A month or so ago, I shifted to a new blog. You know, with all the new lifestyle and change and lifestyle-change and in general shifting places, we thought that why not move to something new. As I am a humble, modest person, I have chosen to call the blog "A Class Apart." If you didn't understand, it's a pun on my awesomeness and the fact that I'm in a class which is far far away from home (thus "apart" .... get it, get it?).
So update your RSS feeds and bookmarks, you don't want to miss this.
To change (clinks glass)!
Monday, 25 October 2010
Thursday, 9 September 2010
One Last Day
Early morning tomorrow, I would have left India. To undertake a journey which will keep me away from my country for the longest period till date. And although I am typing this, I realize that it has still not sunk in ... I am going away.
Yesterday night, when I was returning after a evening filled with beer-drinking and merry-making, sitting in Harman's car with all my friends; listening to Punjabi songs; driving the roads of Delhi in the night when it had just stopped raining. That's when I realized that I was going to miss all of it -- all of India. I was part of India and India was a part of me. Beer makes you philosophical, I guess.
So I flip the page of my life's book and begin a new chapter ... wish me luck!
Yesterday night, when I was returning after a evening filled with beer-drinking and merry-making, sitting in Harman's car with all my friends; listening to Punjabi songs; driving the roads of Delhi in the night when it had just stopped raining. That's when I realized that I was going to miss all of it -- all of India. I was part of India and India was a part of me. Beer makes you philosophical, I guess.
So I flip the page of my life's book and begin a new chapter ... wish me luck!
Saturday, 4 September 2010
Hypocrisy of Welfare
I want to help the poor, but I won't.
I will not give money to the charity-worker; he might be swindling me.
I will not give alms to the beggar; he looks fit and could work.
I will not buy from the poor person selling balloons; I don't need balloons.
I want to help the poor, but I won't.
I will not give money to the charity-worker; he might be swindling me.
I will not give alms to the beggar; he looks fit and could work.
I will not buy from the poor person selling balloons; I don't need balloons.
I want to help the poor, but I won't.
Tuesday, 31 August 2010
The Return of the Passport Ordeal -- Success
To recap, I had a short term validity passport which was expiring in December 2010. I had to get it renewed, before I left for the US.
Yesterday, after 3 months of tension, running around government offices, standing in queues, bribing people (also known as: helping others help me; chai-paani; fees; mithai ke paise), I finally got the passport in my hands. It's now valid till 2015.
In most cases any government process (sarkaari kaam) is slow. It has always been slow. And it always will be slow. People, including me, never want to realize that. We are still living in a dream that India has gotten technologically advanced, and all that advancement has trickled into the place known as the government office. Making it a fast, streamlined, well-oiled organization. Not so.
The government office is a part of the Indian Experience, but something which can very easily get you frustrated.
The frustration is especially evident in the queues. These long, slow moving lines are filled with tension, anger, and a ton of ideas on improving productivity. Of course, the ideas only apply to people on the other side of the counter -- the government officials. Few of the ideas which I have noted:
In my experience, women jump queues more often than men. Maybe these women feel that there is no explicit women's line, and are just correcting that mistake. But I guess the reason, men don't jump queues that often is because they will get beaten up. Women, not so.
But after dealing with all the queues, the people, the wait, the heat and humidity, the dripping AC, the rude security guard, when you finally get what you want, it's some feeling. Till 2015. Bye bye passport office.
Yesterday, after 3 months of tension, running around government offices, standing in queues, bribing people (also known as: helping others help me; chai-paani; fees; mithai ke paise), I finally got the passport in my hands. It's now valid till 2015.
In most cases any government process (sarkaari kaam) is slow. It has always been slow. And it always will be slow. People, including me, never want to realize that. We are still living in a dream that India has gotten technologically advanced, and all that advancement has trickled into the place known as the government office. Making it a fast, streamlined, well-oiled organization. Not so.
The government office is a part of the Indian Experience, but something which can very easily get you frustrated.
The frustration is especially evident in the queues. These long, slow moving lines are filled with tension, anger, and a ton of ideas on improving productivity. Of course, the ideas only apply to people on the other side of the counter -- the government officials. Few of the ideas which I have noted:
- Everything should computerized! -- People say this even if a major portion of the task is in fact computerized.
