Mumbai Marathon: A conversation with the Self

My preparation for Mumbai Marathon started just after Diwali. Although not very regular, I was on the jogging track about twice a week and had managed 3-4 km at a stretch. Things were in right direction and I was targeting completion time of about 3hrs for 21KM (half marathon), which is my previous worst, the best being 2 hr 50 mins.

Amey specially came from Banglore for the Mumbai Marathon. On the eve of the Marathon, Amey and me were discussing things to do before and during the marathon. Amey encouraged me to set the target time to 2 hr 30 mins and I reluctantly agreed to it as I knew its a difficult task to achieve, looking at my level of practice and my previous records. Still, we planned how we can achieve our target. We even chalked out hour by hour plan along with detailed route analysis, the hurdles we might face and few contingency plans. We did not wanted to keep any stone unturned. We were handling the event as professional marathon runners ;) and followed what we could. We went to have Pasta, which is very rich in carbohydrate contents and recommended before Marathon. We bought few energy bars, chocolates, lots of bananas and dates. To save the time on the D-day, we even booked the Meru Taxi so that we don't have to walk to get out of IIT to catch a rick. Every thing was set for the D-day, including the alarms :).

We woke up early and made sure that all of us get ready in time. The taxi arrived sharp at 5.00am. We got in and reached there at 5.42am. It was about 1hr to start the race. Amey and me were running the half marathon for the third time and the other two with us were the first timers, also running the half marathon. So, we were having some fundae sessions for them. We had enough bananas to get some instant energy. We completed other mandatory tasks and were there at the racing point at 6:45am. By the time we reached the start line, in a big queue, it was already 6.54am. So, we had started 8-9 minutes late. As Amey and me had opted for the timing chip, the time we started is noted automatically by the system so we were not worried about that.

To start with, it was very crowded, even smooth jog was also difficult and hence it was difficult to get the rhythm. I burped initially as we had more bananas than we should had. The first two kilometers were like warm-up. After that I got into the rhythm. Amey and I got in touch with each other over mobile and got to know that we were close but still not together. We first met at 5km milestone but separated soon due to nature's call break. We met again at the 12th kilometer milestone and then thought of running together so that we can encourage each other and keep our target of 2 hr 30 mins. It was at 8.20am and about 7 km were remaining. The target was very clear, one more hour to go and 7km. We decided to go for it and hence started running in full swing. We continued till 15 KM mark where I thought that Amey is running faster than me and I am not able to cope up with his speed. I asked him to continue with his own speed and that relaxed me. I was just behind him, but for a short time only. Unfortunately Amey suddenly developed some pain in his knees and hence slowed down. I overtook him and aimed at the target time. I was left alone. Up to that point it was only because of Amey's encouragement that I was targeting the 2:30hrs time. Now suddenly I was running with out him. Both of us continued running independently and kept encouraging each other via phone. Things continued that way, till I managed to reach 17 km mark when my body was all drained. I had no energy to continue jogging. I just wanted to walk the remaining distance.

This was the time when I started conversation with my Self. All the knowledge points that I got from the Art of Living YES!+ course and advanced courses surfaced into reality. I was given a chance to implement all of them. My stamina was all over So, there I was to go for the target time or to let it go. All this conversation continued in my mind and I kept running and walking alternately. Running was for a longer time than walking but still the body was saying the other way round. Finally the equation was left to 2KM and 7 minutes. It was a difficult task to achieve but I wanted not to give up at any cost. So, continued running. The body was not supporting, so the mind started giving me alternatives and giving me option of ditching the target. But I was fresh from my advanced course and hence all knowledge points were alive! The most striking point was Live life on commitment and not on emotions.

So, I decided to go with my commitment and not by emotions. Fitness was not an issue and hence it was only a matter of continuing till the end, with increased speed. I needed some different way to tackle my mind as I was thinking more of the future than being at the present. I was continuously thinking of the distance and time equation. I knew, live in the present moment but how to do that? And it just clicked!!! I committed myself for the goal, and just surrendered to my Guru and the Divine. I dropped the distance-time equation and concentrated on only the next step that I was going to take. At every step, I was asking this question to my Self, can I run the next step and most of the time the answer used to be YES. This helped me and I could run more compared to walk. I was still walking in between but the ratio was 200 meters running to about 10 meters walk. This continued till Hutatma Chauk, from where the finish line was enough to go for the final assault.



