TheGoodLife

Pizza is a Vegetable!

2011-11-22T01:36:00.001-08:00

Shucks I wish my mom had known this! I had to eat carrots and peas!

No one is saying this yet but I've taken the liberty to carry that argument to its logical conclusion.

PIZZA is everything!!!

Nevertheless this is a fascinating debate to follow:

Pizza is a vegetable
Pizza is not a vegetable
Pizza is a vegetable
Pizza is not a vegetable
Pizza is a vegetable

and so on (all different links btw) :)

Web of life

2011-11-21T19:15:00.001-08:00

All of human existence is but asingle thread in the vast fabric of life. When it comes loose and we decide togo against nature we set ourselves up for only one of the two inevitableoutcomes: either it will unravel the entire fabric or break.

Not only are many species ofplants and animals becoming extinct and biodiversity is disappearing but theecosystems that break down because of this are the same that provide us thefood we eat, the water we drink and the very air we breathe. Pollution todayhas also started affecting us directly and has been identified as the majorculprit to a host of serious health issues ranging from life threateningdiseases, like cancer and asthma, to physical disabilities and psychologicaldisorders.

With the very existence of human lifeitself threatened the importance of saving the environment is obvious. It isnot that society is unaware of the urgency in the need to curb humanity’sinsatiable appetite and decrease the waste and pollution it generates. Informationabout environmental degradation is easily available on the internet and itsimpact on the human condition often makes its way into the news and media.

Rather than discuss in detailhere, again, how ‘to save the environment means to save yourself’ and that ‘weshould save the world because our children will inherit it’ I have decided to focusinstead on the benefit to society if its members can begin to think beyondtheir selfish goals and needs and extend consideration for other living things thatshare the planet with us.

I know that changing the world isa very big undertaking and we often do know where to begin. Let us begin withsome small baby steps, with learning some simple civic sense ourselves. Ratherthan dumping our garbage into the open we should consider segregating it forrecycling. Instead of simply throwing cigarette butts, toffee wrappers andempty cold-drink cans on the road we should make the extra effort to carry themwith us till we can dispose it with responsibility.

The small savings we will makewhen we switch off lights we don’t need at home or even by not letting thewater run unnecessarily while we are brushing our teeth will translate to bigsavings for the environment.

To be a society means to beconnected to others in a rich and complex web of relationships. We cometogether to form societies because they give us comfort, security and continuity.If the members of a society can think beyond themselves and show considerationto others it makes the society more strong and beautiful. If a society can showconsideration to the environment that it inhabits it makes the societyenlightened.

There is a beautiful ‘Red-Indian’ saying I recently came across “a man'sheart away from nature becomes hard; a lack of respect for growing, livingthings soon leads to lack of respect for humans too”

Tiger in Acrylic

2011-10-31T22:41:00.000-07:00

This Jungle Cat is nearly life sized and painted on an A1 sized canvas board. I am, sort of, happy with the result even though I was lazy and did not put in enough details.

I think tigers are the most beautiful creatures in the big cat family. They look so adorable that you just want to hug them.

Just has a random thought!

First caveman to ever see a tiger:

Caveman: OOOOh such a cute kitty! Let me give you a hug!
Tiger: Hmm ...Tempting but I just ate!

:D

William Blake wrote those immortal lines in praise of this cat:

TIGER, tiger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
In what distant deeps or skies

Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare seize the fire?
And what shoulder and what art
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?

And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand and what dread feet?
What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? What dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?
When the stars threw down their spears,
And water'd heaven with their tears,
Did He smile His work to see?
Did He who made the lamb make thee?
Tiger, tiger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

Acrylic Painting

2011-10-03T23:10:00.000-07:00

Most of my artwork till now has been oil pastels with a little bit of pencil work. I've tried oil pastels on paper (several gsm weights), canvas and mounted boards with varying results and though it has proven to be a versatile medium, of late, I've been getting a bit restless with it.

I tried watercolours, ever so briefly, but found them cumbersome and myself extremely clumsy with them. Watercolour pencils worked a bit better for me but required too much effort and mundane labour.

I realised that the thing I loved most about oil-pastels was that I could use my hands (palms and fingers both) to coax the colours in whatever way I wanted. I could spread the medium with wild abandon and still be able to regain control later and focus the painting.

This was clearly something pencils and watercolours just didn't do too well.

I shied away from oil's proper simply for the kind of set-up and preparation needed to get started and the amount o technical knowledge that went into rudimentary things like colour mixing. It was while I was exploring oils that I stumbled upon acrylics.

I always thought of acrylics as a medium for use with cloth or craft but discovered that it is a painting medium fast growing in popularity. The paints are very easy to handle and dry fast. They require just water as a thinner and can be used on almost any kind of surface.

These paints work well in layers and can easily be removed for correction. Also I found a company that makes these paints with non-toxic materials that are safe to use with your hands.

My first experiment with the medium was a disaster though it helped me learn a lot about how it behaves. I'm now working on my second piece which is progressing well and will be posted here soon.

Don't get me wrong, I will still be painting with oil-pastels and very much love working with them but you should be seeing more acrylic work on this blog soon :)

Odds

2011-07-01T21:59:00.000-07:00

The Burning Bush (in Crayons)

2011-06-13T08:40:00.000-07:00

I was asked by my sister to draw the burning bush (from the bible story) after a week of having drawn the glow and shadows around the central point of the light I still had the focus of the picture untouched. Then today in a sudden bout of inspiration I was able to complete the drawing. The profile revealed here was not drawn intentionally but traced from an outline I thought I saw coincidentally while I was examining the picture for some ideas for drawing the subject.

The obedient cylinder (Illusion)

2011-04-22T06:03:00.000-07:00

I've found another interesting illusion here I present a Spinning cylinder which can spin clockwise or counter clockwise simply by blinking.

To do this trick all you have to do is blink once while watching the spin of the cylinder and expect it to alter its spin. Flicking your eyes in the direction you want it to spin also works.

Go ahead and try it yourself:

What is interesting about this illusion is that the motion of this cylinder is indeed imaginary because in fact the particles are emitting randomly at each other from two roughly straight lines and everything including the cylindrical shape exists only in our imagination.

Crayon Tutorial

2010-08-24T22:43:00.000-07:00

On the insistence of a friend I'm attempting to create a step wise tutorial for my Crayon Painting process.

As with the creation of all works of Art I have a picture of what I want to draw in my mind. This phase in itself varies from person to person. Some people claim to have a clear image in their mind of what they are going to draw before they start. Others like me start of with an impression and add details as they find them during their process.

I start with coating the paper with a thin layer of primer. This is a color which sets the hue of my painting. I usually peel a crayon and use it's side to apply this layer in soft broad strokes for economy of effort.

I've discovered that crayons (especially oil pastels) hold well on paper and can be a pain to try to remove in case corrections are required. It is also much easier to add a dark color on top of a light color than the other way around. This usually manifests as a problem when I'm trying to add highlights on a object towards the completion of the painting. I therefore prefer to think about the broad highlights I'm likely to need and apply a second layer of primer on my papers usually with white to block out the areas where I will need the highlights.

As can be seen here I had left a vague negatively painted outline of a tree. This is so because I want my tree to have a different base hue from the surrounding image so that it can pop out more acutely. I now fill in the primary hues I wish to use for the tree and also add yet another layer of primer where ever I see a need for it in the sky. These are the faint pink and stark purple shades I've added to the blue.

I then use my fingertips to blend in the hues in the tree as well as the sky. I usually reserve my index finger for touch up work and use the other fingers for specific shades where I can. Usually the middle finger for darks and the third for lights (My thumb and little finger don't smudge well :( but if yours work for you then even better!).

I now add in more coats of crayons to my drawing with the intent to make the tree more detailed. This includes the time I spend trying to make the bark more interesting. As a correction I am forced to add some blue between the main branches. I think I get away with it lightly in this painting because I had not coated my trunk too strongly and also because the coating was only a very light grey which takes the blue in an acceptable hue.

As you can see here this is the foundation of the eventual piece.

I believe it is important to keep visual interest for the viewer in mind whenever we draw. I needed something interesting in the painting now to hold the viewers attention. Just the one tree did not look promising as a subject for this painting. This is where I spied the profiles I exploited to add some emotion to this painting.

I use the darker hues now to give details to the canopy of the tree and a black 8B soft pencil to add shadows and character to the bark. I use a small pair of scissors as a scraping blade to highlight the profiles. I added an extra layer of light blue strokes to break the background with a faint horizon line to emphasize this depth.

I could not have known at the start of the painting that it would eventually turnout like this. However all the prep work I did to the paper still paid off because my tree pops nicely from the sky.

I hope this was useful. :)

This is my workstation and as you can see the beauty of crayon painting is the it needs practically no setup. :D

Birth

2010-08-12T22:21:00.000-07:00

Music fueled late night sudden bout of inspiration.

Interpretation was tricky because the painting changed tracks several time during its creation. The main characters to note are the humanoid elemental, the womb or sieve, the shadow, and the snake.

Achivement

2010-07-20T22:57:00.000-07:00

Woke up in the middle of the night to draw this. It talks about the creative and mundane parts of life and its legacy.

Sky study in orange

2010-07-19T01:10:00.000-07:00

Tropical grove

2010-07-18T22:52:00.000-07:00

I did a nature study in pastels at Pasir Ris park ths weekend (my first in a long while). I love working with Crayons cause its so much faster and such a low fuss medium compared to paints. I highly recommend grabbing a box of crayons and having a time of your life playing with the rich colors.

The Spinning Ballerina Illusion

2010-07-14T01:12:00.000-07:00

If you are like me you've often looked at this image on the web and wondered if you should click on the banner to find out which of you brains hemispheres is dominant (or some other such insight about your personality).

"The Spinning Dancer, also known as the silhouette illusion, is a kinetic, bistable optical illusion resembling a pirouetting female dancer. The illusion, created by web designer Nobuyuki Kayahara,^[1]^[2] involves the apparent direction of motion of the figure. Some observers initially see the figure as spinning clockwise and some counterclockwise." Wikipedia

As it turns out the illusion has nothing whatsoever to do with anything deep but rather its just a matter of perception. One of the quickest ways to make the dancer spin in either direction is to move the focus of you eyes away from the dancer till she is in your peripheral vision. Then you simply tell yourself that you can observe the motion in the other direction and shift your eyes back to the dancer to have her spinning in the other direction.

If the above trick doesn't work for you try these two images to help you see either direction of motion.

Belly Button

2010-07-12T23:38:00.000-07:00

The navel is the center of gravity of the body, and given two runners or swimmers of the same height, one black and one white, "what matters is not total height but the position of the belly-button, or center of gravity," Duke University professor Andre Bejan

"Locomotion is essentially a continual process of falling forward, and mass that falls from a higher altitude, falls faster," Bejan explained.
The navel is the center of gravity of the human body and since the West African-origin runners have longer legs and therefore higher navels than their European counterparts they enjoy almost a 3% hidden height advantage while sprinting
.

In the pool, meanwhile, whites have the advantage because they have longer torsos, making their belly-buttons lower in the general scheme of body architecture.

"Swimming is the art of surfing the wave created by the swimmer," said Bejan.

"The swimmer who makes the bigger wave is the faster swimmer, and a longer torso makes a bigger wave. Europeans have a three-percent longer torso than West Africans, which gives them a 1.5-percent speed advantage in the pool," he said.

