Marathon - First Prize

First of all i should appreciate the effort taken by Infosys folks for successfully hosting the Marathon. A lot of planning in the background and the effort put in to execute that was just commendable. The distance was just 4 KMs. We had run the marathon for republic day.
We had to go to a place which was some 2Kms ahead and take a U turn and return.Just before the race, i had only one thing in mind. At any cost, we should complete the Marathon. Urundu Urundavathu reach the finishing line. With this only target in mind, i geared up for the race. With no space in the front, stood in the end with just a few friends beside me. An ambulance and a sumo was supposed to follow us all throughout the race. Water and Glucose was kept at regular check points. This all was done considering the safety of the employees. Once the signal was given, i sprinted like a bullet. Not even a single break in between.When i had completed more than 75% of the race, i could still see few people huffing and panting to reach that distance. Well if all this had hapenned, then i would have been really happy. But nothing as mentioned above hapenned. I completed first but from the last. The 4 KMs had created a false impression in my mind. I realized this only while running. Only one part of this was true. I was standing in the last with few folks beside me. The signal was given and the race started. But all the folks standing first ran very fast. I was one of the few who were left behind. And i was the only person who stopped at the first check point to have water. At the second check point, i saw one of my friend who was in the same position as me. As usual had water at the second check point too. We both were not in a position to run so we both started walking joking and laughing all the way. We would have just completed 25% of our distance, a guy was making his return journey( He was the winner. Well he was a sportsperson. A hockey player. Right from the beginning, he ran at the same pace.). With just 300 metres to complete the race and with the finishing point in our sight, we started running the rest of the distance. The only solace that we got was a standing ovation from a few guys who saw us running the last few steps. Well my intention was fulfilled, i completed the Marathon with a bit of running and more of walking. And one important learning from this was, my stamina was and is very very less. Hope to improve that in the coming days.

Trip to Thiruvannamalai

A bit excited i must say. It is always fun to go with friends. Five of us(Me, Rajagopal, Aneesh, Prem and Anand) went to that place but i must say the final five was a surprise to me. Nothing but a bit of confusion before it was finalized that it was this five who were travelling to Tiruvannamalai. To say about the trip, it was simply superb. It was around 2 PM on Saturday (18/01/2009) that we started from Maraimalai Nagar. The ride was pretty smooth with a bit of hiccups in between, the road being the culprit. But for me, it was smooth throughout as i was sleeping for most part of the journey. We reached temple at around 4.45 PM. After standing in the queue for nearly an hour, we got a darshan of the Annamalaiannal. We got prasad, sorry eatables i must say because we looked at it that way. Heavily packed for having it on the way. After spending close to 3 hours inside the temple, we started our girivalam journey at around 7.40 PM. The other place that we visited was Ramana Ashram some 1KM from the temple, on the Girivalam path. A calm place to gain your solace. Was really awestuck by the number of foreign desciples who were there. I didnt know even who Ramana Maharishi was till i had gone there and there i was witnessing so many foriegners. The Girivalam journey resumed at around 8.40 PM after spending close to half an hour in the Ramana Ashram. It was around 17 - 19 Kms overall and the girivalam was 14 kms. A total of 6 Lingams, a Rama temple and Adi Annamalai temple to be visited on the way. The distance board totally misled us. Just when we would feel that we were near to completion, we would see read some board with another 2 KMS to complete. So it was like how much ever distance you complete, it would be 2 KMS written on the board. The final strech i was totally famished and just when i was thinking that i wouldnt be able to walk, a gentleman came to my rescue. He just uttered 3 words which bolstered my confidence level to a great extent. Well it was "MUDIYUM NU NENAINGA". His words just spellcast me to walk without any complaint thereafter. We completed the Girivalam at exactly at 12 AM nearly 4.5 hours after we started with 3-4 breaks in between and a visit to Ramana Maharishi Ashram. We started our return journey, the onus being on Anand. With all the pain, he drove all the way back. We stopped near Chengalpattu for our dinner or very early breakfast you can say. Reached home at around 4 in the morning. Overall it was a scintillating experience.

Some 3 learnings which i could never forget:-
- One Only Money is respected everywhere be it temple. Because when i had put a 10 Rs note on the darshan plate, that pujari gave me the prasad of ash and kumkum whereas none of the others got it. Only then did i realize this.
- Two, Eyes sorry boards always mislead us. So experience each and everything before concluding. It was about the 2KMs that i had mentioned earlier.
- Third, on the lighter side. Rajagopal vaayala mattum thaan vada suduvan. While we were walking, he was saying "On the way back, no one should sleep. The FM should be in full sound. Prem it is your duty to not let Ravi sleep." Do you know who was the first person to sleep. It was none other than Rajagopal. and the second one to follow was Prem. And he would get up in between and would blabber something and again sleep off.