Vyayam Gyaan

WARNING : Disclaimer : These are all just things that I have discovered on my personal journey. Some of them may not work for you. Please take this list with a pinch of salt. I am not a qualified authority on health or nutrition. I'm just sharing things that have worked for me personally.

1. There is no substitute for exercising in the morning or whenever it is that you usually wake up. Evening workouts are good, but not good enough. Morning workouts kick start your body, boost your metabolism, make you hungry right away and thereby ensure that you eat breakfast. And the fatigue of an intense morning workout will make you sleep like a baby.

2. It does not matter how hard you train, if you don't watch what you eat. You don't need to be miserable and count every single calorie, but you have to use basic common sense. more carbs at the start of the day. more proteins towards the end. Light dinners are critical. Also, 6-7 light meals spaced out through the day are far better than 2-3 heavy meals.

3. Walking, yes walking not running, is an indispensable tool in building good health. I don't care how much you run or squat or lift, you need to do at least 4-5 kms of walking every single day. I used to think that it was beneath my dignity but its not. If you eat a heavy meal, you must follow it up with a 10-15 minute brisk walk. If you drive a vehicle, try using public transport twice a week instead.

4. You have to stop being a slave to your taste buds. Your tongue must not dictate what goes in your stomach. Your intellect must. This is something I still struggle with but I think I'm getting there. I don't eat entire jars of Nutella in one sitting anymore, but I do eat Kit Kat every day!

5. You have to exercise every single day, except in emergencies of course. By and large, it has to become a part of your life. That's really the only way it will stick for the long term. Find a sport that interests you where you don't need to depend on a partner. If you can't, there's always the option of a gym.

6. Do not buy a weighing scale or measuring tape. Do not seek instant results. Measure your progress by how you feel NOT how you look. Do you feel stronger, more energetic and happier? If you do, then you are going in the right direction.

It's very easy once you decide to do it!! Happy exercising and wishing you great health!!

From Adversary To Ally

My biggest fear is my body failing me. I fear that one day an organ will stop doing what it's supposed to do and I will require an operation to repair it, or worse, daily medication to deal with it. It is not something I think about all the time, but it's a very deep seated fear and it's always there. I think at some level I am deeply in denial about my own mortality. I fear ageing and becoming worn out. I fear becoming weak and dependent. I fear having to rely on the goodwill of others to live. It is not so much a fear of death as it is the idea of growing old that terrifies me. And I think I believe that by staying fit and healthy, I can stave off bodily deterioration and ultimately death itself. Fear can be a powerful motivational tool you know. And combined with delusion, highly potent!

But the more I dwell on the subject of death, the more I realize that there is nothing to be afraid of. It is simply another step, in perhaps a longer journey. Perhaps I will meet the creator of the universe, or be reborn. Or perhaps I will simply cease to be. I think the latter to be the most likely outcome, but my explorations of the Gita and other religious texts may one day change my opinion. Who knows? Regardless of the outcome though, it seems silly and pointless to fear something that is inevitable and entirely unavoidable. So I have decided to stop doing it. I will fear death no more. I will embrace it wholeheartedly and use it to remind myself that today is all the time I really have in this world.

A colleague was once telling me about his conversation with an able bodied old man who was well into his nineties and had seen the death of his wife and one child (both of natural causes). He said to him "Bohot jee liya hai humnein. Ab to hum bhi marna chahte hai."! The comment was not made in grief, but sheer fatigue and a loss of interest in living. Imagine that. Someone at the opposite end of the spectrum from me. Someone who has lived to a ripe old age and is now bored of living. As the character of Morgan Freeman says in the Shawshank Redemption, "Get busy living. Or get busy dying.".

The most fascinating aspect of this exercise is that once you stop fearing death, most other fears in life disappear. The fear of rejection, of failure, of loss and disrepute all seem almost inconsequential in comparison. As the late Steve Jobs said, "Thinking about my death was the most powerful tool to motivate myself". Perhaps we need to accept death, before we can truly start to live. So here is a toast to life, and to living it to the fullest without irrational fears keeping us bound down.

In the immortal words of H.W Longfellow, taken from A Psalm of Life.

Let us then be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate.
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labour and to wait.

Temporary Madness

Road rage is real. And it is dangerous. My laymen understanding of it, is that it basically happens when your chimp brain (limbic system) perceives a serious threat & takes over, overriding all sensible & logical signals from your human brain (neocortex) and opts for a highly aggressive response. I also believe that in a majority of cases, the aggressor would later regret their actions deeply.

