26 December 2009

Family Vacation in Peru

The kids, Sharmila and I went to Lima, Peru and spent a week there. We did not do the usual touristy spots like Machu Pichhu etc – mostly because I thought it would be too arduous for the kids. However, we had a whale of a time in and around Lima. We went to a few great beaches including Santa Maria and El Silencio. We also spent a great day with Julio (Best) and his family – Lilian, Andrea and Sofia. Finally, we had a great time visiting Nikita’s nanny’s (Nancy) family and house in Chorrillos.

1 December 2009

Sharmila’s 40th birthday!

Sharmila and I went to Lisbon to celebrate her 40th birthday. Our good friends from London – John and Maria joined us there. We had a good time in Lisbon proper as well as Cascais and Sintra. On our way back, we stayed in Paris for a day and met up with our old friend from Dallas days – Reddy.

3 January 2009

Marathon Run

This time, in my hometown Durgapur, there was a Marathon Run that was organized by a local club. I was mildly surprised since running – let alone marathon – is not that popular in India in general, my sleepy hometown in particular. Nevertheless, I decided to participate (I was already running 10 km everyday after I landed for vacation). First let me point out that you should not get fooled by the naming. While called “marathon”, it was really a half-marathon – 21 kms. For the uninitiated, “Bengal” refers to the state that we are from.

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In any case, my decision to participate caused great consternation in my family. Nobody in my family could fathom that a 42 year old would be running for 21 km. My dad took sleeping pills the previous night and went to sleep ๐Ÿ™‚

When I arrived at the running place, there were a lot of surprises in store for me. First, unlike here in USA, when they said they will start at 8 AM, they were merely saying that somewhere around that time we will get started. When I enquired, they said they are waiting for the VIP to arrive. Some minister came and started the run – so we had to wait for an hour for him.

The lineup itself was a lot of fun. I was the 42-year old. Next there was a 33 year old (who did not finish) and then a 27-year old. Most everybody else were 17-23 years old. They were getting completely confused by me – most of them mistook me for an organizing official ๐Ÿ™‚

It was also a lot of fun watching these kids pushing each other to get their feet on the chalk-mark of starting line. Nobody wanted to stand behind anybody. Everybody wanted to be the first to get started. As if over a stretch of 21 km, starting a foot behind, would unduly pose an insurmountable gap that they could not cover. Most of these kids also bowed out by the 8 km marker. (Out of about 350 participants, 72 or so completed).

Running on the roads was pretty much like here in USA. There were the folks gathered to cheer; kids running out of their houses to see the spectacle; the volunteers and pilot cars and ambulances. In addition we had the stray dogs once in a while getting in our way. A side story to all this is that since I did not go from USA prepared for a long run like this, I did not have my water bottle belts and other such paraphernalia. Most people were impressed that I refused all the water that the volunteers were offering and ran without a single drop of water. What they did not know is that if I did drink any of that water, I would be running at twice the speed looking for the nearest toilet. (I stick to bottled water while in India after a few – let’s just say – “learning experiences” ๐Ÿ™‚ )

The real attraction for everybody was to get an award from Sourav Ganguly. India is a cricket crazy country. One of their most successful captains – now retired Sourav Ganguly – hails from Bengal. Bengalis of all age and groups are absolutely nuts about Sourav. He cannot do anything wrong in their eyes. Every failure of his was due to a bigger conspiracy somewhere else. Bengalis usually forget their otherwise lacklustre performance as a state in almost every aspect of life by just bringing up Sourav in any conversation. (btw, before Sourav it was the Nobel prize won by Rabindranath Tagore ๐Ÿ™‚ ) That said, Sourav was indeed a very fine cricketer and a very successful captain.

Nonetheless, I did finish the race – nowhere close to getting recognized by Sourav though!! I finished at 2 hour 3 minutes. While that was my career best half marathon, the winner was a 20 year old marathon runner from North Bengal who finished it at 1 hour 11 minutes!!! I was impressed. This year I am determined to increase my speed.

In any case, my whole – extremely worried – family was there was at the finish line. There was more of a sigh of relief that I did not die halfway rather than rejoice. Nonetheless, it was immensely satisfying to finish the race (and watching the twenty-year olds drop out at every mile-marker) ๐Ÿ™‚

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In case you are wondering what the security guys were doing around me, they had come there for Sourav Ganguly!!

Rajib

24 July 2008

Smokies – Roys and Haldars

This summer we were fortunate enough to host a lot of our friends at our place. In July, the Haldars and the Roys visited us from Dallas. We spent a couple of days in the Smoky Mountains with them. These are some video clippings from the trip – specially the trek to the Laurel Waterfalls