Reflections

I have heard a lot about this book by Mitch Albom and so when I saw this book in my library, I thought I should give it a try. While there are numerous books with the same theme - life is more than just materialistic pursuits and happiness is beyond your salary and designation, I think what makes this book different from others is that this is a real life, true story.  As any reader of self-help book would readily agree, most of the tips in such books are easier said than done. That the author's teacher actually walked the talk and really believed in the different traits that he shared with the author is what makes this special.  Surely this book is not for someone who is looking for tips to change his life overnight, but is clearly a definite read for those who already have similar thoughts in life and are looking for real life examples of people who live the life the way they want, irrespective of numerous hurdles and distractions. 

Inspired by my friend Ranjit 's web-site, I have also decided to give it a try and make jot down some notes on the books that I read, both technical and non-technical. Here it comes. My first attempt is C++ Common Knowledge by Stephen C.Dewhurst. The blurb on the back page of this book says that this book is for you "if you've had some experience in C++ programming, but reading intermediate and advanced C++ is slow-going". I will have to agree with this assessment. The book intends to list of out some essential tips and practices for professional C++ programmers and clearly achieves it.  One word of caution -- As there are no exercises at the end of the chapters, we need to resist the temptation to just flip the pages and treat it as a light read, the contents have to be chewed and digested for maximum benefit. The book has a total of 61 chapters and of these, I felt I have learned something new (or presented something I knew in a new way) from quite a few of these c...

Last weekend was a big personal milestone. I did my first ever ultra marathon run - 50K at the  Bangalore Ultra . By and large, it was a satisfying experience. The day started with me and my friend Ravikanth driving to Ravi's colleague Sandeep's place at 4AM in the morning. We then hitched a ride in Sandeep's car and traveled to the venue. Sandeep chose the NICE road to get to Tumkur road and then got to Hessaraghatta road from there -- a smart idea, completely avoiding the city traffic and pretty fast. We reached the venue at around 5:30 and as we were approaching the venue, we could see the 100K and 75K runners already in the trail, running with torches as it was pitch dark. That was one awesome sight. Once we reached the venue, we had just enough time to change to our running gears, deposit the baggage and complete the pre-race formalities. At 6AM we were ready to go. For the last two years (2008, 2009), the Sun god had been really kind to the Ultra runners, he wa...

About a month (a little more), I wrote this blog on how I was struggling to get out of the well entrenched laziness mode. Now, I think I can say, writing that blog has made me turn a new leaf (at least until I hit the next rut) -- I have woken up before 6AM on all but 3 days from then on and I have missed physical activity (either gym or running) only for 4 days. So far, so good...

I have used Google Maps/Yahoo Maps extensively while in the US and has been really amazed at how detailed they are and how useful they have been. At the same time, I have never felt that this would be effective in India where it is fairly common to have one-ways come up where there were none, other one-ways change directions, roads closed for a variety of reasons and in some cases are just plain un-motorable. However, I had a very pleasant surprise yesterday. I was traveling from Bangalore to Tirupathi and the usual route we take is through NH4. But because of road works here, this road is a little painful and slow. So, we decided to try out alternatives and Google map showed me the alternative through Chithoor - Gudiyatham and NH46. I was really amazed. I never knew the existence of this Chithoor - Guidyatham state highway and even if I did, I would not have thought of this route. This route was about 40Km longer, but much more comfortable and faster. Yet again, the online revolution ...

I have always felt that total abstinence is much easier than compared to moderation. For example, it is easy to stay off chips completely than to say I will only have a handful. I was hoping that the reverse is also true for things that I want to do. Like going to gym. I thought that after a break, you just need to go to gym for a couple of days to break your laziness and set up your rhythm, but alas it does not appear so. After having finally broken the jinx and waking up with the alarm for a couple of days, I thought I was all set for the good routine. Unfortunately, waking up with alarm every morning seems to be getting more and more difficult. And the first two days that I actually did get up seems more like an aberration. And of all things, running and going to gym are actually things that I always liked to do !! Need to somehow break out of this rut and get to more active and enjoyable routine...

OK, after being dormant and completely inactive in blogging, I have finally resolved to get back to more active blogging.  It is not that there were any lack of interesting incidents that led to my entering the dormant stage, it was rather a lot of other reasons (read laziness).  Let us see if my mid-year resolution holds for the next half of the year. I will start with a post on one interesting situation I faced a couple of days back. Last weekend, I visited Chennai to attend a family function. And as my wont, I decided to do a long run on Sunday. Chennai, being renowned for the hot and humid place that it is, is not a conducive place for such runs, especially for those who are not used to its weather. So I decided to do an early morning run and left home at around 4:45 AM on a two wheeler. It was here that I realized, in spite of all my years of riding, there has been one problem that I have never managed to solve. That is the problem of handling chasing dogs when drivin...