The recent incident in Delhi that is making headlines is particularly tragic. The victim was beaten to death in front of his minor sons. If media reports are correct, the accused is someone of influence, who in the past has been charged with committing many violent crimes. I really hope that the person(s) responsible are convicted and sentenced to jail for life.

Now, if you have the misfortune of being involved in an accident with someone like that, it is very difficult to control the situation and escape unharmed. But in a majority of cases, the parties involved will be regular folk and in those cases, road rage can very much be avoided.

I am sharing a few tips here in the hope that it comes in handy to someone.

Do Not Provoke Road Rage

• Do not immediately step off the bike or out of the car in anger and make aggressive, threatening gestures. Remember that road rage is a very primitive response so you need to ensure that the chimp inside the other person does not feel threatened. So first and foremost, diffuse the situation. Do not escalate it.

• If you are fault, apologize profusely to the other person. 

Do Not Give In to Road Rage

• Leave a little earlier than usual. I have noticed that when I am in a hurry, I tend to drive fast (maybe even rash) and am much more prone to getting easily upset and angry by small things. But when I leave early and am in no hurry, I drive patiently and don't get perturbed even if someone cuts me off or does something stupid. I do get irritated, but not in the "how dare he" kinda way. And that makes all the difference.

• Another strategy that works for me, is imagining that the other person may be a martial arts expert, or armed or both. All ideas of aggression vanish right there. I am not trying to make light of a serious issue. It is genuinely a good practice to remind yourself that you may get beaten up.

Roads are dangerous as it is. The last thing we need is to fall prey to our baser instincts and increase the fatality rates. Be calm when you drive. Do not text or call while driving. And whatever you do, do not let your chimp takeover in an altercation!

Happy Eating

How many of us are genuinely aware of the food that goes into our mouths? Without trying to sound condescending, I am pretty sure most people (including me) have some extremely bad eating habits that we are not even aware of and which are silently having a detrimental effect on our healths. Let's try and get of rid them.

For example, it is so common nowadays to see people skipping breakfast. We dismiss it as a lifestyle choice, but it's a very poor one. Eating breakfast kick starts your metabolism early in the day, and having a high metabolism means your body burns more energy in general, which is a good thing. Skipping breakfast results in a lowered metabolism, makes you sluggish, reduces your body's ability to burn energy and can therefore in the long run contribute to obesity. This is a very non-medical, laymen explanation, but this is how I make sense of it. Other common poor habits include eating heavy dinners right before sleeping, not drinking enough water in the day and not including fruits & veggies in your diet. Individually these may not seem to be significant but club all of these together and add to this the lack of exercise in the average person's life, and it's no wonder that people are heading for disaster in their middle/old age. Exercise is one aspect, but diet is an equally important one too. If you are not food aware, even having a good exercise regimen may not be as helpful as you want it to be. After all, we are what we eat. If you are reading this post, and feel that you are not very aware or conscious of your food choices, read on. I will share my laymen understanding of food and my personal food plan. You can make your own. It's good to have a food plan because it is something you are doing all the time for as long as you live. We plan our finances, our holidays and so many other things, so why not our food??

My Simple Food Plan

What & Why

Carbs give us energy, so I need to eat them in the morning because I need energy for the day. Bananas and idli dosa are my personal choices. Proteins are needed for growth and repair, so I have them in the evening and hope that my body uses them while I sleep to repair my muscles. As a vegetarian, dals and lentils are my personal choices. Vitamins & Minerals to me are all those 'cool' chemicals which help in synaptic firing, higher rbc count, richer hemoglobin levels and all that medical stuff that I don't understand. But I know I need them, so I try to drink fresh vegetable juices and mixed fruit juices in the day. Tomato, beetroot, carrot, cucumber, grape, lemon are the typical choices available to me and I try to have as much of them as possible. 2-3 glasses a day. Fats are the food type I don't understand too well, but I do eat a little ice cream and chocolate here and there so I'm pretty sure I get all the fat I need from these sources.

When & How Much

I eat when I feel hungry and I eat just enough or a little less, never more that what I feel like. For me personally, as someone who used to be a glutton, eating just a little bit less than I want brings with it an amazing lightness and sense of balance.

So that's my food plan, plain and simple. It's not very technical. I'm sure it has its flaws and there may be several nutrients that I may be missing out on, but at least it's something I am conscious of and that I try to follow as much as possible. And I've discovered that once you become aware of what you are eating, you automatically stop making poor eating choices. Things like junk food, carbonated beverages and excessive sweets no longer seem appealing because you have experienced the lightness and sense of balance you get from a good diet.