- There should be more counters! -- Evidently, so that there can be more queues and more ideas.
- Wow this guy is so slow, he should learn typing -- Something which I always think when I'm in a queue.
In my experience, women jump queues more often than men. Maybe these women feel that there is no explicit women's line, and are just correcting that mistake. But I guess the reason, men don't jump queues that often is because they will get beaten up. Women, not so.
But after dealing with all the queues, the people, the wait, the heat and humidity, the dripping AC, the rude security guard, when you finally get what you want, it's some feeling. Till 2015. Bye bye passport office.
Wednesday, 25 August 2010
Routine Post
Days have been passing by with nothing much happening. I have settled down to a new routine. In which most of the day is spent between browsing the internet and reading from a number of books which I have purchased. My current taste of literature is mostly modern history non-fiction and anti-war or dystopian fiction.
After lunch, I usually sleep for an hour or two. I wake up in excitement to check the status of my visa. It's always excitement, followed by disappointment and then frustration. My visa is always "pending process" where others' are "issued." I hate this wait. Yeah, "Don't worry, it will come through."
Late in the evenings I try to go for a run. Mostly this ends up being short 5Ks, with average times. It's been a long time since I did a run longer than 10KM. There has been a slight but bothersome pain in my left knee which has been there for 2-3 weeks. It gives me another excuse for my poor mileage. I should probably get it checked out.
Not being at work is not as bad as it seems. In fact it's quite pleasurable. But the only thing frustrating me right now is not knowing where things are headed.
After lunch, I usually sleep for an hour or two. I wake up in excitement to check the status of my visa. It's always excitement, followed by disappointment and then frustration. My visa is always "pending process" where others' are "issued." I hate this wait. Yeah, "Don't worry, it will come through."
Late in the evenings I try to go for a run. Mostly this ends up being short 5Ks, with average times. It's been a long time since I did a run longer than 10KM. There has been a slight but bothersome pain in my left knee which has been there for 2-3 weeks. It gives me another excuse for my poor mileage. I should probably get it checked out.
Not being at work is not as bad as it seems. In fact it's quite pleasurable. But the only thing frustrating me right now is not knowing where things are headed.
Tuesday, 17 August 2010
US/Israel war against Iran imminent?
Iran is a country which has had cultural ties with India for a long time. It's also the 3rd largest oil reserve in the world.
Of late there have been a number of articles being written on the possibility of a US/Israel war against Iran. The bone of contention is Iran's nuclear program, which Iran concedes is for energy purposes. US, Israel and other countries think not. They feel that Iran is in the process of building a nuclear bomb.
Other than to maintain the dominant position in the middle east and some strategic reasons, the articles give reasons to justify a preemptive strike on Iran. These are:
When Turkey and Brazil brokered a deal with Iran which met the requirements of the UN security council to prevent sanctions, it was greeted with skepticism. The weeks following that saw sanctions from the US, UN and the European Union.
While all this was going on the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline, talks of which have been going on for decades (since 1990), was caught in the crossfire. Pakistan signed the deal with Iran in June. The US first said that it was OK with Pakistan's deal on the pipeline and then changed its statement, saying "new sanctions on Iran can impact Pakistan." India is currently not talking about the pipeline.
But coming back to the arguments presented in the articles. Regarding non proliferation. Who has the majority of the nuclear weapons in the world and in the middle east region? Which countries are not part of the NPT but possess nuclear weapons? Where is the effort to disarm these states?
As far as violating International Law and undermining UN is concerned, a preemptive strike itself is against International Law (under Article 2 of the UN charter) and would undermine UN (which ostensibly doesn't want war).
The articles fail to assess the impact such a war will have on the people of Iran and the soldiers who will fight. Another war will only lead to more innocent losing their lives. More suffering. More tragedies.
We can just hope that it doesn't happen.
Of late there have been a number of articles being written on the possibility of a US/Israel war against Iran. The bone of contention is Iran's nuclear program, which Iran concedes is for energy purposes. US, Israel and other countries think not. They feel that Iran is in the process of building a nuclear bomb.
Other than to maintain the dominant position in the middle east and some strategic reasons, the articles give reasons to justify a preemptive strike on Iran. These are:
- If Iran acquires nuclear weapons, then that will be a blow to the nuclear nonproliferation effort.
