23 September 2018

Only for the second time this year…

Lately, I have been going thru a running rut. I cannot seem to get enthused to go for the long runs that I used to love. Worse, these days after a couple of miles, I feel tired and out of breath. I guess age is starting to slow me down.

Last night, I wrote to a few of the old long distance runner friends to see if running with the old friends might get my energy back. Lia agreed to run a 10 miler with me. It has been a long time since I have run 10 miles. In fact, I checked my record book – that was on Feb 3rd.

I got hungry, tired and wanted to quit after a few miles today too. But thanks to Lia, I continued to keep up with her and finally managed to finish 10 miles.

I think I am going to run with the long distance runner friends of mine till I can get back to my old energy level.

Thank you Lia for keeping me going.

Category: Running | 2 Comments on Only for the second time this year…
22 September 2018

From the bartender’s corner – Last of the Oaxacans

Finally, I hit upon a mezcal cocktail that I particularly like. This has mezcal, lime juice, maraschino liqueur and green chartreuse. Three fairly strong ingredients (from aroma and palate point of view) that actually co-exist well and let each other have enough space to play with. There is just about the right amount of smokiness for me. Also, I like my drinks a little less citrusy, so I went light on the lime juice. If you fancy a smokier version, use a reposado mezcal.

I am sure you have realized by now that the name is a play on Last Word (cocktail which has all the same ingredients except instead fo mezcal, it has gin) and The Last of the Mohicans. Of course the espadin for the mezcal comes from the state of Oaxaca in southern Mexico.

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22 September 2018

This is ridiculous

Sat down at the breakfast table this morning after my run and saw this packet on the table. No idea whether this is for Sharmila or Nikita (fairly sure it is not for Jay Jay or me) but that really does not matter.

This just makes no sense to me.

First, did you know that there are different kinds of makeups – like the stubborn ones, the compliant ones and the – I guess – schizophrenic ones? And how do they even decide whether the makeup is stubborn and not simply misunderstood?

Hilariously, there are degrees of stubbornness, it would appear. Neutrogena prides itself in dealing with the “most” stubborn ones.

99.3 ???? Not ninety, not ninety nine, not ninety nine decimal nine … But precisely ninety nine decimal three??? Did Neutrogena go around putting makeup – nothing but the most stubborn variety, mind you – on one thousand women in a mall and then go around scrubbing their faces only to find that the results were unsatisfactory on seven such women?

I had to chuckle at that #1 Choice of Makeup Artists bit. Those artists are made up for sure.

I am not done. Yet.

Why 114 towelettes? Whose great packaging idea was that? Not 100, not 120, not 125 but 114. Hundred and fourteen? Did some family of 19 people demand that they be able to divide the towelettes evenly amongst them, or what???

Ok. Now I am done. I need to scrub out some sun tan I got on my face from my run 🙂 🙂

Category: Humor | LEAVE A COMMENT
22 September 2018

The continental divide in my knowledge

Once I finished memorizing all the African countries, I asked myself if I could extend that to learn all the country names in the world. Naturally, I started by Googling “How many countries are there in the world?”

You would think it should be a straight forward answer. Far from it. The definition of a “country” is not as clear cut as I had thought it would be. There are countries that the UN recognizes. Then there are are completely autonomous areas with their own government and no control from outside – but they do not go for UN membership (e.g. Cook Islands). Kosovo is not a recognized country by UN, but it competes in the Olympics as a nation.

In fact, if I have this right, there are 195 sovereign states recognized by the UN, 201 partially recognized states, 204-207 de facto sovereign states, 206 Olympic nations, 211 FIFA countries and get this – 249 countries that have their own ISD (country code for telephone numbers) codes!

Anyways, finally memorized the names of all the nations recognized by the UN. Trying to understand the definition of continents was a trifle more tricky. Learnt some really interesting tidbits about continents. See how many of these you knew:

1. Which continent is Greenland in?
2. Which is the continent with the most number of countries?
3. Which is the continent with the least number of countries?
4. How many countries have contiguous area that straddles over two different continents?
5. This one is specially for my friends who live in the USA like me. How many countries in our continent?

Category: Puzzles | 1 Comment on The continental divide in my knowledge
20 September 2018

Goodbye, Mr. Stocks!