The final assault was to start now. I decided not to stop for the last phase of about 1000 meters. I kept going and going. I was totally drained by that time but commitment was to my Self and not to any one else and hence had no option but to continue and continue running. In between, I took a walk break, for about 10 seconds but then got into action immediately. Finally, I could see the finish line, about 500 meters away. It was like "कितने पास और कितने दूर". The sight of the finish line gave me another boost and I increased the speed, although marginal, there was increase in the efforts from my side. And there I was, crossing the finish line and it was 9:25am in my mobile. My time was 2 hr 32 mins, creditable for me. There was no one to welcome me on the finish line but I was celebrating myself, as also all other finishers. Just missing the target time was of no importance to me compared to the satisfaction of making it against all odds and being victorious.


Soon Amey also finished in 2 hr 45mins. As he was having pain in his knees he walked from 15KM till end. The other two friends, Kishore and Pranav, who were participating in half marathon for the first time completed the race in about 3 hrs. A very good time indeed as they hardly had practiced for the same.

A perfect experience of When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Going.

Jai Guru Dev!
Sandeep (Pitamah)

Run Mumbai Run...

Run Mumbai Run are the magic words that inspire me and many other Mumbai Marathon runners to continue their journey toward the finish line with out giving up in between. This slogan has the power to keeps me going on and on till I cross the finish line. The crowd cheering with this slogan has made me complete successfully the half marathon twice.

I still remember my first attempt of half marathon (21 km). No one believed that I could complete the marathon and they were constantly discouraging me from participating in the marathon. On the eve of the marathon my close friend me advised me not worry about completing the marathon and advised me to take shelter of the medical camp in case of emergency. On the marathon day I met few other friends who also had similar experience, people in the same boat. Frankly, we were also not sure of what we are diving into but had very high energy to get experience it.

The marathon started at 6.45am. It was still dark when it started and cold enough not to get exhausted early. The real test was later during the race when sun comes up and shines bright enough to exhaust the runners. There was a sunny patch with no cover of the buildings, near the Girgaon Chaupati and that was the testing period for all the immature runners. I was almost exhausted but kept running. There was no water booth in that area and we all kept sharing our reservoir. The scene was similar with all people. Every one was looking for water and was happy share if they had any water left. The humanity was seen live. After that sunny patch of about 1km, I could sense the finish line coming closer but still about 4 km away. Now I was confident of finishing and just continued running and finally in about 2hr 50mins I crossed the finish line. It was an experience of the lifetime, satisfaction at its peak. At the same time I had tremendous boot in my confidence. I could see it as removal of a big mental block in my life. In the next few days I could see myself doing any task with increased confidence and had no problem in taking new challenges.

The second year was comparatively simple as I had my prior experience with me. I had hardly practiced and hence could finish the half marathon in 3hrs, still not bad.





Many celebrities like Anil Ambani, Milind Soman, Rahul Bose, Gul Panag actively participate in Marathon.



Now, all geared up for tomorrow's 6th Edition of Mumbai Marathon and to hear Run Mumbai Run.

Jai Guru Dev!

Fight with equanimity, channelise energy

Excerpt from Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's address to Mumbaikars during a prayer meeting for 26/11 terror victims.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Opinion/Editorial/articlelist/articleshow/3847315.cms


When there is an attack on society and we lose our loved ones, it causes a lot of sorrow and fear. If we keep reeling in sorrow, fear and anger, We need to come together then life moves on the path of destruction.

But if we want to channelise this energy and prepare to face this war bravely, we need to first calm the mind and come to a state of equanimity.

We need to become sam-darshi or one whose vision is equanimous. Today, we are all angry with the politicians or with our system. Our police lack the necessary tools... The whole of Mumbai seems angry. In a way, we have woken up. We are no longer ready to take the 'chalta hai' attitude. For so many years India has seen terrorist attacks in different places, for the first time, the entire community, especially the youth, have woken up...
How to make our system stronger?

Firstly, we need to come together... We need social leaders who are satya-darshi or truthful, sam-darshi or equanimous, and door-darshi or far-sighted. So let's also resolve to first examine the qualifications of those whom we elect. We need to protect our country from those who manipulate issues for their personal gains and lead by playing vote-bank politics.

Secondly, we must resolve not to act out of anger, but instead channelise our dynamic energy for the common good; to expose all those who are supporting violence, no matter what religion they belong to; to get rid of the mentality which asks us to protect people from our own religion, or community, even if they are doing wrong. This is very important.

