too many things going on

The blog has been quiet of late. That is because I am caught up in a few other things, trying to make good use of the last days of the year. I have been reading again, which resulted in me getting lost in the world of Murakami. Also there has been a few interesting posts to follow: I have been specially impressed by some of the editorial/commentaries that appeared on Hindustan Times about the on going 'conflict' with our neighboring country. It's really impressive how mature have been our response to the events. I hope we have hold on to our sanctity and not give in to the (easy option) craze of war hysteria.

a lazy saturday afternoon

It felt strange wondering around in the alleys of khari baoli on a saturday afternoon, with the market bustling with activity. After the fun and chaos, decided i needed to just relax --- with the sun shining, and a book to finish, the lawn looked really inviting. Managed to finish the book, and also saw a squirrel chasing a mayna -- very amusing indeed.

what was i up to?

The recent events in Mumbai left in too depressed to get back to normal life. Also there's more to do these days since it is that time of the year. Managed to get back to IMF today. May be should try to write a bit more, to keep myself sane.

Smokehouse bar and grill

We were not sure if going into the place was a good idea, since nothing much of the inside was visible from outside. However, once we entered we knew it was a special place. The decor was very fresh, quite classy, and sparkling clean. It wasnt a host of expensive items stacked together, but basic ingredients/items placed with lot of though and style. Definite scored high on decor!

The food menu looked very expensive, but then we realized thats only for some special entrees. Most dishes were reasonable priced, given the setup. We order and waited in anticipation. Time went by and we chatted about this and that. Looked like the place is popular with young elite Delhi-ites, a category we dont usually rub shoulders with. The food arrived, and the first thing we noticed was the presentation --- very well done! Then comes the part why we go to a restaurant to begin with .. the taste. The chicken was well cooked and delicious. We both agreed its one of the best places we have visited in Delhi. It was an evening well spent, and were lucky to get some transportation back given it was quite late when we left the place. The place gave me a couple of ideas to try in the cooking front, should be fun.

Rating 4/5 (damage 575 pp.)

(jeera) biscuit

I stumbled upon a few recipes for biscuits, read them and realized it is not that complicated. Since the recipes replaces yeast (as required for bread) by baking powder, chances of failure was low. The preparation time also looked insignificant, order of a few minutes. So decided to try it out. Just to spice up things, added a few cumin (jeera) seeds. Next time should make sure I pre-roast them. The experiment went smoothly, with no surprises, and the biscuits came out nice and crisp. Which makes me hungry, so let me go grab one ...

imf revisited

Went to IMF today. Felt really bad, I think I put on a bit of weight and lost bit of muscle power, at least finger power. Hence the disaster today, or close to that. Next week its nationals, should get back to a regular schedule soon after that. Lets see ...

joy of cooking

I realized that I never write about cooking, though it has been a source , relaxation, and enjoyment for me for years now. I love cooking, and trying to make new things. At some level its looking for an algorithm, given the functions aka spices and other ingredients,. We desire to cook up a concoction that tastes ... delicious. The (sometimes) easier goal is to reverse engineer -- come up with the right mixture and timing to recreate an entree that I have tasted somewhere. Now this taste might be something I have actually tried some place, or have just seen and smelled somwwhere, or in the hardest case just seen a picture and read a description. The second scenario is more interesting, and often fascinating -- mixing up ingredients on the fly to cook up something 'new', guessing the final taste and smell, and off we go. Often this leads to mediocre or bad entrees what are hard to chew down, but sometimes you hit a gem, and that makes up for all the previous failures. Sounds like a general ramble about life.

