Transition

Last year had been one hell of a year, I hardly got any time for blogs, heck I hardly got anytime for myself. The year started with possession of my flat and almost the whole year saw that concrete structure taking shape into a home it is now, which was really some work for a lazy ass like me. I never had run so much ever, for every small thing balancing cost with quality is really a tough task. From putting curtains to doing furniture, it's difficult if you are alone doing it. To make things worse, pressure was mounting on the work front at the time when I wasn't able to focus.

And if that wasn't enough, I got engaged around middle of the year and got married towards the end of it. This was the biggest transition for me, from a carefree bachelor to a clueless married man. Funny thing is I didn't get much time to even think about it. I was so busy making things fall in place everywhere. But I guess that worked in my favor :)

Now when I think of it, my life has really changed in last one year. So I will remember 2010 as the year of transition and I am glad it has happened. Though I have new set of things to worry about now but I feel happy, things just feel right.

After being married for 2 months I realize that 2011 is going to be another transition year, there are a lot of things still left to do but I am not worried. I know everything is going to be just fine and I am Loving this new phase of life.

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Earth Hour 2010

Earth Hour is back again to remind us to do our bit in the larger quest to fight global warming and climate change. Some of the things that I have been doing and we call can do in our everyday life to contribute,

• Don't leave your electrical appliances ON when they are not in use. Remember they consume electricity even in standby mode so make sure you turn their main switch off.
• Switch off your work stations at work when you are going home. Leaving them idle is a huge of waste of electricity.
• Use Air conditioners only if they are not needed.
• Buy all new electric appliances with 5 star energy rating.
• Use energy saving CFLs instead of incandescent bulbs.
• Minimize or at least optimize the use of vehicles. Try to make one or two planned trips to grocery store to get your monthly ration instead of running for them every time something is needed.

These are just few of the things which we can do and I am sure there are many more to the list which I would love to know from you. Let's work together to achieve this goal which we must realize to save our planet before its too late.

So, Let's join the campaign and switch off the lights during the Earth Hour which is on SATURDAY 27TH MARCH, 8:30PM - 9:30PM in India. Don't forget to set a reminder :)

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Hilarious conversation

A hilarious conversation which took place @ work between two colleagues. Let's call them SRK & Saif to protect identities ;)

SRK (loudly from his desk): Saif main aau ?
Saif (from his desk far enough for everyone to hear) : Kis liye ?

SRK: Abhi karna hain ?
Saif: Kya ?

SRK: Reproduce.
Saif: Abhi nahi baad mein.

And I & few others who had the ear for it burst out laughing hysterically. Then I took the liberty to repeat it to the rest and then everyone was laughing frantically. SRK was flushed with embarrassment though also laughing. I couldn't stop laughing yet and I am going to laugh again when I send them this blog entry to them :D :D

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Best of "मधुशाला (Madhushala)"

Madhushala is one of the most famous works of the great poet and writer Late. Harivansha Rai Bachchan ji. This consists of 135 verses of 4 lines in all and is very meaningful and metaphorical. Here are some my most favorite verses from Madhushala...

सब जला चुकी है, जिसके अंतर की ज्वाला,
मंदिर, मसजिद, गिरिजे, सब को तोड़ चुका जो मतवाला,
पंडित, मोमिन, पादिरयों के फंदों को जो काट चुका,
कर सकती है आज उसी का स्वागत मेरी मधुशाला।।१७।


एक बरस में, एक बार ही जगती होली की ज्वाला,
एक बार ही लगती बाज़ी, जलती दीपों की माला,
दुनियावालों, किन्तु, किसी दिन आ मदिरालय में देखो,
दिन को होली, रात दिवाली, रोज़ मनाती मधुशाला।।२६।


बनी रहें अंगूर लताएँ जिनसे मिलती है हाला,
बनी रहे वह मिटटी जिससे बनता है मधु का प्याला,
बनी रहे वह मदिर पिपासा तृप्त न जो होना जाने,
बनें रहें ये पीने वाले, बनी रहे यह मधुशाला।।२८।