- The U.N and International Law will be undermined, because Iran has signed the NPT. If Iran acquires nuclear weapons, that would be a violation of the treaty.
When Turkey and Brazil brokered a deal with Iran which met the requirements of the UN security council to prevent sanctions, it was greeted with skepticism. The weeks following that saw sanctions from the US, UN and the European Union.
While all this was going on the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline, talks of which have been going on for decades (since 1990), was caught in the crossfire. Pakistan signed the deal with Iran in June. The US first said that it was OK with Pakistan's deal on the pipeline and then changed its statement, saying "new sanctions on Iran can impact Pakistan." India is currently not talking about the pipeline.
But coming back to the arguments presented in the articles. Regarding non proliferation. Who has the majority of the nuclear weapons in the world and in the middle east region? Which countries are not part of the NPT but possess nuclear weapons? Where is the effort to disarm these states?
As far as violating International Law and undermining UN is concerned, a preemptive strike itself is against International Law (under Article 2 of the UN charter) and would undermine UN (which ostensibly doesn't want war).
The articles fail to assess the impact such a war will have on the people of Iran and the soldiers who will fight. Another war will only lead to more innocent losing their lives. More suffering. More tragedies.
We can just hope that it doesn't happen.
"War is Peace" - 1984, George Orwell
Sunday, 15 August 2010
Change of Perspective
Ever since I can remember the Indian common people have had a great admiration for USA.
I remember when American President Bill Clinton and Microsoft CEO Bill Gates first arrived in India. Both of them were greeted with great fervour. Bill Clinton was mobbed wherever he went (all out of admiration). They had never done any wrong and they could do no wrong. Mostly that was the attitude.
When I used to think of America, the picture would be that of a rich, developed nation. Which had some problems in the past, but most of them were solved.
Who hasn't the heard the line "This is India not America", when you complained about the roads, the traffic; when you had to wait 3 months for your passport to get issued; when there was a power-cut or water shortage, etc? Or the fact that in a lot of our advertisements, the word of the American expert is taken to be the truth. Or when we see American expert teams come to India, to coach Indians about Indian problems. Or when students go to America to gain a better education. American superiority is taken for granted in all fields.
But at the same time, some men (I have never heard women say this) feel that there are some problems being in America. You lose some freedom, they say. The loss being that one can't urinate, spit and dump garbage in the open. A great loss indeed.
But what is the USA? Is it a piece of land in Northern America? Is it the people living there? Is it the government of that land mass? Or is it a combination of all of the above?
And why is America admired? Does it truly have no problems?
Over the past months I have read multiple books and documentaries on America, its history. The books, the movies have all been made by dissenting voices. They don't paint a rosy picture.
Here are a few points which I gleaned from them:
Picture a person working in Bangalore, wearing a Levi's jeans, sipping on diet Coke, eating at McDonald's, working for a US based corporation. That's what we all want to become when we graduate from college. It's approved by everyone and is equated with success and well-being.
Well actually the pervasiveness and the influence of American corporations and governments on India has been there for quite some time now. It's just that my eyes have opened up and the perspective has been changed.
From admirer, I have become an observer, maybe even a critic.
References:
If you are interested in the literature which will help you understand this, here are some references. The list includes books and movies.
I remember when American President Bill Clinton and Microsoft CEO Bill Gates first arrived in India. Both of them were greeted with great fervour. Bill Clinton was mobbed wherever he went (all out of admiration). They had never done any wrong and they could do no wrong. Mostly that was the attitude.
When I used to think of America, the picture would be that of a rich, developed nation. Which had some problems in the past, but most of them were solved.
Who hasn't the heard the line "This is India not America", when you complained about the roads, the traffic; when you had to wait 3 months for your passport to get issued; when there was a power-cut or water shortage, etc? Or the fact that in a lot of our advertisements, the word of the American expert is taken to be the truth. Or when we see American expert teams come to India, to coach Indians about Indian problems. Or when students go to America to gain a better education. American superiority is taken for granted in all fields.
But at the same time, some men (I have never heard women say this) feel that there are some problems being in America. You lose some freedom, they say. The loss being that one can't urinate, spit and dump garbage in the open. A great loss indeed.
