Purpose of Life

It’s been about nine years since I started practicing rock climbing. Sooner, I was sucked in to climbing, and there was a time when I also started to realize that rock climbing is my Dharma and I climbing is my Karma. Similar to a Kshatriya’s Karma is to protect the society, in-line with his Dharma. In the meantime, I introduced numerous people into climbing and few took it forward but most simply discontinued. However, I’ve the satisfaction that I made something available for a few, when they didn’t even knew that such a thing existed.

Alongside I started long-distance running too. It’s been about six years since I’m doing performance-running. That is- training for the run, timing my runs and keeping track of my personal best runs and improving on them. Over years my training rigor was also increasing, consult experts advise for my training and read literature too.

I used to balance my various physical activities- rock climbing, running, working out in the gym and all other outdoor activities like trail biking, hiking etc. However, everything was still circling around the central core being rock-climbing; until it took a drastic turn somewhere during the mid of last year.

In July 2013, I and my running partner (Abhilash Reddy) took on training about nine of our friends for a 10kms long-run. This is when our running schedules took a definitive program. I started running more and more, and coach more and more. There was also a definitive structure for me to train myself and coach others. That’s when I came cross a point when I preferred running and coaching over rock-climbing. When it repeated a couple of times, I had a genuine concern over my preferences. Just a few months back I strongly believed that climbing is the most exciting activity, which had the potential to engage me for my whole life; it was “then” my expression of life; my Purpose of Life. This entire theory began to shake when I chose to run, over climb! I felt uncomfortable making that choice, as I was seeing that my purpose of life is shaking because of my running. My purpose of life was starting to change from climbing to running and from running to coaching. That was not a comfortable-few-weeks of my life.

When I inquired more into it; something opened-up for me. I engaging in rock climbing or running or coaching people in running were all simply different mediums for me to be in action to recognize the real purpose of my life. When I recognized it, I experienced complete freedom and excitement. Excitement to be in action. Excitement to live. The purpose of my life that I identified was that of “people being healthy around me”. This very statement connected all the dots over years of my climbing and running. In both these activities what I identified was that I was consistently introducing more and more people into the sport, putting them into action and making them physically active and physical fit. Irrespective of the sport I was engaged in, what I was doing was the same; putting people into action and positively impacting their physical health.

What was surprising in this inquiry was, I observed that my purpose of life kept changing or evolving over time- first it was rock climbing, then it was running and then people being healthy around me. While the former was in play, the latter was still non-existent.

It was still itching for me to validate my theory of evolving purpose of life. To find peace in this theory, I took on to observe the life history of Mahatma Gandhi. I was not comparing here but wanted to get settled with the evolving purposes of ones life.

For Gandhi, when he founded the Indian Congress or Pheonix settlement in South Africa, the purpose of life for him could have been merely bringingforth equality for colored citizens in the Victorian Empire. When he returned to India and Gokhale asked him to go around the country, his purpose of life might have got evolved to Freedom for India then. By the latter part of his life, the freedom for India might have got evolved to spreading the message of non-violence to the humanity! Probably if the great man had lived for some more time, something else might have got evolved as his purpose of life and something bigger might have got caused in the world.

In all this inquiry inside me, the one thing that struck me was the fancy-worded Purpose of Life did not get defined clearly unless the service to the other human being or contribution to the community began. Now, I stay excited for the next-bigger purpose of my life to crystallize. However, the key for this is simply to be in action fulfilling my current purpose of my life.

So, come, let’s run. :)

ರಂಗವಿಲಾಸ್ ಬಂಗಲೆಯ ಕೊಲೆಗಳು- Book Review

1940 ಹಾಗು 50ರ ದಶಕಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಹೆಸರಾಂತ ವಕಿಲರಾದವರು ಶ್ರೀ ಬೇಲೂರು ಶ್ರೀನಿವಾಸ ಅಯ್ಯೆಂಗಾರ್. 1956ರಲ್ಲಿ ಬಹಳ ಧಾರುಣವಾಗಿ ಅವರ ಇಡೀ ಕುಟುಂಬವು ಒಂದೇ ರಾತ್ರಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ನಾಶವಾಗಿ ಹೋಯಿತು. ಅವರ ಕುಟುಂಬವು ಕೋಲೆಯಾದ ರೀತಿ ಎಷ್ಟು ನಿಗೂಢವಾಗಿತ್ತೋ, ಅವರನ್ನು ಕೊಲೆ ಮಾಡಿದ ಪಾತಕರನ್ನು ಹಿಡಿದು ಹಾಕಿದ ರೀತಿಯೂ ಅಷ್ಟೇ ನಿಗೂಢ. ಆ ಪ್ರಸಂಗ ಅಂದು ಬರೀ ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನಲ್ಲಲ್ಲದೆ ಇಡೀ ರಾಜ್ಯದಲ್ಲೇ ಒಂದು ಸ್ಪೋಟಕ ಸುದ್ದಿ ಮಾಡಿತ್ತು. ಅಂದಿನ ಆ ಹತ್ಯಾಕಾಂಡದ ಇಡೀ ತನಿಖೆಯನ್ನು ಇಂದು ಮೇಲೆತ್ತಿ, analyze ಮಾಡಿ, ಅವರದೇ ಆದ ಒಂದು parallel investigation ಮಾಡಿ ಬರೆದ ಪುಸ್ತಕವೇ  ರವಿ ಬೆಳಗೆರೆಯವರ "ರಂಗವಿಲಾಸ್ ಬಂಗಲೆಯ ಕೊಲೆಗಳು".