पथिक बना मैं घूम रहा हूँ, सभी जगह मिलती हाला,
सभी जगह मिल जाता साकी, सभी जगह मिलता प्याला,
मुझे ठहरने का, हे मित्रों, कष्ट नहीं कुछ भी होता,
मिले न मंदिर, मिले न मस्जिद, मिल जाती है मधुशाला।।४७।


मुसलमान औ' हिन्दू है दो, एक, मगर, उनका प्याला,
एक, मगर, उनका मदिरालय, एक, मगर, उनकी हाला,
दोनों रहते एक न जब तक मस्जिद मन्दिर में जाते,
बैर बढ़ाते मस्जिद मन्दिर मेल कराती मधुशाला।।५०।


कभी न सुन पड़ता, 'इसने, हा, छू दी मेरी हाला',
कभी न कोई कहता, 'उसने जूठा कर डाला प्याला',
सभी जाति के लोग यहाँ पर साथ बैठकर पीते हैं,
सौ सुधारकों का करती है काम अकेले मधुशाला।।५७।


मेरे अधरों पर हो अंतिम वस्तु न तुलसीदल प्याला
मेरी जीव्हा पर हो अंतिम वस्तु न गंगाजल हाला,
मेरे शव के पीछे चलने वालों याद इसे रखना
राम नाम है सत्य न कहना, कहना सच्ची मधुशाला।।८२।


जिसने मुझको प्यासा रक्खा बनी रहे वह भी हाला,
जिसने जीवन भर दौड़ाया बना रहे वह भी प्याला,
मतवालों की जिहवा से हैं कभी निकलते शाप नहीं,
दुखी बनाय जिसने मुझको सुखी रहे वह मधुशाला।।१०३।


अपने युग में सबको अनुपम ज्ञात हुई अपनी हाला,
अपने युग में सबको अदभुत ज्ञात हुआ अपना प्याला,
फिर भी वृद्धो से जब पूछा एक यही उत्तर पाया,
अब न रहे वो पिने वाले अब न रही वो मधुशाला।।१२५।

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Hail the home makers !!

After a wait of 2 years and 3 months and numerous site visits (checking progress, making sure things r fixed where needed)... I finally got possession of my flat and the feeling, the sense of ownership is absolutely fantastic. Although I have a huge loan to pay off, but I will worry about that in some other post ;)

Now that I have got the flat, I am far from relieved. I have the mammoth task of setting it up to make it home. It's so difficult to decide on things to buy. Got to first select something out of numerous option available and still need to find out who gives the best deal for it, after all finance is a big constraint for the new house owners like me. Must have the essentials and certainly not willing to compromise on the quality (after all it's my 1st home). Striking the balance in a tight budget is certainly no mean task. On weekends when I come home tired from the market, mostly I have done nothing but got diff quotes, have seen hundreds of products and am finally confused like hell between choices. Now I understand why it is convenient to take someone along, they make the choice easy for you by voting. So, seriously I bow down to the ladies who perform, almost always, the role of home maker to the brink of perfection. Cheers to them !!!

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Gearing up for the BIG run

24th Pune International Marathon (PIM) is here, the event which I was awaiting for an year. In the last marathon a friend of mine had participated and after hearing his experience about the run, I was determined to participate in the next marathon. Just a week ago I found out that PIM is on 6th December and so I started gearing up for it. I needed to check my stamina to figure out which race I am gonna participate in..

Day 1 - Thursday, Nov 19th:
I started with a try out of my stamina and covered about 5.5 Km. I must have walked for approx 1.5 km intermittently, but I didn't stop at any point. After this I took a 2 day's of running break but did some skipping n stretching instead.

Day 2 - Sunday, Nov 22nd:
I followed it up with a non stop jogging of 4 km on the Sunday evening which was quite fun.. I was feeling I could run more but decided against it.