Yesterday, I tried to make some guava jelly. Its quite mind boggling to imagine the amount of trials and testing it took for whoever came up with the original recipe (I had an idea of what to expect having seen, years back, my mother making jelly ). Definitely not the obvious thing we feel like trying given an overripe fruit. The natural tendency would be to just chuck the fruit. But definitely someone was more adventurous. Quite late into the process, say 15minutes into cooking the real fun happens --- within a very short time the liquid changes consistency, very rapidly. If you have tried it yourself, or seen the process you know what I mean. That type of chemical reaction is so refreshing to witness. Of course in the end you have amazingly fresh jelly to enjoy, while trying to guess what variations one can bring about in the process to get a non-trivial end product. I realize the whole article got very geeky, contrary to what I wanted to put down. Sometimes the end results are hard to predict ;-)

Delhi Half Marathon

(official timings from http://championchipuae.com/results_airtel08.php?search=mitra&si=name&s=Search)

00:47:49

01:01:44

01:57:00

02:07:36

02:01:28

641

459

The respective columns being 7.5km, 10km, 19.3km marks followed by total time, cross finish time (which means i finished in 2hrs 1min 28sec) with a overall position of 641, and 459 in my category whatever that means.


Final timing was 2:07:30 but given when I reached the start point past the holding area, the clock said 5minutes past, so I ran 21.097km in 2:02:30, not bad!

Last week wasn't good for training, since I only ran short loops on Monday and Tuesday, but that was better than nothing. Yesterday, I carbed up -- I think I was eating most of the day, not big serving but servings all the same. For dinner had just pasta without any sauce, and a bit of meat. I probably drank about 6-7 liters of water, might have been more. I was well prepared!

Today I woke up at 5:10am to have a banana, and of course more water. Just before leaving home had a bit of cereals at around 6:30am and some water. I got a ride to the start point (thanks sb), or that was the intention. Soon we realized that there were lots of road blocks for the event, so had to get off a bit early and walk (thanks d for company and support). In effect, reached the start point rather the holding point almost past 7:30am. It took me about 5 minutes of following the dense crowd before making it to the start point. The fun began!

I think I ran the first couple of km quite slow, but got into a nice rhythm soon. From then it was just overtaking people (and being overtaken occasionally) and enjoying the run. Soon it was 4, 8, 10kms .. a few more minutes and turned around after La Meridian -- halfway done.

I do not remember too much exiting things happening after that, the km-markers kept appearing, and I moved on. Overall I think I finished very smoothly running at a steady pace. It felt great!

After the run collected a medal/certificate and some refreshment. Had some food with d, and caught an auto to reach back home. Happy with what I could do, have to wait for a couple of weeks to get the timing certificate.

Enough running around, time to start climbing again.

face to face with BG

http://www.daylife.com/photo/0b5TgQ1h1h7Xq/Microsoft_Corporation

The text: Microsoft founder Bill Gates, right, talks to a student at the launch of Microsoft DreamSpark software in New Delhi, India, Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2008. DearmSpark is a free software for the students around the world with access to the latest Microsoft developer and designer tools.

Interesting to see and understand how media works. I have a feeling that this caption will go to other places along with the AP image :-)

It was an interesting experience. May be I write some notes for myself later on ...

nov 9th .. the big day approaches

I suddenly find myself ill-prepared. I missed one big loop what I wanted to do, and the other factor is the event starts early in the morning. So it will be challenging to get myself nourished before that. I think, saying hydrated might be less of a challenge. Lets see how it goes, I should do at least one loop run today, and one tomorrow -- then rest and eat like a pig :-)

obama wins

now its time for the market to start reacting. it will be great to see how things settle down i expect by end-09 we will start seeing some results. should be good, i am very optimistic, like many others.

Al-Habib

Al-Habib (not the actual name), the tiny shack near the Kharagpur rail station. One of the few times, it took me much more money to reach the place compared to the price of food. A hearty dinner cost me INR 13.5, yes that's a decimal point. I do not how they make it, but definitely one of my favorite places for kebab. Its not the typical old-Delhi kebab of minced meat, its more like chunks of meat suitable spiced. I loved it, not that I expected anything less. It might have been memories (some 10 years old) seeping into the food and obscuring the actual taste. But really, I enjoyed it and that's all it matters.

