You run out of superlatives…….

The follow-spot focused on the other dignitaries that walked to the stage. The boisterous crowd was getting restless trying to spot the guest of the evening, but for a few seconds there was speculation all over as to where the guest was. Adding fuel to fire, the follow-spot was flashed all over the stage to further scramble and confuse the audience’s attempt to spot this guest on or near the stage. To everyone’s surprise the stage backdrop split open and this person walked on to the stage waving to the screaming crowd. The crowd went berserk as if they had just seen a superstar. If you are an assuming person and if you did not know who was going to appear, you would be in for a big surprise.

“You run out of superlatives”, said one of the Sri Lankan cricketers to portray Tendulkar’s achievements. This phrase crossed my mind when I was one of the thousands of Indians that thronged to watch a great human speak, just a few meters away. This person is not richer than Tendulkar, but an Indian who has achieved great successes beyond fame and wealth. The person had a sheepish smile. If you are not an unassuming person, you might consider this person’s outward appearance as very sub-standard. His unusual hairstyle was intriguing. But, he entered the stage like a rock star amidst boisterously cheerful crowd. Is the suspense killing you? Good. It is no other than our great, humble, simple “Missile Man of India”. The person is also called as the People’s President. You still have not got it. Eh?! No worries. At first, I didn’t either. It was no other than our eleventh President of India, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. A true superstar indeed….

Thousands of school students had the honor of having Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam as the Chief Guest of an event in Muscat, Oman. The man is an epitome of simplicity and humility. The man has no mask playing the role of a superstar. He was just him. He spoke very simple English, yet so powerful that the crowd erupted for every word uttered. His word was strikingly clear and connecting with the audience. He made the students and parents say some oaths which were very untypical and powerful.
I am not sure if the students realize the fantastic opportunity given to them to meet the “People’s President”. The credit goes to the committee members that had worked so hard for over six months to make this grand function happen. Kudos to the committee members and many that worked behind the scenes.

It is a shame that such heroes are being sidelined in India’s political world. As humans, it is fair to assume that, most of us have wondered whether honesty, fairness, simplicity and humility will ever make us successful in our materialistic life. But, this man, with all these rare qualities, has made it all the way to the President’s office. That is great way to lead by example.

He spoke of some incidents in his life that were strikingly powerful.
The first incident was when his school teacher took the students to the beach in Rameswaram where he was born and bred. The teacher pointed towards a bird and explained how the birds fly. That incident lit a spark in his innocent mind and triggered a sequence of thoughts determined to become somebody in the field of aeronautics. He ended up making missiles. The rest is history.

The second incident was about his encounter with a group of tribal students during his tour across India, as part of his stupendous “India Vision 2020”. While many students expressed their ambitions to become a doctor or an engineer, there was one student whose response was particularly incredible. This student was visually challenged. The visually challenged student said to Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, “I want to be the first visually challenged President of India”.

Well, I could not imagine what would have gone through Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam’s mind when he heard this. Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam encouraged this boy to study well so that he could achieve his goals. The visually challenged boy scored high marks. His hard work, determination and ambition were so intense that he was selected by the MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Boston. Inspired by this visually challenged boy’s spirit, MIT has waived his fees 100%.

Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam paused for a few seconds, collected his thoughts, level-headed his emotions and said something very impressive about this boy. One could sense the joy and pride that Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam had when he said, “This boy was offered a job by GE once he completed his studies. His response to GE: I will definitely take the job if I will not become the first visually challenged President of India”.

Impressive indeed!!

Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam has dedicated his life to ignite young minds across India. Imagine the capacity of igniting young minds like the mind of the visually challenged boy. Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam is doing a marvelous job of igniting millions of young minds. He is a true superstar and to describe a superhuman like Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, you run out of superlatives.

http://www.indiavision2020.org/

Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam’s theme of the speech:
AIMING LOW IS A CRIME.

A trip down the memory lane....