Rain clouds

2010-07-12T21:43:00.000-07:00

I find cloudscapes the most fulfilling images to draw. I mean how can you go wrong with a system that's constantly changing in countless of new ways. I still managed to over exaggerate the sun in this drawing but overall I am happy how it turned out. The drawing does look much better than the scan has turned out too.

Lightening Strike

2010-07-12T21:23:00.000-07:00

Thankfully I've only ever seen lighting strikes in pictures and on the telly but I think that's how it strikes the ground.

Note: I found a startling picture of a lightening strike on google and was quite surprised to see all the purple radiance. I should not have understated the color so much in my drawing. :(

Real lightening is such a fearsome sight and not like my timid probing at all...

Burst of energy

2010-07-12T21:17:00.000-07:00

My fingers were really smarting when I finished this one! I must have rubbed of my fingerprints. (I had blisters at the tips of two fingers next morning)

I don't remember it this painful but I'm happy with the result...

Crayons

2010-07-12T21:15:00.000-07:00

After almost 20 years I bought my self a box of oil pastels. I used to love the speed of working with pastels compared to oil or watercolor painting and I am really excited about drawing stuff again. I am starting a new label on this blog titled "crayons" so that its easy for readers to find the posts.

This first sketch started out to be a cow but I changed it halfway to make it into a neelgai :p (Though the face is a bit out of proportion for a neelgai and more like a reindeer's)

Joy

2010-03-15T22:15:00.000-07:00

I have been going to the swings again lately. Its an absolute joy, the pendulum like motion washes through your soul and makes the heart lighter.

Why do grown ups not use the swings? Why do we lose our sense of wonder and delight?

I'd like to have great swings installed all over in all the cities.

In India there are legends of great festivals attended and celebrated by all, centered around flower bedecked swings hanging from high branches of tall trees. After all this time the stories still evoke vivid images of romance, revelry and camaraderie.

Go to your neighborhood playground and find out what I mean...

Sword of Knowledge

2010-03-09T00:29:00.000-08:00

Ever read a book on 'low' fantasy?

"Low Fantasy is a term used to describe a variety of works within differing sub-genres of Fantasy fiction. The word "low" is used to indicate the quantity of fantasy in a work and not the quality. Within the fantasy genre, low fantasy is often contrasted with high fantasy, which typically takes place, partly or entirely, in a completely fictional setting and places an emphasis upon fantasy elements such as magic, monsters, and non-real literary devices. Low Fantasy works typically place relatively less emphasis on such fantasy elements and often take place within real-world environments, as opposed to entirely fictional settings." wikipedia

These books are astounding because of double barreled impact of the plausibility of their imaginative plots.

Sword of knowledge is a fantastic book (series) that forces you to look at not only history but also society, knowledge and religion with a very fresh perspective. It can be incredibly thought provoking but is certainly entertaining.

A beautiful poem someone quoted

2010-03-09T00:16:00.000-08:00

I walked a mile with pleasure
she chatted all the way
but left me none the wiser
for all she had to say

I walked a mile with sorrow
and ne'er a word said she
but oh! the things i learned from her
when sorrow walked with me

Paradox "Wish I could sleep faster"

2010-03-01T20:32:00.000-08:00

Happens to me a lot!

'Late into the night on my laptop and an early morning meeting' or 'guilty for that extra partying and wanting to get up bright and early for my workout' and myriad other situations when I need to fall asleep in a hurry.

Truth is, I've been running so scared with all the talk about health problems related to not sleeping enough that I'm really anxious about getting a decent shut eye most nights. However, everytime I put my head on the pillow resolved to sleep early I end up staying awake much longer.

What is happening is the worry (haste) is nagging at my consciousness and won't let me relax enough to sleep. The silent alarm in my mind keeps going off "am I sleep yet" and keeps waking me up.

Most ironically its when I have all the time in the world, days when I can sleep in late that I fall asleep easily and wake up earlier and fresher.

Go figure...

Lowly Laureate

2010-01-18T00:54:00.000-08:00

I came across this poem and was surprised at how much it resonates with my thinking:

O Sacred Muse, my lyre excuse! -
My verse is vagrant singing;
Rhyme I invoke for simple folk
Of penny-wise upbringing:
For Grannies grey to paste away
Within an album cover;
For maids in class to primly pass,
And lads to linger over.

I take the clay of every day
And mould it in my fashion;
I seek to trace the commonplace
With humor and compassion.
Of earth am I, and meekly try
To be supremely human:
To please, I plan, the little man,
And win the little women.

No evil theme shall daunt my dream
Of fellow-love and pity;
I tune my lute to prostitute,
To priest I pipe my ditty.
Through gutter-grime be in my rhyme,
I bow to altars holy. . . .
Lord, humble me, so I may be
A Laureate of the Lowly.

By
Robert William Service

Pre-race nerves

2009-12-02T14:52:00.000-08:00

Unlike most of my other posts in this section this one concerns the mind more than it does the body.

I've been training off-again, on-again for a marathon and have had a injury ridden ride so far. Between nearly busting my knee and twisting my ankle on the same leg (two separate incidents) I would have had the race sewed in the bag if not for a sorely overused and abuse calf on the other leg.

The short of the story is that I've been forced to rest and heal in this final month leading up to my big race when I should have been out there pounding that road. So, now, with the race just three days away I've got a massive case of nerves.

There are three major factions in my mind as of now:

1. I'm done and I'd be glad just to finish the race
2. I'm rested and should be able to blaze a trail
3. I should stop worrying about the outcome and just enjoy the experience of my first race.

No big money on guessing the right answer here but how do I stop the tug between wanting to win and wanting to survive?

What happens when we exercise?

2009-11-30T22:48:00.000-08:00

Mostly the accepted thinking that pain is part and parcel of working out and one must learn to live with it. There are many causes for pain, soreness, discomfort during exercise in order to identify them lets look at what happens when we exercise:

Any type of exercise uses your muscles. As you use your muscles, they begin to make demands on the rest of the body. In strenuous exercise, just about every system in your body either focuses its efforts on helping the muscles do their work, or it shuts down.

For example, your heart beats faster during strenuous exercise so that it can pump more blood to the muscles, and your stomach shuts down during strenuous exercise so that it does not waste energy that the muscles can use.

When you exercise, your muscles take in a source of energy and they use it to generate force. Your muscles are like biochemical motors, and they use a chemical called adenosine triphosphate (ATP) for their energy source. During the process of "burning" ATP, your muscles need three things:

They need oxygen, because chemical reactions require ATP and oxygen is consumed to produce ATP.
They need to eliminate metabolic wastes (carbon dioxide, lactic acid) that the chemical reactions generate.
They need to get rid of heat. Just like an electric motor, a working muscle generates heat that it needs to get rid of.

In order to continue exercising, your muscles must continuously make ATP. To make this happen, your body must supply oxygen to the muscles and eliminate the waste products and heat. The more strenuous the exercise, the greater the demands of working muscle. If these needs are not met, then exercise will cease (that is, you become exhausted and you won't be able to keep going).

To meet the needs of working muscle, the body has an orchestrated response involving the heart, blood vessels, nervous system, lungs, liver and skin.

Let's examine each need and how it is met by the various systems of the body.

The muscle cells burn off the ATP (Adenosine triphosphate) they have floating around in about 3 seconds. (Think of this simplistically as sugar)
The phosphagen system kicks in and supplies energy for 8 to 10 seconds. This would be the major energy system used by the muscles of a 100-meter sprinter or weight lifter, where rapid acceleration, short-duration exercise occurs.
If exercise continues longer, then the glycogen-lactic acid system kicks in. This would be true for short-distance exercises such as a 200- or 400-meter dash or 100-meter swim.
Finally, if exercise continues, then aerobic respiration takes over. This would occur in endurance events such as an 800-meter dash, marathon run, rowing and distance skating.

In the first 10 seconds of exercise we'd have used up almost all the easily assessable ATP.

Muscles also have big reserves of a complex carbohydrate called glycogen. A cell splits glycogen into glucose. Then the cell uses anaerobic metabolism (anaerobic means "without oxygen") to make ATP and a byproduct called lactic acid from the glucose.

About 12 chemical reactions take place to make ATP under this process, so it supplies ATP at a slower rate than the phosphagen system. The system can still act rapidly and produce enough ATP to last about 90 seconds. This system does not need oxygen, which is handy because it takes the heart and lungs some time to get their act together. It is also handy because the rapidly contracting muscle squeezes off its own blood vessels, depriving itself of oxygen-rich blood.

There is a definite limit to anerobic respiration because of the lactic acid. The acid is what makes your muscles hurt. Lactic acid builds up in the muscle tissue and causes the fatigue and soreness you feel in your exercising muscles.

Now that you know what is happening it'll help you plan your exercise regimen and gear to best utilize the above systems.

I know this sounds brutal but for people trying to lose weight here also lies the answer for successful weight loss. Longer slower exercise. I've covered this before and will probably do a more detailed post on this later.

Compression and you

2009-11-30T22:36:00.000-08:00

In our quest to be healthy we often overtrain. This is a fact evidenced by all the sore and aches in the various parts of the body. This happens to people trying to lose weight and also happens to athletes training for events.

So what's this got to do with compression?

The positive effect of wearing the compression clothing may arise due to an enhancement of the motion pattern by increasing proprioception (awareness of own self) and muscle coordination.

Wearing a lower-body compressive garment may reduce muscle fatigue by supporting more active muscles and applying pressure in such a way as to support muscle fibres in their contraction direction.

The favourable effects of compression clothing on the muscle pumping action of the cardiovascular system have led scientists to speculate whether increases in venous return could assist in the removal of blood lactate from exercising muscles. The investigators concluded that the compression stockings were increasing the lactate retained in the muscles, thereby reducing the amount released into the blood.

The small opposing torque may reduce injury by assisting the eccentric action of the hamstrings, eg at the end of the recovery phase whilst running. Further injury prevention may be afforded by compression clothing via the reported reduction in muscle oscillation such as on landing from a jump.

In addition to the above, there is evidence to suggest that compression clothing may improve exercise performance by reducing the impact of hot and/or humid conditions on the body’s thermoregulatory system. It is well documented that heat strain as a result of an elevated core body temperature can cause a reduction in exercise performance. It has been suggested that compression clothing assists the rate of evaporation by facilitating a faster transfer of sweat from the skin to the fabric.

Once there, the sweat can be transported through the fabric and dispersed more quickly and evenly over a larger area allowing evaporation to be maximised. If this is the case then athletes would feel cooler during exercise and perceive the activity as being less difficult.

Conclusion

I'm a through convert and now have several professional grade compression suits in my wardrobe for exercising. Though they are obviously good to use I must caution you guys that good suits like the ZOOT I use can cost upwards USD 150/-.

Hope this article helps you to decide on using a compression suit and prevents a lot of pain and fatigue.

Tips on weight loss (3)

2009-11-01T06:43:00.000-08:00

Part 3: Why exercise?

When we are consciously working out we do not risk injury and also improve our muscle strength and posture more rapidly than when we simply have a more active lifestyle. So you may e fit but you will carry yourself better and look better when you are making time to exercise.