But what is the USA? Is it a piece of land in Northern America? Is it the people living there? Is it the government of that land mass? Or is it a combination of all of the above?
And why is America admired? Does it truly have no problems?
Over the past months I have read multiple books and documentaries on America, its history. The books, the movies have all been made by dissenting voices. They don't paint a rosy picture.
Here are a few points which I gleaned from them:
- America has the largest military budget in the world. It has got military bases all over the world. It has been involved in numerous wars. A number of which have been fought for reasons which were later proven to be untrue. It has also been pointed out that on repeated occasions the American governments have preferred military intervention over diplomatic settlement.
- In spite of being the richest country in the world, USA still has 13.2 percent (39.8 million people) of its population living in poverty. The top 1% of the population own 33% of America's wealth. In fact some believe that both the Democratic and Republican parties largely represent US corporate power (top 1%) than people's interests.
- The US health care industry is largely privatized and quite expensive. Unlike other developed countries (Canda, UK, France) it doesn't have universal health care. India, by the way, does have universal health care. Even the private medical expenses are far cheaper here than the USA.
- The US food industry is in control of a few corporations. Most of the food industry is corn based. A number of food products are genetically engineered and patented. This includes seed and livestock. There have been cases when regular farmers have been prosecuted for patent infringement. The corporation, Monsanto, which was behind the farmers' prosecution in the US also has a branch in India. If you remember the BT-Brinjal case -- that was Monsanto.
- USA is a large consumer of plastics. Petroleum based plastics are not bio-degradable, which means that unless they are recycled they either end up in a landfill or end up polluting the land and the seas. The rate of recycling plastics in the US is 28%, whereas that in India is estimated to be 60%.
Picture a person working in Bangalore, wearing a Levi's jeans, sipping on diet Coke, eating at McDonald's, working for a US based corporation. That's what we all want to become when we graduate from college. It's approved by everyone and is equated with success and well-being.
Well actually the pervasiveness and the influence of American corporations and governments on India has been there for quite some time now. It's just that my eyes have opened up and the perspective has been changed.
From admirer, I have become an observer, maybe even a critic.
References:
If you are interested in the literature which will help you understand this, here are some references. The list includes books and movies.
- Hegemony or Survival, Noam Chomsky.
- Manufacturing Consent, Noam Chomsky.
- Hopes and Prospects, Noam Chomsky.
- A People's History of the United States, Howard Zinn.
- The Responsibility of Intellectuals, Noam Chomsky
- Food Inc, Robert Kenner
- Fahrenheit 9/11, Michael Moore
- Addicted to Plastic, Ian Connacher
- Bowling for Columbine, Michael Moore
- Sicko, Michael Moore
- Capitalism: A love story, Michael Moore
- Taxi Ride to the Dark Side, Alex Gibney
- The Corporation, Mark Achbar
Tuesday, 27 July 2010
Visa Interview
I had my Visa Interview in the Chennai Consulate today. The interview was scheduled at 8:30 AM, but by the time my turn came it was already 10:30 AM.
The interview consisted of the standard questions ("Why are you going for MS?", "Who is paying for you?", "What have you been doing since your under graduation?", "What was your aggregate percentage?") and I
gave satisfactory answers. There weren't any awkward questions or moments. And just when I thought I was through, I was told that my visa is going to be held up for administrative processing.
For the administrative pre-processing -- done in counter F -- they took my passport and other documents. When I told the person behind counter F, that my classes start in September, she said that I had enough time. Though she also said that the processing will take 4-8 weeks (the 221 G slip says 12 weeks).
Let's see what happens.
Meanwhile mom and dad think that I'm down in the dumps -- I'm not. At the same time my friends and fellow UCLA batch-mates (?) are consoling me saying "everything will be all right", "all 221 Gs go through", etc. I appreciate, and am grateful for, the concern and care.
As I see it, either things will come through but the timing will be extremely tight. Or they won't. Either way I'm fine.
The big problem which I'm facing right now is in deciding. Deciding which marathon to register for. My plan was to register for the LA Marathon if the interview went through and if not the Mumbai Marathon. The interview result is stuck in between and so am I.
Hell ... I will go register for Mumbai.