 



ಒಂದು ವರ್ಷದ ಹಿಂದೆ ಬಸವನಗುಡಿಯ ಗಾಂಧಿ ಬಜಾರಿನ ಅವರದೇ  ಪುಸ್ತಕ ಮಳಿಗೆಯಾದ "Belegere Books and Coffee" ಎದುರು, ಒಂದು ಲಘು ಸಮಾರಂಭದಲ್ಲಿ ಶ್ರೀ ಮಾಸ್ಟರ್ ಹಿರಣ್ಣಯ್ಯನವರು ಬಿಡುಗಡೆ ಮಾಡಿದ ಪುಸ್ತಕ ಇದು.

ಕೇವಲ ನೂರೇ ಪುಟಗಳ ಪುಸ್ತಕವಾಗಿದ್ದೂ, ಪುಟಕ್ಕೊಂದು ರೂಪಾಯೆಂಬಂತೆ Rs.100/- ಮೌಲ್ಯದ ಈ ಹತ್ಯಾಖಾಂಡದ ಪುಸ್ತಕ ಇಷ್ಟೊಂದು ರೋಮಾಂಚಕಾರಿಯಾಗಿರುತ್ತದೆ ಎಂದು ನಾನು ಊಹಿಸಲೇ ಇರಲಿಲ್ಲ!

ಬೆಳಗೆರೆಯವರೇ ಪುಸ್ತಕದ ಹಿಂದಿನ ಟಿಪ್ಪಣಿಯಲ್ಲಿ "ಇದು ಕಾದಂಬರಿಯಲ್ಲ" ಎಂದು ದಿಟ್ತಿಸಿದ್ದರೂ, ನನಗೆ ಇದು ನಾನು ಹಿಂದೆ ಓದಿದ ಯಾವ ಕಾದಂಬರಿಗೂ, ಕಥೆಯ ನಿರೂಪಣೆಯಲ್ಲಾಗಲೀ, ಸನ್ನಿವೇಶಗಳನ್ನು ಕಣ್ಣೆದುರು ರೂಪಿಸುವುದರಲ್ಲಾಗಲೀ ಹಾಗೂ ರೋಮಾಂಚನಗೊಳಿಸುವುದರಲ್ಲಗಲೀ ಕಡಿಮೆಯಂತೆಣಿಸಲಾಗಲಿಲ್ಲ.

ಶ್ರೀ ಬೇಲೂರು ಶ್ರೀನಿವಾಸ ಅಯ್ಯೆಂಗಾರ್ರರ ಬಂಗಲೆಯ layout ಹಾಗು ಅದರ ನಿರೂಪಣೆ, ಅವರ ಮನೆಯಲ್ಲಿದ್ದ ಅಷ್ಟೂ ಜನರ ಸುದೀರ್ಘ ವಿವರಣೆ, ಮನಯಲ್ಲಿ ಆಚಾರದಲ್ಲಿದ್ದ ಅಂದಿನ ಒಂದು orthodox ಹಾಗು ಸಿರಿವಂತ ಅಯ್ಯೆಂಗಾರ್ರರ ಮನೆತನದ ಸಂಪ್ರದಾಯಗಳು, ಐವತ್ತಾರರ ಜೂನ್ ನಲ್ಲಿ ಒಂದೇ ರಾತ್ರಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ನಡೆದ ಏಳು ಭೀಕರ ಸಾವುಗಳ ಮುಂಚೆ ಮನೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ನಡೆದ ಇತರ ಘಟನೆಗಳ ವಿವರಗಳಷ್ಟೇ ಅಲ್ಲದೆ, ಕೊಲೆಗಾರರ ವಿವರಗಳು, ಅವರ ಕ್ರಿಮಿನಲ್ ಇತಿಹಾಸ, ಶ್ರೀನಿವಾಸ ಅಯ್ಯೆಂಗಾರ್ರ ಜೊತೆಗಿನ ಅವರ ನಿಗೂಢ ಸಂಬಂಧಗಳ analysis, ಈ ಎಲ್ಲಾ ವಿಷಯಗಳನ್ನು ಚಾಚೂ ತಪ್ಪದೆ ಬೆಳಗೆರೆಯವರು ಈ ಪುಸ್ತಕದಲ್ಲಿ ವಿವರಿಸಿದ್ದಾರೆ.

ಅಷ್ಟಲ್ಲದೆ, ಅಕಸ್ಮಾತಾಗಿ ಅ ಪೊಲೀಸ್ ಪೇದೆ ಅದೊಂದು ರಾತ್ರಿ ಕೊಲೆಗಾರರ ಮೊದಲ ಸುಳಿವು ಹಿಡಿದ ರೀತಿ, ಅಲ್ಲಿಂದ ಆ ಕೊಲೆಯ ತನಿಖೆ ಹಿಡಿದ ಹೊಸ ದಿಕ್ಕೇ, ಈ ಕೊಲೆ ಪ್ರಕರಣದ highlight.

ಅದಲ್ಲದೇ ಬೆಳಗೆರೆಯವರು ಶ್ರೀನಿವಾಸ ಅಯ್ಯೆಂಗಾರ್ರ ಕುಟುಂಬದಲ್ಲಿ ಉಳಿದವರ ಇಂದಿನ ಪರಿಸ್ಠಿತಿಯನ್ನಲ್ಲದೇ, ಸ್ವತಃ ಆ ಕೊಲೆಗಾರರ ಕುಟುಂಬಗಳು ಇರುವ ಹಳ್ಳಿಗೆ ಕೂಡಾ ಹೋಗಿ, ಅವರ ಇಂದಿನ ಪರಿಸ್ಥಿತಿಯನ್ನು ಪರಿಶೀಲಿಸಿ ವಿವರಿಸಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಅದು ಈ ಕಥೆಗೆ ಒಂದು ರೀತಿಯ completeness ಓದುಗರಿಗೆ ತಂದುಕೊಡುತ್ತದೆ.