You will need a Cardio exercise you like to form your mainstay. Running, Cycling, Swimming are all good. The trick is that you need to reach a point where you are doing 1 hour 30 minutes worth of exercise 5 times a week.
Don't be daunted by the amount of time I recommend. It is better to do long periods of low intensity workouts than short periods of high intensity workouts.
The reason for this is that in a short sharp work out our body burns mostly sugar and carbs but in a slow low intensity workout it burns fats.
The next thing you need to do is to spend another 15-30 minutes everyday to increase your muscle strength. This is done by skipping, pull ups, chin ups and push ups.
Don't feel discouraged if you are not good with these exercises initially and keep at it you will get better.

When I started working out in October '08 I was not even able to do one pull up, would huff and puff after just five push ups and could at best do 10 skips in a go.

Now I can do 1000 skips without stopping, 7 pull ups and chin ups each with just a gap of one minute between the two exercises and 20 push ups. I've lost a total of 45 Kgs since last year and can now run 15 kilometers in a single stretch and frequently cycle 80 km stretches on weekends.

Remember its not so much about how much you can achieve in one session and much more about whether you can keep at it over a long enough time to see the results.

When the results do come they will be well worth it. You will be healthier and look better. I myself feel better and get a load of more compliments on my looks as well.

Hope the above information is as useful for you as it has been for me. Don't hesitate to comment here if you want more information or input from me about your particular situation. I'd be glad to help.

Tips on weight loss (2)

2009-11-01T06:42:00.001-08:00

Part 2: Eating right

Our bodies need a balance of food of all types and fad diets create deficiencies which the body fights by giving us cravings or by slowing down the burn rate (It will preferentially burn sugars and carbs rather than fat which it tries to hoard for future use). Therefore, its not about eating less but more about eating healthy.

In terms of calories sugar burns the fastest (providing an almost immediate boost) followed by carbohydrates and then fats burn the slowest. Therefore a lower fat diet is generally recommended but a no fat diet is not. Also we needn't feel guilty about a little carb or sugar indulgence especially around the time we are exercising.
Good fats are in dried nuts (almonds and walnuts are the best in these), Avocado, Natural cheese (not processed cheese) and olive oil etc.For Indian people, I would recommend you stop ghee and butter altogether, avoid fried foods (buhijaya, namkeens, mithais etc) and also switch to toned or double toned milk if you can.
Also try to give up processed and junk foods (So McDonalds, Pizza and Wafers, Chips and cream based biscuits and confectioneries etc. are a big NO)in favor of fresh foods (Salads, Fruits, Roti, Dal and Subji etc) .
Decrease the level of caffeine and alcohol intake which are diuretic and cause loss of body fluids. Though there is research that links caffeine with better athletic performance the linkage is with caffeine capsules and not necessarily you daily cuppa.
Staying better hydrated will allow you to be more energetic and go through with your exercise regimen so make sure you drink lots of water and fresh juice (without added sugar) throughout your day.
Remember to keep isotonic drinks handy while you exercise to make good the loss of essential salts through perspiration. While choosing an isotonic drink pick one which does not have a too high sugar content. Fresh Tender Coconut water is a good natural isotonic drink (though you should avoid the meat of the coconut because of its much higher calorie content.)

Fitz

2009-10-29T07:24:00.000-07:00

Just read the Farseer Trilogy followed very quickly by the Twany man trilogy both by Robin Hobb and follow the life of FitzChivalry Farseer. I've already read the Liveship Trader Trilogy by her which is set in the same world but is otherwise unconnected to the other two story arcs.

I highly recommend the books but caution that prospective reader to be wary of the fact that the books are written in a very up close and immersive perspective of characters who all have extreme dissatisfaction with themselves.

I felt somewhat out of sorts while reading the books and only later realized that my glum moods were most probably from a strong affinity to the very tensed characters.

The books are that well written...

To be or not to be

2009-10-28T03:03:00.000-07:00

"To be, or not to be: that is the question:

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?"

From Hamlet by William Shakespeare

Like most people I've heard this phrase a thousand times without sitting down and pondering on it even for a minute. Recently though I got round to thinking about it and could not but marvel at its simplicity and depth.

"To be" or "not to be" is it our choice? Can we truly "not be" once we are? Is "to be" ever truly in our control?

A host of such questions that require a lifetime to answer and all from a phrase which needs less than a second to read...

Tips on weight loss (1)

2009-10-28T02:43:00.000-07:00

Trying to lose weight and not getting anywhere or simply wanting to improve your fitness level. Either way the following info might be useful. I've broken the article up into a few easily digestible snippets.

Part 1: The Basics

We burn calories all the time even when we are sleeping or thinking albeit the rate of calorie burn is highest when we are exercising. You can calculate your BMR (basal metabolic rate) which is how much you burn on an average day based on your height, weight and age. If you increase the time you exercise you can increase your BMR over time.

1 KG of fat is equal to about 7000 calories. So to lose 1/2 KG week we need to burn 3500 calories more than we eat in that week.
Also remember that the muscles in our body burn more energy than fat (which may also become like an organ, surprisingly, and this is why fatter people are likely to feel hungry more of the time) So as we get fitter and have more muscles we will improve our weight loss program's effectiveness because we want less and burn more.
It is important to remember that we need calories to exercise otherwise we would feel lethargic or worse if we starve too long the body would start burning muscle instead of fat or fuel from food which will in turn leave us weaker.

Walrus and the carpenter

2009-05-07T22:37:00.000-07:00

My favorite weird poem! This hilarious piece by Lewis Carroll "Walrus and the Carpenter)

This is the link to the full poem

here is my favorite part:

The sun was shining on the sea,
Shining with all his might:
He did his very best to make
The billows smooth and bright—
And this was odd, because it was
The middle of the night.

The moon was shining sulkily,
Because she thought the sun
Had got no business to be there
After the day was done—
"It's very rude of him," she said,
"To come and spoil the fun!"

The sea was wet as wet could be,
The sands were dry as dry.
You could not see a cloud, because
No cloud was in the sky:
No birds were flying overhead—
There were no birds to fly.

The Walrus and the Carpenter
Were walking close at hand;
They wept like anything to see
Such quantities of sand:
"If this were only cleared away,"
They said, "it would be grand!"

"If seven maids with seven mops
Swept it for half a year.
Do you suppose," the Walrus said,
"That they could get it clear?"
"I doubt it," said the Carpenter,
And shed a bitter tear.

Leisure by W.H. Davies

2009-05-05T23:40:00.000-07:00

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare?

No time to stand beneath the boughs,
And stare as long as sheep and cows

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began?

A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

Awesome form, I was quoting the first two lines to someone over lunch and realized that I did not remember the full piece any more so am rendering it here to refresh my memory.

Rowing

2009-05-05T21:11:00.000-07:00

I've thoroughly enjoyed reading David Gemmel's Troy trilogy. My imagination was able to paint a very vivid picture of ancient Greeks.

One thing I noticed while in ancient Greece was that there were very few men of wide girth. Now, it may just be my Hollywood fueled imagination, but they all seemed to have six packs like I want to develop.

It got me thinking about their daily lives. The books mention that they all took turns at the oars. Sails were not as in vogue then and all the boats even the massive ones had to be propelled by sheer muscle power alone.

Thinking further about it I gathered the following points:

Its one of the few exercises that exercises all the major muscle groups
its a great core exercise and very good for cardiovascular endurance (i.e. its good for the heart)
Its specially effective for the stomach and back muscles (which is great for me cause I don't like to do crunches)
its a strengthening exercise and greatly improves muscle strength
it increases BMR and therefore accelerates weight loss in the long term
As you ave to regulate consciously your breathing in order to do rowing for any significant amount of time its a great torso expansion exercise too entirely as a fringe benefit.

I therefore nowadays start my day with a 20 minute session of rowing and have already started to feel my shoulders and chest expand.

Why

2009-04-22T22:47:00.000-07:00

in response to this poem called 'why' here (which I haven't copied to avoid copyright issues)

we live to experience
we breath to progress
we suffer to empathize
we leave to explore

we die to translate
we see to appreciate
we learn to understand
that makes me 'me'

Notes: edited with input from Victor

C J Cherryh

2009-04-21T02:12:00.000-07:00

Fast gaining ground as my all time favorite author's and is almost now for me on the same level as Asimov and Irving Stone.

I'm so thoroughly enjoying the 'Foreigner universe' that I am left wondering why I did not start directly after I finished the 'Morgaine saga'.

An enthralling perspective and thrilling pace makes it incredibly hard to put down a book midway.

Must must read...

Horatius's Heroism

2009-04-21T01:59:00.000-07:00

Here I'm copying my favorite section of the awesome poem Horatius, I cannot but read it with tears welling in my eyes at some point.

written by Thomas Babbington Macaulay

find the complete poem here

Thrice looked he at the city;: Thrice looked he at the dead;
And thrice came on in fury,: And thrice turned back in dread:
And, white with fear and hatred,: Scowled at the narrow way
Where, wallowing in a pool of blood,: The bravest Tuscans lay.

LIII

But meanwhile axe and lever: Have manfully been plied;
And now the bridge hangs tottering: Above the boiling tide.
``Come back, come back, Horatius!'': Loud cried the Fathers all.
``Back, Lartius! back, Herminius!: Back, ere the ruin fall!''

LIV

Back darted Spurius Lartius;: Herminius darted back:
And, as they passed, beneath their feet: They felt the timbers crack.
But when they turned their faces,: And on the farther shore
Saw brave Horatius stand alone,: They would have crossed once more.

But with a crash like thunder: Fell every loosened beam,
And, like a dam, the mighty wreck: Lay right athwart the stream:
And a long shout of triumph: Rose from the walls of Rome,
As to the highest turret-tops: Was splashed the yellow foam.

LVI

And, like a horse unbroken: When first he feels the rein,
The furious river struggled hard,: And tossed his tawny mane,
And burst the curb and bounded,: Rejoicing to be free,
And whirling down, in fierce career,
Battlement, and plank, and pier,: Rushed headlong to the sea.

LVII

Alone stood brave Horatius,: But constant still in mind;
Thrice thirty thousand foes before,: And the broad flood behind.
``Down with him!'' cried false Sextus,: With a smile on his pale face.
``Now yield thee,'' cried Lars Porsena,: ``Now yield thee to our grace.''

LVIII

Round turned he, as not deigning: Those craven ranks to see;
Nought spake he to Lars Porsena,: To Sextus nought spake he;
But he saw on Palatinus: The white porch of his home;
And he spake to the noble river: That rolls by the towers of Rome.

LVIX

``Oh, Tiber! Father Tiber!: To whom the Romans pray,
A Roman's life, a Roman's arms,: Take thou in charge this day!''
So he spake, and speaking sheathed: The good sword by his side,
And with his harness on his back,: Plunged headlong in the tide.

No sound of joy or sorrow: Was heard from either bank;
But friends and foes in dumb surprise,
With parted lips and straining eyes,: Stood gazing where he sank;
And when above the surges,: They saw his crest appear,
All Rome sent forth a rapturous cry,
And even the ranks of Tuscany: Could scarce forbear to cheer.

LXI

But fiercely ran the current,: Swollen high by months of rain:
And fast his blood was flowing;: And he was sore in pain,
And heavy with his armor,: And spent with changing blows:
And oft they thought him sinking,: But still again he rose.

LXII

Never, I ween, did swimmer,: In such an evil case,
Struggle through such a raging flood: Safe to the landing place:
But his limbs were borne up bravely: By the brave heart within,
And our good father Tiber: Bare bravely up his chin.

LXIII

``Curse on him!'' quoth false Sextus;: ``Will not the villain drown?
But for this stay, ere close of day: We should have sacked the town!''
``Heaven help him!'' quoth Lars Porsena: ``And bring him safe to shore;
For such a gallant feat of arms: Was never seen before.''

