Quo Vadis?

Life they say is a great teacher, the lessons taught by life and the tests that its throws up are fascinating because we usually tend to forget the successes and wallow in the failures. In forgetting these successes we miss so much. I stared at the pretty sleep lined face, partly covered by the sheet, the crop of silky hair peeking out and the impish smile on the face that was a result of a pleasant dream and I realized that my forefinger was tightly enclosed by the hand that just emerged from under the sheet. As my wind wandered back in time I remembered that day when I passed another test of life. Waiting in a hospital is never a pleasant thing especially there is always the fear of the unknown and hospitals are not the cheeriest of places to wait. So as I waited with mixed feelings I was called by name and then the doctor said in cinematic style “Congratulations! it’s a girl.” In that brief moment I saw a baby and even before the thought could sink in the doctor had gone be...

As you wake up to the heavy rains and hear that schools & maybe colleges are closed you end up having mixed feelings. You are torn between sleeping in and bunking work or reluctantly dragging yourself out of bed not succumbing to the Monday rainy blues and skip work. In the middle of this dilemma spare a thought for those nameless people who ensure your day has begun well. I saw the newspaper boy completely drenched but carrying the newspapers worth 4 Rs each safely wrapped in plastic delivering it to homes. The milk has already been delivered before you opened your eyes and craved for your coffee. The conservancy staff who worked through the night managing the water and the weather to ensure that the roads are cleaner than the way you left it last night. Somebody has been up a little earlier and started working to ensure that the day has begun well for you, nearer home it could be mum or the better half who got up that little bit earlier to make that cuppa, the absence o...

I had signed up for the Chennai Duathlon 2015 when it opened as I thought that I will train well and do my first Duathlon since I missed it last year. As with all best laid plans my training went for a toss due to several work related trips that coupled with lethargy and exhaustion ensured that I was quickly running out of practice time and the event was fast approaching. From the Classic option I downgraded to the Half Marathon which theoretically appeared achievable even with little or no practice but reality bites and it did bite when I finally reached the venue. Yesterday I was still debating if I should go for the event and that is when some running buddies stepped into to motivate me. A big thanks is due to Sindhu, Piyush and all the others who pushed me at the last moment. The morning started early with lightning and rain and for a brief moment my resolve was shaken but I remembered the words of Piyush who said that we will have fun and I decided to go out and have ...

She sat across him with mixed feelings in the coffee shop; the mouth watering desserts between them did not distract her, that was a first! She waited for him to make the first move, after all she had asked him out for coffee and after a brief hesitation he had agreed. He had been watching her for a few days before she was even aware of him & then it was her turn for furtive glances every time they ended up on the same floor in the IT Park. Her heart beat a little faster waiting for him to speak, in the last few days she had stalked him on the various social sites and now she knew a lot about him & she was sure that he would know her too. She was puzzled that he was so hesitant to speak & also that he was not making eye contact. Finally he made up his mind & said, " akka, your choco lava cake is tempting me, can I have one  spoon pls? ".... (Image courtesy Google Images)

These days the news is full of religious issues and where there is trouble in the world today there seems to be religion in the centre of it all. The refugee crises, the hostage taking of school girls, the burning of homes, large scale murders, rapes and everything else even mundane things like running a film school is affected by religion. It is very disheartening when something personal to an individual is important to another who is often unrelated and inconsequential to the individual. Why fight about religion? It is like small boys saying, “mine is bigger”. Big or small it is usually most useful only to the owner, is it not? When someone from a particular religion feels insecure with another religion and feels that the other religion must be eradicated so that his religion remains it must be a time to introspect. Why do different religions exist? I would believe that they exist to satisfy different needs and a person will choose to move from one to another if his needs ...

Dear Airtel, I really think that my daughter just has to ask me if she wants a better mobile plan instead of pulling these cheap scams. From your ad I doubt I will get her your plan, thank you for trying. There are crappy ads and there are crappy ads. The airtel ad would be somewhere in between the potty and the drain, so horrible it is. I am not sure if family values have sunk to such levels and the fact that this ad is part of a series tells you the kind of value systems that drives the leading mobile operator of the country. I would not be surprised if they are scamming their clients away merrily with such stunts of keeping them happy while inflating bills or usage. How much do we check anyway? Parenting is an art, it is a science, it is everything at once and nothing at the same time. Some of the parenting techniques can be learnt, though most of it comes from within. It is a secret handed down from one generation to another and so “defective products must be blamed...