ಒಟ್ಟಿನಲ್ಲಿ, ಈ ಪುಸ್ತಕವನ್ನೋದಿದ ಮೇಲೆ, ಗಾಂಧೀನಗರದ Syndicate Bank ನೋಡಿದಾಗಲೆಲ್ಲಾ ನನ್ನ ಮನಸ್ಸಿನಲ್ಲಿ  ಹೊಳೆಯುವುದೆಂದರೆ "Yes! ಈ bankನ ಹಿಂದೆಯೇ ಇದ್ದದ್ದು ಆ ರಂಗವಿಲಾಸ್ ಬಂಗಲೆ. ಅಲ್ಲೇ ನಡೆದದ್ದು ಆ ಭೀಬತ್ಸ  ಹತ್ಯಾಕಾಂಡ".

Wayanad! We owe you

The two green coloured Willys 4X4 rattled down the trail in Muthanga wildlife sanctuary. The twelve of us were bouncing in them in all directions. It was a wake-up call for our dozing eyes after a tiring game that Maggi made we play almost the whole night, while we travelled from Bangalore to Wayanad. Yes, we were on the way to Wayanad, the land of I don’t know what but for us simply a get-away with our buddies from the Introduction leaders program. Jerry, Bhavana, Archana, Revathi, Maggi, Rashmi, Ganesh, Prashanth, Sudha, Khussaal, Vivek and I were on an escape.

The optimistic but exhaustive forty minutes trail-drive into the sanctuary that bordered Bandipur and Wayanad with no animal sighting warmed us up for the next two days of action. The sanctuary had given us no more than a cold weather experience of Wayanad summer, however the ILs of Oct batch were unaffected by the breakdown. We reached Sulthan Bathery in Wayanad, where we had a quick breakfast and reached Crescent Residency (CR) and already ready for a new game. CR is a decent retreat with cottage accommodation each cottage named after names of jewelry stones. I would have loved to name it “Necklace” instead of “Crescent”.

All of us settled in three luxurious cottages. The light dust deposit on the furniture and gush of whistling air in the toilet faucet indicated that the cottages were unused in recent times. Hardly mattered for us! All of us battled our turn to fresh-up and literally ran into the covered swimming pool amidst the valleys of Western Ghats. That’s when the reality struck to the boys’ gang. Half the ladies were in no mood for the pool experience. The boys had tired themselves in their swimming gear playing funny games in the pool, while the ladies paraded fully dressed-up. The optimistic boys were in no mood to dissect the situation. The pool games continued while myself, Prashant, Archana & Reva drifted to the swing area for more deeper talks. The swings were tied in varied heights to test the aptitude of the guests to use them. Maggi, Khussal and later the whole gang joined the party by the emus.

Post lunch, the herd decided not to kill time moving ourselves all over Wayanad, but to stay back in CR or nearby and spend quality time with each other. This was one of the wisest decisions made by the gang, probably in the whole of their IL life. It drastically reduced the integrity conversations time for all twelve being somewhere at a certain time!

A short stroll for spices shopping and the desperate photography sessions with the spices was only a start to the glamour virus to bloom. Sooner, all were in focus and on candid frames. We had no idea at that point that, this trip would impact our FB profiles this hugely!

Orchids at CR

The evening went past with non-stop PJ sessions and dumb-C in CR. The bon-fire was guarded by two obedient CR boys while Rashmi and Ganesh enchanted the gang narrating their love-story. That was a picture-perfect chill evening with friends. Reminded me of a typical setting of an intro scene of a Ramsay movie!

The next morning was that of trek to Chembra. I was excited as it was my event. I was responsible for the thinnest to the thickest to get back to CR on their legs after the trek. CR packed for us fruit salad, bread and butter that morning.

At the wake of sun, we were all in the TT pacing thru Kalpetta towards Chembra amidst the tea plantations. The forest check-post issued the permit for the dozen to hike-up the Chembra till the heart-shaped lake and back. The permit also entitled a forest guide. We reached the foot-hill of Chembra and started the hike up. Prashant declared a breakdown with his knee post his recent injury and chose to quit the trek after a short stint of walk down the trail. That was indeed his wise decision, given his knee condition and the uncertainty of the geography up the 2-hour trek.

Morning in Chambra

 

Chembra had gotten ready herself to welcome the glitterati of Bangalore. The ladies led the wolf pack trekkers while I swept at the end. We pushed through the thick typical sholas of Western Ghats. Dark forest ambience, dense-humid air, soft soil, chirping of crickets- and that’s a typical shola of Western Ghats. The alternating sholas and the grassy bald mountain was a feast for us. Sooner the feast turned into a struggle as the gang started to puff and gasp by mid-way. At the end of about 2.25hours of possibility generation and action resulted in the gang reaching the heart-shaped lake of Chembra. That was our summit. We were ecstatic at our accomplishment. Khussaal declared that he got the confidence to climb the Himalayas next now having clinched Chembra! The crowd forgot that it even struggled to climb the mountain for 2+ hours. The achievement of the summit put them into immediate action of documenting the same, the photographs! The gang posed in varied possible combinations while the digital-cams experienced its peak performance. The gang wanted to shout-out to the world that “they” did it, again after May 9^th!

The lake on Chembra

 We then slid down the mountain with lesser effort compared to that of the ascent in less than 1.5 hours. At the foot-hill, we warmed-down ourselves with some stretching exercises before we headed to CR. Walnut cakes in Kalpetta did add a flavour to our fresh summit success. We then rushed to CR and emptied our cottages, ready to check-out. We were all ready to head back to Bangalore, but we were not ready to end the trip. The journey had just begun.

