Maximum City Getting Ready for Marathon

It takes less than two hours to hop from Chennai to Mumbai, but it might take more than two decades for Chennai to become a 'Maximum City' like Mumbai.  That is if it wants to.. :-).   I lived in Mumbai for about 6 months in my twenties and it was fast then.  And now it has only become faster.  From Airport to roads everything and everyone is 'on the move' all the time.  It looks as though Maximum city never sleeps.

Suresh and I took a walk across the famous marine drive this evening saw ample evidence of a city on the move and getting ready for another edition of Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon.   Entire stretch of this scenic section of the city was swarming with people.  Young couples were enjoying themselves oblivious of their surroundings.  In the middle of this was workers erecting stages to showcase plethora of things for the run tomorrow.

We must have walked north at least 2k from Nariman Point and all thru, there were bunch of stalls coming up. Here some kids (and their moms) having fun at Radio Mirchi band stage getting ready for tomorrow.  This place is going to be buzzing tomorrow.

Nestle has put up hoardings across the city with Fauja Singh and I understand Mr. Singh is in town to run the event tomorrow.  I don't know how much he will be running, regardless he is my hero.  He is 104 and travels around the world participating in events.  Even if he runs 1k tomorrow.. that will be awesome.  He transformed his life at 89, after moving to UK.  What are you waiting for ? Start your transformation today... Do More..Start Running.

I am here to run my marathon #57 with no preparation.  My goal is to finish, keeping my hernia problem under control.  Wish me luck...

#Marathon, #SCMM, #Mumbai #DoMore

More photos - Marine Drive  SCMM Expo

Marathon Memories - Spijkenisse Marathon

Marathon # 52 - A Report

Spijkenisse Marathon just happened.  I did not plan for it and in fact had mentally closed my mind to marathons this year after Chicago.  In fact, I even decided not to run Shahid Ultra, though much tempted.  Then my travel came and the Spijkenisse marathon happened... Read on..

Mannetjes op de krom (roughly meaning Males on the crooked according to Google Translate)  in the Spijkenisse square

When it became clear that I will have to stay back in Sweden over the weekend,  I found this marathon in Netherlands and decided to give it a shot.  Fortunately, all stars aligned and I was able to pull this one off.  I was able to spot, plan, travel and run  this marathon, all in a span of 5 days.

Getting to Spijkenisse was a marathon journey in itself.  I woke up in the wee hours of Saturday and trekked across three countries to reach my destination.  Helsingborg (SE) - Helsingor (DK)- Copenhagen - Amsterdam (NL) - Rotterdam - Spijkenisse.  Door to door it took me 7 hours and the return trek was even more laborious after the marathon.  But, the weekend of packed and I enjoyed every minute of it.. (ok.. ok.. I see you grinning.. just most of it.. I swear.)

There was no Expo, no fanfare.  The bibs were distributed just prior to the run on the race day.  I trooped in to a small hall were the runners, organizers, family, kids and dogs were all milling around.  Though there weren't many signs (none in English), it was easy to figure out what needed to be done and I got them through in a breeze.  After getting suited up for the run, I looked around for the 'baggage counter' and there was none.  When I asked a volunteer for it, she gave me 'that look' and said "simply leave your bag here and it will be here when you come back.".  No tag, no counter, no nothing.. but simply a system called trust.

Start and finish was at a stadium on an olympic spec astro turf.  300 odd FM runners milled around before being flagged off, sharply at 11:00 AM.  We were made to do one loop inside stadium to spread the runners and make it easy for us to get on to the narrow country side roads.

It was sunny but cold and breezy.  When we started it was around 4C and I don't think the needle went any higher.  However, I was going at a good clip and in fact was ahead of the 4:15 bus till about 21k.  But, I slacked little bit hoping to catch the 4:30 bus which never came.  Interestingly, 4:15 was the last bus.  No wonder the cut off time was 5 hours.

After 22+ kms, I kept asking 'why does my feet hurt'?  I tried playing various mind games to keep it at bay but at one point I just wanted throw in the towel and throw my shoes in the all pervasive canals.  This run was yet another reminder that my PF is still around.  Like diabetes, once PF gets hold of you, it doesn't leave you.  You can best hope to contain it, but it will rear its ugly head any time and mostly in inopportune times..

