A run up the hill

Satara Marathon created history, for getting the largest number of runners registered for half-Marathon, making a, Guinness book of World Record. 

This year, 18 of us have registered for this Marathon which will be conducted on September 18th, 2016.

As a part of the preparation for this Marathon, we decided a uphill run at Sinhagad.

Saturday, at dawn 5:00, 9 of us started by car to the base of the hill, Sinhagad. We reached the place at 5:35am. After parking our car at the start of the ghat to Sinhagad we did some warm-up exercises and started to jog uphill.

The daylight had just broken and the climate around, was superb. It was little cloudy and humid with a gentle breeze flowing around. The chirping of the birds was filling the ears with an occasional cry of a Peacock being heard. The Sahyadri on one side and the valley on the other, a properly marked tar road to run on, I almost fell in love with those moments.

Four of us Amit, Akash, Kaustubh and me decided to run for 35min uphill, and then to complete the run back.

Accordingly, we started to run. 

Initially I started to jog, after sometime, got tired and started to walk. This game of jog and walk went on for 20min. I had got too tired, but I resolved to keep on walking if not jog. After another 10min my legs started getting heavy, I started having breathlessness, I still kept on moving. 

In this condition, I experienced a feeling of oneness with everything around. There were no thoughts at all. It was a state of meditation. It was bliss!

Though tired, legs heavy, breathlessness, but everything around and everything inside wanted that feeling to continue ; and continue till eternity.

Finally, it was 35min and Amit, who was much ahead of us, returned back and we started going downhill. 

I was completely soaked with sweat. There was a smile on the face which just wouldn't stop. I experienced completeness. I experienced the oneness; with "Him".

We visit religious places; Temples, Mosques, Churches and Gurdwaras, in search of the divine. We do all sorts of rituals, donate different things, to please him. We starve ourselves sometimes to death just to experience,"Him", in and through our suffering. And here I was, following a simple exercise routine. Doing nothing, but just putting my body, heart and mind into a condition of limits and crossing it. In the process feeling one with Him. Experiencing, "Him", to be a part of me!

Physical activity leading to Spirituality!

First through our body and then going beyond to experience that onneness.

No religion, no rituals, no sacrifice required.

Just crossing the limits to experience Him! 

You too might have experienced this, while performing your favourite activity and then crossing your limits, like playing a musical instrument, sometimes while cooking to serve others, driving long distance, or ...... Looking forward to listening to your expression of onneness.

Making it, my friend!

Volleyball was a game I aspired to play since years. Got an opportunity and I started to practice diligently. Just in 3 days of my practice, my forearms had got inflammed turning my skin to black and blue. 

My teammate, Purshottam Chawla, shared that he too had experienced the same thing but had continued with his practice and over a period of time his forearms were back to normal.

Trusting him, I too decided to carry on with the practice inspite of the excruciating pain.

As I practiced the next day, I feared the ball and avoided committing myself to the game. As a result, that day, I played sloppily and was frustrated with my performance. Something had to be done. I can't be in the playing team and fear the ball at the same time.

The whole night I kept searching for the solution. Finally, I decided, come what may I am going to play without getting bothered by the pain. I will, 'make the ball my friend'. With a firm resolve, I went for the practice. Now nothing mattered. It was only me and my 'friend', the ball. That day I played the best. Suddenly everyone was confident of my game. They decided to place me in a crucial position in the court. In the next few days, I was freezed to be, in that crucial position. I was now wanting the ball to come to me, I wanted to hit it, with the same forearms. I wanted to tame it. I wanted it to be in sync with it. It was no longer, my foe. The same ball which had put me in trouble had already turned to be my best friend.

The D-day arrived. We played 3 games. The first one, we won and the other two we lost by slender margins. My game was appreciated by everyone. No one believed that just 15 days back I had known nothing of this game.

I had discovered a magical key to success - 

"If I am learning something new and I find it difficult then, let me make that impossible instrument or task or place, 'my friend'."

I experienced, when I do that, suddenly everything feels easy and possible and I move on to a zone wherein I start doing that act effortlessly.

I experienced the same thing on my attempt to climb up, the Sinhagad hill. 

In my first attempt, I panted my way up in more than 70min. This trek appeared to be an uphill task for me. I applied my formula of turning the mountain track to be my friend. Each attempt after that of climbing the mountain turned out to be more and more easier. Finally in my 13th attempt, I climbed the same hill, in flat 42min!

'Making it, my friend' is the magical key I now have discovered. 

So whether it's about being, behind the steering wheel, any musical instrument I want to learn, the frying pan I want to use to learn cooking or even using the mouse, to learn the computers - The only thing I need to ask myself is, can I make them my friend?

Would you like to try?

Ginga

By heart I am a Sportsman. Hence anything good, related to Sports, attracts me.

My friend, Amit Thakkar, saw the movie 'Pele' and gave excellent reviews. He said, it's a must to show the movie to our kids.

Accordingly, I planned and finally succeeded in convincing the whole family into watching 'Pele'

Due to traffic jam, we entered the theatre 15min late. But, got connected to it immediately, which was wonderful.

After watching the movie, the one thing which kept on lingering in my mind was "Ginga". 

What's "Ginga"?

It's the name given to describe the type of football which the Brazilians play.

What does it mean?

From whatever I understood, there is a story behind it. Portuguese, who ruled Brazil, in the 16th Century, brought bonded labour from Africa to Brazil. These labourers were tortured a lot. Hence, for their self defence, they developed a martial art, which they named as "Ginga". When the Portugals came to know about it, they banned it. 

The Portugals brought the game football into Brazil. These labourers discovered that they could practice "Ginga" while playing football and hence they started playing this game in their own unique style.

Over the years, generations together, played this game in the same style. It now became a part of themselves. 

This style of play was criticised a lot by the Europeans, but Pele showed the world how to win the World Cup by this style.

After watching this, something inside me was searching for an answer. I was almost on the brink of discovering it but was not able to fathom. And finally, everything became crystal clear. It was almost as if, I knew it all the time!

My ancestors too had followed a particular way of life. Until my father shifted to a different place, a different profession altogether, for generations, we had been doing the same thing, following the same lifestyle.

In me too, there might be traces of that thought pattern, of those habits, of those lifestyle. What is that "Ginga" inside me?

I realised, a lot of me has that "Ginga"!

Whether it's my food habits, or my effortless management skills which a farmer has, or my sense of humour, which I have often experienced in my native village where they have this tendency to crack jokes inspite of some hard conditions around.

There was also a realisation, that only when I am at my "Ginga", I remain confident, I remain happy, I remain peaceful. If I shift from my "Ginga", I get insecure and I don't perform.

So I infer. 

Let me know my "Ginga".

Let me live with it not caring about successes or failures. 

This will make me happy & peaceful. 

Nothing else can!

So, "What's your "Ginga"?