tired. It was only while driving back this afternoon, that I realized what a scenic drive it was up to the Lodge! Anyways, we checked in Friday night, claimed our beds, marveled at how cozy and clean the Lodge was, and went to bed early. Well, or so I thought – for the next hour I desperately tried to blank out the three snoring men (including Abhi) who slept all around. Of course, he vehemently denied the next morning that he was  one of the culprits -  rather his sleep was sooo disturbed by the snoring of the rest of the dorm-mates (including me!!). Nonetheless, after a hearty breakfast we quickly chose between the trail options to select the challenging ascent up Mt. Cardigan. There were 5 hikes in all and our group ended up with 14 hikers. The lodge was consumed with the frenzy of so many people packing their gear, putting on layers, filling up water bottles and meeting at assigned trailheads.

It was a beautiful day- a light snow was coming down and one could clearly see the shapes of the snowflakes, gather like dust on all our clothes. Abhi & I didn’t have micro-spikes so the early part of the trail was a little slippery, especially as it got steeper. Almost 1 mile in, we decided it was getting too dangerous to go on without any traction, so out came the crampons! It took a while to put them on, but thereafter no more slipping or sliding (or atleast less of it!). The trail got even more steep and exposed, and as if things couldn’t get any more adventurous,the leaders realized that we had lost our way! To get back on the right trail we ended up bushwhacking (that is literally stomping and squeezing through not-so-friendly bushes and branches). I was sure that something or the other, carabineer-ed all around me was going to rip off during this detour but miraculously it all stayed in place. More astonishingly, none of us actually fell off the steep rocky ridges as we hung on to frail tree roots for dear life. There was a lot of tush-push (new trail vocab!) at challenging spots and thankfully after a grueling 45 minutes we were back on track. To add some spice to the experience, Abhi’s crampons decided to misbehave right through the bushwhack. They were mistakenly set to be a wee-bit longer than required and needed to be taken off, re-adjusted and put back. Unfortunately, there was no time to take a break and do all this. Once back on track he did get a chance to fix them, and was a lot happier and less grumpier from there on . We were soon at the summit of Firescrew Mountain, which had breathtaking views despite cloudy weather (can’t imagine what it would be on a clear day!). Further up the ridge we could see the summit of Mt. Cardigan, unmistakable with its ice-capped fire-tower. It was very windy and cold up at the top and we couldn’t stay for too long due to fear of over-exposure. Therefore after quickly conquering the summit we headed down a steep slope to ‘High Cabin’ where we ran into another group of hikers who planned on staying there overnight. The remainder of the trail was less strenuous though fatigue was quickly setting in. I ate like a hog all through the hike and was amazed by how much food & water I ended up consuming. We were back at the Lodge after having been out for almost 6 hours and I was quite ready to settle down by the fireplace with a cup of hot chocolate. And that is precisely what I did as the dinner table was being set up.

After dinner all the groups did a little song n dance describing their experience. Ours involved some choir-singing, a short skit, a bear, and believe it or not, a lot of swearing in Hindi and French! We walked out to sit around the bonfire for a while and were soon ready to call it a day. Surprisingly, I slept really well the second night – oh yeah, they were all still snoring – I was just too tired to notice! The second day we did a shorter, albeit really scenic hike through the woods and got to use our snowshoes. Back at the Lodge by 1pm, we soon hit the road for Boston. Once out of the hills, our phones came back to life and lo & behold! to our utmost shock there were almost 30 missed calls & as many voicemails on them! Unbeknown to us there had been a great deal of anxiety over our disappearance back in India a la desi-shtyle, with both sets of parents trying to reach our phones. Not being able to get through the dead zone, they had called up almost all our US friends and relatives stopping just shy of launching a full-blown search-and-rescue mission!! Parents, parents, parents..sighhh. I must admit it does feel really nice to think that atleast someone will notice if you fall off the face of the earth (literally) although at times you wish just not so much . Thank God they are not yet on Facebook! So now everyone knows we went hiking this weekend and how irresponsible we were to have not called home(Yikes! -I really thought the Lodge would have phone range, really!)….nonetheless, it was all so much fun..including listening to all the chiding, and making ten phone calls to India at midnight IST! For all of them and everyone else --this blog hopefully fills in on the details

En route

So right now seems to be the best time to try out blogpress on my iPhone. I have about a half hour to kill at the DC airport and have already done the usual- walked around in vain search for veggie food, eaten lots of junk food instead and wasted time on FB. I still have to get the hang of typing on this teeny tiny keyboard- so this post will be short !

Traveling to DC always reminds me of
how uncomfortable the heat n humidity combo can be, and surprisingly makes me appreciative of the the cooler temps in Boston. Yet I do enjoy being out on site and getting a break from the tedium of going to office everyday. DC is so very DC though- buses are emblazoned with political messages and all day long today (as on most previous trips) I could hear helicopters, most probably carrying dignitaries, whirring past in the sky above the site. On one of the past trips we actually dined next to Al Franken (I know I know- not exactly a political celebrity but still !)

So typing on this isn't as bad as I thought! And now I want to sit back and enjoy the live tv on my jet blue flight! So adieu - looking forward to home :)

Pins & Needles

Enthused by my blog post about the i-phone cover, here’s to some more summer sewing!

I learnt to sew from my mom when I was a kid. I wonder how many people would relate to this, but back in the day sewing machines used to be a part of most bridal trousseaus. So, there were two sewing machines at my house- an USHA model that dated back to my parents wedding and a SINGER model that dated way back to my grandparent’s wedding!! Yep, it really was that old—and surprisingly worked better than the more recent machine :) When I was still in primary school, my mom attended sewing classes and I would routinely tag along. I thoroughly enjoyed getting pampered by all the women there & being surrounded by colorful fabrics, threads and motifs. The classes resulted in some wonderful frocks and nightgowns for me and my sis. However, as the years went by she got less and less time to sew and the machines were relegated to basic mending tasks. The fact that they would routinely break down didn’t help either. Being a true mechanical engineer to the core, my Dad would take it upon himself to fix them, every time they broke. And since he got time mostly on the weekends, we were quite used to the sight of a sewing machine lying ‘ripped’ open on our dining table with strict instructions to leave all the parts untouched. There was a revival of sorts when my sis took a summer sewing class years later and I got to help her with all her projects –even managed to make a backpack for myself!