One of my mantra is Running is always better with company.. and I believe, would have fared better here, if there were more runners.  It may have motivated me to run better with them.  But, I mostly ran by myself and without that external stimuli and PF, my system slowed down automatically.  Nevertheless, I did finish my marathon #52 at 4:43:40.  According to the published results, I was placed 249 with 10 more runners finishing after me.  A look the results seem to indicate that the 5:00 hour cut off was indeed enforced.

As I was heading out, met this guy.  We ran the last km together and we finished almost together.  His name is Hans Bui (63) and he is one of the top marathoners of Netherlands.  He has run 525 marathons in the last 20 years.  Hold your breath, he is not the top guy, the top guy has apparently run 800+ marathons..  Beats me as to how someone could run so many marathons, but then encounters like this puts things in perspective.. Take a bow..

I don't seem to get it right with Garmin.  The best Garmin for me was forerunner 305.  I cycled through 3 of them.  But after that, it was all downhill.  After a disastrous stint with forerunner 410, I recently moved to 620 hoping to like it like 305.  But not liking it yet.  Yesterday, my Garmin 620 abruptly froze, at exactly 38K.  It simply froze and refused to budge.  Fortunately, it was the Garmin that froze and not me.. (This reminds me to do a separate post on Garmin 620 in the coming days.. one of these days.).

More photos of Spijkenisse here
More photos the Spijkenisse Marathon here

Tags - Marathon, Running, Spijkenisse, Netherlands, Travel, Travelogue #71

How I chose Spijkenisse Marathon?

When my mobile phone alarm dutifully rang at 6:30 AM today morning, It took me a few moments orient myself.. Where am I? Why am I not in my bed?  Why are the surroundings feel new?  No, I was not drunk and it is not the feeling from hangover.  But, the fact of the matter is that with so much travel, I get this kind feeling whenever travel gets to me.

It was still dark outside and for that matter it is 9:00 AM now and the Sun is thinking of coming up on this cold Sunday here.  That brought me the question of what am I doing at Spijkenisse?

Whenever business travel shows up in the radar that includes a weekend stay, I reach out to Google to look for nearby marathons.  Finding one that suits many of my requirements is not always easy.  It has to near, easy to register and more importantly easy on my wallet etc.  Many times I don't find one.  Those weekends are hard.  I would end up just vegetating in the room.

This time around, my first preference was to find a run in Southern Europe.  I did find one Italy, but it was impossible to swing it in the few days I got to register and make travel arrangements.  After a few eliminations like the above, Spijkenisse was the only one left on the table.  After getting over the language hump, I hit a payment wall.  They took only international bank transfer and I couldn't do it.  Fortunately, few emails exchanges with the organizers took care of it.

Once I got the registration confirmed, I looked for air tickets to Rotterdam and got a sticker shock.  First there were no direct flights from Copenhagen and second the ticket prices were exorbitant.  Here again, Google helped.  It gave me tip to fly to Amsterdam and take a train to Rotterdam.  With that single cue, flood gate of options opened up.  More non-stop options showed up on my search and the prices were 50% cheaper than the earlier ones.

With that, here am I in Spijkenisse getting ready for my 52nd marathon.  This is going to be one of the smallest marathons I have run.  Organizers are expecting around 300 FMers.  This is going to be one of the coldest marathon I have run as well.  Sun is just starting to peek through the clouds and temperature now is 3C with a high predicted to be at 5C.

A word about the Atlas Hotel, Spijkenisse guys.  They are pretty accommodative to the runners.  They have about 25+ runners at the hotel and have allowed us late checkout till 6:00 PM today.  Besides that accommodated my request for early check-in (and free breakfast) yesterday.  Thank you Atlas Hotel for your friendly atmosphere and accommodating runner needs.

Now off to the run friends... See you soon

Tags # Spijkenisse, Netherlands, Marathon, Running, Travel, Travelogue #70

Free Wifi in Helsingborg

When traveling, free wifi is god sent.  While more and more places are starting to offer, it is still a rarity...

Free wifi zone near Karnan, Helsingborg.  It looks like the Chennai poster plasters have gone there too...!!!!

So, when I saw this in Helsingborg, near Karnan, I was thrilled.  I immediately, whipped out my phone and connected.  Unlike the 'free wifi' in Chennai airport, this did work and worked well where available.

This map, pulled from a website shows the wifi spots available in any given area and its coverage.  It allows you to zoom in to see exact coverage for a particular area.

I falsely assumed citywide wifi coverage and soon realized that was not the case.  The wifi connection kept dropping as I moved around the city.  Then I learned that, the wifi coverage is not citywide after all and only available at specific locations.  Nevertheless, made best use of it, when and where it was available.