Living in a hostel nestled in a chain of mountains is a dream come true. During the fog-filled mornings, the next building is hardly visible and jumping-out-of-your-bed every morning is unpopular in this scenic region. I am referring to the beautiful campus of Bharathiar University, Coimbatore where I completed two years of my studies in 1994. It was a great life. The biggest worry was to prepare for multiple seminars and execute multiple projects. Every weekend, it would be a crime not to pay our respects to a popular chaat-joint downtown. I am yet to taste a better chaat. No kidding. This is the best. And then, we would religiously visit Sampoorna (Fish curry) and Annapoorna (coffee). This was life and we were supremely confident that life would be far more better in the corporate world. I guess, everyone knows the answer for that.

I had to visit Coimbatore last month and I was mysteriously excited as it had been fourteen years since I visited Coimbatore, the last time. To cut to the chase, the trip was wonderful. I wanted to experience the same simple way of life (during those days), which was very gratifying. No AC-trains, no cabs, no fancy hotels etc.,. With a spoilt-lifestyle that I (we all) have embraced so easily and conveniently, this one day trip would have costed me Rs. 5k all included. However, it costed me just Rs. 2k all included. It was a great feeling taking the bus. The bus experience was just the same except for the blunt stare that the co-passengers give you (not rude though). I visited the University, the professors etc., and I was amazed at the beautiful campus where I lived for two years. I was requested to bore the students with my lecture for one hour which I did. Poor guys...

Now that my work at the University was done, I was excited to check out the chaat-joint that I was not sure if it existed after fourteen years. My memory and passion for such things are fairly accurate. I walked the streets and tracked the chaat-joint. I could not believe that the taste was immaculately same. Amazingly, I could remember the taste. hmm....I am not sure if that is even good english, but that is how best I could portray my experience.

For the benefit of folks-like-me (who would take the time to smell the roses), I have given the location of the chaat-joint and some recommendations....

RK Chaat
10th street (off cross cut road - lane opposite to Patmos Prayer house)
Take the first left and it is the second shop on your left

Try Cutlet chaat, bhel puri.....trust me....it is worth the trek.

Got right shoes?

As part of the resolution for 2009, I started jogging and I have been quite successful in shedding some fat. As the resolution became a habit, I impressed myself (I know, it is okay to boast sometimes) with my consistent achievements in scaling up the distance and time.

Meanwhile, I ran into quite a number of kith and kin (in the past few months) that have had knee problems. Some have consistent knee-jerks, agonizing knee-joint pains and some conditions as bad as knee replacement surgery.

This made me think over a few precautionary steps as I pictured myself engaging in an active lifestyle even during my old days (Being hopeful is a good thing ).
I took some simple steps which I thought are very effective in the long run. Knee-guards and right-shoes.

First, I started using knee-guards which made a huge difference in terms of knee pain. Then, as I was looking for a good shoe, I found some information which was very useful and a must for everyone, even if you are planning to walk or run as part of an physical-exercise routine.

I have been planning to do this for quite some time and finally did it!! I am sure there are so many who have thought about it but never did it. Hope you find this information useful.

Excerpt from www.time-to-run.com:
When buying your first pair of running shoes, you will have to select the shoe which is best suited to you. Without us complicating the matter there will be a few factors you will need to look at before plunging further into the world of the runner/jogger.

The factors you need to look at regarding yourself are:
• your foot shape
• the extent of your foot's movement
• your weight
• your budget

And in the future your weekly mileage will certainly determine the type of shoe you purchase.

Your foot shape
Some stores, have a facility to test the shape of your foot as well as to determine your biomechanics and gait. If you have a store such as that available to you, this should be your first port of call. However, if you do not have that luxury available to you, then it is possible to determine your foot shape the following way.
You have all probably seen your foot imprint when you step out of the bath, well that is one way of determining your foot shape. As a very basic tester you are able to determine the following, whether you have a normal, flat, or high-arched foot. Place your feet in a basin of water and the step onto a flat and dry surface. The following should appear :

A normal foot leaves an imprint with a flare, but shows the forefoot and heel connected by a wide band.

The Flat Foot has a low arch and will leave a nearly complete imprint, it looks like the whole sole of the foot.

The High-Arched Foot will leave an imprint with a very narrow showing between the forefoot and heel.

If your foot does all three, leave home now or re-do the test until you get a clear indicator.

Now that you have determined your foot shape you will need to address the extent of your foot's movement. This would be related to your foot shape as well as other biomechanics which may effect your running/jogging style.