Since then I had always wanted to own a techy computerised sewing machine. Abhi declared I had gone nuts when I disclosed my ambition after we moved to Boston 3 years back. He finally conceded that yes, there was enough room in our 1-bed apartment, and yes,I would manage to squeeze in hobby time with office et al. And shortly thereafter I was the proud owner of one—I didn’t want a super complex version so went with a beginner model (it’ll still take me years to learn all the features and in-built stitches). As excited as I was when it arrived, I have to admit it has been difficult to find time to sew. I want to finally be able to stitch my own clothes (more importantly find the time to do that) , but my sewing skills are still in infancy and patternmaking for clothes is pretty challenging! Apart from mending various clothes, I have stitched 2 things from scratch—a bedding set and a skirt (see snaps)!! What has been thoroughly enjoyable is browsing through sewing / craft blogs and websites – most are put together so creatively!

While not strictly a sewing blog check out etsy.com for wonderful handmade stuff! Enjoy!

I-phoned !

After years of resisting the smartphone charm & successfully ignoring all the blackberrys, iphones & droids out there, I finally gave in this past weekend - and that makes it totally blog-worthy, especially after a long hiatus! It all happened with such amazing randomness & haste that it I’m still in the can’t-believe-I-have-one phase..:)
So we were returning from Gloucester on Saturday evening & wondering if we should stop for coffee before hitting home, when Abhi randomly blurted ‘Want to go get your Iphone?’ That was really a no-brainer—Coffee or Iphone ?! I pounced on the opportunity. For context sake, I have to confess I had been cribbing for the past few months about the lack of internet access on the road. And yet, we decided to go on without a smartphone- firstly because we successfully HAD for so long, and secondly, because we already had a contract & you have to be ‘eligible’ for one of these smartphones & even then they can be just a tad ‘pricey’! So well, we had been officially ‘eligible’ for a few weeks & my cribbing had accelerated to a constant nag, which is why I suspect Abhi made the surprise offer. In a matter of minutes we were at the glitzy, glassy Apple store in Back Bay. Now I thought, I was way way behind in catching on to the Iphone fad, but when I was told to patiently stand in a line that wrapped around half the store floor to get my Iphone, I realized the mania was still very much ON. We waited patiently for almost an hour before a sneaker-shorts-clad dude whisked us away & brought out the Iphone 4 packed neatly in its tiny little box. My excitement level was on the rise and only grew higher when he executed the entire transaction including swiping my credit card right on his I-phone. However one might feel about Apple, you have to give it to them on the coolness factor! As my battered Sony phone of the last 3 years breathed its last moments, it did pose a striking contrast to the flashy new replacement. Oh well! 
So have I been totally consumed by the Iphone the past 3 days ? Both yes & no..Let me explain-Sunday was spent in making a phone case (check out the snaps!)—so while it was all meant for the Iphone, my time was actually consumed on the sewing machine. I have yet to figure out my way around a lot of things..but the apps are definitely cool—so cool that I missed my subway stop for only the second time in 3-years coz I was busy exploring (the first time I had dozed off in the T!). I love the graphics – still have to figure out typing :(..which is why the blog’s happening on the laptop. I do know though -  ‘There’s an app for that !’

Budday & Lion King

‘Birthday’ is kind of a difficult word to say. No wonder most people (especially back home) wish each other' ‘happy bird-day!’ or ‘birth-aye’ or sadda punjabi ‘ happi budday’. And since Americans omit most syllables anyways, I bet they never bother with mouthing out the whole word  either. So last week was Abhi’s budday. I baked a cake (yep, right from scratch!) for the event—and since I don’t  bake much, I sure was a nervous wreck until it emerged all puffed up from the oven. In retrospect it was quite a fun activity, especially the part where I got to pour hot boiling frosting over the cake and watch it drizzle down the sides.There is of no denying that birthdays are best when you are a kid. I remember planning for days on end what I would wear to school on my birthday, the candies I would take to distribute in class, and spend hours decorating even the basket that would hold the sweets. Of course, now birthdays are just a pinching  reminder of how awfully soon we are getting old.

Abhi’s Budday timed perfectly with a plan to go see the Lion King Broadway musical playing at the Boston Opera House. Even for the uninitiated, its hard not to recognize the iconic opening lyrics of the Circle of Life “Nants ingonyama bagithi baba…..” (which I had to look up online cause it doesn’t sound like this at all when they shout it out). By the way it means, “Here comes a lion, Father”. Before I talk about the musical though, the spectacular building that hosted it deserves a comment—as I am told, the present-day Boston Opera House, was originally built as a movie theatre and also showcased some live vaudeville. Extensively renovated in the 1980’s, the theatre is built in the French & Italian Baroque style –which essentially implies a highly ornate & opulent style of building. The Opera House is just that—gilded marble columns, rich ornamentation and red wall fabric add the right sense of drama & history. The play itself was visually stunning and artistically innovative. Interpreting an entire jungle with its flora & fauna on stage can be quite a challenge—but the play managed to pull it off with a flair. My personal on-screen favorite was the sequence when Simba’s dad speaks to him in his dream. His father’s ghost is represented by a giant lion’s face that gets assembled from separate pieces.  And my favorite ‘off-screen’ moment decidedly was when Simba & his love-interest Nala come close, apparently to plant a kiss on each other lips, and a 6-7 yr old kid in the back row shouted ‘AaaaWww!!’ causing the whole theater to burst into uproarious laughter!

V’Day & Winter Olympics

Today is Valentines Day 2010. It always surprises me why there is so much brouhaha over it in India—despite a repetition of threats from the asinine Shiv Sena goons, thankfully the day was peaceful there. Abhi & I have decided to spend it at home watching lots of TV and resisting the urge to venture out. Last year we did the same, except that at 7 p.m. we finally gave in, got all dressed up and set out to North End – the artsy Italian hub of Boston with numerous ‘happening’ restaurants. In our excitement though, we forgot to acknowledge that other city couples have more foresight. After spending a half hour trying to find street parking, we were forced to park the car in a lot for 25$!! Then we strolled around the crowded restaurant row, peering inside windows, looking over menus, trying to pick just the right place. Our hearts soon settled on one, we walked in, only to be politely asked if we had made a reservation. ‘No’, we replied. “Okay then, you can wait for 2 hours!”..Hmm.. 6 other restaurants just simply refused to entertain walk-ins..Despondent, and frozen after walking in the cold for 30 minutes, I was ready to call it quits, when on our way back, we walked by this cool & ‘very full’ corner restaurant. And as though it was meant to be, we got a spot, right by the window! after waiting for just 15 mins. So yep, we did manage to eat in the North End that night with live music, candlelight et al. But advice in general, be more planned with your V’day voyages.

