Satyagraha - then and now

I have been thinking about this for a few days now. And this article 'The government against satyagrahas, then and now' only reinforced this thought. Clearly the current government is following the steps of their erstwhile predecessor (the British), the difference is that we elected this government using our 'powerful' votes.

I'm in effect reliving my history books, i am getting to know more about 'divide and rule', 'disregard for public emotion and rights', 'deflection', 'involve in committees, only to disregard', 'arrogance' and the view that 'might is greater than right'.

My First 10K @ 1:15:04

So i finally ran a race, after a long time. This time it was a 10K, kind of an upgrade from the 5K i've run before. It was a good time in summer to run, the sky was overcast at the start, a bit of rain during the race. Everything was perfect. Well there has to be a but - right?

There is a but. More like a butt !! Some muscle (i am not an expert on these names), that runs from my butt down my thighs to the knee area (hamstrings ?), kept complaining. I have had these kind of irritants before. They usually go away when i ignore them. This time, i wasnt ignoring them. I was looking out for these and paying them more attention than necessary. So that meant, easing up on my run.

The running was going perfect till about 3+ miles. My usual run is 3 miles. And then from their on, it was slower pace, and a lot of stop and walk syndrome. Well, i must have run my first 3 miles pretty fast, because my overall pace was still about 12 minutes. I am used to 10 minute miles, but that works only for the 3mile runs.

Place Num   Name             Age Hometown       Gun Tim Net Tim Pace 

===== ===== ================ === ============== ======= ======= =====

  317  185  Nathan Douglas   31 Herndon VA      1:11:46 1:11:23 11:30 
  318  734  Mark Lafleur     40 Leesburg VA     1:13:10 1:12:14 11:38 
  319  430  Steve Hart       64 Leesburg VA     1:13:40 1:12:47 11:43 
  320  799  Chris Vallean    39 Leesburg VA     1:14:44 1:14:10 11:57 
  321  819  C.K. Kumar       46 McLean VA       1:15:04 1:14:58 12:04 
  322  2182 Thomas Bradtke   21 College Park MD 1:16:21 1:16:18 12:17 
  323  332  Glenn Smith      56 Ashburn VA      1:17:39 1:16:30 12:19 
  324  570  John O'Shea      48 Sterling VA     1:18:17 1:17:28 12:28 
  325  788  Ron Ecton        41 Leesburg VA     1:18:23 1:17:40 12:30 
  326  272  Dick Coogan      79 McLean VA       1:20:56 1:20:18 12:56 

Leesburg 10K 2011 - Official Men's 10K Results

I am happy i finished. I started the whole thing, with the worst kind of fear. I usually do that, conjure up the worst in my mind. But like i said, i am happy. This means, that i've broken the fear barrier. Like they say in the Mt Dew commercial - Dar ke aage, Jeet hai !!

Avial - Rock Band from Kerala

While i am not a great fan of hard rock, or even the not so hard rock band from the west and India. I have listened to songs and even been amazed at the lyrics that i have paid attention too. But i dont think i have followed any particular band or group, and cant quite recall any of the top of my head.
Anyway, I am quite amazed by most of the songs from this band. Maybe its the lyrics, maybe its something that resonates with me better. Also, i think, since i too am 'proud' mallu at the core, this will do a lot of good for the language and the culture. I'd be happy to support and encourage this band.
So here you go. Take a listen, and shake your head and body to my current fad.

This song is AanaKallan, meaning 'thief of thieves', sung for the Malayalam movie 'Salt 'N Pepper'.