Day 3 - Monday, Nov 23rd:
Last 2 session had been on concrete in Pashan-Sus road area which has inclines and declines all over. But today I was running in a garden on a flat dirt jogging track of 400 mtrs. First nine laps I jogged slowly and then walked for about 50 meters gaining my breath and ran the Tenth lap hard. I again covered 4 kms but was more exhausted than Sunday. It felt amazing to lie and stretch on the grass after the run.

Day 4 & 5 - Tuesday, Wednesday Nov 24th & 25th
On day 4 & 5 I tried a different course. In the same garden with 400m track. I did 10 laps but for every lap I first ran for half course and then I walked for half of the course. This way I could run at high pace. On second day I fully ran the last 2 laps at high pace. I had heard somewhere that by alternating your training patterns you train your muscles better.. Let's see how true was that.. as I have decided to give day 6 a rest for some recovery.

The one day break got extended due to one thing or other.. and I could continue with my jogging on Tuesday.

Day 6 & 7 - Tuesday, Wednesday Dec 1 & 2
I maintained the schedule of Day 4 & 5 and increased my continuous running. On Day 7 I ended with nonstop 5 laps of running at relatively high speed.

I skipped Thursday again.. and today on Day 8, Friday Dec 4th I will try running the whole distance of 4 kms non stop and see how do I fair.

Now that the D-day, December 6, is here its obvious I am not prepared for the longer run, so I will be participating in the AIDS charity run of 3.5 kms this year, committing to my self that next year it should be atleast 10.5 kms :)



Marathon day -- Sunday December 6th...
I left home at 7am braving the chilly but beautiful weather on by bike in a tee n track pants. But as soon as I reached starting point the energy and enthusiastic crowd made me feel cheerful and the chill was gone instantly.

The charity run of 3.5 km was scheduled at 8:30am, which I didn't know, but I was surely on time as I got to watch some of the opening ceremony and then I watched all the groups zooming at the wave of the flag. It was such a lovely sight to see people from all walks of life and all age groups run together for a cause.


I completed the 3.5 kms run without any problems. It was quite fun actually. Mostly people walked in groups. Some groups were waving banners of their companies or about AIDS awareness. There were also groups of people from Shiamak Dabar dance group jogging & dancing intermittently.. they really filled others with energy with their dhol beat. Now I am determined to prepare for next year with 10.5 kms run as target. Also, next year Pune International Marathon will be in it's 25th year. Silver jubilee celebrations should be some view. So, Happy running Pune!!

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Call Break - A game of playing cards

From my childhood I have been playing Call Break, a very interesting game of cards. Interestingly it is hardly known outside of my native place Bihar. So, I thought why not share the knowledge and may be I will find it easier to find partners for this game anywhere I am.

Summary:
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This is ideally a 4 player game in which each player plays to reach a set target of 300. The game is played in multiple sets. For each set players score some points to help them move towards the target. The score can be positive or negative for each player.

So, the game is played in sets unless someone's total score crosses the target. Set is a collection of 13 hands played after each deal as the players are dealt 13 cards each (13 x 4 = 52). After each deal, all players make a call on how many hands they can secure in the game. After the set is complete the score is given to players depending on whether they secured more than, less than or equal to the call they had made. A sum of scores after each set gives the player's total score.

Pre-requisites:
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1. A deck of 52 cards.
2. A pen and paper to note down the scores.
3. Finally 4 willing players who know the rules of game :)