Tags - Travel, Helsingborg, Sweden, Travelogue #69

சிங்களத் தீவினிற்கோர் பாலம் அமைப்போம்

சிங்களத் தீவினிற்கோர் பாலம் அமைப்போம்

Helsingborg is a small town with less than 100k population, but its economy is booming due to open borders.   The frequent ferry service to the Danish sister city, Helsingor seems to the catalyst that has made this small Swedish town humming.  

From Google Maps

Oresund strait is pretty narrow and because of that, Helsingborg and the ferry connectivity has become a key commercial hub.  In fact, on a clear day, you could see the city on the other side and giant ferries are waiting to take you across in 15 minutes.

Constant stream of vehicles drive to the belly of the ferry to be transported across to Denmark.

The ferries that ply across are massive, they gobble up hundreds of trucks, cars, bicycles and passengers.  It's pretty much open borders on both sides with little or no control.  I am sure there are plenty of cameras capturing movements at multiple places, but that's about it.

Truck seen here and plenty more like this just drive in to the ferry with little or no border control to continue driving in the Danish side.

சிங்களத் தீவினிற்கோர் பாலம் அமைப்போம்.....
India and its neighbors just concluded their SAARC meeting Nepal with little or nothing to show.  At this time, open borders amongst SAARC countries is a pipe dream, though there is a strong underlying cultural and historical linkage.

If Europe, a continent ravaged and bitterly divided by two world wars can bury their hatchet and come together for the collective good of their people, There is no reason why Bharthiyar's dream shouldn't become a reality.. but will it?

Tags - Helsingborg, Sweden, India, Travel, Travelogue # 68

Bicycle to work

Bicycle to work

My workplace in Chennai is less than 2km from my home.  I tried bicycling to work couple of times and gave up. Inconsiderate traffic, pollution, humidity and the need to lug a backpack all combined colluded against me my desire to bicycle to work.

But, that is not the case in Helsingborg.  The weather, infrastructure & traffic are all conducive for folks to pick up the keys of bicycles instead of their cars.  Even in this small town with less 100k population, there are separate lanes for bicycle everywhere.

From train stations to bus stops to shopping centers, all are bicycle friendly.  They have ample place to park as well hire bicycles if needed.  

 At work, bicycle parking is closer to office entrance than the car parking lot.  Even in the single digit weather of this Scandinavian town, I see plenty of folks coming to work by their own pedal power.  It was gratifying to see several of colleagues from India, staying here long term, coming in bicycles.

Pedal power (combined with public transport) is the perfect solution for our traffic woes in Chennai.  Everybody knows it.. but nothing is moving on the ground.. like Chennai traffic..:-(

Tags - Helsingborg, Sweden, Travel, Travelogue # 67

Want directions to Office in a new city? - Simply look for turning torso..

Recently, I travelled to our offices in a different city with the Turning Torso as the only landmark.  Wonder how?  Read on..

Earlier this week, I was asked to come to Office in a different city.  When asked for directions, I was simply told "Really easy, Look for the white tower and our office is right across from that'.  Besides the printed directions in Swedish, this all the directions I got for visiting our offices in Malmo, Sweden.  Though, I was a little skeptical, it wasn't all that difficult.

Took a train from Helsingborg to Malmo.  I looked up the schedule on net, knew the time, price & platform.  Armed with this information, getting to comfortable confines of the train was a breeze.  Though free wifi was available, it was spotty at best.  But that was enough for me to catch up with whatsapp messages and FB.

Malmo is a small little town, in the southern most tip of Sweden.  Besides housing the tallest building in Nordics, it also boasts of the longest bridge linking Sweden to Denmark across Oresund Strait.  My colleagues tell me that, the bridge has given a new lease of life to the city.  Since the bridge opened, more Danish folks started moving to Malmo due to cheaper real estate.  Live in one country and work in another.. what a concept.  I seen similar phenomenon between Evian, France and Lausanne, Swiss as well.  This must be happening all across Schengen countries.

Looking at this no hassle travel across most of the EU countries, I wonder what it would take to have open borders with of India's neighbors... That would be quite something isn't it?  But I also know the reality that, that quite something that would not happen in my lifetime.  (Enough of dreaming.. Get back to blog!!!)