I went there alone, and was thinking how did we ever got to know the place? Even if I see a place like that today, I will think many times before venturing in. Which is a bit scary thought implying how many such places are there right before us, but still hidden. I think some senior(s) told us about the place a decade back. But following the trace whoever among the iit-kgpites ventured there first time -- big big kudos. If only a similar place was there near iitd but then again whats the point of dreaming. Some things are better if they are far away ...

waves

(... went to imf on saturday: too bad i forgot that sunday was the comp day. anyway had a good session on saturday mostly by myself. was more focused than usual, and had enough calorie in stock :-) )

On sunday evening we decided to check the apparently nice restaurant around the corner: Waves. We were quite impressed by the getup, the place was decorated in style (leaving out the tv-screens), and looked cozy. The service was good, and the people amiable. We liked the ambiance. Things could have been a bit better, if they had a separate bar section: but at least on that evening it was mostly families having dinner.

All good until now. We decided to order some food, since that's why we were there. The descriptions looked tempting, and may be even raised our expectations. We started with soup -- when the soups arrived we had to look around for a while before finding some vermicelli (vermicelli was highlighted in the description in the menu-card). Overall it wasn't bad, quite reasonable infact.

It went downhill from there. Being a place which highlighted Indian food, the choice was obvious -- biriyani and kebab. The quality was ok, but the taste was -- lets just say highly unsatisfactory. The only good part was small portion sizes, saving grace ..

Rating 1.5/5 for food. (damage pp: 410).

Minar

Minar, or the pillar in English, is apparently an old hangout place in Connaught Place. Located in the L-block, its close to the Shankar Market. After a bit of wondering we finally managed to find the place. It was crowded even on a week day, which gave us some confidence about the place. We were hungry, and promptly ordered food. The kebab (kalmi) was really good, and the m. rarra was rich but very tasty. It seem like a place out of the 80s, with lots of nostalgia in the ambiance. The service was prompt and polite, so nothing to complain there. They had some classics on the menu, items that are gradually fading from most places -- we had casatta ice-cream after a long time. Overall a nice place, but given there are so many other places to try out, its unlikely we will head back there soon.

imf

Went to imf yesterday: good company and some basic climbing effort. I felt quite weak and could only pull off a few moves. The bouldering section was ok, but i failed in the rope section. I should get some chalk soon, and definitely make sure I have a few calories in stock before I reach there :-)

Went for a shortish run (7k) on Sunday.

longer run ..

13.65km in 1hr 29mins .. so 2hr 20mins for half marathon; sloppy time keeping from my side so may be a bit better than that. but overall it felt good and relaxed.

kwality (cp, delhi)

bathura -- one of the best in town, simply amazing. also the special pudding is worth a try (if you have someone to share, else its too big).

improved timing

2 laps - 8.4km in 48mins -- looks like under 2hr half marathon might happen! lets see. i need to get myself something for my knees.

ran again

big loop -- once -- 4.2km/23mins; need to be faster!

united coffee house

Nice place, beautiful ambiance (a bit on the loud side), lovely service, great food -- all the components for a gem. Definitely worth visiting, but there is only so much time ...

can it get any worse?

I was reading http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/02/world/africa/02zimbabwe.html?_r=1&oref=slogin. I found it very difficult to read, I had to stop quite a few times before I managed to make my way through the two page article. The descriptions were crippling and painful to read. Its beyond me to even imagine fighting in such a situation. For the people concerned they are suffering (do we call this suffering) for no direct fault of theirs. From being breadbasket of the world, the place has been successfully transformed (yes, part of this transformation is intentional and done by only a few people in power, but then again those are the ones who count) to a death trap. Its not fair, life is hardly ever fair. In one part of the world we witness a 700b bailout, while a few thousand miles away people are struggling to get along with $1-2/week. What's the value of money in a country where the currency has failed. Does anyone care? There's two broad possibilities: everyone gets along in livable conditions with some doing better than others, or a few gets everything in the world living amidst all the glitter and joy money can buy, and for the rest -- survival of the fittest. Even animals live in much better conditions, they get a fairer shot at life. All we do is think how bad the situation is for some (some being determined by where you are born, doomed at birth), but really can we even guess what some have to go through. We get only one life, so not really that surprising that people fight on to survive just hoping that tomorrow ...

training

was a good day for my training: 3 loops, 12.66km, 1hr 23mins. need to speed up a bit, but there's more than a month to go. i hope i should be fine!