LXIV

And now he feels the bottom;: Now on dry earth he stands;
Now round him throng the Fathers;: To press his gory hands;
And now, with shouts and clapping,: And noise of weeping loud,
He enters through the River-Gate: Borne by the joyous crowd.

Ours is not to question why

2009-04-21T01:56:00.000-07:00

I was so sure that the correct quote was "ours is not to question why" but it seems like I was mistaken. The correct quotation is:

"Their's not to reason why,
Their's but to do and die:"

Here is the verse in the original poem:

Charge of the Light Brigade

by Lord Alfred Tennyson

Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
'Forward, the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns!' he said:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

'Forward, the Light Brigade!'
Was there a man dismay'd ?
Not tho' the soldier knew
Some one had blunder'd:
Their's not to make reply,
Their's not to reason why,
Their's but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.

Flash'd all their sabres bare,
Flash'd as they turn'd in air
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
All the world wonder'd:
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right thro' the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reel'd from the sabre-stroke
Shatter'd and sunder'd.
Then they rode back, but not
Not the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro' the jaws of Death,
Back from the mouth of Hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.

When can their glory fade ?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wonder'd.
Honour the charge they made!
Honour the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred!

Emotions

2009-04-17T20:09:00.000-07:00

What is the point of emotions in human psyche?

This is a question that seems to reoccur quiet often in some obscure vestiges of my mind. My interest in it was seemingly instigated by professional necessity as we are developing a motivational system for interactive education but seems to have become more of a matter demanding some philosophical reasoning.

Emotion as response to stimuli I can understand because its logical. However we are seldom rational beings and have some strange emotional states that clearly defy logic.

We have a lot of interest in the propensity to humanize mechanical constructs or inanimate objects and possibilities of this in the development of motivations tools.

We are somewhat vexed however by the somewhat erratic human ability to instinctively and often without logical reasoning or investigation 'like' or 'dislike' something.

Its something that I do pretty often and perhaps I can advance this reasoning by some introspection.

Unfortunately this is going to be an inconclusive post...

Poems: If...

2009-04-14T20:19:00.000-07:00

A Poem by Rudyard Kipling

Here a really high ideal is set with very simple words. This also happens to be one of my all time favorite poems and there was a time when I remembered it verbatim.

IF...

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream — and not make dreams your master;
If you can think — and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:.
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build'em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings — nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And which is more; you'll be a Man, my son!

Translation: Sarang Hae Yo

2009-04-13T01:32:00.000-07:00

This is a Korean song which I don't understand but can still connect with. It served as the inspiration of 'Phali Nazar' which is also quite good but not as good as the original in my opinion.

I'm putting down a loose translation I've managed using google and other tools and improvisation:

Sarang Hae Yo (I Love you)
Lyrics by Kim Hyung Sup

Can I love you right now?
If you take a little bit of me in your embrace and leave
You know how much pain that will cause my heart

I love you, let's start again
All I've ever done was make things hard for you but
I love my friend
I can't go on without you
Our love is like fate

I will repay all of the tears that made things difficult to you
I'm happy that your smile currently mirrors mine

I love you, let's start again
All you've ever done was make things hard for me but
I love my friend
I can't go on without you
I will make you forget everything and be happy instead

I love you, let's start again
All I've ever done was make things hard for you but
I love my friend
I can't go on without you
Our love is like fate

Poems: Where the mind is without fear

2009-04-12T22:35:00.000-07:00

A great poem by the great Tagore. I memorized it in school but don't believe I ever manged to learn it.

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

Rabindranath Tagore

Old Love

2009-03-30T23:09:00.000-07:00

Young love is passionate and tumultuous, It is like the boiling river and does not wish to be restrained. It is single minded and waxes your discontent and wanes your interest in things other than the object of your attention.

The distracting force creates a drab gray world in the background against which the shining beacon of you desire burns brilliantly. No other beauty is as beautiful, no other thing as precious and no other desire which is stronger.

Set against this the experience of old love.

Like the ocean it is sure of its depth, It reaches out and wants to touch things around in wonder as if seeing life in all its glory for the first time. It creates curiosity and zest for life.

It is a satisfying surety that makes the world richer, food finds new flavor and pursuits find new vigor. The object of your affection is a brilliant light that makes the whole world brighter and reveals its myriad colors and textures.

Time travel

2009-03-25T02:28:00.001-07:00

Recently I've been traveling time, happily jumping from many centuries into the future to a couple of millenniums in the past and back again with only short transitions in the here and now.

Now Einstein was a wise man and he knew what he was talking about when he theorized that we probably cannot traverse time conventionally but none the less I've been there and done it.

The best part is that you don't even need elaborate machines to help you along and definitely don't need infinitesimal energy sourses. In fact the equipment is so basic that its been around for centuries and earlier versions have been discovered to have existed for almost as long as man has been civilized and perhaps even before that.

Yes the answer lies in stories, I've been reading my way forward and back. Forward into the fantastic futures devised by Peter F Hamilton and past into David Gemmel's fantastic Grecian times.

Books can bring places and people alive so vividly that you can sense their emotions, embrace their trials and feel their nonchalance for things fantastical for us but everyday life for them.

So pick up your next story and flagrantly flout the laws of Physics.

Whiskey

2009-03-07T22:58:00.000-08:00

I've had severely cut down on my beer and wine intake. While I don't think I am an alcoholic,I rarely drink more than twice a week and that too always socially,but I do love my drinks.

I used to be an avid beer enthusiast and made full use of the fact that there are a few micro-breweries in Singapore that craft some pretty passable beers. Beer was like a main dish for an evening meal that needed little else to accompany it. The problem is that it is really high calorie and goes right to the waist. (beer belly is an accurate description to that rotund protrusion below your midriff) So beer was nixed because it was in direct contravention of my stated goals.

It took me some more time to uncover how nefariously wine was working on my physiology.

I love wines too and would drink it in large quantities over long slow evenings. Nothing goes better with a leisurely Mughali meal than some Shiraz or Merlot, and you have to pair pasta with Chianti, we regularly open either champagne or rose' with cake at our office to celebrate launched products, this weather is perfect for Semllion Sauvignon Blanc and cheese and Muscat is my heaven with dessert.

If you didn't already get it from the above confession I tend to pair wine with food and then drink it slowly over a long evening. Triples my calorie intake while bringing my output down to negligible.

I'm not a huge fan of Vodka, Rum or Tequila and most other sorts of alcohol either arn't so easy to come by or its too hot here to enjoy them.

Whiskey is my answer and its perfect. There is enough variety to keep me from getting tired and I drink it when I am out dancing. I have it neat and don't need to pair it with any food.

So in general lesser calories consumed and more expended the best kind of diet alcohol.

;)

Hard Core

2009-02-25T18:33:00.000-08:00

Most people find toning their abdomens challenging and I am no exception. Often the better known exercises such as sit-ups and crunches don't seem to have any benefit despite how tiresome they seem.

I find both the aforementioned exercises so boring that I have banished them from my routine. However, this dosn't mean that I've resigned myself to flabby abs.

I've been having a bit of luck with losing inches around my midriff and can also feel the hereto missing firmness in my muscles there.

I concede that the primary reasons are my regular cardiovascular routine and skipping. Skipping is probably a bit more effective than cardio there, being as it is, a well known way to tone all the core muscles.

I've found a few other exercises that seem to be helping me greatly. These are:

Bicycle: lay down with your back on the floor and pedal an imaginary bicycle in the air. for best results imagine the pedal at a point lower than your pelvis and about one and a half feet in the air.

Plank: Put you elbow on the floor below your shoulders at right angles with your chest. Make the rest of your body taut with your toes holding up the other end.

Swiss ball roll: You need a exercise ball for this one. get into the push up position with your shins on the ball. Pull your knees up to your chest till your feet are on the ball. Roll back gently and then repeat.

Reading: Peter F Hamilton

2009-02-22T21:41:00.000-08:00

Have become a fan of Peter F Hamilton a British Science Fiction author who's writing style is often described as space operas. I've been reading the commonwealth saga and find the story hugely engaging.

I borrowed the volumes I'm reading, from a friend who is a voracious reader, and have been impressed, enough to start hunting to buy the books, so I can own a set, with some success.

The books I have (both borrowed and bought) are printed in paperback and, since they are quite thick (running on the average at a thousand pages), take quiet an effort to carry around with me (one at a time of course) to read, without subjecting them to undue wear and tear.

Starting Versecraft

2009-02-22T06:40:00.000-08:00

There was a short time a very long time ago when I did some poetry. My interpretation of poem writing was often carefully constructed rhymes built around abstract or ambiguous allegory. Needless to say like a lot of other things it fell through the rafters as time went by and I was resigned to never again stringing words together in an aesthetic endeavor.

It was only recently that I was moved to write again and enjoyed myself so much that I've decided to not let go of it again. For better or for worse, good or passable or maybe even unbearable for anyone but me I am going to write more.

Whatever I concoct, and as I get time my old stuff, will be put up on versecraft.blogspot.com

Dedication

2009-02-19T00:14:00.000-08:00

Normally able to do things with stubborn and determined single mindedness I've lately been confused about the concept of dedication, devotion and loyalty to my profession.

don't get me wrong I love what I do!

I love making playware (my company's name as well as a funky new media phrase we coined), I love teaching others about the industry and about everything else about my professional life and would be here doing this even if I was not paid for it.

I almost equally love writing (including stuff I post here and on other blogs) and despite internal resistance find myself spending more of my free time on it. This I feel may not be fair to what I am professionally.

Its sometimes feels that the solution is simple because I like making playware and having achieved a modicum of success I get paid for it too, so it seems logical to continue.

However, I find it hard to put-off writing so easily and feel that I can have a great time at it as well and make money there too.

I could continue with this status quo but I'm confused as to whether I can do justice to both these pursuits simultaneously.

This one is just a blurb as my thoughts on the subject are not as well formed as I would like.

Lyrics for Soulshine by Gov't Mule

2009-02-18T21:50:00.000-08:00

I love the Warren Hayes version of this Allman Brothers Band track. I know I'm not adding any value here because there is no translation or interpretation but I could not resist.

Soul Shine

When you cant find the light
That guides you through a cloudy day

When the stars ain't shining bright
And you feel like you've lost your way

When the candle lights of home
Burn so very far away

Well you got to let your soul shine
Just like my daddy used to say

He used to say soul shine
Its better than sunshine
Its better than moonshine
Damn sure better than rain

Hey now people don't mind
We all get this way sometimes
Got to let your soul shine
Shine till the break of day

I grew up thinking that I had it made
Gonna make it on my own

But life can take the strongest man
And make him feel so alone

Now and then I feel a cold wind
Blowing through my aching bones

I think back to what my daddy said
He said Boy, in the darkness before the dawn

Let your soul shine
Its better than sunshine
Its better than moonshine
Damn sure better than rain

Yeah now people don't mind
We all get this way sometimes
Got to let your soul shine
Shine till the break of day

Sometimes a man can feel this emptiness
Like a woman has robbed him of his very soul

A woman too, God knows,
she can feel like this

And when your world seems cold
You got to let your spirit take control

Let your soul shine
Its better than sunshine
Its better than moonshine
Damn sure better than rain

Lord now people don't mind
We all get this way sometimes
Got to let your soul shine
Shine till the break of day

Weight loss (Updated)

2009-02-18T00:13:00.000-08:00

Starting this post off with a before and after pic for reference. (its me both times in the pic with more hair and weight in one than the other)

Since my last post on the topic of Weight loss I've dropped a further 10 lbs and am at 198 lbs which is closer to my target of 187 lbs. Still working towards my six pack before my birthday coming in march.