As I stepped out of the Malmo station, there it was, the tallest tower in Nordics in its all twisted glory, standing tall.  With the Twisted Tower as my beacon, I walked for about 20 minutes and voila, landed where I needed to go.  More on the Twisted Tower here.

More pictures of Malmo here

A short clip

Tags - Travel, Sweden, travelogue #66

Sweden - Cashless Society?

I don't know the definition of a true cashless society, but I didn't have to touch cash for any purpose in the last 4 days, here in Sweden.  In fact, I needn't have purchased Swedish Krona from Western Union, shelling out a heavy commission.  (They charge SEK 50 per transaction.)

(picutre source - https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp9r0wtRHOLZak1OxiIFUTN7C53PWC0gq5jK8lsT9DN28cO4ytM3ECzZBDGMCaIUV0W5vaW_NsHXS9125X_4xrMML76OQ3NBGYyNpLkt65XA1sQB8O-CkBEJ7Ie-f65U7oZkraGw/s1600/geen+geld.jpg)

From train stations, convenient stores to fast food restaurants,  all accept cards for transactions of any value.  The only prerequisite is a chip embedded card with two factor authentication.  (Interestingly, my US citi bank issued card doesn't carry a chip but all my India cards do).

There is lot of talk in India about black money and bringing back monies stashed in Swiss Banks.  One way to stop the growth of black money would be to make card transactions easier and prohibiting cash transactions over INR 1000.

Tags - Travel, Sweden, Travelogue #65

What is Karnan?

Most of us in India know who is Karnan but do you know what is Karnan?  Read on..

On a cold Sunday, with the temperature hovering in single digits (celsius) and no Sun to be found, I ventured out of my hotel room to explore the small Swedish city called Helsingborg.  I didn't have my winter clothing on, so the objective was to get back before the cold got to me.

As I was nearing my threshold, found this sign board that made me curious.  One thing with many European countries, they have plenty of these kind of sign boards.  In some cases, it goes overboard, but in most cases I found they are useful for tourists.  I saw direction to "karnan' and it was just 400 meters.  So, keeping the feeling of cold at bay, I decided to 'know' what is Karnan all about.

Almost all shops were closed and the commercial activity was almost nil except for some American chain restaurants like Mcdonalds and Subway.  After meandering through the empty streets and getting lost, I finally arrived at Karnan.

From here, I thought Karnan is a old fort / castle overlooking one of the Danish Straits.  I also realized there is going to be bunch stairs leading up to the castle.  I was right about the steps, there about 200 steps but I was wrong about the castle.. sort off..

Karnan is a tower, originally built by Danish in 14th century and later refurbished by Sweden in late 19th century.  There is not much besides the tower now, but according to wikipedia, there was lot more than just the tower.  There indeed was a fortress and a small commune surrounding the tower but most of it were destroyed by Swedes in the 17th century.

One could walk up the tower for SEK 40, but only during certain times of the year.  It was last open on Oct 31 and opens again only in April.

The view from up top was good though it was quite chilly.  Worth the trek if you are in this part of the world.

A short clip


Some more picture here

Tags - Travel, Karnan, Helsingborg, Sweden. Travelogue #64

Scaling The Great Cyber Wall of China

It's widely known that the China has one of the most elaborate cyber censorship in the world.  The alleged purpose being to keep the seditious content away from Chinese.  For example anything to do with Tiananmen Square incidents of 1989 or about Falun Gong.  Simply put, China wants to control what its citizens get to see on the net.  Many countries including India does it to some extent and China is said to the most elaborate setup for this purpose.

One of my frustrations of China trips, besides food has the inability to access sites like NYTimes, FB or Blogger.  I first wrote about it in 2006, during my first visit to Beijing, China.  Since then the Internet as we know has grown beyond our collective imagination and continues to pervade more and more part of our life.  With such a spread, can China (or India for that matter)  really control Internet access?

In this trip, I found a way to scale the Great Cyber Wall of China.. at a cost.

China's (other countries) Internet filtering has created business opportunities for a few.  There are several VPN providers that help circumvent the Internet filtering.  I am using one called Express VPN that can route traffic via servers around the world.  I am now connected to LA, but can opt to connect other parts of the world as well.  In fact, ExpressVPN can also be asked to choose the most 'efficient' route as well.

It costs USD 12.95 per month and so far it has worked well for me.  The only challenge is when I am in a slow connectivity zone, I cannot connect to multiple VPN software.  I have not been able to connect to my office VPN and ExpressVPN at the sametime when connected via 'slow' network.  Otherwise, things are working well for me.