Dear New Runner, Let me congratulate you for making the decision to run. You may have taken this decision for various reasons but the usual and most popular one of losing weight is a good reason and it will surely make this extra effort of yours fruitful. However please remember that there are no quick fix solutions and you will lose weight gradually over a period of time with sustained effort. Y ou have decided to run and you may have joined one of the many mushrooming running groups across the city and one day you have actually joined them for a run.Hey congratulations on getting so far!!! Make no mistake that the most important activity of a running group is simply that, "running" everything else if not related to running are avoidable diversions. Here you must keep in mind that cross training and core strengthening activities are crucial to running. By now you must be wondering at the new terms that have come up and chances are if you are in a running group yo...

Yesterday I became another year older and hopefully a little wiser than the same time last year. Yesterday was also the second day of my restarted running journey after a long break. Running has given me a lot in the last 12 months and the break managed to undo some of the good; therefore it was good to get back. I run because it is therapeutic almost meditative, a run can start off with self- doubts, negative thoughts, some aches and pains but slowly the body starts cooperating with the will and after some time the mind takes over and the body starts to move in auto pilot mode. I run early in the morning when the clean air and the cool breeze helps to get into this state faster though sometimes the sapping humidity can delay it. This state when I feel I am in “the zone” helps me to think clearly after I manage to empty my mind of its clutter. I meditate at times, plan my day or just soak in the moment while burning calories and holding a conversation with the fellow runners...

I agreed to go for the Uttama Villain show with some trepidation. I am not a big fan of the serious, cerebral movies of Kamal Hassan no matter how good they may be. I would rather settle down and enjoy a mind numbing comedy by him any day, so the name of the movie and the promotional shots made me a little uncomfortable for Kamal in my opinion tends to crowd the screen with him and there will be a lot of self-indulgence on screen. By the interval I had relaxed and the reasons for the same will follow in the lines below. Uthama Villain (UV) is the story of a dying star making an attempt to achieve immortality by doing something what he does best, that is being a star. I will avoid sharing the plot of the movie for it will not do justice to some sparkling writing by Kamal. His intelligence and wit shines right through and sometimes if you do not pay attention you will miss it. The wordplay and the choice of names for the various characters are enjoyable. The characters (there are ...

Dear Suhasini madam, I watched OK Kanmani and I do not have a qualification to review it since I am not from IIN, nevertheless I think I will still go ahead and give my views on the movie. You know it is a Mani Rathnam movie when you see the train and the station, the opening game sequence may have thrown a viewer off and make him / her sit forward in his / her seat in expectation of something radically new happening but then you see a railway station and a diesel engine chugging in to stop. The hero pops his head out from a compartment that usually in these kind of trains would be the unreserved one and packed to suffocation limits with passengers barely holding on; but since this a Mani Ratnam movie and since it is a hero entry, he (Dalquer) jumps off and pulls his luggage easily since nobody else gets off there. By now the viewer would have realized normal service has resumed and will sit back in his seat munching popcorn for some movie magic. The heroine entry is a lit...

There is something therapeutic and even meditative in the relationship between a person and his / her ride. This is not the mundane, every day, commuter ride but a leisure ride of discovery that one takes from time to time. Be it a man powered ride like a cycle or an oil burning one like a RE Bullet this is something only someone who rides will understand. This mysticism gets compounded when the ride is powered by the elements of nature, specifically the wind. A sail boat is an antithesis, on land it is heavy and difficult to move but one the water and the sail up it can go up to 60 kms per hour I was informed today under the skillful guidance of an experienced sailor. On Sunday I had the pleasure of sailing in a J/80 sailboat which is Europe’s and North America’s largest selling sailboat under the guidance of three crew members. Along with some friends I signed up for a sailing programme for beginners by the over 100 year old Royal Madras Yacht club . The oldest sailing...