On a different note though, just watched the Indian luge contestant Shiv Keshavan on TV take his turn on the track. I didn’t know until the opening ceremony that India was even represented in the Winter Olympics and was very pleasantly surprised to discover otherwise! Keshavan actually did a great job—though I know very little about the sport. In fact, after watching footage of the terrible accident 2 days back, I was very skeptical if such a high-risk sport should even be played. However, as Abhi pointed out, most sports have an inherent risk and while such accidents can point the way to make them more safe, it probably doesn’t imply that they be given up altogether.

Ishqiya & More..

Unplanned outings are usually fun - so when Abhi proposed going out for 'Ishqiya' an hour before the evening show yesterday--I couldn't let it pass. Plus, I really admire Vishal Bhardwaj for the creativity & innovativeness he brings to Indian cinema. The reviews had been lukewarm--yet we were excited to watch it for ourselves. Indian movies play at this shady, worn-out multiplex in Cambridge--its probably a left-over from the 70's, with crappy screens, sound system and VOC-laden furnishings. Yet, when you really don't have a choice, it's easier to make the trip. It seemed like we were going to have the hall all to ourselves when we walked into the deserted theatre, but soon about ten more desis streamed in. The movie started promptly at 7.00. A couple of minutes passed and the glaring ceiling lights didn't dim as expected. A few more minutes went by and we looked around, frantically gesturing to the projection window behind. Ten minutes in, Abhi decided to take a walk to the counter outside. And as expected---they had forgotten that our movie had begun :) So lighting matters sorted, the movie progressed uneventfully till ‘Intermission’. Lights and radio  came on and everything was hunky-dory except that 5 minutes passed, then 10, then 15 and it started to feel like an eternity. Abhi was all set to venture out again when I noticed activity in the projection room upstairs. Movie was soon back on track—at almost 2 hours it was a short B’wood movie and thankfully played without subtitles. Imagine Vishal Bhardwaj dialogues in translation! So, my thoughts about the movie—firstly, it was a very entertaining watch, although not one of his best works. Yet, judged independently, the movie has a unique storyline, great characterization and acting, innovative dialogues, a very keen portrayal of contemporary Indian life and is beautifully situated in its geographic context.

I am getting ready to watch the opening of the Winter Olympics on TV, so this post has to end fast! Before I sign off though, I started a companion blog to Nayi-Taazi yesterday titled Lost & Found—to focus primarily on issues related to architecture & preservation. Hard as it is (at least for me) to find time even for one blog, I hope to keep them both alive and find opportunity and content to share from time to time :)

Snowfall or Snowstorm

For the past two hours, infact for the past two days, all local TV channels have been pounding about the imminent snow-storm in Boston. All schools are closed, state employees have been given a day-off, flights delayed and events cancelled. I’m sure the storm is strong enough to merit all the attention—yet sometimes you just wonder! When we first moved to Boston, we were quite surprised by the how important weather seemed to be in all aspects of life here. Granted that Boston has really cold winters and proximity to the sea leads to more frequent bouts of precipitation. But granting primetime headline status to the weather was not something we were used to. Headline news in India is almost always dominated by politics, scams, violent attacks and the like. Even Arizona seemed like it could care less about the weather (Well it was always just frickin-hot there—probably not much to report, when every day is 100+ F). So when Channel 7 in Boston begins their daily coverage with inches of rainfall and how the daily commute will look on the highway, it still manages to incite small amounts of amazement. Of course most news here is local as opposed to national in India, and maybe talking about the weather is an identifier of a developed country as opposed to a developing one. Nonetheless, the north-east TV journalists do have a tendency to amp up all weather phenomena—what one would call a rainfall in India is always a ‘storm’ here, and a snowfall is more often than not a ‘snowstorm’. More drama—more excitement! I just hope private corporations latched on to it more often—it would have certainly been fun to have the day off from office!

Swimming? Uh..hmm..as long as the pool’s heated!

The weekend was spent trying to decide on a do-able, interesting and inexpensive  spring class at the BU gym. Reason being the fact that membership subsidizes class fees and a pre-determined schedule facilitates more regular attendance at the gym. (Well, the class is merely once every week, but my gym-visit average for the past month has been dismal enough to desire even this level of regularity!). The choice for the longest time was between rock-climbing 101 and swimming 101- latter won one account of being a more essential [potentially life-saving :)] skill in my mind. The fact that the classes are on Sunday & pool waters are maintained at a balmy 86F sealed the deal. The first class yesterday was really good fun! The instructors were very helpful—the kind who have the knack of winning people’s trust, particularly helpful  in situations when they ask you to lie on your back & let go of your head under water. I must say the first time I did that and water invaded my nose and throat, prospects of making much headway started to look dismal. Yet a few helpful tips later, and realizing that everyone in swimming 101 was in the same boat boosted my confidence. And oh la la—45 minutes later I had learnt how to submerge my head under water for a few seconds without getting all choked up, float on my back AND stomach, and most importantly had managed to bypass my shyness in wearing a one-piece swimsuit! :)

2010, Home Alone, Netflix, BPL and my SewMac..

Yep! a decade of the new millennium is already over (where did it go!) Well, come to think of it-- college, more college, Abhi, marriage & work—it was actually quite an eventful decade :)..How on earth did I get so reflective on the whole decade though—as I began the post, I intended to merely acknowledge our foray into 2010. CNN was having an inane poll today btw about whether most people will refer to this year as “twenty-ten” or “two-thousand and ten” and the resounding verdict was in favor of the latter (much to the dismay of the anchors who thought the former was more trendy!). I am always amazed at who comes up with these gazillion polls and who responds to these things. Abhi has actually put me down a guilt trip about this in the past---well no, not TV/internet polls, but my total non-commitment towards writing product reviews on websites, especially cause I base my decision to buy-or-not after reading gazillion reviews myself. He thinks it is absolutely necessary for the sustenance of the system for customers like me to contribute---he’s probably not wrong..I’m just really lazy about the whole thing, besides there seem to a whole lot of other interested folks to pen reviews :)