A juice of special relatedness had gelled within us in the past forty hours of our lives. We were no more simply a pack of ILs who had together completed a rigorous six and half month training. At that moment and beyond, we were friends forever, friends for life.

the gang:)

 Wayanad, we owe it to you.

   

Journey to the past

This happened in 2011. I got hold of a Kannada photocopied book of about 30 pages, neatly spiral bound with a blue shaded transparent cover page. Surprisingly, it was my Grandfather’s autobiography, Sri. T.Thimmaiah. He had written this in 1996 just before he departed this world.

He had actually written it in an executive diary, which my father had made copies of it and distributed them among his 6 siblings. This was one of them.

It was a little hard for me to gain momentum and speed while I started reading it, due to the shaky writing of a 75 years old man and limited photocopy quality. However, I was surprised by the standard of the vocabulary and smooth-flow of events depicted.

He had started off with his childhood then drifted to his schooling, marriage, later career as a government primary school teacher and retiring as a Headmaster. He was generous enough to draw the family tree with three generations above him, because he was the last in our family’s bloodline to have known that. While the first part comprised of his physical life and family, the second part was dedicated for his spiritual journey, the genesis, initiation and his sadhana.

There were precisely two things that struck me while I was reading this book. It is the respect that he had for his word and community service. The entire book was inside of the celebration of these two aspects.

There was no doubt, of me getting inspired by the essence of this book. Anybody had authored this book; I would not have been spared being impacted. However, that being my own grandfather, I was more proud than anything else. This brought about a profound relatedness with my grandpa and my family.

But something was still biting me inside after I read this book. This was the story of a mere farmer of a small town Vijayapura (near Devanahalli), who became a school teacher, then turned into a HariKatha reciter alongside spirituality. The question was, “how come I’m reading my own grandpa’s autobiography after about 15 years of having written!” I realized that this book is not easily accessible for our own family members. I took on to digitize this book and make it easily available.

I shared this idea with one of my uncles Sri. Mukunda, and he said that he has already started that work and he was more than happy to share his work in as-is condition. I was so happy at that moment, that I was not the only one in the family who was craving for this to happen. I got a partner now. I took over his work and I started typing the entire text. It was not an easy task since I had to type in Kannada. Over time I picked-up speed. Over time, this work went down in my priority list. Then there was a time when it was simply not moving. That’s when I sought support of one of my cousins Yashaswini (Yashu). She jumped to partner me in this. Her quick actions brought the digitizing work to completion within a week.

There were numerous references of locations in his episodes. Be it the schools where he served, the farm he worked in, nearby villages where he was transferred in his job, the temples where he used to recite Harikathas and so on. I’m not too proud to say this, but I was unable to completely relate to his story since I was not aware of my own grandpa’s village and its geography!

I wanted to visit all these places. I ganged-up with my father and uncle Mukunda and set-forth on a journey on Jan 14th this year. I called it “The journey to the past”. This journey was more an exploration into my family for me than a mere tour. My knowledge had nothing to imagine when I started off. But, what I experienced was beyond my expectations.

My father had made a list of places to be visited around the vicinity of my native in the order of the visit. The locations included my grandfather’s first appointment as a primary school teacher in Channarayapatna (about 6kms from Vijayapura), the tomb of the my grandpa’s spiritual guru who had initiated him into spirituality, my grandpa’s peers in the mythological plays that he used to enact in the village, a village named Mandibele (about 3kms from Vijayapura where he served as a school teacher for 3 years), the farming land about a kilometer or two from my native which was donated by my great-grandfather in order to maintain the operational cost of the Sri Venkateswara temple founded by my great-great-grandfather, few temples in our native where my grandpa with his friends had initiated few bhajans and satsang and so on.

We started-off early in the morning and headed as per the tour map. We first visited Channarayapatna. We could not believe that we witnessed the mantapa (covered by walls now to make it room-like) where my grandpa actually started his teaching career about 60 years back in this place. In front of that there has been another small building with tiled roof that my grandpa initiated to expand the school. Later we were informed by villagers that there the government has shifted the school to another 10acre land where primary and secondary school is running now. I could relate that the school that has grown from a room to a vast establishment was started by my grandfather.

My grandpa used to enact in mythological plays in the village. We set-off to a village where few of his co-actors from the drama were staying. We could find only one of them who is in his nineties now, still working in his farm. He was shocked to see us when we introduced ourselves to him. He would not have definitely woken-up that morning thinking of meeting us! At that senior age, he started off reciting those historical Kannada lines of the plays. I could not resist myself from recording his whole recital. And it has become a treasure now.

Then we moved on to visit the village Mandibele, where my grandparents lived for about 3 years while my grandpa was serving as a school teacher in that village. This was from about 1953 to 1955. My father was very excited to visit this village as he did his schooling there during the stay and was visiting this village after 55 years. He had hand-sketched a map of the village as he remembered from his childhood. And also was keen and curious to witness the house where they lived then. He started-off speculating that something else would have come up there by now and we would be able to only locate the geographical coordinates of the house. But what we saw was beyond our expression.

To our surprise the village has hardly changed its demographics over time! The street plan, the locations of the temple and school remained untouched since then. We could witness the school where my grandpa taught, which is about to be brought down since there is a new school constructed beside it. And we were lucky to get its final glimpse and click a few photographs.

Then we moved-on to look at the house location. We were shocked by the innocence of the village that had left it untouched. My father finally located the house coordinates as in the map passing through a 4 feet wide passage between the rustic village houses. The house location was intact. It’s an 8 feet by 15 feet plot. There were only 6 stone pillars standing at the corners and at the mid-walls. Walls and roof has fallen off. The place is now a residence of goats and cattle of neighboring houses.