yesterday was at imf. it was so strange. it was one of those days. i reached the place, and headed over to the bouldering place. after only a few minutes i felt something wasnt right, i felt weak. the mosquitoes were also a few too many. anyway i threw myself at a few boulder problems, and roof sections for the next hour or so (didnt check exactly how long). eventually, i moved over to the rope section. unlike the bouldering wall where i was alone, the rope section has a few takers. specially a group of four training for the nationals. so what more, i joined the fun. i was definitely weaker than most days, which was frustrating. but on the positive side it was perfect for training, working on techniques, overhangs, and drop knee. we climbed for a long time, i was there at imf for about 2.5hrs. a real nice and long session, just too many mosquitoes for any comfort. on my way back got some cream which should sort the mosquito problem from next time. what remains is i should really get some chalk, and then back to basics.

the best part of imf was the mid air collision with someone taking a fall, and i trying to prevent the belayer (there was a big weight mismatch) -- in the process i got some painful memories on my left shoulder. its much better now. i was a bit worried ... good experience.

vote again

ok this is much more like what i expected -- voting again for 700b bill. this time we know whats going to happen. if there are no surprises (i doubt), then the thursday vice-presidency debate should be fun as both parties will try to claim it as their 'success'. its a bit too predictable, i mean the initial reaction -- the market (global) will surge ahead, and things will be good for a few more weeks/months. it only gets interesting after than say in 6months or 1year. will this be a long term solution, or encourage more rash investments? lets see ..

failed bill

very surprised to see that the bill failed! spoke too soon. the world looks on.

rescue bill

A very interesting and important week begins. After the announcement of the rescue bill the market, not just US but global market is sure to bounce back. What remains to be seen, and is difficult to judge now, how it will affect the market in the long run -- even in a few months. Quite a few reading to be done.

Rajinder da Dhaba ... revisited

Ok this time we made no mistake, we went to the real one, the one tucked away behind the flashy Rajinder Express, et al. We ordered butter chicken, mutton barra, and naan -- the food was good, nothing out of the world, but definitely one of the good places in South Delhi. The food wasnt overly spicy or oily, the naan-s were really freshly baked and huge! It was worth watching a team of 3 men hauling in huge pots of cooked meat to efficiently replace the empty ones. The place does very brisk business.

campus loop ..

twice, 50mins. D-day being 9th November.

imf-ing

I know its bad English, but could not help it. It was fun yesterday, the big wall was open after a while. I had a nice bouldering session, mostly by myself, for a little over an hour. Then moved on to the rope section, where an interesting, knee-bending, and at times powerful route has been put up --- I got through about 2/3rd of it after my 3 attempts. Hoping to go there on Sunday to try again, and again, ... Meanwhile I can think ...

felt good

ran yesterday, and ran in good time!

wall street

whoh its getting really interesting. first the $90B bailout, and now a proposed $900B bailout. its a serious business here, it better work otherwise might be lot of unrest and rippling effects to follow. i should definitely read up a bit to see whats being predicted. sort of feeling ill-informed at many places.

imf

after dropping off D at the railway station, i took an auto to south campus, the destination being imf. there was some sort of selection going on for the national team. the bouldering wall was empty and i had it to myself for a solid 70-80mins. i was quite tired at the end, and with the number of mosquitoes growing remarkably fast decided it was wise to just head back to campus.

running

went for a longish run (30mins) yesterday, was good. feeling a bit down on health, hope its just something like and passing. lets see if i feel like going to imf today.

an afternoon in the old city

Having read a few mouthwatering reviews and rants about Haji Noor Mohammed Biryaniwale near Turkman gate, we realized that we have to try it out. The auto-rickshaw dropped us off near the Romila grounds. Initial queries about Ellaichi Wali Gali met with blank stares, and we missed a few heartbeats. Braving the intense sun, we pushed forward lamenting the lack of a pavement or a covered walkway. Having reached the Turkman Gate, we enjoyed the historic gate for sometime --- more in its ruins rather than in its glory. There were plenty of fruit stalls around selling fresh fruits, but it was too early for a fruit break. After about 100m we found the famed Ellaichi Wali Gali, and the second store on the left was ... you know what. The initial impression was not good, but we were prepared for that. We went into the store past the giant pot of biriyani: at this point there was not too much aroma floating around. Biriyani sells here for Rs 60/kilo, we ordered two small plates wondering if it was all a mistake. The service was prompt, and the guy was very efficient. The first spoon of rice/biriyani was ... great, yummy, excellent. After a few spoonfuls, we decided it was finally time to try out the meat --- I wont even try to describe the feeling, since i dont know what to compare it to. One word of advice, if you are in the area, or for that matter in Delhi, give the place a try ignoring all odds. We ordered one more plate, and promptly cleaned it off. From there we went to Khadi Bauli for our spice shopping. On the way home, we had some lassi from Gyani and also were lucky to finally find ghantewalla -- yes their ladoos are really awesome. Too much good stuff for one day ...