It is so easy to go off on a tangent with blogging..especially when you write a post (like me) after a break of 3 months..nonetheless, steering back, the past week has been an interesting experience of living alone at home and watching waaaay more TV than I would ever have had the time if Abhi was around. Part of it is that I like to have some noise in the house, although the bigger reason is, my rather late discovery of Netflix Instant Play and the fact that they have a reasonably good collection, including many new/old foreign movies. So, post-discovery I have already watched 8 movies in 3 days…infact my eyes were watery last night at 2 am after all the viewing, yet I gave in to the urge of another one – OK, maybe I’m exaggerating a bit with the watery part..but aleast they were all droopy :)..So the first movie I watched was the Ken Burns documentary on Frank Lloyd Wright—I had just finished the book ‘Loving Frank’ about FLW’s illicit affair with a married woman Mamah Cheney in the early 1900’s and was aching to piece that part in his larger life story and also ogle at historic photos & footage. The movie did just that. In retrospect though I have had enough of FLW for quite a while. The second was a documentary, Blindsight-about a mountaineering expedition in the Himalayas with 6 blind kids from Tibet. The movie was a bit heavy, yet well made and unique. Following that was a forgettable 1996 romantic comedy starring Jennifer Aniston—when you watch so many movies there are bound to be some unfortunate choices! Moving on though, ‘Wake up Sid’ was a delightful Hindi film that I had somehow missed watching when released last year. It’s fresh, contemporary and remains interesting throughout. Next, I watched ‘Outsourced’ – an Indo-Hollywood film in English about an American who is sent to a small Indian town to train call center employees—I was quite sure that I wouldn’t like the movie before I started watching, thinking it would be stereotypical & kitschy. And yes it was all that in parts-yet rather funny and very entertaining! Following that was the 2008 documentary Food Inc. about the corporatization of the whole food industry in the US. The movie was well-made but didn’t exactly hit me as it would have, had I watched the movie a few years earlier-- back in the day when I had never read a label on a food product before, and honestly didn’t even know/care how to interpret that info even if I did. Since coming to the US though, my approach towards food has changed..I no longer just buy stuff I like off the shelf and consume it gluttonously placing my trust in my genetically slender bodyframe (or atleast so I like to believe!) Not that I’m worried about gaining weight now, but am definitely concerned about dumping preservatives in my body just cause that food has to have a certain shelf-life. Make as much food from raw materials as you can, and buy right to make sure the ‘raw’ materials are truly raw, seems like the sensible thing to do—yet is easier said than done especially when you have limited time and budget. Yet, no harm trying! ‘Whats Your Rashee?’ was a painfully long hindi movie, funny in parts but tiresome overall. Next up was ‘Welcome to Sajjanpur’ a Shyam Benegal creation that I watched this morning- and what a delightful movie it is! Refreshing and original, with excellent acting, music and dialogues, the movie is satirical yet light – a must-watch! The invention of the HDMI cable and the fact that it allows all these movies to be viewed on my wide-screen TV makes life all the better—bless the people who invent this stuff!

In between the movies though, books from the Boston Public Library have kept me company at bedtime, on the WC and on the T. The Public Library system is one of those things that I absolutely love about US cities..and BPL is supposedly the grand-daddy of them all, being the first public library in the US. It’s central branch is right next to my office and although it is quite difficult to find recent bestsellers, there is still a huge collection of books to choose from. I am also thankful to my SewMac (my 70-stitch ‘computerised’ sewing machine) for being there in times like these. Actually since Abhi doesn’t let me spend too much time on it while he’s around, this is probably the best opportunity to churn out the duvet-set and lunch-bags that I have been meaning to complete in ages!

So much for now..

I salute the light within you..

It is strange that I had never really wondered before what NAMASTE literally meant. I mean I knew it meant something that implied the act of bowing in Sanskrit. But wouldn’t have been able to dissect the word down to its roots and elaborate what its literate meaning was. So today when I heard the rendition in the blog title (in a yoga CD of all places!) it got me thinking.. Its pretty neat isn’t it? ‘I salute the light within you!’ ….Seems like a lot to say in a single, short greeting, yet quite remarkable! Its derived from the Sanskrit namas (bow) and te (to you). More accurately though, the implied meaning of the term is - "I respect that divinity within you that is also within me". Of all the countless times that I have spoken this word and greeted family, friends, acquaintances and strangers, I never appreciated its entire breadth. The act of pressing your palms together and bringing them close to the chest that accompanies the vocal address is a pose called ‘anjali mudra’. The symbolism behind the pose is that one hand represents the divine, spiritual self, while the other represents the worldly self. By combining the two, the person making the gesture is attempting to rise above his differences with others, and connect himself with the person to whom he bows. I am not sure if the meaning of the term will really come to my mind the next time I use the salutation—I will probably parrot it out of habit as I have been doing for so many years..Yet I at least know what it implies now and will hopefully try to make it mean more on some occasions!!

Part III: A sense of calm..

Day 21: It was the longest run of our training yet-- 20 miles! I could still feel pain at the back of my knee while walking, hence running was not an option. It was a big day for Abhi though! So I decided to accompany him and bike my way along on the Minuteman Trail while he completed his 20-mile run. It is interesting that although walking was painful, biking actually felt quite good since it does not involve the same muscles and repetitive impact. It was great to cheer Abhi and the other runners and I was able to get some cardiovascular exercise too in the bargain! Getting out actually felt better than staying home. At the same time it was difficult to sit out yet another run. Typically a few weeks before any marathon, athletes enter what is called a ‘taper period’. That means you do shorter runs at an easy effort with the intent of not over-exerting your body and resting it to be strong for race day.  So in a couple of weeks, our group was about to begin this period—this meant that peak training time was NOW … or never. Everybody in our group was sorry to hear about my injury and hopeful that I recuperate soon.

Meanwhile, as a last ditch effort, our coach recommended another physical therapist. I decided to give it a shot. So on Day 25, I was at his office bright and early at 7 a.m. I was very apprehensive – after having visited a couple of doctors and PT’s in the past few weeks, there was a weird sense of deja vu and a fear of getting lost in circles again. To my pleasant surprise though, things turned out quite differently! After some quick questions and evaluation, the therapist was very confidently able to diagnose that my problem seemed to be ‘popliteus tendonitis’ – an inflammation in the popliteus tendon that runs at the back of the knee. The symptoms he described for the condition fit in quite well with my own and I was relieved that finally there seemed to be a definitive diagnosis. Now, the important question was recovery and time-frame. He said we could be ‘cautiously optimistic’ about running. But first it was important to treat the injury—that meant no running and only simple exercises that he prescribed. To speed up the healing he affixed a patch filled with anti-inflammatory medication that uses a micro electric current to "drive" charged molecules through the skin and into the tissues. As I have now learned the process is better known as ‘iontophoresis’ and is a common therapy tool. I felt really good that day—it was as if the pain had absolutely disappeared!! However, as the effect of the medication wore on, the pain was back by evening – though lesser in intensity! This was a promising sign.