Due to some work pressures I have less time to workout now days and consequently my new daily schedule is leaner and meaner.

Skipping lucid details of my everyday schedule to talk only about food and exercise

1. 1000 calories on the cross trainer in the morning (takes me about 50 minutes as I use very high resistance)

2. light upper body workout including a bit of weights and push-ups ('weights' is actually just a solitary 35lbs dumbbell)

3. Fruit bowl (mostly berries) followed by regular breakfast (cereal, toast and cheese with low fat chocolate milk)

4. Half an hour of skipping before lunch (8 sets of 250 skips each with breathers in between sets)

5. Buddhist Chinese vegetarian food for lunch with fresh fruit juice/Tender coconut water followed by papaya.

6. Short 15 minute walk in the evening after office

7. Regular Indian dinner followed by chocolate and/or flavored yogurt

8. 500 calories on the cross trainer and off to bed after a shower.

Simple Pleasures: Greeting the dawn

2009-02-17T19:55:00.000-08:00

I guess did not suspect that writing things down in this fashion has quite this much impact on our psyche.

Ostensibly, I wrote the last post and re-read it and was done with it. However, I woke up at 5.30 am next morning with my subconscious tugging me out of bed despite very rational protestations, of not having soaked enough rest, from my body.

I remembered the lingering regret I had felt (while making the post) about not getting enough opportunities to greet the dawn nowadays and realized that I had been out maneuvered by my own sense of nostalgia.

Crave as I might to curl back into bed I relented and ambled to the shower to wash away the last vestiges of languor.

Refreshed, I found my IPod and played my morning repertoire and waited for dawn to break.

Bliss...

Cycling

2009-02-15T19:49:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I was introduced to a bike path that snakes along a series of splendid beach side parks (Pasir Ris Park, Changi Coast and ECP) and have since ridden along it on a few weekends.

Sigh... like almost everything else I write about here this is something I used to love doing. Back in Delhi, in those glorious free spirited days of youth, I used to ride along the banks of the river Yamuna. Setting off from home at a time that can only be described as late at night and watching the dawn break over the river after several hours of cycling. (Quite morbidly my favorite spot for watching the dawn break was on a pier jutting out from the compound of a cremation ground)

Back in the day (as this was before the time of MP3 players) the audio experience of the ride used to be intense with the song of the cicadas overlaying the babbling of the river in an otherwise completely silent night. The stirring of the birds before the dawn used to be a welcome relief and I would feel a smile on my face every morning, as if to greet the birds.

Cycling by the sea is even more exhilarating than on a river bank with wide sweeping views and a whole lot more wind. The mildly salty air even smells better. With my IPod now I get to set the mood of my own ride and can choose whether I want to feel soulful by the sea or pumped by the exertion.

It cannot get simpler to start cycling here with several bike rentals right by the beach that offer excellent rates and bikes of all sizes.

Simple pleasures: Book sale browsing

2009-02-14T09:24:00.000-08:00

One of the most stimulating and exhilarating yet rejuvenating and refreshing ways to spend a weekend afternoon is to browse a books sale.

I did just that today and not only managed to get a great bargain on a bunch of books I've been hunting but also was able to identify a host of books and authors whose works I'd like to buy in the near future.

Lately my reading has been predominantly Science Fiction and Fantasy followed by Historical books (both factual and fiction) and biographies. All but the biographies, nowadays, typically come in long saga formats spanning several volumes. The reason I ended up with more lists than books today was that most of the series I found interesting had key volumes missing from the inventory of the sale.

Coming back to the captioned subject I did spend a wonderful afternoon and even managed to get an armload of reading for a song. I find that I get more of a kick out of bargain hunting books than even browsing a library. While the library gives a greater range of books and makes less of a dent in the wallet there is something about the permanence of actually acquiring a book that’s more gratifying to me.

Glory days

2009-02-13T00:44:00.000-08:00

Watched "Rock On" and it immediately got me into the nostalgic mood. (well not immediately as I watched the songs a few more times after the movie, I really like the sound track)

Got me thinking about all the wild times I used to have with my gang, wondering where the guys from our Indian fusion thrash metal band drifted off to.

Why is it that we have to leave such things behind?

Jamming with the band was so awesome, the conversations erratically swinging between deeply philosophical to absolutely banal to positively ludicrous. The music was often extempo and sometimes strictly structured but always with a whole lot of soul.

We used to be at it for hours at an end and did covers of our idols and also played our own song. We played at concerts and really rocked the crowds.

Recently I sat myself in front of a piano and realized in shock that it's not like cycling. I didn't remember anything its as if those years a decade and a half ago never happened and the grand instrument was completely alien to me.

I've decided I want to make music again and record my resolve here to make it happen.

Psychology: Affinity

2009-02-07T19:08:00.000-08:00

I've sometimes felt myself possessing an inexplicable affinity for certain unlikely things, places and people.

I understand the strong attachment I feel towards my family, the common memories of glory days shared with old friends and the comradeship from being on adventures together with my colleagues. I understand the warm feeling I get when I walk into my home and appreciate the harmony I feel in the lap of nature. I even attach logic to my quiet confidence in old and reliable equipment such as my trusty shuffle and laptop.

What I don't understand however is when I experience affinity for places and relationships that are more transactional in nature. Why do I feel a sense of loyalty to soda machine or have immense patience for slip-ups at a regularly visited restaurant (actually this one I know; as a rule I never go back to a restaurant were I've kicked up a fuss no matter what brought it on)

Have not completely figured out what I want to say here and so am going to cut this post off right about...

disclaimer: These posts of mine ostentatiously titled 'Psychology something' mostly have their origins in my somewhat discreet curiosity about my own behavior and have nothing whatsoever to do with the actual discipline.

Music and my life

2009-02-05T19:32:00.000-08:00

Music reflects the mood of the times, it reflects the experiences, hopes and dreams of its people and it provides windows into the souls of the artists and opens the doors to the hearts of the audience.

It can at once uplift the spirit, touch a deep chord in our being and give shape to dreams. It is consoling for those seeking solitude and festive for those yearning for companionship. It takes the edge off of the trials of life and also infuses zest into its dreariness.

We turn to music when we are happy, sad, lonely, loved, tired or ready to face life at its terms. We grow up with music and it enriches and influences our lives in innumerable ways, some subtle and others more blatant.

I have a large library of music that I have collected over the years (digitized now) and recently stirred to organize it.

At first I was completely flummoxed and I did not know how I wanted it done. I could not decide whether I wanted to arrange it according to genre or alphabetically according to artist names. I tried arranging it according to the 'raga' principles (basing it on moods and the time of day I would typically listen to it) but none of these methods were satisfying.

After much consideration I've finally found my way of organizing my music.

It’s organized now according to the stages of my life. I've collected this library over years and fell in love with each of the pieces at different times in my life. Each song, therefore, evokes a unique sense of nostalgia and comes with its own rich memories.

Spend some time thinking about 'why' you've liked a certain kind of music at a phase in your life and be rewarded by vivid recollection of forgotten feelings, disappointments, hopes and dreams.

Translation: Phir Dekhiye

2009-02-04T20:57:00.000-08:00

This is the literal translation of 'Phir Dekhiye' from the soundtrack of the movie 'Rock on' it's sung by Caralisa Monterio and the Lyricist is Javed Akhtar

"Those who have some dream in their eyes
The ones who are happy are the ones who are a little restless

In your life let yourself have something you desire
and then see...

Those who have a song on their lips
Even when they lose they still win

Allow yourself to hum the song that's in your heart
and then see...

Those who have someone in their memories
Every evening is like a dream for them

Let there be somebody, who, you give your heart to
and then see...

Weave a few dreams, hear a few songs, pick a few flowers
and then see..."

Now part of my morning play list

Psychology: Giving

2009-02-03T23:36:00.000-08:00

We humans are just plain weird. If we are really made in God’s own image then I think we might be experiencing the equivalent of an analog signal’s generation loss (loss of fidelity with each generation of copy). I don’t understand even myself and cannot profess to even begin to comprehend the world.

One of the thing I find most baffling (not one of the negative ones) of all is; why we feel happier by doing things for others.

It can’t be simply that the thought of reciprocation acts as a motivation as I’ve often tried to do something for strangers (as an experiment) and move on, without waiting for gratitude, and still felt nice about it.

Small or big doesn’t seem to make much difference either; ever try something simple such as smiling and greeting a person you know may be isolated? (case to point the old helper around my apartment who quietly keeps maintaining the compound without ever talking to anyone).

Is there some weird Freudian explanation about the need to please ourselves by doing for others? (in which case it seems even more delusional as why would it not be simpler to please oneself by doing things selfishly?)

It kind of makes it hard for me to be an atheist as ‘the soul’ that ‘small drop of God in us ‘seems like one plausible explanation.

When we give and do for people we know and like the positive sensation seems even stronger. I've often noted that there is quite contentment in the knowledge that I did something for someone close and have never felt the need for acknowledgment from the recipient.

Furthermore, I don't feel disappointment if such people do go on to let me down. (This may be partially due to the fact that I deliberately have really low expectations* from everyone else and therefore no one can disappoint me. *which may also be a personality flaw in its own right)

Have been researching the 'psychology of giving' to satisfy this curiosity and have come across several interesting articles. Look forward to some links on this...

Dance

2009-02-02T01:34:00.000-08:00

Had an interesting discussion about dancing. The question was 'what is dancing?' and we were looking at was what it means to us rather than what it means in a book. Some of the more interesting definitions were:

1. Expression feelings and the mental and emotional state

2. An extempo interpretation of the beat, melody and lyrics of the music

3. A, sometimes, involuntary reaction to music

4. A sophisticated and multi-layered social interaction

5. A healthy and fun pastime

6. A display of bodily-kinesthetic, inter-personal and intra-personal intelligences

7. A practiced aesthetic performance

Please feel free to leave your own definition in the comments

Relativity of Time

2009-01-29T20:22:00.000-08:00

Have you also ever noticed the 'relativity of time'? Let me clarify, before the rest of this conversation gets hijacked by you brilliant scientific mind, that I don't mean this question in the 'e=mc2' sense.

Have you noticed that time has a invert relation to our level of immersion in a given activity. The more we get immersed into an activity the shorter time seems to get. When we are enjoying ourselves time flies by and when we labor* at something time can come to a standstill. (* by 'labor' here I mean; the application of will to keep at a task you don't want to do)

This happens to me a lot. When I am working on design or contemplating a production approach or engaged with something else of a similar nature I often find myself with missing hours. However, if I have to wait without a distraction of some sort (book, music or games; all of which I always carry with me) time slows down to a insufferable crawl and even seconds seem impossibly long.

A small mind game I play with myself when I am stuck in one of the slow time situations (works only in the ones where there is a set amount of time that needs to be sped up) is to calculate percentages of the time remaining in relation to the original time block.

Situations where I have no control over the maximum amount of waiting required, with no way to distract myself, depending on the nature of the situation, I either suffer quietly or try frantically to get out of it. (Note to self: Need to find a solution for this)

Psychology > physiology

2009-01-27T23:30:00.000-08:00

Psychology trumps physiology and I don’t mean it in the ‘David and Goliath’ way. A variation in the psyche can bring about tremendous change in our ability to perform physical activities.