need for power

or is it technique? was at the imf bouldering comp today -- masters level (should have competed in advanced, since masters was mainly the pro-category). anyway, it was good to be out and competing. i lacked focus ans planning, though got further than i initially thought. next time, i should be more calm, and speak to myself. itching to go back on wednesday and try the routes, specially the second one (total there were two routes, 4mins each). enough fun for sunday morning, time to catch up on work a bit!

secular canteen

aka mezban. i came back from imf, and the lights went off. so we decided to go for a walk followed by dinner. a nice walk across the campus brought us close to the jnu. in spite of it being a friday evening, when mezban is known for being super busy we went there. surprisingly it was empty! only later d unraveled the mystery -- minor 1 starts next day, of course! the food was great, we dined sumptuously on dal, tandoor alu, and some mutton preparation whose name i cant recall. after dinner, we headed back home -- a half-hour walk saw us home. it wasnt too hot, though it was sultry which seems to be the norm in delhi these days. more later.

feeling stretched

I know this is normal in this age, but i try to avoid this state. Of late I have been unsuccessful, miserably unsuccessful, and its obvious the less updates I have been putting in (for myself) in this diary. My reading has also been sketchy. At least going to imf and running -- two things I have managed to keep up, and some time spent on odd evenings for relaxing cooking. I should start combining cooking and a bit of reading. Anyway lets hope that today I am productive and manage to catch up on a few things, one or two ....

osaka

the japanese place near to hauz khas. its a tiny place, but the food is good. went there after an afternoon at IMF -- my second time this week. My fingers are sore due to the usual excuse but it feels good that way! more later.

really?

From today's newspaper: "A recent report of the National Family Health Survey 2005-06, says 47 per cent women in Uttar Pradesh believe it is justifiable for their husbands to beat up them. But what comes as a surprise is that the number of men who subscribe to this view is less — 44 per cent."

The last sentence is indeed very depressing. I am curious what % of this consists of urban population. Also its worth to note that this is just dealing with physical abuse, verbal abuse being not counted for. My guess is if that was included the numbers will be much higher --- even the notion of whats acceptable level of physical/mental abuse is can vary across person (although really the only acceptable level is NIL). Moving away from numbers, what does this really imply. It just shows us we do not honor our women enough, and for whatever reason women of our country have low self-respect. Its a culmination of how they are treated, their education, environment, myths, etc. Overall quite depressing -- no amount of economic improvement counts until we can address such a basic issue. The only comparable one may be basic education.

back in delhi

The week in LA was crazy. The conference was nice, quite nice. Spend too much time preparing for talks and practicing to myself. In the end it paid off, though missed quite a few parties. Met lots of people, and had a few interesting discussing sessions. Hope to carry forward a few of the work. Spend a relaxing day in San Diego, and then am back in Delhi. Hoping that I get some time to write up more details about the 'lost week' so that I have some record to look back for later days. May be I do that ... but not sure if I get to that.

nuthouse

After a nice dinner at the cuban place on california avenue, we went to nuthouse. Lot of folks showed up -- in no particular order, daniel, nils, primoz, hao, maks, jared, mike, and a few others from the climbing club. We hangout there for a while, talked about how things are going. It was nice evening! Devasree spend the day at monterey .. and the evening with me.

homecoming

Visiting Stanford for a few days. It feels good to be back here. For a change, Devasree is also traveling with me -- sweet. The lab is same in some aspects, and different in others. Difference mainly stemming from new members, getting to know the new kids. Went down to pg with Ren yesterday. Felt good to be back on the wall, did a couple of 11a for a change. The bouldering was good, but nothing spectacular. The Stanford gym was also a nice change, tons of memories, but all new faces --- only knew Ekin! May be meet Jared one of these days. We go for a drive today ....

whats cool about cuil?