It’s now been 2 days since then. I have to meet the therapist for sessions throughout next week. I am still not sure how my knee will feel once I start running – though I want to be optimistic! These past weeks have been chaotic—I have realized how frustrating it can be to not be able to do something that you thought you almost did. I have also been humbled by the sheer reality of circumstances that present themselves, and the importance of finding a silver lining in bleak times. Through the well-wishes of family and friends I have found the ability to remain positive. I will still try to train for the full marathon (if time allows), will aim for the half-marathon if that doesn’t work out, and will try my best to raise funds for AID and ASHA even if I can’t run. It is because I have realized in this process that it is not simply about running – it is about finishing what I started – about making this journey worthwhile. If by something I can do-- like running or reaching out to my friends and colleagues-- I can help two hard-working organizations find solutions to some of India’s overwhelming problems, it is totally worth the effort. So if you are reading this, please visit my fundraising page for TEAM AID-ASHA at http://2009.teamaidasha.org/Runner.aspx?Num=20088826 and donate any amount that suits you. Your donation will be so important in bringing about grassroots change in India  – and the gesture will raise my spirits to heal fast and run hard!

Part II: In the Doldrums….

A week into the injury, I was getting really worried so visited the massage therapist I’d seen in the past- unfortunately, the therapy didn’t seem to have the same miraculous effects as before. I tried running the next day and couldn’t even get past the block – limped my way back home and tried to convince myself that I had to be patient and rest it out.  Time was running out though. The upcoming weekend was the 18 mile run, and to keep up with the schedule, I had to heal fast. On Day 9 I tried a 2-mile run and walked almost half of it, tried another 3-miles on Day 11 & tried to run most of it. It was painful all the way and my knee had swollen up by the time I got home. I was getting rather stressed by this point.  More than the physical pain, the injury was gnawing at my mental peace. I was irritable and confused –dug up a dizzying amount of (often conflicting) information on the net about running injuries, hoping to find a miracle stretch.

Meanwhile it was also high time in our program to begin fundraising – which really is the bigger purpose behind running at all. For me that is what makes this program so special –the fact that you undertake a challenging personal task and use it to create awareness about a larger cause. The relationship was so symbiotic  in my mind that the inability to run any more, made it very difficult to initiate the fundraising effort.  Still defiant to run I showed up for the 18-mile weekend run on Day 14. I somehow completed a painful 7 miles and by the end was certain that I needed intervention. Looked up a sports therapy place close by and went in for an evaluation on Day 16. There began my journey down the road of endless calls to my PCP (who was on vacation), her assistant, the specialist’s office and an overwhelming exasperation with the needlessly complex way healthcare works here! As if I was not already drained by the effort, the new therapist recommended that I see an orthopedist to rule out any bone injuries! I must confess that by this time I had reached the brink of my patience and good humor. It felt as if I was just going round in circles. The therapist was unable to provide a definitive diagnosis and asked me to lay off running for a while. Having lost more than 2 weeks of training time in an already tight schedule was not doing wonders for my faith in being ready and able to run the marathon. Besides the knee and shin were not feeling better either.. there was persistent pain and swelling that would go away and reappear. Nonetheless an appointment with the orthopedist was made – and I continued to try shorter runs without much success.

 

Day 20: The orthopedist ruled out a fracture (again!!) or compartment syndrome (that my therapist somehow thought I might have) and asked me to forget about running this year. His diagnosis was that due to multiple and persistent piling of small injuries after each run, my left leg had inflamed to a point that I simply needed to let it heal completely. Running would commence only in small increments and with the marathon creeping up so soon there just wasn’t enough time. The drive back from his clinic was a sad one—I had till now been harboring hope against all odds that I could still run the marathon. In the ensuing two days it finally dawned upon me that I might not realistically be able to accomplish the goal towards which I had been training for the past few months. It was definitely disappointing. After a day of brooding and during yet another bout of Abhi trying to lift my spirits, we got talking about aiming for a half-marathon if not the full this year. This would also allow me to canvass for the charities and be able to raise funds. It being the last day for registering for the Lowell Half-Marathon, I went ahead and reserved my spot. However, as I limped about our one-bed apartment from one room to the next, how I was going to be able to run the 13.1 miles seemed very dubious.

Part I: The 17-miler!… and the Aftermath

The past 4 weeks have been a mixed bag of emotions  – there have been moments of elation and those of disappointment, of inspiration and renewed resolve, yet more setbacks and confusion, and finally efforts to find some peace. Since an elaboration was turning this post into an epic in terms of length, I have split it in 3 parts..I apologize for the verbosity – regard them as the ranting of a beleaguered wannabe runner.

Starting where I left off, August 8 was a high point – I completed my 17-mile run..yippee!! And was hoping it was going to signal a comeback of sorts after my previous bout of shin pains. It was also a great mental motivator..17 just seems closer to 20 – and although the number seemed quite intimidating before the run, I had decided that I needed to overcome it if I was going to be running the full 26.2 miles…Fortunately, things seem to fall in place that particular sunny Saturday morning – I ran at my pace, and after a couple of miles of discomfort in my shins, felt pretty strong throughout the rest of the run – and of course the smile strategy helped too I believe ;)    I was able to appreciate just how challenging it is to run long distances..to be engaged in a back and forth dialogue between your mind and body, fend off the temptation to stop and be fueled by the desire to get to the finish. As I came running in towards the finish line, Abhi was already there with camera in tow so thankfully there are some pics for memory’s sake! I could never ever imagine that I could run 17 miles..and here I was, both humbled by the effort and yet proud of the accomplishment.

And then there was the AFTERMATH-yep, as great as I felt immediately after the run, the story was a little different as the day wore on..by the time we got home my legs started feeling more and more sore. By afternoon, I was hobbling around the house with a piercing pain in my left knee and calves—and by evening the pain became so unbearable that I could put absolutely no bodyweight on that leg…which meant that Abhi had to literally carry me from one room to the next. Hmmm…this was not looking good at all—we were both scared that that I might have developed the dreaded ‘stress fracture’ and we did not even want to contemplate what that would mean for running the marathon. Anyways, long story short, I called up the emergency dept. and fixed an appointment for the next day.