Your footshape and its movement
The normal foot: The foot lands on the heel, then rolls inward (pronates) slightly to absorb shock. Runners with a normal foot and normal weight are usually considered biochemically efficient and don’t require motion-control shoes; stability shoes with moderate control features such as a two-density midsole are suitable.

The Flat Foot has a probability towards overpronation of the foot that strikes on the outside of the heel and rolls inward excessively; over a period of time this may lead to different types of overuse injuries. It is normally recommended to use motion-control or stability shoes with firm midsoles and control features that reduce the degree of pronation. Stay away from highly cushioned, curved-lasted shoes that lack stability and control.

The High-Arched Foot will leave an imprint with a very narrow showing between the forefoot and heel. A curved, high-arched foot is generally termed a supinated or underpronated foot; this means it normally isn’t an effective shock absorber. Cushioned shoes with plenty of flexibility to encourage foot motion are recommended. Stay away from motion-control or stability shoes that reduce foot mobility.

Spiderman cried….....

I had always encouraged my four year old son to be tough. As he is maturing from his fussy-missy baby world, I have tried to train him not to cry if he wanted something or if he fell down.

The other day he started crying while we were waiting in the hospital. He started wailing in high pitch. As he saw my grim face, the high pitch dropped at least a couple of octaves and his tight-lipped mouth was quivering trying to insulate the noise coming out of his mouth.

Although it was a bit heartbreaking to watch his eyes filled with tears, I managed to keep a tough face and talked to him with a calm tone.

Do you want to be strong?

He nods his head assertively and says, “Yes”.

If you want to be strong, you can not cry like a baby. You are a big boy.

Have you ever seen superman cry?

“No”

Have you every seen spiderman cry?

“No.”

As I was about to present the concluding punchline, he interrupted me. As if a truth had suddenly dawned on him, he raised his voice and said (emotionally), “Yes. Yes. Yes.”

I was perplexed.

What do you mean, “yes”?

Then he said something that cracked me up and completely blew me away.

“Yes dad, I have seen spiderman cry”. He continued to cry.

I had such a tough time controlling my laughter and put up a brave face. Tobey Maguire cries in the movie, Spiderman, when his uncle passes away.

I told him that it is okay to cry, but he should try not to cry for every incident.

These are constant reminders of the profound influence of TV on our lives, especially the lives of our children who do not have the ability to distinguish good from evil.

Well, this is an incident that I have treasured to share it with my son as he grows to be a man.

Everything happens for a reason?!

I decided to drive to Bangalore along with two of my good friends. The (married-bachelors) trip was conceived and planned over a couple of phone calls in a span of ten minutes. Although I felt that I was a bit rash in deciding on the trip, something told me that this was the way it was supposed to be. The excitement of the "bachelor" part lasted for a few days, by listing the pubs we would visit in Bangalore, before my two buddies dropped the “sorry” word with the usual excuses. I went on with the trip alone.

I am not the type who would go the extra mile to reach out to folks from my past. But, in some cosmic way, I met a very good friend (a senior from UG) of mine after over fourteen years. It was a very gratifying experience. We talked about how life has changed over the past decade and laughed about the crazy things we had done during our rebellious college days.

This pleasant experience had motivated me to reach out to more folks. I ended up contacting two more friends (including one roommate) after sixteen years. We exchanged information about our circle-of-friends with whom we had contacts. We laughed about the way the nicknames (often vulgar) flowed freely in our conversations, especially since we had grown to be refined men (ya, right).

As I was driving back to Chennai, I kept wondering how all this could happen. Is somebody pulling the strings? I mean, this is not the typical me.

I had contacted three friends of my student days. As I was coming to terms with the trip as if the story was coming to a closure, I get a call from another friend (from PG) after many years. Through this friend, I had also spoken to one other friend whom I have been trying to contact for many years.

Five friends!! After over a decade!! Not a bad score in two days.

Perhaps, this is some kind of a (friends-meeting) season, alright. It was saddening to hear some friends who had left us for the better world. But, for the most part, it was a pleasant and a worthy trip.

I don’t believe in destiny entirely. But, I think there are forces of nature that take us to places for a reason.

I don't know the reason yet, but it sure was exhilarting.