When I left your bed at 8 PM on Monday with your beautiful family around you, I promised you that I will visit you the next morning. Perhaps you did not hear me with all the struggle you were going thru – gasping for breath. Or perhaps I should spoken up a little bit so you could hear me.

The next morning came for me. But not for you.

Ruffling my fingers thru your sweaty hair while you lay on the bed, it felt very strange. This was the first time – in the one year that I knew you and have visited you at least forty to fifty times – I actually went in to your room. Every single time I visited you, I found you in the common area and that is where we spent all our time.

It was so strange to see you lying down without any movement. Before that you were the person who could not sit down. The only way for me to spend time with you was to walk next to you as you kept walking up and down the corridors. Purposelessly. Incessantly. Always whispering something to yourself. The only reaction I would get out of you was when I gave you a handshake. Inexplicably, you would burst into a smile. How many ever times I repeated it – that was your acknowledgement. Unfailingly.

You never told me about your son and your daughter. I got to meet them for the first time on Monday night. You never told me that you were part of the armed forces. I saw the certificate in your room. For that matter you never told me anything! Or to anybody else. I learnt from your wife that at the young age of 48, you had started deteriorating. I got to know you about twenty years after that.

By that time, you had lost your ability to say anything. I would ask you simple questions. You would stop. Look at me for a long time. As if you were trying to process what I had said. You would then mumble something – that was barely audible or coherent for me. I would nod. And away we would go shuffling down the narrow corridors of the hospice again.

Last couple of months started being different. Your walks got slower. And for the first time, I saw you tentatively sit down and doze off in the sofa between your walks. It was there for everybody to see that you had started to slow down.

Till you stopped entirely on Monday night.

Ours was a relationship borne out of silence. Its strength was never rooted in words. It was in the time we spent together silently.

Without a word you came into my life.

Without a word you went away.

But I had to put in a few words for you to remember our time together!

Category: In Transit | LEAVE A COMMENT
16 September 2018

He was a complete stranger then. Now he is a dear friend…

“I hope to meet you down the road again”. Those were the last words we had exchanged on Friday, 9th September 2016. You can read the full story here – how I had a chance meeting with Doug at Chicago O’hare airport. He was selling for an utility company. I was trying to catch a flight.

Our exchange was short initially. But my flight got delayed by 17 minutes. Sensing an window of opportunity, I had walked back to him and had a deeper discussion with him. He had said something that I have never forgotten till this day. I think I had asked him about his experience selling those utility subscription at the airport. His words were “I hate the way people treat me like ####. You will be amazed how people will show me the hand and walk away. I know they are in a hurry. But why treat me like I am below them? I am just trying to do my job.”

“I am just trying to do my job”. Those words had rankled in my mind long enough that ever since I make conscious effort to be gentle with sales people that accost me. Especially those who have been trying to sell me more and more Delta Amex credit cards every week in Atlanta airport!

I get ridiculed by my family for making friends with everybody in Facebook. And in life. But I am incorrigible. My family readily agrees with that. Doug and I became Facebook friends and on his birthday every year, we kept up with each other.

Then, this week, one more window of opportunity opened up. I was in Chicago getting the decks ready for the announcement of the new company and my job there. I had a breakfast slot open. Doug readily agreed to make the 40 mile trek to catch up face to face one more time.

That was an wonderful hour. Got to know about Doug’s background and his kids and wife. We had a great time talking about learning from life’s lessons. Ever gracious, Doug had some great stories from his life that ranged from being hilarious to poignant. He is a great dad! He is a great husband!!

As he left after our breakfast, I reflected on our friendship. He was a complete stranger. And yet fate put us in a collision path – and we were destined to be friends. All the flight that day had to do was leave on time – and I would have never had a second chance with Doug. But, the flight was delayed. Two years later, that resulted in a wonderful breakfast and I got to know a genuine human being.

Long time back I had once expressed my thoughts about this kind of random meetings and then re-meetings in the following way…

In life – like in runs – we start from different points and end at different points. The line between those points – or the speed at which we traverse the line – does not define us. What defines us are the intersection points with others’ lines. For, it is in those intersection points that life offers us the opportunities to acknowledge each other’s journey, celebrate each other’s presence and make a difference to each other’s lines.

And that journey is what it is all about.

That is why we live. That is why we run.

I toast to your good health, Doug! Also, happy birthday, a few days in advance!!

Category: Intersection Points | LEAVE A COMMENT