So what's the big deal with cuil? Is there a big deal? Is this going to be the next google? Here's what i think: its too early to make a call. The current trend on the web (reddit, and other news gathering sites) is people are not happy, there are screenshots of unacceptable search answers, or keywords which fail badly. Well what else do we expect? Even though I believe that the system was tested for some users (depends on the numbers of users), but when such a system is opened to the world, and get PR as top newsites, it's expected that the system will crash, bugs will be found! So may be we should just wait for sometime before passing a judgment like this is stupid, retarded, or this is awesome, great. Playing the devil' advocate, who knows what the top search companies are up to --- it is in their interest that such a new search engine (hyped or otherwise) is killed at the infant stages. So I will just wait and see how the game unfolds. Its difficult to trust any source these days, like how much can you trust this (biased?) opinion?

tarka et al.

campus loop + gndx2 -> 33mins

found a cool shortcut or rather a narrow alley through kalu sarai. suddenly malvia nagar looks much closer now. also we found this tiny (?) food place (tarka) in kalu sarai, a good option for a lazy evening. the food is not spicy, at least the ones we ordered were almost home-cooked!

imf

was there one more time. it rained quite a bit in the afternoon, so the big(?) wall was closed. the cave was open, and the holds were mostly lying on the ground. had fun setting up a couple of nice routes, and also trying some of the comp routes! may be head back on wednesday ... wishful thinking?

i ran

campus loop, 25mins.

ran today

campus loop (short) 20mins.

an evening at imf

Yes I finally made it to IMF. It was a typical muggy Delhi evening, the heat was not too much just the humidity was high. I had a great time at IMF bouldering cave (more of a mini cave) and then spend sometime on the wall. It felt good, though the routes (specially those on the wall) felt difficult. The roof was tricky, but in a few more sessions I may cross the lip ... lets see. Got the annual membership. Hope I can make it one more time this week! The way back was funny, I got into a share auto for the first time in Delhi -- which meant I had a quick trip back home.

INA market and Delhi haat

There is little common between the two other than the geographic proximity --- located on two sides of the main road. Another common feature is both are definitely worth visiting, if not for the wide, surprisingly wide, variety of things on can see and buy there, just for the sheer pleasure of seeing so much art/skills and strange food products (depending on which side of the street you are on).

The Delhi Haat, a meeting place for artisans from all over India and buyers from Delhi. The stalls are basic, and set up with lots of space in between. Although many of the stores are there for multiple sessions, there are always some new arrivals, and thus surprises!

INA market a place to go shopping for exotic spices, fresh vegetables of all types, and of course fish and meat. There is also this old watch mechanic who is unusually modest specially given his skills, knowledge and dexterity. If you are in the area definitely visit both the places. Jack told me that he used to frequent INA market when he was in town, and I can totally see why. Lastly, INA market has a tiny stall selling the best momos in Delhi (of course among the ones we have tried).

joy of coding

Well summarized in this posting: http://duartes.org/gustavo/blog/post/lucky-to-be-a-programmer. Its all about passion, and not having to explain your strange 'working hours' to others. Its just about coding, it applies broadly to thinking for work, not necessarily at work.

how guys think?

a new rating system: http://putupyourdukes.wordpress.com/2008/07/14/the-area-code-rating-system-why-1-10-just-isnt-enough/. Lets not get too much into details but its definitely a fun read. Specially the examples.