We can jump further, run faster and hit harder, than we normally can, simply by beginning to believe that we can. Sports coaches have known this for ages and I found a lot of resources on the internet about sports psychology including some cool sounding ones such as ‘self-hypnosis and better performance’.

My own interest in this topic got piqued over this last long weekend (weekend + extra two days for Chinese new year). I found that because I had more time in the mornings it was almost 11 am before I would finish my morning exercises for the first two days. I was taking almost 3-3.5 hour to finish my exercise quota because the breaks were too frequent and too long. Even though I remember consciously trying to speed up I just felt too tired to perform faster and had to really struggle hard simply to continue.

I decided that I could not afford so much time once the work week started and I may have to lighten my exercise load to accommodate the demands of my body. This was a new sensation for me, for those who know me it would be very evident, I hate to give ground or give up in general.

However, I figured that since my performance was suffering maybe I had something such as sleep debt or maybe something more sinister such as heavy muscle fatigue and had better pay heed to my body.

Come Monday morning (also a holiday) I decided that I would only exercise as much as I comfortably could in an hour without worrying so much about my quota. The defeatist attitude with which I started my session had a genuine unpleasantness. Even though I kept telling myself that I would take it easy I kept trying to meet my original exercise goals and by the end of the hour was so near where I should have been that I continued for a few more minutes and completed my set.

I was simply ecstatic, this meant that I did not have to alter my original program and would be able to adhere to the timeline for my long term goals. In fact I felt so good about completing Monday’s program that I was still pepped on Tuesday morning and actually finished my program 3 minutes before time.

This made me wonder why I had so much trouble in the first place. My guess is that when my mind went into holiday mode it somehow weakened its resolve to workout and this got my body feeling vary even though it had plenty of energy. What got me out of the situation was the tussle between my conscious and sub-conscious mind. (though I can’t exactly figure which one wanted what)

Paradoxes

2009-01-24T07:42:00.000-08:00

This is one of my favorite paradoxes:

There are sets that are members of themselves such as a set of flocks of sheep is also a flock of sheep.

There are sets that are not members of themselves for example a set of spoons is not a spoon.

If there is a set of sets that are not member of themselves is it a member of itself?

What makes it a paradox is obviously the fact that if it is a member of itself it cannot be a member of itself and if its not then it is.

Translations: Bhor

2009-01-23T21:04:00.000-08:00

This is the literal translation of 'Bhor' by Indian Ocean (at least its my interpretation)

"
As dawn breaks
a tired flying bird
lands on a scented branch
The sweet perfume
captures his heart
magical with myriad hues

Breath by breath
love works its magic
And time and again
it does the unexpected
Why choose this branch?
What of reason and will?

The bird contemplates
which sky to fly
Where is better than this branch
a warm golden honey
seems to cover his wings
mind loses the will to move

Even his murder is such
he dies wealthy and contended
By strange machinations of fate
the hunter throws such a net
It scatters him to the winds
One with the sky, high
He finds his real flight
"

I guess it does seem a bit lost in translation

Kandisa

2009-01-19T00:50:00.000-08:00

Kandisa is the title of a track of an Album by the same name recorded by the famous Indian fusion rock band ‘Indian Ocean’. The track is simply awesome and has become one of my staple tracks every morning. One of the tracks that underline the thought that music can transcend language barriers.

This is an ancient Aramaic prayer reportedly still chanted in the Syriac Orthodox Church.

Aramaic was the native language of Jesus and the Syriac Orthodox Church is one of the ancient churches of the world. According to the New Testament "The disciples were first called Christians in Antioch." (Acts 11:26).

The text of the prayer as it sounds to me is:

Aalam Aalam Aalam, Aamenu Aamen
Sliha Mar Yose, Almaduba Kudisa
Aangen Dhanusa, Nehave Dukharana
Kandisa Alaha, Kandisa Esana, Kandisa La Ma Yosa Isaraha Malem

Conceptual Interpretation (Cited from Wikipedia)

Holy GOD, Holy Strength (epitome of divine strength-Omnipotent),
Invocation (3),
Truly, Truly, Truly (So be it) (Sanskrit: thathaasthu)
Our father Joseph, at your Holy altar,
humbly i submit (Sanskrit: Sarvam Samarpayaami), may that be forever in memory (heart and mind).
Holy GOD, Holy Strength (epitome of divine strength- Omnipotent),
Holy immortal (epitome of immortality-Omnipresent), please have mercy on me.

You can follow this link to youtube to listen to the track online:

Kandisa

Tender Coconut

2009-01-14T22:31:00.000-08:00

Only for a few months a year Delhi imports tender coconuts but during these months there are many street side vendors that do brisk business. I have great memories of times stopping our car on the curb and everyone tanking on cool and sweet coconut water mmm… and let me not forget to mention honorably the refreshing milky white tender flesh you get to eat as a bonus after draining the nut.

It should be only natural that since I find tender coconuts such a treat I would indulge myself often especially since I now live near the equator in a tropical country where we can get tender coconut all year round… but sadly that’s not what has been happening for the past 5 years I have been here.

It was just today when while trying to decide which drink should accompany my lunch that I realized tender coconut was an option (and only because it was advertised in large fonts on the menu) and then it suddenly occurred to me that it has been an option all along. An option that I’d prefer and have been overlooking out of sheer lack of awareness, observation and total tunnel vision.

I enjoyed my repast today so thoroughly due to the presence of my favorite drink that I’ve promised myself that I’m going to make up for the past five years. (To begin with I had two coconuts today rather than just one)

There is a lot of benefit to be derived from drinking the water of tender coconuts (I’m listing here a few that I find most important to note):

1. Regular intake of Tender coconut water lowers total cholesterol, VLDL + LDL– cholesterol and HDL cholesterol as well as Triglycerides and phospholipids
2. Tender coconut water also contains sugar, fiber, proteins, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals
3. Coconut water also provides an isotonic electrolyte balance and can be used as a refreshing drink and as an isotonic sports drinks.

I advocate eating the tender flesh inside too but here’s a small note on the flesh; although coconut meat contains less fat than other dry nuts such as almonds, it is noted for its high amount of saturated fat. (there’s about 33g of fat for every 100g of coconut flesh of which approx 90% is saturated) There has been some debate as to whether or not the saturated fat in coconuts is healthier than the saturated fat found in other foods.

However, coconut meat also contains less sugar and more protein than popular fruits such as bananas, apples and oranges, and it is relatively high in minerals such as iron, phosphorus and zinc.

Not surprisingly The name for the coconut palm in Sanskrit is kalpa vriksha, which translates as "the tree which provides all the necessities of life". In Malay, the coconut is known as pokok seribu guna, "the tree of a thousand uses". In the Philippines, the coconut is commonly given the title "Tree of Life"

Skipping

2009-01-11T07:22:00.001-08:00

I was recently reintroduced to skipping. Though I had done some skipping as one of many pastimes as a kid I have never before tried to do it as a form of strength and endurance training. Happily I’ve quickly taken to it and recently have been routinely skipping before lunch daily. (it’s a lot better than skipping lunch and still helps me lose weight)

Surprisingly, unlike most other cardiovascular exercise regimens, skipping as a form of training is anaerobic but only requires a rope to perform.
Two things to note: firstly; though it is done mostly in short intense sessions with breaks in between it does not burn many calories directly. Secondly; though the equipment required (rope)is very portable a fair bit of clear space is needed for it and therefore it cannot be done indoors in most places.

I’ve made some simple changes to my routine (and wardrobe) which has made it very easy for me to skip. I still wear my all black to office which has been modified to be tracks replacing jeans and a sleeveless exercise vest beneath my office polo tee (an extra vest in my bag, a towel and my good rope)

I did have a bit of a hard time trying to find a place to skip because I felt rather conscious of skipping in the open in the middle of an office complex (I’m too lazy to walk too far away from office to skip in a near perfect oxymoron). Finally found a place in a shaded disused sidewalk where only a very few people come make funny faces at me. I skip for about a rigorous half an hour which is enough to give me a great workout and a good guiltless appetite for lunch.

It’s very good for core strengthening and is used by a lot of wrestlers and boxers. The main benefit for people like me trying to lose weight is that it increases the metabolic rate and you burn more calories overall during the day.

The Basics -How To Skip

1. Stand tall but relaxed – breathing naturally
2. Elbows remain at waist level with arms extended sideways at about a 90 degree angle
3. Use a circular wrist motion to turn the rope
4. Hold the rope loosely, using thumb and index finder for control
5. Jump on the balls of the feet landing softly (make sure not to straighten your knees fully to avoid impact)
6. Jump just high enough for the rope to pass under the feet

Weight loss

2009-01-06T01:13:00.001-08:00

Lately a lot of people have been asking me for my weight loss regimen. I’ve had a lot of success with weight loss in this past year with some spectacular results this last few months. I started the year with a medical review certifying me obese at 300 pounds with my BMI at a depressing 40+ (AIG wanted a 50% loading on my health insurance premium) and have managed to bring it down to 210 pounds with my BMI at a respectable 27.

Before I go into the details of what I do everyday let me put down here the information I found that has helped me greatly with my quest:

1) Your basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the amount of energy your body needs to function at rest
a. Adult male: 66 + (6.3 x body weight in lbs.) + (12.9 x height in inches) - (6.8 x age in years)
b. Adult female: 655 + (4.3 x weight in lbs.) + (4.7 x height in inches) - (4.7 x age in years)
2) How many calories you burn with various activities http://primusweb.com/fitnesspartner/jumpsite/calculat.htm
3) How many calories you consume http://www.weightlossforall.com/calories-vegetable.htm
4) 1 pound of fat = approx 3500 calories

Therefore to take off 1 pound per week, you need to create a "deficit" of 500 calories per day.

This is how I did it:

1. Cutting back portions but eating everything including cheese, ice creams and chocolates
2. Walking home from work about three times a week approx 10 Km which I do in an hour and fifteen minutes
3. Doing a bit of muscle building (mainly push-ups, sit-ups and stretching on my exercise ball)
4. An hour’s workout on my cross-trainer every evening (started with burning 300 calories but now burning 700 calories each session)
5. Taking a quick 10 minute walk in the afternoon before and after lunch
6. Eating papaya after every meal and having more fruits in general (blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, star fruits, bananas, grapes, pears and apples usually)
7. Drinking a glass of milk with a spoonful of sugar every morning and about 3.5 leters of water every day.
8. Eating my dinner earlier (before 8pm)
9. Snacking on nuts such as roasted and unsalted walnuts, pistachio nuts and almonds when I drink alcohol rather than peanuts or chips etc. (I end up drinking about 2 times a week and mainly have either whiskey or wine)

Finally and most importantly I got me an Ipod with a lot of peppy exercise music which is on me all the time.

I feel great and have gone down several notches on my belts (had to buy new belts even) dropped 8 inches on my pant size from size 42” to size 34”

My current target is trying to give myself a 6 pack of abs for my birthday in March.

Perspective

2009-01-04T21:51:00.000-08:00

How can something so fickle be so powerful?

By simply altering our perception we are able to move mountains, realign planets and stop time. I know about the ‘tree falling in the forest’ bit but still stand in awe of this ability of our minds.

What triggered this chain of philosophical insight was a simple incident.