So my simple advice to you would be, whenever you are putting something inside your mouth, just be conscious of which of the food types it falls under, what time of the day you're having it and whether your body genuinely requires it or not. Don't be a blind slave to your taste buds. And before it sounds like some kind of military regimented routine that will suck the life out of enjoying food, I can assure you it is not. Awareness leads to a far more enjoyable eating experience. And I often indulge myself with ice cream or beer without feeling guilty :)

If you've read this far, I hope you found this post to be of at least some utility or value. Leave me a comment with your thoughts. I would love to hear from you on what your food plan is!! Maybe I can pick up a few pointers from you!!

Why Would You?

I was thinking to myself, "Why would anyone read my blog"? I'm not really an authority figure in any area of human knowledge. Nor am I offering any tangible rewards in the form of freebies to those that do. So why? Could it be just general curiosity, a certain liking for my writing or maybe an interest or respect even, for my opinion? Come on, who am i kidding! But then, it hit me. I was asking the wrong question. The correct question to ask would be "Why do I write a blog"? And the answer is I really don't know. I think a part of me writes because I feel like I need to connect with people more, and this offers a measurable, limited medium of interaction. There's no need to be chatty and make small talk. No need for making plans and scheduling time in advance. You read if you want, when you want - full stop. It's connecting, without overheads. And that's what I like about it. To read my blog is to know me. Because this is where I pour out my thoughts and views, unhindered and unbiased. Well for the most part at least. We all have certain politically incorrect views that we keep to ourselves and I am no different.

Nowadays, more often than not, I find myself in a contemplative mood, pondering various subjects, trying to form an opinion on matters that have no bearing on my life whatsoever. And that makes me wonder - to what end? What is the point of it all? Why should I bother to have an opinion on the subject of whether religion is good or evil, whether God exists or not, or whether it is right that I should judge people for their religious beliefs? Why should I bother to choose between evolution or divine creation? On whether there exists an absolute morality or not? On whether this life has a purpose or not? Why? Why not just live out life, instead of questioning it and examining it so much. And I think the answer lies in the question itself. I already have. For most of my life, I have been doing precisely that. Just living out my life. Something woke me up. And this is possibly the period of reflection that follows. It's like waking up from the Matrix. You just can't go back. And once you're out, you have to try your best to understand just what the heck is going on! Because even though you thought none of it affected you, you realize now that it did, and it always will. And before you write this off as some Fight Club inspired moment of fantasy, let me clarify, it most certainly is. Tyler, I need you to listen to me very carefully. My eyes are open.

I had initially ended this post with the above line, but when I read it, it felt incomplete. It felt like some kind of a silly rant against society, ending with an obviously unoriginal movie dialogue. That's not what I intended it to be. I think the point that I'm trying to make here is that a lot of people in this world are clueless about a lot of things, and that includes you and me. To be aware of the fact, that everyone's thoughts and actions are coming from, at some level, a total and absolute ignorance of certain relevant facts is the point that I'm trying to make. Once you acknowledge this, it's not hard to see why pondering even seemingly irrelevant questions may not be such a bad idea after all. You might just stumble upon something wholly original that you could otherwise never have known. And who knows, one day that silly piece might just fit perfectly somewhere in your jigsaw puzzle of a life!!

There Will Be Blood

The Israel Palestine conflict might seem like a million miles away from many of our lives, but let it serve as a reminder of just how fragile & wavering concepts like civil liberties, fundamental rights or even human compassion & morality can be when one's land or safety is threatened. It is very easy to pass judgement on Israel for the current atrocities and one would be quite correct to do so. Israel is militarily far superior to Palestine and their current offensive is a cruel & obscene display of precisely this. Having said that, we must also recognize that this action is not just arbitrary. There are reasons for it, however immoral or ill conceived they may be. And frankly, to my mind, behind all the bullets, rockets and blood is simple, cold blooded, human nature.

The big bully controls the big playground with advanced weapons and has no intention of conceding even an inch to the small kids nearby who have them surrounded. At the same time, some of the small kids are hell bent on getting back a piece of the big old playground which they view as their birthright, even though they have only sticks to fight with. There are going to be fights from time to time. There is just no getting around this fact.