why do I blog

A strange question, and I dont have a convincing answer to that. But then again do I need one? Isnt it enough that I enjoy writing about things I feel were important moments, passing thoughts, or just a way of unwinding at the end of the day. Does it matter if others pass by this page, does it matter if I write something personal and others come to read about it, and I worried? I guess its kind of daring to write down thoughts in public view, on a board there once written its hard to erase. Its no longer the personal diary of yester years, its a online diary opening myself to the world for some unknown reason. Opening myself to criticism, holding myself naked with my intense thoughts jotted down. In short, such thoughts dont bother me, at least not now, may be in a few months, years I will feel stupid and hope that I never did write like this. But then again who has seen the future. I live in the present, and plan only for next few days to come. Its definitely a stupid way to live, but its my way, I way I am comfortable with. Coming back to the question, is this e-equivalent question of why do we live? Philosophical queries that have stumped people for ages and its something everyone has to come up with their own recipe. Its a mean of coming to terms to oneself. The other option is not to think about such things and follow others, the mass. Enough fooling around for now, time to get back to work .. Just a parting thought -- when is a blog successful? When there are many visitors, readers, etc. or is it when there is someone who reads in and may be get connected, start a discussion. Or may be success if writing an entry helps clear up some logic for myself, its a mean of writing to myself, speaking to myself, trying to keep a structured though going, without giving myself the option to go back and clean up the writing. A blog to me is not a polished piece of writing or essay, but more a raw record of thoughts as they occur, sometimes in sequence and structured, while at others all at once, and then the fun begins .... Good luck to anyone trying to decipher that ;-)

back home and something to worry about

Ok I am back. Its cool and wet here -- monsoon with all its glory. Everything is very green, infact in many places its green were its not supposed to be! But again I should get used to the idea, and enjoy the rain while its out there.

Just read: http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/07/06/eco.chocolate/index.html --- drop, steep drop in production expected for chocolate, over next 20 years. May be just a grim view with the world? Or just another exaggerated news report? I think this will further the push for artificial 'chocolate' or just sugar painted brown. But where do I get my dark love? Somehow things will work out, thats we hope for always, thats what makes it worth pushing forward always, no matter when, no matter how tough and bleak it all looks ...

schneeberg .. JS

Joe Stickler Gedächtnisweg (http://www.bergsteigen.at/de/touren.aspx?ID=224), a new route from 2002. After having to wait for about a year it was about time. The middle section some 6-7 pitches were exceptional. The climbing felt natural, the holds just enough, the friction amazing, and the pockets ... well may be deep will be an understatement, the pockets were bottomless. The pitch rated 7, was not a climbing route, it was a boulder problem, a hard one! The moves a sequence of 4-5 moves (if i didnt miss something) were powerful, pumpy, and felt heavenish! Had a great time! Hannes also agreed.

When is it time to give up?

Was back at Backerstrasse. Had a solid session with some overlap with Niki. We tried this one move some 10-20 times (may be another 20-25 times on tuesday). The move didnt look very difficult, and it was gentle on the fingers but still it was just not happening. After much grunting and cursing, I finally got it clean -- it really really felt good. We went to Alt Wien for a quick celebration.

Merde happens

How true is that, it does again, and again, and again. I felt like writing something yesterday, may be thought I should write something yesterday but somehow didn't. It was a busy day, a long day at work, but overall not a very long day. I was really on a low in the late afternoon, early evening, after things went completely opposite to how I wanted them to. However, it was one of those moments when you realize the value of doing things just by yourself, my inner self being the best friend. Like memories from books, music, and of course climbing, what else.

I was too tired to think about work. I just remembered about the rocks I had hugged recently, how gentle they felt, warm, tender (only once a bit too hot leaving some scars or shall we say love-bites), and at times grippy. I really cant explain, but it seems that they do have feelings and are there always waiting or rather craving for a gentle touch, a close hug, or eager to hear cries of agony of folks failing to make it in the initial attempts. Indeed with enough tries, even the impossible becomes achievable, not always, but sometimes --- who am I to talk about that. If even if doesn't, still worth the tries -- worth the pain and efforts that went in vain. Leaves us stronger, or does it? Just inspiring to hear Sharma talk about 100-s of times/sessions he tries the super hard moves before he can get them. Shows dedication, faith, perfection, focus ... things that makes climbing worth all the effort. So relaxing. In the end I just thought about the last week, various holds and embraces, moments to cherish, and guess what -- in a few minutes (well it took longer) -- I was back to my usual self. So Merde happens, but then you talk to yourself, pick up yourself, and move on with life -- its a wonderful life, isn't it?