Also, ExpressVPN support has been excellent.  I used their email and online support twice and each time they came through well.  They were quick to respond and most importantly solved my problem at the first shot.

Besides avoiding the Internet filtering, some of my US colleagues are using the VPN software to access their Netflix and Hulu accounts which are country specific.

Net net, No wall is foolproof, be it the fence between India and Pakistan or the Great Cyber Wall of China.

Comrades - How to get there (and tips for that all important visa..)

For starters, there are no nonstop flights from Chennai to Durban.  Durban itself is not well connected internationally outside Africa.  So, you are left with layover options and it is a question of one or two stops and perhaps the related sticker shocker.

As you would expect, the cheapest would be to take 2 stops.  One can fly South Afrian or Ethihad Airways and it would take you via MAA - BOM / AUH - JNB - DUR.   If you book early, this ticket would cost around INR 60K in economy.

I prefer one stop, so chose Emirates.  Also, what tipped hand in favor of Emirates was my status with them.  It flies MAA - DXB - DUR with minimal layover onward but compensated with a long layover on return.  I booked this non-refundable, non-anything ticket few months back and it costed little less than INR 70K in economy.

Wanting to escape of Durban at the earliest possible, I called Emirates to prepone my travel exactly by a day.  Emirates politely told me that I hold a 'cheap' ticket and and the only option was to book a new one way ticket back home in business class for around INR 150k.  Needless to say, I stuck around  Durban for one more day not enjoying the sun.

Besides the cost aspect, another consideration is emigration.  I prefer getting it out of the way Chennai and just do the transfer at Dubai.  I find it lot easier than having to do both the transfer and emigration at Mumbai or in Delhi.

But before all that, Indian runners will have to sort through the visa issue.  This human created barrier is quite onerous and couple of runners from Chennai had to cut to the wire before boarding the plane.  Here are a few tips them, that might ease the pain a tiny bit..

1. SA visa paperwork is laborious, so give yourself sufficient time and start 3 months ahead.
2. SA requires you to show 'enough' bank balance and I was told that magic 'enough' would be INR 5L.
3. Get a letter from Comrades organizers.  They provide this is on request to all international runners.  I am told, this helps in strengthening your case for visa. 

Comrades - Where to eat in Durban?

Finding vegetarian food to your liking can be problem and can depend on where you stay as well.  In the last two occasions, I had stayed in a 'furnished' apartment that came with a kitchen.  All we had to do was to make a quick trip to the grocery store for bare essentials and weven brought some stuff from India.  This a better option and is gentle both on your wallet and stomach.

This time, I stayed in Hilton for convenience, which is close to the Expo as well as finish.  While it was good from that perspective, I got stuck on the food front.  There are simply no options if you discount the Hotel food.  On top of it, you are strongly discouraged from venturing outside after dark due to safety concerns.  So, you are basically confined to the Hotel.  The food at the Hotel is 'just passe' and to be expected wildly expensive. (breakfast alone would set you back by USD 20 per person).

Interestingly, the pasta party at Hilton happened on Friday night and not on Saturday as we had anticipated.  Shahid, Aravind and I trooped in on Saturday evening, looking for loads of pasta and ended up having to 'search' for carbs in the sumptuous non vegetarian buffet spread.

Sita did pack some MTR 'ready to eat' dubbas for me, and they helped somewhat.  But without a proper utensils and facility to heat, these ready to eat are to be used only as a last option.  In fact, I am 'enjoying' the Khara Bhath as I do this post.

Gotten tired of this food, I dragged Aravind out last evening for some Indian food.  Aravind was a reluctant starter, but he also needed some Indian fix, so he came along as well.  We did some googling and found that there is an Indian district less than 2 km from the hotel.  We went looking for the Indian district, named 'Victoria' market, drooling for some vegetarian food, preferably Indian.
It as quite an adventure... Read on

Two blocks west of the Hotel was a different world.  We were in the midst of a bustling local market.  From haircuts to vegetables to கையேந்தி பவன்s.. lot of stuff being sold to lots of people.  We tried to ask for directions, people either ignored us and couldn't point us to the place we wanted to go.

As we soaked in Ranganathan Street like atmosphere, we stumbled on what else, a Patel Store and the little girl there directed us to the Victoria market and later to a restaurant as well.