I was walking back with my groceries through a path in the middle of an open field when it started to rain (yes, I’m back in Singapore again). My first thought was to search for cover. As soon as that thought had arrived came the realization that it was futile as there wasn’t any shelter for more than a few hundred meters on either side (distances I wasn’t about to attempt running laden with 8 leters of milk and at least 6kgs of fruits and veggies all in plastic bags).

I knew that I was caught out in the middle of a flash shower and was going to get properly drenched. Leaving home a few hours earlier I had looked up at the fine sunny afternoon and turned my nose at my trusty umbrella despite knowing that this is monsoon season in a country where it rains all year round anyway. I softly swore at myself for being so obtuse.

As the first light drizzle enveloped me my mood surprisingly turned positive. The rain felt good on my straining arms and the cool drops quickly steamed off my hot head uplifting my spirits. As the breeze began to dance around me I quietly thanked mother nature for paying such close attention to my needs.

All this happened in a span of a few seconds (fast enough for me to notice) and that’s what got me to start thinking about perspective and the impact it has on my outlook.

Note for those concerned; my groceries were in plastic bags and nothing was water soluble anyway

Savoring

2008-12-23T05:14:00.000-08:00

I’ve always been late for everything. I have a uncanny ability to get up from bed almost exactly 15 minutes later than I need to and it carries on like that the whole day with me glancing at my watch just a tad too late every time.

In my family the importance of breakfast as an anchor meal of the day was very pronounced to us three siblings by my mother. As I almost always reached the kitchen when my brother and sister were midway into theirs I had to rush through mine to make it to school on time. (cause according to my mom I would have grown up wrong if I had even missed or not completed even one breakfast meal)

The product of that early life ritual is that I eat really fast (like some crazy food Olympic style sprint eating fast). I usually finish my meal in less than half the time others take. There is a humorous side to it though; a lot of people I go out eating with are not able to have their fill out of politeness because the huge man across the table from them suddenly stops eating even when they are about getting started (wicked).

Despite that small mischievous satisfaction eating fast is actually a habit I’m trying to get rid of.

I’ve discovered that if I take smaller bites of my food and chew it thoroughly, not only do I savor the taste of what I am eating more completely but I also eat less (which helps me with my weight loss quest).

Taking your time to eat not only lets you recognize the obvious primary tastes of the seasoning but also lets you relish the more subtle tastes and textures behind the preparation that you would quite easily miss in a hurry.

Even cut fruits and salads really come into their own when you give them time to interact with your mouth before you push them down for processing.

Give it a try the next time you are scooping a spoonful.

Delhi winters

2008-12-21T09:08:00.000-08:00

I love the Delhi winters. We don’t have the thick blanket of snow or iced fountains (both of which I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing in Europe) or even light snow fall or sleet.

However, It’s a great with dense fog and nippy cold winds. The mercury settles in at a pleasantly refreshing 7-18 degrees and the sky stays overcast without any rain.

This is the kind of winter that won’t kill you but will make sure you notice that it’s there.

It’s a great time to be here and makes you feel alive and active in the day (even visiting parks is a lot of fun as you have to keep moving to keep warm which means boisterous games) and still lets you enjoy the coziness of quilts in the nights.

I love all the various traditional winter foods like Gajar ka Halwa (it’s a decadent dessert made from carrots and milk), Mirchi ka Pakoras (Chili fritters) and Gajaks (a wide variety of crispy sweets made from sesame, dry fruits and jaggery) and the like.

Expectations

2008-12-19T06:12:00.000-08:00

Standing on the sideline and cheering someone else on can sometimes be as involving as running the race yourself.

I like to see industrious and/or talented people struggle and overcome difficult odds to do remarkable things as I believe that adversity is the furnace in which the human mettle is tempered.

I may be giving off the impression here that I am mostly a silent spectator but I am not averse to giving a helping hand, vocal encouragement where I can.

However, whether I can or cannot provide assistance of some sort does not deter me from wishing for the triumph of the human endeavor. (over both adversity and more often than not complacency)

Home

2008-12-19T01:42:00.000-08:00

I am heading home tonight for a short holiday and I cannot even begin to describe the kind of excitement I am feeling right now. I havn’t seen seen my parents now for almost a full year.

I am shamelessly a mama’s boy and can’t wait to see her lit up face, hug her petite frame and take a whiff of the very unique and comforting aroma she always has about her. (I guess it’s from all the herbal gook she always puts in her hair and on her skin)

I am also really looking to sitting down with my dad and having one of our heated and lively discussions on religion, culture, economics or politics. Perhaps if he so pleases he may even let me have a drink with him which is a rare and cherished honor for me.

Smile :)

2008-12-18T20:54:00.000-08:00

I notice that my previous three posts have been a little bit more profound (if I may even use that word with a straight face) than simple thoughts. Here’s a simple thought;

I wonder why we (by ‘we’ I mean the human race and most specially the urban metropolitan variants/deviants) cannot smile more often, especially since it is so easy and satisfying to do. Don’t get me wrong, being an entrepreneur and businessman I get to see a lot of smiles but most of them end at the curled lips with very depressingly few ever reaching the eyes.

Genuine smiles are pleasantly contagious and can spread wide even beyond the immediate vicinity of the smiler (sic). Genuine smiles are inspiring and can transmit faith and conviction. Genuine smiles convey a rich array of positive emotions and uplift the spirits and renew the zest for life.

As kids we all have that little bit of sunshine in us which we lose somehow as we grow up. I love to observe and remember how people smile and can (at least I believe I can) guess a lot about them over repeated encounters.

I am extremely fond of people who can genuinely smile and express warmth, contentment and affection. Such people are irreplaceable gems and perhaps without ever realizing spread cheer and comfort where they go.

If you know me and notice that I often seek your company then you too have shared your magic smile with me (for which I am most certainly grateful).

Moshi Moshi Bollywood

2008-12-18T11:24:00.000-08:00

Moshi Moshi is one of my all time favorite Indian nightclubs. Its situated in the Cuppage Plaza just off of Orchard road in Singapore and happens to be a little hard to find. Unless someone recommends the place to you (this is how I found it) it is very unlikely you would find it (unless you are a Japanese food fan and happen to go to Cuppage for one the charming authentic Japanese places there).

I like it for several reasons; They play Bollywood and Bhangara numbers which I find myself increasingly nostalgic for the longer I stay away from Delhi. The Staff and management are very sociable (more so than most hospitality professionals) and mostly because they have a contingent of very inspiringly energetic dancers.

Most of the dancers here are part timers and almost all of them are not Indian. There is a very endearing quality to “foreigners” (if I may call them that in their own country) who can truly enjoy your culture and music.

The party I was at tonight happens to be their second anniversary and I wish them many more along with the promise of my continued patronage.

I can safely recommend the place to anyone out looking for a genuinely good time and clean fun.

Another thing to do when you visit Moshi is to go to the the 24 hour Al-Madinah resturant across the road afterwords for some great Teh and Tissue paratha.

Dance

2008-12-18T01:47:00.000-08:00

I am going out dancing tonight!

I am no dancing diva or twinkle toes as with my huge frame and bulk ‘grace in motion’ does not come easy (and before you grin, I’m not purporting that I have any at all).

When the beat envelops me I can’t control myself. It goes to my feet and they start moving sometimes even in violation of clear and direct instructions from my mind. I find myself tapping my toes and struggling to stop myself from breaking into a dance even in a crowded MRT if my Shuffle so happens to throw up a rhythmic number.

I dance on every occasion I get and can without any inhibitions whatsoever get onto the dance floor or stage of any nightclub, event, pub or even restaurant which has good music and space to move.

I love all Latin music, Hip Hop, R&B, Bollywood and Arabic music but have no defense whatsoever against Bhangara music.

I love dancing with people but have as much fun alone at home with my IPod plugged into speakers.

I believe that dance has liberated me from stress, fatigue and negative emotions. I find it to be a most sincere form of expression and enjoy watching people dancing and having a good time even if they are like me and not very good at it.

Papaya

2008-12-17T23:22:00.000-08:00

I always thought that if I had to put a fruit in prose it would the succulent mango or the aromatic pineapple. My own favorite Anona family of fruits with either the tempting Custard apple or the simply delectable Soursop were also close contenders as subjects.

Here I am, writing about the wonder fruit that was the most unlikeliest of candidates but has emerged the surprise winner of the ‘fruit I enjoy the most’ contest.

The Papaya isn’t just refreshing to eat (even more so as it is served here on ice with prune powder) it is packed with a whole host of benefits.

At home we used to eat Papaya after meals as it was considered good for the digestive system. And I recently have again started having a slice of Papaya after every meal which I believe has contributed greatly to my steady weight loss and toning up.

As a fruit it is low on calories and is always easy to eat. It is high in Vitamin A and C and is a great source of fiber and potassium. Papaya contains papain, which is often used to tenderize meat, this helps with digestion and breaks down protein.

Here is a list of things I found its good for in general:

The mature (ripe) fruit treats ringworm, green fruits treat high blood pressure, and is used as an aphrodisiac.
The fruit can be directly applied topically to skin sores.
The juice of the fruit (specifically the enzymes within it) are used to reduce gastrointestinal gas, useful to sufferers of IBS.
The seeds are anti-inflammatory, anthelmintic, and analgesic, and they are used to treat stomachache and fungal infections.
The leaves are used as a heart tonic, analgesic, and to treat stomachache. The roots are used as an analgesic.
Current research is examining the potential for fertility effects due to the strong spermicidal properties of the seeds.

Restraint

2008-12-16T22:03:00.001-08:00

While on the subject of anticipation I would like to mention one simple trial I love subjecting myself to.

For those curious about the immediate past: here’s me sitting with my hot mug of freshly brewed coffee.

I have found that a lot of satisfaction is to be had from simple exercise of restraint.

Case to point; I have come to absolutely adore the various smells that greet me at most Singapore food courts (no doubt a majority originating from cooked fish and various meats). I find the aroma extremely appetizing and since I go past mostly when I am hungry exponentially more tempting.

While I have no qualms about eating meat, I grew up in a vegetarian family and have great deference for my dad who is a strict vegetarian (out of respect for whom I have decided to stay vegetarian all my life).

The simple act of not partaking in what a portion of my mind and body seem to want (sometime quite severely) makes me feel proud of my capability of restraint.

The thing about restraint that we often overlook is that it is akin to any other skill the more we practice the better we get at it.

Anticipation

2008-12-16T21:46:00.001-08:00

One of the most unbearably delicious of human conditions is anticipation.

Whether it is for taste, gifts, results of hard labor or simply someone’s company the strong desire and unnerving uncertainty mixed together make a potent cocktail of chemicals in our bodies.

I have discovered that by purposely delaying gratification for the simplest everyday things we can make life so much more exciting.

I want to have coffee right about now and the wafting vapors coming from the coffee machine just a few seconds away are making for quite an interesting tussle between my mind (will), my mind (desire) and body (olfactory nerves).

To Kill a Mockingbird

2008-12-16T20:37:00.000-08:00

A conversation I had yesterday got me thinking about how long it has been since I read a book. There was a time when I would go through at least a couple of books a week.