Three things need to be done today: Stringent laws should be in place and the hands of the police have to be strengthened. Second, intelligence agencies and the police should be well-equipped and third, politicians should allow them to take necessary steps independently.

We consider the entire world ours... We might have different religions, communities, languages and cultures, but underneath all this diversity, every Indian is One. We are proponents of peace, but we are also from the land of Guru Gobind Singh. Today, we need Sant-sipahis or soldier-saints. Every one of us needs to be a peace soldier...

Peace does not mean inaction. We want a revolution, but a peaceful one. Mahatma Gandhi advocated peace, but he did not just sit back and allow injustice. Being in peace, he took action. The essence of the Bhagavad Gita is this ^ to fight with equanimity. Today, we are again seeing a dharma yuddha a battle for righteousness...

Whenever i visited Israel, i have been told by Jewish leaders that India is the only nation in the world where a Jew has never been attacked. India is known for its tolerance and peace... We shall not let the terror attacks in Mumbai sag our spirits. We shall overcome. And in doing so we will not let go of our culture and nature of peace and non-violence.

I would like to say to all the families who have lost their dear ones that the soul never dies. Know that once you drop the body, there is no more suffering to the soul. Those who have departed have merged with the divine, and their souls are still with you, with us, with the entire nation... Everyone will die, including us. But they have sacrificed their lives to wake us up and make us realise that others should not suffer, that this should not happen again. They are asking us to be Arjuna.

Anger is energy

... says Sri Sri Ravi Shankar urging Mumbaiites to channelise this energy after 26/11

MARK MANUEL Times News Network (Times of India, Bombay Times, 08 Dec 2008, page 1.)



This time, the smile of welcome didn’t quite reach Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s dark and mischievous eyes. The face was troubled, the mind still burdened by the pain of the hundred thousand people he had addressed the previous evening at Priyadarshini Park. Some survivors of 26/11, others bereaved family members of victims, everyone a Mumbaiite let down by the state — all looking for a shoulder to cry on, a spiritual hand to apply the healing touch. That Sri Sri Ravi Shankar had already done. “I told Mumbai, if you stay with anger too long it will take a toll on your health, your mind, your thinking,” the Art of Living guru explained to me at the bungalow of Yash and Avanti Birla yesterday morning. “We need to channelise our energy,” he added. Energy or anger, I asked. “Anger is energy in a more proactive way,” he corrected, “and how to channelise it, is in itself a skill. There’s no point doing the extreme thing in anger and then regretting it. Or being passive and not doing anything at all. Find the inbetween path.”
He’s gone beyond the Art of Living and is into trauma relief around the world now. Like a healing wind with the spiritual touch, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has gone from Ivory Coast to Iraq and Kosovo to Kashmir, reawakening human values in people, making them violence-free, teaching them Gandhian principles, yoga, meditation. His lessons in spirituality are not just for victims of terrorist attacks, but also for survivors of earthquakes, floods, tsunamis. But in Mumbai on Saturday, he was addressing terrorism. “Terrorists are ill-educated people with distorted, poisoned mindsets,” he said derisively. “It’s not true that the uneducated become tools of terrorism, or the poorest of the poor, but ill-educated people with hateful motivation. And they have to be addressed with words. Not guns. You just cannot quell violence with violence. But through dialogue, and spiritual education, I’ve seen this in Iraq.” And what were politicians, I asked. “Politicians are narrow-minded people who, for the smallest gains of position and money, do things which later harm themselves and also the people,” he said in ill-concealed disgust and some anger.
What would he have done in Mumbai last week, I asked. Would he have been able to make the difference during the siege by engaging the terrorists in dialogue, by negotiating with them for the lives of the hostages, or convincing them to lay down the gun? Sri Sri Ravi Shankar regretfully shook his head. “You cannot learn archery on the battlefield,” he replied. “At that moment, the terrorist is not in the mood to talk, he is only in the mood to destroy.” I asked what was the difference between spiritual education and religious, because the terrorists are Islamic jehaadis, boys indoctrined to become men with mindsets that believe the Quran okays mindless killings of innocents. “Spiritual education is different,” Sri Sri Ravi Shankar said, “it makes you a soft, gentle, caring person, it teaches you the principles of ahimsa... of nonviolence. We must teach these principles, the Indian ethos of peaceful coexistence, of inclusiveness, to our neightbours and the rest of the world.”
At this point of time when Mumbai was at the crossroads of change, when emotions were still ragged and the wounds of 26/11 yet festering, did we need spiritual education or an aggressive movement against violence? “Not just Mumbai, the whole of India needs an overhauling,” Sri Sri Ravi Shankar answered. “In Mumbai’s case, just changing the Chief Minister will not help, the new man will take six, eight months to settle in and then make change. But, immediately, there must be a change in values — of the police, especially; a change in vision — of the people responsible for the city; a change in self — people must be true to the country and themselves; a change in sensitivity — people have woken up, but the spate of violence doesn’t touch all, we feel the heat only when the shoe pinches; and, a change in direction — let go of the past and go forward. Move on. Yes — the heart is heavy, but the healing touch will be complete only when hands unite and reconcile with the past.” When I left him, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar was smiling in welcome at his next visitors — Bollywood stars Kunal Kapoor, Dino Morea and the lovely Lara Dutta, but the smile still didn’t reach his eyes.