Victoria market was hawking lot of stuff from spices to ethnic wear but not Indian food.  Moreover, shops were shutting down.  Durban pretty much shuts down by 5:00 PM and no commercial activity after that.  So our search for Indian restaurant continued...

We came back to the Patel store and was more specific this time about food part.  We got the stock answer that shops close by 5:00 PM and there isn't any Indian restaurant close by.  But the girl who helped us first time came from nowhere and said there is one place we could go and directed us to Little Gujarat.

It was just one block from the Victoria market and closer to the Hotel as well.  It's a minimalistic setup, but good vegetarian food.

As Aravind and I indulged with a bhel puri, masala dosa, roti roll and coffee for just USD 7.  As we were hogging, the owner came by and started talking to us.  He is from Surat and has been here for 15 years.  He said the money is good here but the problem is one of security.  In fact, he cautioned us against walking back to the Hotel, though we could see it and is hardly a kilometer away.  He was worried so much that he took time from his business and dropped us in his car at Hotel.

One example of life after dark in the otherwise beautiful city.  Durban is blessed with pleasant weather, stunning hills and great people.  But it is also caught in the fear psychosis from which it needs to unshackle itself to grow for all people.

Uber is different

"சார், வுடு எங்க இருக்கு சார் ?" Having to answer this question when you are trying to catch a few winks before dreaded early morning international departures from Chennai is routine for me.  This question would come from the cab driver trying to locate his pickup location and I would be on the receiving end.

Each time, I would end up waking up with this "சார், வுடு எங்க இருக்கு சார் ?" call an hour ahead and end up in a 'about to fall apart anytime' car in which my suitcase would end up as my companion.

So, when I had to book a cab service myself, I decided to give Uber a try and was pleasantly surprised.  Uber service was fast, efficient, all electronic and best of all cheaper.

I wasn't happy with one thing though, that is the inability to pre-book a cab.  Uber is on-demand service only with no option for advance booking.

But the booking itself was very easy.  just a couple of clicks and I was done.  When I opened the app in my Android phone, it exactly knew where I was and it showed where the nearest cab in minutes.  Once I ordered, Uber told me the driver name and car details.

After that simple two click ordering, conditioned by the past experience, I waited for the "சார், வுடு எங்க இருக்கு சார் ?" call.. but that call never came.  Instead an Inova showed up at my doorstep within 3 minutes.

The ride itself was pleasant and uneventful.  There were no invoices to sign, no search for the elusive 'change'.  I simply collected my bag and walked to the Terminal.

Within minutes, I got a detailed receipt from Uber and monies taken from my pre-authorized credit card.  It was that simple.  I generally pay a minimum of INR 500 for any kind of cab service to Airport (from home) and I had paid upwards of INR 650 for bigger vehicles like Inova.  Compared to all that, Uber was cheaper too.

If you can live with the pang of not pre-booking the cab service, I would definitely recommend you give Uber a try, you would be impressed as I was.   It was definitely fast, efficient and totally paperless.

First run in three weeks

I am off the running circuit for about 3 weeks now.  I must admit it has been difficult, but I got to get my heel healed of PF such that I can be comfortably be on my heel again.

One good thing with the 3 week forced sabbatical is that it gave me an opportunity to 'sharpen' my swimming skills.  I kind of knew the basics but also knew that I wasn't doing them right.  But, with the help of Naren and countless other youtube teachers, I am kind of better at swimming now.

I am here in London for business and have been walking by Thames to work everyday.  This place is buzzing with tourists, runners and walkers of all kinds.

It was interesting to see so many folks running to work.  These guys and girls ran with a backpack on their back and in many case at a good clip.  Seeing them, running bug bit me..

Though, my self imposed exile was till Sep 15, I couldn't resist running by Thames and experimented with a short run between Lambeth and Tower bridge, which I guess would be around 10k max.

The good thing was there were so many people, we couldn't run fast even if we wanted and I for one didn't want to..

The bad thing was that there were so many people, we couldn't keep our rhythm even for a short while.

Now, How is my heal?
I started well felt good, but past the halfway mark, I felt something different with my left leg.  I was unconsciously landing cautiously and could sense it after a while.

On the whole, I think it is getting better but not out of the woods yet.  I have signed for a 10k run in a local park here and that would be another opportunity to study my heel..

But, I must say this.. this Plantar Fasciitis (PF) is one tough monkey to shake off my back.