I was enthralled to witness the ruins of the house where my grandparents lived. Along with them were their first two sons (including my father being the eldest), another boy of their distant relation who was staying in their house at that time while his schooling, and a cattle and a calf- all residing in that 8X15feet house. I could picture the financial situation of my family 55 years back. I was overwhelmed by the developments that have happened in our family since then till now. Now our family has multiple properties in different parts of India and also on different continent! I was spellbound by the expansion that my family has brought into reality in the past 55 years.

Till then, I had my own unsaid complaints about my childhood comparing mine in my peer groups, that it was not “as luxurious as theirs”. While standing there in front of those six pillars of the house, one thing got really settled for me. My childhood was the way it was, inside of the grand plan of my family’s expansion. We all 37 family members had to bring forth something or the other at different time-points. And we have all played our roles knowingly or unknowingly to make this a reality. Of course, the expansion I’m referring to could be termed materialistic, however to bring about this materialistic transformation, there is leadership that’s glaring out and all family members have demonstrated that.

Later we proceeded to our native town. Visited the farming land, temples and the school where my grandpa retired. Captured them on my camera, wrapped-up our journey and got back to the present world.

Later I processed the snaps to affix them on relevant locations in the autobiography book. Finally the copy of the book was out. My father, my uncle Mukunda, my cousin Yashu and my wife Lakshmi worked relentlessly editing and proof-reading till it was printed on a hardcopy. It was a fulfilling experience having that in my hand.

We called for a simple family gathering where we formally released the book in the family. It was joyous for me to hand-over the simple but glorious and accomplished life-history of my grandfather on paper to his own decedents. We also had arranged for projection of the photographs that we had taken on the tour while the whole family watched curiously with comments from my father and my uncle.

Somewhere, we all got connected to our ancestors on that day. There is a whole new relatedness to our family now. The past has paved the path for the family’s future. The path is “Respect for one’s word” and “Service to community”.

Let’s CLIMB!

Saturday the 15^th Sep’12 was the day and it was 10AM when I reported in XLR8 indoor stadium. It was the Corporate Indoor Olympics 2012. There were total 12 games in the championship. I had registered for the Wall Climbing tournament.

The climbing fraternity is pretty limited in Bangalore and most of them would be known to each other. I was very eager and anxious to meet the fellow climbers from other companies. I was the first one to report at the reporting time, which left me a bit disappointed to start with. Then the organizers announced the start of registration and people gradually started reporting.

The climbing wall installed in that stadium was setup by one Mr.KeerthiPias from Outback India, who is a good friend of mine and a veteran climbing coach. Another surprise was that the climbing wall instructors also happened to be my climbing friends from climbing wall at Sri.Kanteerava stadium where I practice climbing during weekends. It was a good to meet them and I started practicing some Bouldering moves along with them till the event start. The organizers had instructed that the climbing participants could not practice on the competition walls.

The wall setup there for the competition had three climbing routes, each of about 30ft high. First one was a straight-up with repeating holds pattern making it an easy one. The second one was made a little tricky with non-repetitive holds pattern. Both these walls were perpendicular to the ground. The third one was continuously inclined subtending an angle of about 75^o to the ground, making it an overhanging wall. The holds pattern was again non-repetitive in this one too. The Bouldering wall was to the right of these bigger walls with few interesting overhangs.

View of the third (inclined green) wall and Bouldering section

The competition finally started at around 12.30PM. By then a total of 9 male climbers and 3 female climbers had registered. The organizers elaborated the rules. All the climbers had to climb all three walls on a top-rope. All were made to climb the first and the second walls. I was chosen to climb first just because I had reported first. Incidentally I was the only climber who was climbing with a pair of climbing shoes and a chalk bag.

I climbed the first wall in about 26 seconds. It was an easy climb and I took it easy too. And to my surprise all the other climbers climbed this wall. Few of them struggled a bit, but climbed. Some of them were climbing for the first time in their lives. It was overwhelming to see them still topping the wall! They were rejoicing the victory and amused by their own performance.

Myself after topping the first wall. The red wall adjacent to it is the second wall.

The third one is to the right of the second one.

When all were done with the first wall, I climbed the 2^nd one too in about 19 secs. Again to my surprise, everyone climbed this one too, and some after having the experience of the first one climbed this one much faster than me. The crux of the tournament is- on the third wall, if two climbers top it, then the winner would be declared considering the fastest of the timing from first two climbs. I started to become anxious at this point of time. My only chance was to top the third wall and hoping nobody else tops it. I know it’s like being selfish, but let’s face it, it’s a competition. Later I got confirmed that there would be super-finals with a tougher route on the 3^rd wall to declare the winner.

For the third wall, the climbing order was changed. The slowest climber was made to climb first and the fastest the last. I was fourth in the row. This was a tricky wall due to the inclination. There were holds of different colors. The route was set by the instructors. We had to use only “Yellow” and “Green” colored holds to reach the top. Even touching of any other colored holds would be considered to be a “Disqualification”.

Some amount of practice is required to climb an inclined wall, unlike the other straight ones. Every move upwards would also make the climber move horizontally, with his back facing down. The toe to heel posture on the foot hold, elbow lock, abdomen position, plan for the next move, everything matters. The first 3 climbers could make it only till 1/3^rd of the height. The crowd and the other climbers by then had got the criticality of this wall. Though I was confident about the climb, I had to mostly focus not to touch the invalid holds. The route was indeed not as simple as I had thought; given the irregular practice I had in the recent times. However, my long-distance running still kept me in a competitive shape. I topped it in about two to three minute’s time. I was the first climber till then to have topped the third wall. Topping the wall is holding a specified top-most hold of the wall in both hands before letting it go & swing down. I was obviously in lead till then. There were few more climbers after me.