time to move on

It Sunday 29th, time to move back for another week in Vienna. The last four days were hot and eventful. Got some work done, with lots of discussions -- only time will tell if thats useful. Did get 3 sessions of climbing, twice at fluntern and once at gallerie. Did a couple of difficult climbs, well by my standard. I will be tired when I reach Vienna today, but tomorrow should be back at office .. lets hope so!

zurich

reached safely. after a bit of work, since it was a bit late int he evening, went to fluntern by the zoo for some climbing. the climbs were doable with only a few impossible ones for me. much better than last year! may be one more session. get to meet hal today. lets hope that the next 2-3 days are productive workwise ;-) it was warm if not hot yesterday, today its much nicer. reading bryson's shakespeare (after reading the book got confused with the many variations of the spelling ... ) should finish it before i am back in vienna.

Thalhofergrat

It was a bright Sunday morning, the day promised to be a hot one. I reached Andreas place a little after 9am and then we pushed off to Thalhofergrat (http://www.bergsteigen.at/de/touren.aspx?ID=464). We had a no nonsense session of about 6hours. The climbs were superb! Well not all of them, a couple were a bit easy, but the rest were perfekt! Its been a while, and my fingers were blistered from yesterday's hot rocks (Donau-kanal) but still there were enough in them to pull me through. Had a lot of fun. More later .. time to head out to see Italy-Spain clash.

back at backerstrasse

June 17th 6:30-8:30pm: Went back to Backerstrasse after a long, long break -- it was about time. Climbing was relaxing, not too taxing on the fingers, and the company great. Hope to head back soon! Surprised myself with a few moves -- looks like my fingers still remembers a few tricks. Lets see how it does on tougher ones. May sneak back today, if not, tomorrow .. Lets see how things go. Weather has been good here. First day in Vienna was good at work and play. A few more busy days to follow ...

IMF

After days of dilly dally, finally I made it to IMF again -- after a gap of almost 2 months. I was there for most of 2.5hrs. The place hasnt changed much, though I have lost some power, specially my fingers felt weak. The good news is the fingers were not stiff, and I felt some urge to push on. I felt light which helped a lot. It was quite humid, though not too hot -- I was missing some chalk in my bag as I sweated on and off. The great thing was there were a bunch of some 6-7 kids who seemed quite enthusiastic and putting in their best. It was great to see that summer breaks are being put to good use :-) More later ...

in search of rajinder's dhaba

After stopping over at Colonel's Kebab at Defense Colony, we headed over to Green Parl/Yousuf Sarai in search of Kamal Cinema, our ultimate goal being rajinder's dhaba. However, after a few miles of walking and asking around, we were a bit surprised to find the place -- but contrary to what we have heard, the place has transformed from a dhaba/shack to a more standard restaurant. The food was ok, nothing spectacular. The biriyani that we ordered was more a glorified fried rice, while the fried fish lacked some zest. On the positive side, the restaurant was comfortable and clean, the food was brought in without must fuss. May be we will give it one more try ... some curry and nan might be the highlight of the place? Last comment: the place have started to sell chinese food!

a new place pops up

Chi: a fusion joint in SDA market. Wonder how long it will survive. I cannot make up my mind about whether I like it or now. The ambiance was great, the food palatable, the lamp shades unusual. The place was surprisingly empty even on a Friday night, but given it stays open until 1am, may be people show up later? I liked the plates and the pots, quite stylish and elegant. Overall had a good relaxing evening, but then again the place didnt fit among its surroundings. May be thats how Delhi is overall -- mixed surprises ...

old delhi

Along with Devasree, I ventured out yet again deep into old Delhi. Well may be its a bit of an overstatement, we just went to Khari Baoli, and then towards Jama Masjid crawling through a dense maze of rickshaws, cars, cycles, what not. We were carrying too much stuff (from the many stores of Khari Boali) making movement sluggish and restricted. The highlight was stopping by at Mi'ans shack for a helping of gola kebab, also known as sutli kebab (being too soft, they have to be delicately held with sting before starting to grill over charcoal). To say the least, it was heavenly. Ok more later.