More London pictures in this album

Comrades Marathon - Crime in Durban City

Traveloge #59 - Crime in Durban

This is my second trip to this city and both times several people 'warned' me of rampant crime in the cities of South Africa.  They have warned me not walk out alone or carry valuables and always 'lock' the car door while driving around.  Last year was incident free, though I roamed around with the family a lot.  But this year, it was different..

I got the taste of one such crime today.  Thankfully it was a petty crime and nobody got hurt.  Here is that story..

I am staying with 3 fellow runnes from Pune in a Hotel across from the Beach aptly name Beach Hotel.  We decided to go for an easy run in the morning and take the rest of the day easy before the big day tomorrow.

Dnyanesh, who finished Mumbai marathon under 4 hours and first Comrades, led us through a good warmup and stretching session.  After that we went south for a easy run along the beach meeting and greeting several runners.

Ran past several runners including Amit & Neepa Sheth at one point.  Most of the runners had Comrades color.

After the run, we sat down enjoying the cool breeze and friendly chat.  I wanted to stay a little longer and 'do more' yoga and stretching after the Pune runners left.  I continued my asanas and got talking to some more runners who were stretching nearby.  A young boy silently came and sat next to me.  I initially thought he was just curious about my 'strange' postures, so continued my chat with the runners and my asanas.  But, the young lad quietly took my camera which was just a feet away from me and started to slip away.

I immediately knew something was amiss and noticed the boy walking away.  Frozen for a moment, I recouped and shouted at him to stop, but did not.  The runners with whom I was talking realized what had happened started to chase him.  By then the he started running but not before he had silently dropped my camera about 100 meters away.  But there were simply too many people for him to give a slip and quickly caught.  Someone brought the camera to me and encouraged me to go up and 'beat up' the boy a little bit so that he wouldn't dare to repeat the 'trick' again.

I went up the stairs to see that boys hands tied and a lady cop standing next to him.  She spoke in good English and asked me if I got all my valuables, which I answered in affirmative.  I requested the cop to let the boy go but she along with her associates took him to a nearby police outpost.  I was little shaken by the whole incident but what troubled me more was the 'street justice' mood prevailing amongst the crowd.  I sincerely hope that boy doesn't get that kind of 'justice' inside the four walls of the police station.

This is must see Beach in Durban and attracts lot of tourists (and petty thieves).  One incident cannot be used to generalize, but this has definitely 'dented' my nonchalant attitude a little bit.

ps:  All parties involved in this incident other than me were black.  The boy who tried to rob my camera, the runners with whom I was chatting, All the people who helped catch the boy, the cop who took charge the incident.. were all blacks.

Travelogue # 58 - Swiss Watches

What comes to your mind when you think of Swiss? You have to answer instantly..   Is it Chocolate, Cheese and Watches?  Yes.. yes..

Lot of of Indian Hindi film stars from the likes of Shahrukh Khan to Aishwarya Rai are brand ambassadors for Swiss watches.  Even for a guy like me, who don't wear watches, cannot fail to notice the 'snazzy' watch advertisements from the Bollywood glitterati.

I had some time to kill at Geneva Airport last week and 'window shopped' for a watch for Sita.  But I did not buy.  Why?... Here is that story..

Chose Rolex showroom as the first one to visit as it is most popular Swiss watch brand I know.  There were no shoppers and there was no price tag in any of the watches.  I asked the old man at the counter for the price.  He reluctantly looked up and gave me 'that' look which could have said 'If you are asking for price, then you can't afford it'.. but instead said 'starts at 4000 Franc and goes up to several hundreds of thousands'... I mumbled 'Merci beaucoup monsieur' and quickly walked out. 

I didn't even bother to enter the next two stores as they talked of 'diamond watches' and had no price tags.  I decided to not to enter any store that didn't have price tag and /or shoppers.   Applying that principle, I skipped few other stores till I found Swatch..

Swatch had both customers and price tags.. my kind of store... Looked around enjoying the price tags but the not the watches that would have come for it.  Swatch also had watches with long straps that needs to wrapped around twice.  This 'style' is apparently is the new cool thing that kids love it seems.. (what do I know !!!)

This experience left me wondering who really buys the expensive Swiss watches and the 'economics' behind the luxury market.  Walking in, I knew they weren't the Walmart types and not built for masses but didn't realize it is only for 'billionaire club'.  That's perhaps the reason why  'knock off' Swiss watches are the most sought after commodity in Beijing Silk market after the pirated Hollywood movies.

More photos from my Swiss visits here..