In other climbing competitions, actually the climbers who are yet to climb would not be watching their earlier contestants climb. This would actually help them to connect the moves and make it easier for them. However, in this competition this was not followed so strictly. So, I was also anxious if anyone else after me could also top it watching me climb. It was also blessing-in-disguise for me in a way, because I get to climb once more in the super-finals! Incidentally none could top it, except the last-but-one climber who went up till the top-hold and fell without holding it.

That made me the winner having topped all three walls. And thus makingGE, the winner of Wall climbing tournament in Corporate Indoor Olympics, 2012.

It was great experience for me, representing GE on a sports platformfor the first time.

Now, looking forward for more. Bring-it-on... Let’s CLIMB!

Caste, horoscope and so on

Two years of mutual support and courtship had completed. It was now time to let the rat loose and talk to our families about taking it to the next level. This is generally considered tougher than proposing to the partner itself. I believe that it should be the other way. Once you’ve decided on your life’s partner, the rest is simply creating a formal ceremony, take blessing from elders and be pronounced wedded.

All these sound simple until you’re clear about your intention of your decision, because this frames the skeleton of your further actions. The second reason being that you would be mostly getting into confronting conversation with your would-be in-laws, making them believe that you’re the best for their daughter. Here the stakes are much higher than convincing your prospective employer! Why?

# Because, this is (hopefully) the first of its kind conversation for you.

# And you’re desperate to make it successful. Lot of attachment towards the result.

# The issues that would be brought on the table to discuss are such that you would have cared a damn to them all your life!

# Lastly, if failed; you need to start the process all over again! Two years of hard work gone down the drain.

Paradoxically, this is the hurdle that I loved crossing
I made a list of questions/ concerns/ thoughts a girl’s father would have in his mind to decide whether you’re the right one for his daughter or not. These questions or concerns come from his thought background of- “this proposal has come in an unwelcome way” (atleast in an Indian situation), “the link to you is only thru my daughter and not thru family or friends or communal references” (in most of the cases).

Here are the questions/ concerns if thrown on the table when met face-to-face with my would-be father-in-law and my personal thoughts to deal with them:

1. The boy belongs to a different caste & is a non-veggie!
o CASTE- As we’re all aware that caste system was made based on the kind of profession taken on by different sects of people in the society. In that case, currently I’m an engineer and so is the girl, hence technically we both belong to the same caste. But that might not qualify to be an answer.
o Hence it’s destiny that I belong to a different caste. If that’s the case then why at all I’m been called to talk with the girl’s father in the first place, if he’s “not” OK with that! So there’s something else to it… it could be that he’s fine with his daughter getting married to another caste boy (though not excited about it), but do the society or the relatives approve it? This point is addressed later in this document.
o There’re also few pointers that you can leverage from the Hindu marriage act, 1955 specific to castes & sub-castes to legalize marriages. This will also indicate that you’re truly educated to have analyzed all possible realities in your bandwidth and not simply hold an academic degree.
o NON-VEGGIE- I eat chicken, egg and fish. And I personally do not want to stop consuming them. He could be having an issue with that for 2 reasons.
i. As a supporter of PETA he might not appreciate me consuming meat for food. I would love this opposition. As a supporter of animal rights, I would also like to pose few points on the consumption of other commodities made out of animals/ or their subsidiaries. Like the leather footwear, belt, wallet, wool, medicines made out of animal fat etc. I’m not sure if you’re checking each and every commodity you use daily if they are made from dead animals only or someone out there is killing them to make an accessory for you. I can also challenge him to be a pure vegan not to even consume milk or by products. These answers could be offending and also there could be a possibility that the point is not done yet. If yes, then switch to the 2nd one below.
ii. As a pure veggie by birth he would not appreciate his son-in law being a meat eater. If this reason is strong enough to break the proposal, then I’m ready to quit non-veg. Now, if you consider this as a sacrifice, then the intention of the forthcoming marriage is at jeopardy. It should be sincerely considered as a choice of will.

2. Does the horoscope match?
o Be very clear whether you believe in this or not. If you believe in this field, then the outcome of the horoscope matching is the verdict for go/no-go. If you don’t believe in this, then don’t resist the horoscope check if the other party is keen on that. Again, remember that the idea here is not to show-up as a rebel & become a hero. Idea is to cross the obstacle with ease & grace.
o "Horoscope matched?” If yes, don’t utter a word and be in the flow
o If no- then work begins… browse web and spend time on understanding the basics of horoscope. Understand the issue about the mismatch of your horoscope with that of your fiancé. Humbly check if there is any work around for the issue. Request to take it another astrologer. If the result is favoring you, then gently challenge the verdict of the previous astrologer. If the result is same and no workaround- educate them about the redundancy of horoscope in the modern world where the boy & the girl are already in agreement for communion (I’m not sure whether the statements are true. I’m only trying to work-out the situation). Understand the technical issues with the mismatch and its impact on marriage and address them. This might not resolve the issue of mismatch, however indicates the confidence and commitment you have in making this proposal work. After-all they’re looking for that trait itself in you to ensure you’re serious about the whole marriage thing!
o Above work is definitely herculean, but there’s no short-cut to hard work. And more so you are addressing a deal breaker of your life! So you better put-in proportional amount of efforts.

3. What does the boy do for his living?
o Employed as an engineer in a respectable (private) company.
o Atleast has the dignity of labor and is confident of driving the family on his own.

4. Is he well educated?
o Engineer (BE Mech)… [all the other CADD, C++ & Java courses you have attended is irrelevant for this interview]

5. How much is he paid? (most critical)
o Tell exactly the number that you drew last month without hesitation and with pride.
o To exceed the expectation, you could also have a high-level plan of monthly expenditure and how comfortably you could manage life with that salary.
o Future promises of probable hikes in salary in the office, is never a value adder. What’s current is the one that’s important.