The doctor knocked and pressed at several spots on my leg and was able to discern that there didn’t seem to be a fracture—so that was a good news!!..Yet, he cautioned against putting any weight on the leg and gave me crutches to use for a few days!! Imagine that—running 17 miles one day—feeling all fit and healthy and being in crutches 24 hours later! I was quite demoralized to say the least and anxious to get back on my feet asap. Took the Monday off from work, downed a few ipubrufens, iced, elevated—followed the whole shebang and the pain seemed to be getting better, if only slightly so. Limped my way to office the next day – it was pretty clear that I was going to have to sit out on the upcoming weekend run. Infact by Saturday- Day 7, I was still limping and running seemed quite incomprehensible.

 

Smile..and add a mile!

One would think that after having run double-digit miles on past occasions, running anything from 4-8 miles should pretty much seem like a cakewalk..Unfortunately not to a beginner runner like me :( ..The human body has its own peculiar way of adapting to physical stress and regrettably not much of it follows a linear course..rather my stint with the marathon more closely resembles a sound wave of sorts! with its very own crests and troughs. The past week was what one would categorize a TROUGH – I was unable to run a whole lot due to immense stiffness in my calves and as a result ended up missing my 16-mile long weekend run. Laden with guilt as Abhishek went ahead for the run on Saturday morning, I tended to my stiff muscles by a getting a rejuvenating sports massage at the Boston Bodyworker (not bad actually:)).

By Sunday, the guilt had accrued enough to convince me to try 15 miles on my own. Yet, it was not to be – after 8 miles my legs just refused to go any further—on all these occasions when you don’t end up running as much as you had set out to, it’s really tough to pinpoint whether it was our body or your heart/mind that gave out first. I tend to believe that it’s the latter. In fact, it was interesting when Abhi remarked that throughout the run, I looked really stressed and unhappy – part of it was the stiffness in my legs , though a larger share I think was my heart not being vested enough in running that day. By that evening I was beginning to feel that I had hit a roadblock – I was probably getting scared of all the pain and fatigue that I knew was going to be part of all long runs and that had begun to affect my overall training.

After a day of strength training and rest, I got out again for a 8-mile run this past Wednesday on a hot and humid evening - the first couple of miles were again the toughest. The range of emotions one encounters (or at least I do!) during a long run is quite amazing! At the beginning the mind is filled with resolve and determination, yet my body just doesn't want to be shaken out of its dormancy into feet-pounding action! It's almost as though your mind has to fight against this resistance and somehow make it through the first few miles. The temptation to stop or alter your pre-decided mileage for the day is incredibly strong. Anyways, so on Wednesday, 20-30 minutes into the run my legs began to feel more flexible..yet, one by one as the bridges on River Charles came by, I was presented with more and more opportunities to call it a day. Somehow I kept going....perhaps it is importance of tasting failure, be humbled and filled with renewed determination that was at play. I had to do the 8 miles despite the initial pain to know that I was still in the running! I had to make myself re-believe that although I had missed a long-run training day, I COULD come back and do the 17-miles the coming weekend. These and a lot of other things went through my mind. It is remarkable how much time you have to think once you run long-distances (and especially at my pace, trust me, the time is stretched out even more ;)).

I finished the run in slightly better time than my usual pace and biked back from work - with my legs feeling great!! In retrospect, I believe what made the biggest difference that day was my promise to myself that hereafter I was going to ENJOY my marathon training..that I was going to SMILE without rhyme or reason whenever the slightest inkling of pain or fatigue dawned over..I didn't want to frown and feel miserable throughout my runs...I wanted to be happy and proud of the fact that I am training for the marathon, happy to be outdoors and go places in Boston that I had never before traversed on foot. And that was exactly what I did -I acknowledged fellow runners and pedestrians with smiles, some bothered to respond, some simply thought I was crazy, and at times I just smiled to myself. At times I completely forgot about the smiling bit and the heat and miles got to me--yet, thankfully these spells were momentary and the most amazing thing was how effectively the smiling trick acted as an analgesic....

I am sure many others have talked and theorized about how smiling affects any demanding exercise..how it releases the right enzymes or whatever. And of course the now ubiquitous laughing clubs in India seem to have capitalized on the phenomenon to the tee. Nonetheless, it was great to experience it first hand! Having a positive attitude towards whatever you do certainly makes a difference and I am often reminded of Mark Twain's 'Tom Whitewashes a Fence' that I read back in school..So for any beginner runners (or not) out there who might be feeling a little down...do give this a try!

More in the next post about how the 17 mile run panned out and whether the 'smile and add a mile' trick worked a second time round :)

On Running.....and running a Marathon

" If you want to run, run a mile. If you want to experience a different life, run a marathon."
-Emil Zatopek, Czech athlete, Marathon Gold Medalist, 1952 Summer Olympics

Three months down the line, this past Saturday I ran 15 miles (24 kms)!!

Back in April I came across this quote and am repeating it here, not only because it aptly sums up a great athlete's personal triumph, but also because the quote has slowly and steadily begun to resonate ever more strongly with my own effort to run a marathon this fall. Blessed (at least that is how I like to think of it!) with a short, slender frame and standing tall at precisely 4'-11-1/2", I was never the sports champ- I was fast though, and being able to sprint through 100m races was something I managed to do pretty well until about middle school when the inextricable web of studies and other activities that I enjoyed, supplanted my interest in sports altogether. (The fact that I fainted twice while running 400m races in school further convinced me that I was not cut out for endurance sports! :)). And so life went on and I managed to preserve my short, slender frame without any formal exercise or sport (unless you want to count hostel table tennis in the list) throughout college.

Coming to the US was a turning point--the relative availability of time and easy access to a wonderful college gym managed to rouse me up from lethargy. Yet running was never my thing -- I would jog a comfortable couple of laps around the gym track (i.e. barely half a mile) and secretly marvel at the individuals who ran round and round for what seemed like an eternity. Our first year in Boston, Abhi & I 'experienced' the Boston Marathon - 'experienced' as opposed to saw or watched..cause I remember it being a truly moving experience...I had tears in my eyes as people young and old, physically fit and unfit, made it to the finish line with agony, joy, determination and pride writ large across their faces. 26.2 miles was an incomprehensible distance for me at the time -- it seemed impossible how anybody could run all of it at one go (how anybody can do in a little over 2 hrs is still a mystery though!). Pumped up with awe and inspiration, Abhi remarked that he would love to run the marathon one day. I told him I would cheer for him along the way if he did - running a marathon myself still seemed a completely insane idea.