Interestingly, the bully wasn't always a bully. In fact, Jews were persecuted internationally for many years which is why the Zionist movement in the late 1800s had so much appeal and gathered so much traction. Starting with the signing of the Balfour declaration in 1917 and ultimately leading up to the events of 1948 in which the state of Israel was acknowledged as an independent state, the Jews finally had what they wanted, a land of their own, and they were going to defend it at all costs. Meanwhile the Palestinians viewed the Zionist movement as an unfriendly occupation. The opinion on this varies, but to me it seems reasonable to suppose that many of the early Jewish settlements were established by force. There would surely have been violence & bloodshed and many Palestinian communities would have been displaced. However, not much attention is paid nowadays to the details of how the occupation took place. The terrible deeds of Adolf Hitler built up even more sympathy for the Jewish people at the international level and eventually, with the help of the Western powers that controlled the region, they got their state - a piece of land carved out from what used to be Palestine. Then in 1948, Britain was up and away and Israel & Palestine have been fighting ever since. In an added humiliation to the Palestinians, immediately after the Western powers evacuated, a few of the neighbouring Arab states marched forward under the auspices of providing military support to Palestine and instead, took control of some parts of the already diminished state, which they have held onto ever since. So effectively, an international arbiter carved out a portion of their land and gave it away, and from what little was left, their "friendly" neighbours stole some more away. One can't help but feel sympathetic to their cause.

I have thought about this long & hard, and have come to the conclusion that there is no absolute right or wrong in this matter. Israel is right in defending themselves. Palestine is right to want the land that was taken away from them. If someone can objectively argue against this, I would want to hear it. As far as the current Israeli offensive goes however, it certainly does not appear to be warranted and that is just my opinion, based on my limited knowledge of the situation and whatever I read in the media. I hope it stops as early as possible. But I also believe that when the current attack stops and a peace is called for, there would be an entire new generation of families that have lost sons & daughters, on both sides. And this will only serve to perpetuate the hostility and resentment within the hearts of the people. In short, the conflict will go on. Until the time when somebody can come up with a way to resolve the root cause of the conflict.

But all this thinking has made me sensitive to the fact that India's very own international borders are not some divine lines drawn by a supreme creator. They exist because thousands of men with guns are guarding them, and an army with sophisticated weapons is backing them up. Our freedom is not a birthright. It was won with blood. I feel sorry for all the innocent lives being lost in Gaza and elsewhere, but at the same time I can't help but feel a profound sense of respect and appreciation for the freedom fighters that fought & won us our freedom, the India military and all of its brave soldiers that continue to fight for and defend that freedom, and for all the politically machinery that makes this possible.

Can you beat an eleven year old?

Of the all the sports/games that I have sampled, I find swimming, snooker & chess to be the ones that I really enjoy the most and I spend a reasonable amount of time on each of these. I treat them all as hobbies and therefore can only call myself an amateur. But I ain't no pushover either. I'm pretty sure I can give another amateur a good fight in any of these three. Now, it would be highly unreasonable of me to try and compare myself to the pros, so I thought, "why not compare myself to the kid pros?".

So I picked 11 and decided to see how I stand up against the eleven year old pros. The highest unofficial rating I have reached in chess is probably 1600. I can swim the 200 free in about 2:40, and my highest break in snooker has been 44 points. I then dug up the data on exactly where some of today's champions stood at, when they were eleven years old. At the age of eleven, Magnus Carlsen was an IM and rated well over 2100 !! Phelps had swum the 200 free in about 2:13 !! And Ronnie O'Sullivan was regularly making century breaks !! I could devote all my time & energy to one of these games, to try and equal the feats of these champions at age 11, and it would still be extremely difficult if not impossible for me to do it. Right now, if I could go back in time and compete with them at age eleven, it would be no contest and I'd be smashed to smithereens. This has been a humbling exercise for me. But now I also have three goals to work towards!

What sport do you play? Do the "eleven year old" test for that and see where you stand. Leave me a comment!

To me this also ends the debate of hard work vs. talent. Whoever says it's all about hard work is wrong. Clearly these champions are all incredibly gifted as well. They are aberrations, anomalies, just like Neo was. They are freaks of nature, imbued with the just the right genetic material and the good fortune to have stumbled upon their respective games early. But having benefited from all the accidents of nature they have then also put in mind boggling amounts of hard work in order to master their craft. Michael Phelps trained twice a day, seven days a week, fifty two weeks a year, for five straight years. He didn't miss one practice in 5 years leading up to the legendary Great Haul of China!!

The point I'm trying to make here is this. If there is any athlete or sports person you admire casually from a distance, don't just admire them for their results, for what they produce on match day. A closer of scrutiny of their lives will reveal unimaginable hard work, sacrifice & dedication. Admire them for that instead. It's so much more inspiring!