6. Is the financial condition of the boy’s family good enough?
o Have exact idea of the property (fixed and variable) associated with you.
o Make clear distinction of properties in your name and your family members’ names
o State only legal facts never exaggerate them to look good

7. Family background… ?
o Good, decent, and so on…
o Ensure you give a picture about their daughter happily spending rest of her life with them.
o Again never over-estimate facts. It’s allowed in this case not to mention unfavorable non-critical facts, but never lie or give false impression.

8. What does the society say?
o Who all does the society refers to according to them? Obtain clear understanding of that.
o Never pronounce someone in that list not important… remember you don’t know their world.
o Gently re-define who all could actually fit-into their society.
o Offer to invite all of them to invite to a suitable location and you’re ready to meet them in person clear the concerns. Be ready to take-up that challenge. Don’t worry... that’s a rare possibility… however it gives immense confidence in your decision and ownership of the problem.

9. What do our family members/ relatives say?
o Offer the same proposal as in for society concern.
o However, be more adaptive in communication style here. Remember- idea is not become a hero in that forum, but the idea is only to project a presentable figure simply to obtain their approval only. Job is done after that.

10. Is the boy “good”? referring to character mainly
o Tough to provide self-testimony; never give them your FB/ Orkut profile for that
o Infact you can offer to provide a conduct certificate from your company, which is more neutral, unbiased and more acceptable in the society. Trust me…it’s just an offer; nobody wants it in real. But make the offer; they would atleast know that you have an option to address the concern.

11. How do I get the younger one married, if the elder one gets an inter caste?
o With the reference of the basis of creation of caste system, base the argument on the non-criticality of inter-caste marriage in the current society. However, this does not address the issue completely.
o Show the confidence of creating a great marriage with the current proposal. Let him truly see more than a son in-law in you. He must see you as a moral support system for their family in the future. In this background show the commitment of creating such a married life that any concern/ doubt in an inter-caste marriage is eradicated from his mind! Therefore, getting the younger one married is no more a challenge instead it’s easier, having you on their side supporting the cause.

12. Can I get them married this year itself? Or…. do I have enough money for the wedding?
o This year or next year or whenever it could be… let them decide the date without any materialistic constraints.
o If the concern is finance… there comes your real boldness. Step-up and volunteer to finance “your” wedding. Be it fully or partially with discussion with your fiancé. This is the real test of your commitment to converting your proposal to wedding.

In all of the above, the idea is to address all the concerns and create workability. And never to negate any concern… not even a single one. Anything that might sound silly & petty to you could be a critical one for other party.
All of the above is valid if-and-only-if you’re clear that the marriage is to happen only after complete agreement from both parties. I was very clear of that prior to my wedding and naturally had to go thru all the rigor of preparation for the toughest question paper. Fortunately to my surprise the question paper turned out to be pretty simple for me. Hence, I could get thru convincing the critical stake holders with lesser turmoil and flying colors.Nevertheless the exercise made me more sensitive a person to other people’s world, and qualified me to draft this document. There’re no free lunches, my friend!

My first half marathon

Start point of the race was given as Ranganatittu bird sanctuary cross, Srinrangapatna. Three of my office colleagues accompanied me from Bangalore on that day morning to reach the start point. My colleague Alagarsamy picked me, Abhi and Aseem and we hit the road at 4.00AM in the morning. Though dawn was clear, my eyes had intermittent hazy vision due to the short stint of sleep the previous night of just about 3 hours. I took over the driving job post Kengeri since I was conversant with the route, which completely left me no room to rest my eyes.

We were on the start point on dot! Meaning, absolutely no leisure time to stretch or warm-upourselves. Speakers were blaring with announcement of the start of half marathon, that too ahead of schedule. Organizers were proud of it, though I was not. I badly needed a couple of minutes more to warm myself after 2 hours of AC ambiance! However the excitement of starting the race along with the pro-league has a charm and glamour of its own.

Runners of all kinds were present. Irrespective of being an avid runner to a beginner (like me), runners were sophisticatedly decked up with iPods, synced with Nike+ health monitors, wrist watches (each sized close to a Glucose biscuit) with all kinds of running info providers and knee & shin, elbow supporters; everything to suit individual running comfort. Sporty headbands and bandanas, flashy running outfits and a variety of water bottles and squeezers created an enchanting ambience of running splashing the spirit of sport in the air.

The running trail was off Ranaganatittu bird sanctuary road, starting ~50metres off the main road towards the bird sanctuary (and not essentially inside the sanctuary). The trail is typically dug by the bullock carts and tractors, which shuttle on a routine. The trail thus stamped was about five to six feet wide and 700 half-marathon runners had just begun their race. Few to win and be declared the best of the lot, and few simply to finish the marathon, time it for themselves and feel proud. The latter formed the major crowd

I heard that a total of about 900 runners participated. About 700 of them took part in the half (21.1kms), about 100 running the full (42.2kms) and the rest treading the 10K run. Numbers might not be accurate, rather only to define the proportion of participation. The full marathon had begun 15 minutes prior to that of half at 6.30AM and the 10K run was scheduled to begin at 8.00AM.

After a swift warmup, I started for the run. My timing chip fitted to my shoes transmitted a beep in the receiver that pronounced the start of my first half marathon. In the mood of a half-baked bread I turned-on my stopwatch sporting a professional act, in the wake of exceeding my personal expectations of that day. First five minutes I was busy adjusting my sun glasses over my forehead since the sun had not shown-up yet and tying-up the head phones chords across my running Tee connecting my heavy-duty mobile phone and selecting the playlist. A song from “Rock-on” played-on and I could sense the warmth of my body brimming out by then and I was feeling the pulse picking-up.