And so another year passed - it was almost time for the 2009 Boston Marathon when Abhi chanced upon a website of a program run by two India-centric charities, AID and Asha, wherein volunteers train together to run a marathon and raise funds in the process. Reading accounts of first-time marathon runners was indeed inspiring; the fact that it was coupled with a cause we could connect to, made it even more appealing. So, on we went for the orientation session in late April - a fairly well-attended gathering where presentations were made by the charity administrators, the coach and previous runners. While nobody said it in quite the words of Emil Zatopek, most runners attested to the fact that training for the marathon would be a HUGE commitment and a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Abhi and I decided to give it a shot - we thought maybe we could try the half marathon option if the full 26.2 miles seemed really long. Anyways, so the following Saturday, around 30-40 people met by the Charles river (on what has to be the worst spring day with freezing temperatures and rain) for the first run. The coach outlined 3 loops - 3, 4 and 5 miles..I obviously chose 3 - but wait 3 miles!!!! The most I had ever run was a mile - so completely unsure of what I was getting into, I herded along with the '3 mile' group and off we went. Five-ten minutes in, with cold winds and sleet slapping across my face, I was completely out of breath and energy. I really wanted to complete the whole distance running though, and resolved to keep my legs moving - tempting as it was to walk for sometime and pick up the run again. A couple of bridges, steps and ramps on the way didn’t help the situation—and when I gazed up along the river to the finish line, it seemed just too awfully distant. Nonetheless, I kept my legs moving, even if my running was more like a slow jog at times. Twenty minutes in, I was utterly exhausted, yet it seemed like I was more than halfway through…this realization acted like a shot of adrenaline – it would have been a waste to stop now…I just had to hang in there for a few more minutes. The last quarter mile was the best part of the run – the prospect of finishing was so desirable that I could actually run faster. Dashing to the finish and meeting Abhi there was even better..I was so glad it was over that exhaustion took a back seat! THAT was the beginning…

Three months down the line, this past Saturday I ran consistently for a little over 3 hours to complete a 15 mile run. The journey from 3 to 15 has been an exciting one—it has had its share of pain, disappointments, injuries and triumphs. From getting up early every Saturday for the group long runs, to running (or not) during the week after office hours, to giving in to the urge to stop mid-run and decide its not my day, to nursing my bruised ego by running over-ambitiously and injuring my knees—all have been illuminating experiences.

More on them in subsequent posts and hopefully the journey from here to 26.2 in real time!

Backpacking in the Adirondacks..

Blogging for me took a rather long hiatus this past few weeks, which stretched into months...well, I'm making an attempt right this moment to save it from being years ! I have been grappling to understand why it was so...although the answer is fairly simple...it just takes a sizable amount of time and commitment to blog, to document your thoughts and experiences and not just live through them and move on to new ones. Also the whole logic behind blogging is still not fully resolved in my mind..the activity still seems to me a little self-indulgent--I mean why in the heck would you want to tell people what you think, what you do etc etc...I do like the fact that somewhere down the line I will be able to look back, read these entries and live through the details of my experiences better than my mind can ever remember them..and that's a good incentive...so anyways, since I have a few minutes to kill in the office, and I recently got back from an adequately 'bloggable' long-weekend trip...why not! :)

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It was Independence day weekend and since we had experienced the Boston version last year with all the fireworks et al. Abhi & I decided to spend the vacation elsewhere -- and backpacking in the Adirondacks/ ADK (took me a while to get the pronunciation right !) with the Goyals was the chosen adventure. We felt it would be a good extension to our camping/hiking trip in the White Mts sometime back and also last year. Very soon, we realized though, that a backpacking trip can very quickly snowball into an extensive gear-shopping extravaganza -when you want to haul all the stuff you are carrying on your back, spending money on some ultra-light gear surely seems like a very good idea! So thats how the week preceding the trip was spent..both Abhi & me got new backpacks, and I also got a super-small sleeping bag, pad and trekking poles (amazing knee savers, though they do slow one down a bit)...

Anyways, so we were all packed and ready to leave on Friday morning at 7.30..My pack weighed almost 29 lbs. while Abhi's was 35 lbs. First time I picked it up at home, I wasn't really sure how the whole thing was going to pan out - it seemed so heavy!! but a couple of minutes into it one begins to feel more accustomed. Weather was cloudy and glum as usual (hmpf!!) but after picking up the Goyals we were on the road by 8.30-9..We stopped at Chillis in a town called ‘Halfmoon’ for lunch- spent a generous amount of time eating and chatting and restrooming -- which in retrospect wasn't the best of ideas cause it pushed forward our arrival time at ADK. We got in at the ADK Loj (ranger Station) from where the Mt. Marcy trail begins, at approx. 3-4 p.m...after quick rearranging of the packs, renting of an additional bear canister (quite an apparatus they are-- Vigo will vouch for their sturdiness after the one hanging from Abhi's pack banged against his head causing a huge bump!!) we were off in another 1/2 hr..the rain was coming down quite hard when we started....we ran into a ranger right at the beginning of the trail who informed us of about 15 other backpackers at the campsites ahead...

Spirits high despite the weight of the backpacks, gloomy skies and pouring rain, we set out on the 3 mile trek to the campsite...we should have ran into the first group of ‘lean-to’s’ after two miles….but there was no trace of anything…infact all the hikers who we met in the opposite direction did not recall seeing any signs for campsites. This was not good news…getting lost in the woods at night and looking for a place to camp in the rain, didn’t seem like the most exciting prospect. Nonetheless, with no other option than to trust our map and trek further till the 3 mile point to find the second campsite, we continued hiking further. We crossed Marcy Dam on the way – a rather rudimentary dam built of wooden logs, but very rustic and scenic - it was pity the weather was so depressing…

Anyways, further on we went..And then there was the brook—since I have never blogged about my hiking trips before, I should make it clear that I HATE crossing brooks and streams and any of those things with cold running water and slippery rocks! It is one of those little quirks that I guess everyone has & for me it is the fear of getting my shoes wet (haha they got so absolutely wet the next day that it seems such a joke I was trying to save them on the first day!!) Anyways so ‘Phelps Brook’ it was called. To get to the campsite we had to cross a wooden bridge—yet apparently it was closed due to some hazardous trail conditions and after wandering off on a false trail in vain search of it, we got back to where the brook could be crossed on foot. It was uncertain whether we would hit the campsites this way as we were not being able to follow our map directions to them. Almost all of us were in two minds—to trek further (and for how long?) or turn back and head to the base.