I being a science fiction and fantasy fan obviously read a lot of Assimov, Arthur C Clark, Robert Jordan, J RR Tolkien, Terry Brooks, Frank Herbert and recently C J Cherry and unashamedly J.K. Rowling. However, I used to read a lot of westerns almost all the books from Max Brand, Luis L’Amour and Zane Grey, Action books from Allister Mclain, Michael Crichton and paperbacks from Sydney Sheldon, Jeffrey Archer, Irving Wallace and humor of PG Woodhouse, James Herriot and Gerald Durrel. Irving Stone, Ayan Rand, John Steinbeck, Paulo Coehlo and Richard Bach wrote the more serious books I loved reading.

While due credit goes to this entire august company for enriching my life.

By far my favorite book of all time has got to be “To Kill a Mockingbird” written by Harper Lee

The child like perspective captures brilliantly the irony of the human condition and of trials, small mercies and tragedy of everyday ordinary people caught in extraordinary situations.

The fact the Harper Lee never again wrote another book may be one of the greatest losses of mankind but then again maybe she was a medium for a great story wanting to be told and her other books might not have been as great.

We will never know.

A definite must read

Mirza Ghalib

2008-12-16T18:56:00.000-08:00

After a very long time I met someone who quoted a Mirza Ghalib Ghazal to me. There was a time when Ghalib’s poetry had consumed me and shaped my very thought. The effect of the recital were electrifying (with my mind again marveling the artistry of the great poet), nostalgic (remembering the time spent discoursing these with my friends) and regretful (for having forgotten most of the marvelous work).

I will attempt to translate the quoted couplet

“aah ko chaahiye ik 'umr asar hone tak

It takes a lifetime for a expression of the heart to have effect (meaning most simply that I can never express what I feel)

kaun jeeta hai teree zulf ke sar hone tak ?”

Who can live long enough to trace their gaze along a single tress of your hair. (because your beauty will overwhelm any beholder)

Mirza Ghalib

Mirza Ghalib was a great classical Urdu and Persian poet of the Indian subcontinent. Most notably, he wrote several ghazals during his life, which have since been interpreted and sung in many different ways by different people. He is considered to be the most popular and influential poet of the Urdu language.

Before Ghalib, the ghazal was primarily an expression of anguished love; but Ghalib expressed philosophy, the travails and mysteries of life and wrote ghazals on many other subjects, vastly expanding the scope of the Ghazal.

Ghazal

In poetry, the ghazal (Arabic/Persian/Urdu: غزل; Hindi: ग़ज़ल; Turkish gazel) is a poetic form consisting of rhyming couplets and a refrain. Each line must share the same meter. The Arabic word "ghazal" is pronounced roughly like the English word "guzzle", but with the first, g-like consonant further back in the throat.

In its style and content it is a genre which has proved capable of an extraordinary variety of expression around its central themes of love and separation.

Brrrlak

2008-12-15T23:00:00.000-08:00

One of the truly unusual sounds of our times Zap mama. You may remember Zap mama from the Mission Impossible 2 track "Iko Iko".

Zap Mama is a Belgian musical group founded and led by Marie Daulne. Daulne says her mission is to be a bridge between the European and the African and bring the two cultures together with her music.

"What I would like to do is bring sounds from Africa and bring it to the Western world, because I know that through sound and through beats, that people discover a new culture, a new people, a new world."

"The voice is an instrument itself," says Daulne. "It's the original instrument. The primary instrument. The most soulful instrument, the human voice."

Brrlak has a hauntingly addictive sound that I just can't seem to dislodge from my head

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8NPdWO_gw4

Of Hummus, paan and friends

2008-12-15T19:34:00.000-08:00

I often walk back home from office after work. It’s a pleasant albeit brisk one hour that I like to spend listening to music. It’s usually about 8 pm by the time I leave and I get home around 9 or so just in time for dinner.

Nowadays I don’t have dinner waiting for me at home or much reason to go home other than sleep. I therefore take a longer more circuitous route home and have picked up a curious new activity.

I walk through the various food courts and restaurant alleys along the way trying to figure out what catches my fancy and suits my vegetarianism. (Again for those not familiar with Singapore, everyone eats out here and one is literally spoilt for choice where eating out is concerned)

It was a long walk before I found an interesting Lebanese place and sat down for some yummy hummus and salad. It was close to 10.30 and I was famished which added that much more satisfaction to the meal and the aromatic Moroccan mint tea. After that rewarding repast I was on my feet again and started walking in my home’s general direction with an intent to have some dessert.

Near Mustafa I found an uncle selling paan (for those of you who are ignorant of the wonderful Indian invention it is a spiced betel leaf) and quickly decided I wanted to have a sweet one. The myriad flavors just exploded in my mouth and my taste buds were immensely grateful for my good fortune.

A short walk later I was home and more than ready for a quick shower and some welcome sleep. After my day in office the long walk (almost 3 hours not including the time spent eating) had been good but also prepared me for my shut eye. I hit the pillow and drifted off into a comfortable dreamless slumber.

At 4.30 in the morning I was rudely awaken by my ringing phone and scrambled out of bed trying to figure out where I had left it. As I could not recognize the familiar seeming number I was pleasantly surprised to hear the boisterous and mischievously gleeful greetings from my school day friends in India. They had been having an impromptu nightcap and had decided to call me on a whim.

We get to meet just once a year when I head home to Delhi for a break and was planning on looking them up just next week when I reach there and so was very happy that they were all there, together and thinking of me.

It’s nice to have friends.

Hunger

2008-12-15T02:58:00.000-08:00

I skipped dinner last night because I had too much popcorn watching the movie. I skipped breakfast to get to the studio on time for a board meeting and then had just tea around noon when I had a chance to eat because I didn’t want to spoil my appetite for my planned lunch meeting which got delayed.

Flash forward to 2.00 pm, time had buzzed past cause I was going through the tide of mail in my ‘unattended since Friday evening’ mailbox. I felt a very unfamiliar but pleasant sensation.

I felt hungry

I haven’t been hungry for a long time, which in itself is a blessing.

As I always eat three meals, and since I sit for most of my day I don’t think I need or burn those calories ever. I can even remember burping in the mornings from meals I ate on previous nights. Feeling hungry felt good and made me realize that for once I had given my digestive system some rest.

I ate a Dosa at a not-so-good restaurant a little while later (only place that was open at 3.30) and it tasted so good. I definitely recommend getting hungry before eating to thoroughly and thankfully enjoy whatever you get to eat afterwards.

Rab ne bana di jodi

2008-12-14T22:09:00.000-08:00

Ok I admit it this is going to seem like a movie review but I don’t actually want to talk about the movie itself.

I for one liked it, I like stories about complex unsaid emotions, we all readily say ‘actions speak louder than words’ but we rarely acknowledge small kindnesses bestowed upon us.

Strutting your stuff and wearing your heart on the sleeve is a whole lot easier than to be truly kind and understanding enough to think things through another’s perspective.

If you choose to watch the movie, be prepared that it’s a simple but strange premise. Without giving the plot away I would like to say that if the protagonist had in fact not done something so unusual he would never win his fair ones affection. As the story is in fact a retelling some of the things that are recounted as coincidences may just have been contrived and the embellished to appear as such and therefore are still believable.

I know from experience that if he tried to woo her as himself he would come up repeatedly against a mental barrier and would either have gotten a lifetime worth of resentment or obeisance or both.

Morning Suprise

2008-12-14T17:10:00.000-08:00

One weakness I have that I’ve decided to get rid of is that I can only sleep in an Air conditioned room.

I’ve discovered that it’s not because of humidity or heat as the weather here now days is very good with the mercury at a pleasant 24 degrees Celsius (I keep my thermostat at 25 degrees and so I guess the compressor never actually switches on).

It’s more because I like to cocoon myself and sleep in a closed room.

Well I opened the window this morning and the gush of refreshing, filtered, oxygen enriched, cool air that welcomed me connected with the very fiber of my being. I was standing there taking deep breaths for 5 minutes shamelessly and guiltlessly and hogged all I could before rushing to get ready for work.

ZoukOut 2008

2008-12-14T06:58:00.000-08:00

I went to Zoukout for a peek with my friend Suresh but ended up being there till 8.00 am. I am sure with the kind of crowd that was there or because of the sheer size of the do there will be a lot of media coverage of the event.

Let me just tell you about my most awesome moment there.

I think it was at about 7.15am after a whole hot claustrophobic night of great music and gyrating on the sand while being pushed about (I didn’t have the courage to go in deep towards the stage and so stayed way back where incessantly people were moving in and out) I got a chance to get onto one of the raised platforms.

I got on it and a couple of things happened simultaneously; the sky cleared up a little and it suddenly got pleasantly brighter, the wind picked up, a very light intermittent drizzle of delicious fresh raindrops started, and DJ Andrew Chow played some strains from one of my all time favorite tracks ‘Samba Di Janeiro’.

Felt like cosmic alignment.

Rain

2008-12-13T22:37:00.000-08:00

I love it when it rains in Singapore (Which is good because it rains here a lot).

Let me explain; If you have not been to Singapore yet (try get here fast), this is a lush green city with dense thickets on the roadsides and patches of untamed tropical forests growing right in the city (well not really untamed just natural with a wee bit of trimming). Rain washes all these plants and you can see a stupendous number of shades of green (really easy on the eyes).

I’ve mostly been a distant spectator and sometimes, often untimely, unwilling participant in the rain here (i.e. I get drenched crossing the street). Today I woke up late in the afternoon and saw that it had been raining outside (its a Sunday).

For some reason I put my hand out the window and the water was unbelievably fresh and cool on my skin. Before I knew it I was outside, sitting content, letting the rain give me a rejuvenating bath. I used to do this all the time with my brother and sister when I was a kid, much to the chagrin of my mom.

It’s funny that I hadn’t stepped willingly into the rain for so many years when it feels so good to me.

Ps; Sorry about all the brackets (I won’t make them a fixture) ;)

Percussion

2008-12-13T01:54:00.001-08:00

I've recently started listening to a lot of curious music from around the world and my IPod plays like something with a dissociative personality disorder. Percussionist are just awesome and I found this really rocking sound on youtube I want to share.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHQjvp1SwJg

revival

2008-12-13T00:32:00.000-08:00

I woke up one morning six months ago and couldn’t recognize the strange face in the mirror. The past five years of setting my own hearth and studio had taken their toll. I weighed an awe inspiring 300 pounds, had started to get white hair and had grown a bushy hairdo and beard.
I should say that I had gained a beautiful family and a nice home and the company was doing great too but I think I saw something missing in the ‘me’ I saw that morning.

For as long as I can remember I have had a twinkle in my eyes and great appetite for life. I grew up in a family where despite all the ups and downs we faced we always had great music, great books and great food and oh yes incredibly good times and engaging conversations.

That morning I tried hard to think about what I had appreciated lately and couldn’t remember.

What’s really strange is that I am sure I had been zipping pass all the little good things that happened to me without ever sparing so much as a single fleeting thought for them. While focus is a good thing I think what I had was more like tunnel vision.

For now, I’ll cut the long story short and fast forward to the present. I am nearly back to my fighting fit at 220 pounds have rediscovered music (thank you apple ©) can appreciate small things like a pleasant breeze, the smell of baking and the taste of what I eat and drink. I’ve trimmed my beard (I keep a French beard now) and hair and am happily buying new pants (sorry for this last one).

Introduction

2008-12-12T22:25:00.000-08:00

Life is good and I have a lot of things to be grateful for, but as it often happens things have been moving really fast and though I can see the road really well I sometimes feel that the wayside is just a blur.

Not satisfied with missing the details I’ve decided to keep this blog to remind me of the small and sometimes simple thoughts I want to remember.