I reached the 5K-point comfortably, where a board read “Take U-turn for 10K”. I felt happy that I got myself graduated to the bigger game of 21.1K. I kept running observing my breath constantly. I wanted to maintain the breathing rhythm as far as possible, since I knew that, the moment I begin to gasp for breath, that’ll be the end of my run. The key here is (my personal experience), as long as my body is maintaining the oxygen saturation levels thru blood circulation, my respiratory system need not strain itself to gasp for more air, and hence not strain my muscles and drain myself inhaling harder and go puffing.

The trail was as expected a mix of well-set mud with loose and sintered gravel, along with a tiny patches of tarmac. This uneven, rough and off-road trail made the run harder for me avoiding any ankle twist or tripping on my face. A canal of Cauvery ran to the left of the trail for close to about 80% of the trail, and she was in her full might. To the right of the trail and beyond the canal was only green expanse of paddy fields in their varying stages of life cycle. Being a Sunday, farmers were busy ploughing, few chatting among themselves in between work and few taking pictures and recording videos of the runners in their mobiles, and few trying hard to console their oxen while the latter getting paranoid looking at this flashy human-stock stampeding their trails.

The trail felt like never-ending, running through various patches of the route. By then the great divide of the pro-runners, not-so-pro-runners and beginner runners had happened maintaining their natural pace. The pro ones had already taken the U-turn and running back to the finish line. That gave me some relief that the U-turn is approaching, but how far it is would depend upon the running league I belong to- pro, not-so-pro or beginner (this is hard to comment on). And at last I sighted the U-turn of the marathon at 10.5kms mark. Half-marathoners would loop this circuit once to finish their race; however the full-marathoners have to loop it twice. There was a water counter with biscuits, peeled oranges, bananas, cookie sized sandwiches, along with water and Lucozade sport drink. These quick-grabs of food would sprinkle some energy in the runners who have started race in an empty stomach.

I was already feeling triumphant for reaching the half point. Half of my run was complete! I took note of my stopwatch reading at the end of the loop, which read around 58 minutes. Another reason to make me happy, that my timing had improved from 61 minutes of 2010 Sunfeast 10K to the current run. I still had no idea till then how the return journey would be!

I was bumping into my running partner Abhi quite often post the U-turn, though he was maintaining a short distance of lead all thru. I could see him just better than limping some times. His foot had already gone from bad to worse due to the blisters that had popped-up beneath his foot. SPB, Chitra, Kunal and few others were still humming in my ears thru my headphones powered by my phone. I realized this in my previous run while climbing the Nandi hills that music did had an effect on my run. It helped me focus on the run and not let loose the mind to wander around and go complaining about the sport itself.

In a short while after the U-turn, may be about 12 or 13kms, the short playlist on my phone started repeating the songs. I felt I was not desperate for that music anymore and removed the plugs from my ears. I could not believe it; it was a new opening of the race for me. The sounds of the smooth rapids of the river, chirping of the birds, mixed with not-so-rhythmic gallop of the runners, all these added a different dimension to the run. I felt I had missed this for three-quarters of the race already!

This luxury did not last long anyways. The sun had really picked-up and was in full-throttle shedding his heat on the humble runners. Though my breathing was still in control, my limbs were giving-up on me. They had not expected such a prolonged strain soon after a luxury drive.
I was not finding any reason for my act of running that morning, that too for 21kms! I was fighting hard inside more than outside finding out why I was doing this to myself. Few interesting thoughts (at least for me) that came up:

• I’ve publicized about my run before a considerable crowd and I can not get back saying “I could not do it…”
• I had never had a “bad” timing in my previous runs, I cannot lose this one since it’s longer than the former ones
• I have boasted before my wife that I can comfortably finish the run. I’ll be a loser if I give-up half way
• My FIL thinks that I’m adventurous and keep taking such new challenges… what would he think of me if I come home without at least a decent story!
• I’ve come all the way 100kms from Bangalore for this run on a Sunday morning, and I better give it my best shot ….. and so on…

Whatever thoughts flew-by, I kept running, breaking for a while and brisk walking and again running. Finally made it to the last 5km mark. Added disappointments at times were when a couple of ladies whom I had overtaken earlier with heroism were running past me now. This was a definitely a slap on my ego! I had to gather all my spiritual and abstract concepts of philosophies within me to overcome this fatigue of failure. I consoled myself that this is still my first half marathon and with His grace I would have more opportunities for a payback

Runners were screaming with intermittent panting that the finish line is nearing... “…it’s 200mts.. 400mts… 250mts…” Such a simple number-game also annoyed me. I wanted someone to scream-out the exact number. How can someone say something just for the sake of motivation? I realized that these conversations in me were due to the cramps in my thigh, calf and muscle sticking on the shinbone that had lately sneaked in.

Every step was an effort; however the finish line is always magical. Irrespective of the body condition, one gets all the energy and zeal to touch it at the earliest and be done with the race. The same I guess happened with me and the anchor on the microphone shouted-out my name closing the finish line and the timing chip on my shoes again obediently transmitted another beep. My first half marathon was complete. Halted my over-exhausted stopwatch... it read 2hours 39mins. Abhi had finished it 5 minutes earlier than me. We exchanged a hi-fi and limped thru the crowd to warm down, drink some water and fuel ourselves with some carbohydrates. Though not enough energy was left in my oxygen starved body to celebrate the victory, the mind was in its full-high.

I was tired, I was blank & I was happy. Seldom could I experience all of these at once. May be I ran to experience this moment. Now I have a reason to run again, run better. I acknowledge my parents and my wife for motivating themselves to wonder more over my victories in disbelief, my running friends for constantly encouraging me during practice and the race to get better timing, RFL for creating opportunities to generate a sporting identity for ourselves. And not to forget Chiranjeevi, Sridevi, Farhan and other stars without connecting to whose songs I could not have stretched myself at the nick of the moment