It was getting dark and the rain was coming down ever harder. We gave ourselves half an hour more and continued forth. It was almost nearing the verge of our time limit when Abhi noticed a solitary teeny-weeny backcountry camping sign stapled to a tree trunk – nothing could have been better! We took a short herd trail inside the woods and came upon the first clearing where tents could be pitched..the signs urged us to go in deeper where we came across another pitching area. Elated at having found a place to sleep, exhausted from the trek and weight of the packs, slightly scared by the idea of encountering black bears and anxious to pitch tents and cook food before dark, we quickly set about our tasks. There were no other campers at this site – we had clearly missed the area with the 15 other campers :( Having some company around would certainly have been reassuring, though in retrospect, it was quite cool to have all that space to ourselves!! We made the higher area our ‘dining space’-- it is not recommended to cook and sleep in the same area in bear country -- and the lower space we used for pitching tents.

Headlamps and torches in tow..we set about pitching our tents, and soon thereafter cooking dinner. I have to admit it was a reasonably scary feeling – out in the middle of nowhere in the woods, no fire, inadequate light and pouring rain. Our stove was this tiny, small backpacking version and was the only source of fire we had. We discovered this really thin, though running stream of water close to the campsite and used that water for cooking. The dinner menu was exciting though—nothing less than sada very Punjabi ‘Chana Masala’!!—for those who are wondering how we managed to enjoy such an exotic Indian delicacy on a backpacking trip, look in the aisles of EMS for a packaged meal by ‘Backpackers Pantry’..they have a whole range of other cool dishes that can be cooked right in the pouch by adding hot water..we made some hot cocoa to accompany the dinner…and slowly things started looking much better..:)

God! It seems like this post is going to go on forever at this rate!! Anyways so fed and happy, we got back to our tents and were about to sleep….when a cell phone ring pierced the silence – so much for the middle of nowhere experience!! AT&T undeniably has good coverage – it was my cellphone that had signal and the concerned soul calling us was Chaubey. Disappointed that the wilderness hype was slightly shattered, yet reassured that we could atleast call the ranger station if needed, we got back to our tents and called it a day..well of course before that, there was all this shouting amongst us across the tents and su-su trips out in the woods…

I managed to catch some sleep that night – tough as it was with raindrops splattering atop the tent. We peeked out at dawn -the sky was overcast and the rain looked determined..It was important to get ready fast and begin the roundtrip trek to the mountain peak so we could be back before dark. We had a quick breakfast of oatmeal, cocoa and nuts and since we had run out of water and were hoping to use the brook to refill our bottles..that was our first stop..The backpacks felt considerably lighter than the previous day, and we were on the trail by 9.30...We saw some intermittent slivers of sunshine in the beginning, however, soon thereafter there was incessant rain all the rest of the way..the trail was sludgy and flooded..we all managed to hop on rocks and avoid our shoes from getting drenched for some time. In fact when we encountered a wide stream which could only be crossed by wading through it, we all took off our socks and shoes beforehand. After this point though, the trail only got more flooded and the rain was nothing less than a downpour. Soon, my socks, shoes and everything else was drenched and muddy—the rain was so strong that even after rain covers over our pretty waterproof backpacks, it was hard to prevent the water from getting in....4 hours into the hike.. I was feeling rather beat up…we were hungry, had still not reached the top and our shoes were wet and heavy..almost 0.8 miles were left to the summit when we started entering the alpine zone, the wind picked up considerably, trail conditions worsened further and it was quite chilly….all the hikers we met in the opposite direction said it was very windy at the top, the skies were overcast, so any spectacular views were out of the question…afraid of over-exposure from lack of proper clothing, and the desire of making it back to our campsite before dark, we decided to head back..It was not an easy decision, yet in retrospect, we believe it was a wise one…So that’s what we did and ventured downhill on the trail.

The descent seemed like an eternity of hiking in the rain, wading through pools of water and stepping precariously over slippery rocks….yet, it took only 4 hours and we were back at the site by 6.00…It was such a relief to get out of drenched clothes and put on something dry. Having not had anything substantial to eat all day other than a couple of energy bars and nuts, we were all pretty famished and ready for some ‘real’ food –packaged Mac n Cheese never sounded so good and we headed up soon to our dining space where we’d stored all the eatables inside bear canisters. Food was quick and we were soon off to bed…we also had a radio that was catching a nearby station and they were covering July 4 firework festivities ….it was quite cheering to hear some music and I would have loved to listen more, except that the radio was powered by manual charge (i.e. it had a spindle that had to be repeatedly swung manually around a pivot to build up the battery charge..and as much as I like the overall concept of such devices for outdoor use…I was dead tired to swing it any more), so once it died it was time to say goodnight…

I slept really well the second night…and the reason was the lack of any rain—Yep!! It stopped raining at night and the next morning we woke up to a clear bright sky with a promise of sunshine ahead!! Amazing as that was, it was sad that this was our last day in the woods and we couldn’t help but wondering why it couldn’t have been like this throughout…well, but as it is with weather…you just take what you get and crib about the rest! For breakfast we decided to consume all our freeze-dried food and had mashed potatoes with pasta primavera! While we were savoring the food, another activity that occupied our minds was locating spots of sunshine on the ground to dry our wet shoes. The very thought of putting on wet shoes was making me cringe but it becomes easier when you really have no other choice! A couple of hours later, tents down, and all our stuff back into the backpacks, it was time to set out on the last 3 miles down to the ranger station where we parked our car. This was by far the best time we had on the trail…it was bright and sunny, we were all in light clothes and the moderate descent made things even more relaxing and enjoyable.

We reached the base around afternoon and after a quick change of clothes we were off to nearby Lake Placid for a hearty lunch! The chosen jaunt was a lively restaurant around the lake that had a great outdoor patio and reasonably good food! Happy and fed, it was time to hit the road and begin the 5-hr trip back to Boston. The return drive was really scenic - everything looks so much better in the sun and 70 degree temps :)—and we savored every bit of it! To keep us entertained were some ‘Sheldon-isms’ and ‘Sad songs of Lata Mangeshkar and Mohd. Rafi’ from some really really old Hindi movies! It almost 10 by the time we got back and while the prospect of sleeping on a real bed was very comforting, we were sort of sad that it was over --nonetheless, it surely was a memorable trip whose detailed memories I have now captured in my blog!!