Rules of the game:
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1. There are 4 players in game they form a circle.
2. There is a dealer for each set and the deal rotates and also the game is played anti-clockwise.
3. The person next to the dealer (in anti-clockwise order) starts making call on hands he can take.
4. After the deal if any of the following conditions are met then the cards are dealt again by the next person (in anti-clockwise order). If any one person has all the four aces OR If any one person has none of the trump card (explained later) OR If any one person has cards such that he doesn't have at least one of the four (Aces, Kings and Queens).
5. Sum of calls made by all players before start of the set is less than nine.
6. Order or priority of cards are natural i.e. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King, Ace in ascending order.
7. Trump card is a suite of card (Spades / Hearts / Diamonds / Clubs) which has higher priority to all other suites. For example if Spade is trump card then a 2 of spade has higher priority than an Ace of Clubs, Diamonds or Hearts.
8. A player has to play the card of the suite for which the hand was started, if he has cards of that suite otherwise he has to play trump card if he has trump cards.
9. A player has to compulsorily play a higher value/priority card than the cards already played in the hand, provided he has one. If the player doesn’t have a higher value card then he can play any card keeping in mind rule 7.
10. The trump card can be fixed or decided for each set randomly. If you decide to have a fixed trump, it is a general practice to use spade as the trump card. If you decide to choose the trump at random then after the set is dealt the dealer shows everyone the last card dealt and that suite becomes the trump for the set.
11. After one set of 13 hands is finised this is how scores are assigned,

• If the player has secured exactly the number of hands he had claimed at the start of the set। He is given points 10 times that of call he had made. E.g. if the call was of 4 hands and 4 hands were secured. Then the points given would be 40.
• If the player couldn’t secure the number of hands he had claimed he would. He is given negative points 10 times that of call he had made. E.g. if the call was of 4 hands and less than 4 hands were secured. Then the points given would be -40.
• If the player has secured more hands than he had claimed. He is given bonus points which is computed as follows. If the player had called X hands and secured (X + 2) hands. Then the points given would be (10X + 2). E.g. if the call was of 4 and 6 hands were secured. Then the points given would be 42.

How to play:
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1. Ideally for each of maintaing scores a table is maintained in which each column is for one player and each row has score of one set. The columns are assigned to the players sitting in anti-clockwise order. This makes it easy to maintain & total scores.
2. For the first time dealer can be picked at random of by consensus, it doesn’t matter much.
3. The dealer shuffles and deals the cards to all four players dealing one card at a time and rotating anti-clockwise. He must get the last card which could be decided as trump if the game is of changing trump.
4. Now every one decides the number of hands he/she can secure depending on how many Aces, Kings, Queens and trump cards he/she has got. As there are total 13 cards of each suite. There may be a maximum of 3 hands of one suite without anyone using the trump card. Generally people get cards in which some body will trump in the third hand of a single suite. So, Making calls on Ace & King may be safe but may not be that safe on queen. On the other hand if you are trumping any suite 1st, 2nd or 3rd hand you may accordingly secure 3, 2 or 1 hand by trumping that suite, provided you have enough trump cards.
5. One also has to take in account that the person behind you can and probably will try to cut down your hands in order to secure his hands or simply to cut off your hands so that you go negative. For example: if you have a King and a 10 of club and the person behind you starts the hand with a Jack of club, now because of rule 8 you are forced to play your king of club and the hand eventually goes to someone next to you with the Ace of club. So, you lost your King and some one’s Queen will win the hand next time.
6. Also, suppose you are trumping hearts from 2nd hand and you assume you will secure at least 2 hands by trumping it. But when you trump once you opponent starts playing game of trumps and consequently your trump cards are finished. Now he will be able to secure his hands of hearts and you won’t be able to trump again as you run out of trump cards. Then you will probably get a negative score.
7. After the set is finished the hands secured by everyone is counted and accordingly the scores are given.
8. Now the deal goes to the next person to the dealer of last set in anti-clockwise order.
9. If some one is caught of cheating the rules of the game, that set is declared void and the cheater’s highest score on the game so far is selected and made negative.
10. If the set can not be played because the total of calls was less than 9. The cards of the last person making the call (that is the dealer himself) are checked to see if he was purposely hiding the calls to cancel the set. If it is so the same penalty as cheating is given to him.
11. Game progresses this way until one of the players cross the target score and then that player is declared winner.

The games becomes interesting because of the fact that you can force others to play a certain way so that they might not secure their call and get a negative score pushing you ahead in the game. This is possible because of rule 7 & 8. That is one has to play a higher value card if he has one and one has to trump a suite if he doesn’t have one. This is one of my favorite games of card. So, if some one wants a demo they are welcome to my place :)

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