Trident to Taj to CST

On Tuesday, 2nd Dec, 08, A call to ALL PROUD INDIANS was made to assemble at the Air India building to write messages for the brave cops and soldiers of our country. Some of us from IIT reached there at the Air India building around 6.30pm. There were lot of people including some of the celebrities who had come to express their gratitude toward the martyr cops.









Most of the people over there were youth, from all the communities. The nariman point and the strip close to the sea was crowded, although not as it used to be. I remembered how I was sitting at the same spot a month back. Fearless, enjoying the sea and chit-chatting with my friends and today, I was serious, not even in a mood to smile.

We went close to the Trident building. There was heavy security and policemen all around. I could see few broken windows of the Trident building and the repairing work going on. I am really amazed by the Trident people that they are planning to restart the complete operations in next two weeks and I could see that happening.

Next we moved to Taj. The taxiwala dropped us near the back side of Taj heritage. Again no entry near the hotel, heavily protected by the police. We went to the front side of Taj and were actually seeing the Taj Heritage building for the first time after 26/11. The area is still protected/covered and hence could not see it closely. Even the Gateway of India is also closed. There were interviews of general public going on by some channel and slowly the outrage of the people was seen blaming all the politicians, moving on to media, to RGV, to name a few. This continued for good 10-15 mins and not many could make out what exactly was the point put up. One of my friend was trying to understand the issue but of no use.




We got the taxi for CST. It was around 8.40pm. It was not usual Mumbai. Hardly any traffic. After the taxi dropped us near Azad maidan, we went via the subway and it was very less crowded. We had some chaat and juices. Then one of my friend went to a shop to check out jeans. I followed him. Others also joined after they finished their food. While my friend was bargaining, others were discussing the situation on the 26th night. Shopkeepers were saying that the terrorist had come close to the subway and all the shopkeepers there were having terrible time. Fortunately for them, the terrorists didn't came down the subway and hence all of them were saved. Things have changed a lot after that. No crowd in the subway and hence not even in the shops. Previously the shopkeepers were forced to close the shop at midnight. Now, there is hardly any customer to keep the shop open. As we were talking, I realized that we were the only customers there. The scene was similar in other shops also. The corridor was so less crowded that I could stand in the center and click the photos. I could wait till I get a good click with no one in front of the camera. Normally, I don't think it would have been possible for me to even stand in the center.

At the entrance, we were welcomed by the metal detectors. I felt the tension seeing the metal detectors. What if it beeps when I pass through? Will I be checked by the armed police? And when I passed through it, yes, it beeped but there was no one to check me or even to listen to the beep. I was saved. But whats the use of these metal detectors installed at the entrance? They are hardly of any use. When ever you cross them, there is invariably a beep. There is no one to check the person who causes the beep. So, whats the use of these metal detectors? Only to show people that there is something like metal detectors which are installed for the safety of the common people.

In general there were lot of security people. Policemen checking the bags and other belongings and in general tension on very face moving around. I too could feel the tension while roaming around in the station. It was not as usual.

We moved on to buy the tickets and the scene was similar. Hardly any rush on the ticket counter. The ticket counter at 9.00pm used to have a long queue. Today only 5-6 people in the queue.





During the time when we were close to these spots, the thought of what if some thing happens NOW was coming again and again to my mind. I saw a small cute girl enjoying chocolate in the subway and this thought caught me again. I was horrified to think what if there is a terror attack NOW. I hope we all come out of this type of thoughts as soon as possible and start enjoying the beauty of Mumbai.