The interview consisted of the standard questions ("Why are you going for MS?", "Who is paying for you?", "What have you been doing since your under graduation?", "What was your aggregate percentage?") and I
gave satisfactory answers. There weren't any awkward questions or moments. And just when I thought I was through, I was told that my visa is going to be held up for administrative processing.
For the administrative pre-processing -- done in counter F -- they took my passport and other documents. When I told the person behind counter F, that my classes start in September, she said that I had enough time. Though she also said that the processing will take 4-8 weeks (the 221 G slip says 12 weeks).
Let's see what happens.
Meanwhile mom and dad think that I'm down in the dumps -- I'm not. At the same time my friends and fellow UCLA batch-mates (?) are consoling me saying "everything will be all right", "all 221 Gs go through", etc. I appreciate, and am grateful for, the concern and care.
As I see it, either things will come through but the timing will be extremely tight. Or they won't. Either way I'm fine.
The big problem which I'm facing right now is in deciding. Deciding which marathon to register for. My plan was to register for the LA Marathon if the interview went through and if not the Mumbai Marathon. The interview result is stuck in between and so am I.
Hell ... I will go register for Mumbai.
Monday, 19 July 2010
Inception: Thoughts and Questions
Spoiler Alert: If you haven't seen "Inception" and want to, stop reading now.
I saw Inception yesterday. It was a decent movie, but I didn't find it as amazing as people are claiming it to be.
Of course, it's a crime if you don't like a movie which is extremely popular and which everyone else around you likes. The movie's faithful army will try to defend it ferociously. Questioning your intelligence or giving arguments why you must be wrong. I have experienced this, when I said I didn't like "The Dark Knight" and "3 Idiots."
But I'm not saying I don't like "Inception." In fact I'm saying it's all right. Though that apparently is not sufficient -- I should love the movie!
That aside (and this is where the spoiler warning kicks in), I do have some questions from the movie:
I saw Inception yesterday. It was a decent movie, but I didn't find it as amazing as people are claiming it to be.
Of course, it's a crime if you don't like a movie which is extremely popular and which everyone else around you likes. The movie's faithful army will try to defend it ferociously. Questioning your intelligence or giving arguments why you must be wrong. I have experienced this, when I said I didn't like "The Dark Knight" and "3 Idiots."
But I'm not saying I don't like "Inception." In fact I'm saying it's all right. Though that apparently is not sufficient -- I should love the movie!
That aside (and this is where the spoiler warning kicks in), I do have some questions from the movie:
- Why should a dream end because you die in the dream? What stops you from being a part of the dream, but not be alive? I mean, after all, it's a dream.
- Why does Cobb (Leonardo Di Caprio) trust Ariadne (Ellen Page) with so many of his secrets so quickly?
- When Cobb's wife, Mal, kills Fischer Jr, why does he (Fischer Jr) end up in the next level of the dream and not go into "limbo"? Same for Saito.
- During the final sequence, what's the kick for the 1st level of the dream? How do they wake up at end of the flight journey to LA? As the ending is a bit fuzzy and you are forced to question if everyone even does wake up, this might be hard to answer.
Friday, 16 July 2010
The 3 month priniciple
I wrote this in August 2008. Left it unpublished. Don't know why?
I come back after many a day with few words of wisdom. Long time ago in our very own Bangalore, I had gotten bored and frustrated of the daily routine. Looking for a change and a hobby I decided to take up the guitar. Being a cheapskate and a cynic, I decided not to invest in one but borrow an orphaned guitar form a friend. Also, I decided not to join a class but learn from the wise internet.
After two days of dissonant sounds, finger-pain, rewinding and playing of instructional videos, I called it quits. Guitar playing was not for me. The guitar was orphaned again and it lay in a corner, accumulating dust and providing shelter to plenty of cockroach families.
Later that year, I went to the United States on official work. A colleague of mine invited me and few other colleagues of mine for an evening of video games. It was there that I first played guitar hero. And was it fun!
When I returned back to India, I found out that guitar hero was not available in India (well, I don't own a television or a X-Box 360 but those are trivial details). Sadly I slumped back into my cubicle and office work. In one of the following days, I was narrating the tale about my encounter with guitar hero to Naveen and my consequent disappointment, when he introduced to the wonderful frets on fire. The open-source guitar hero clone which works for the P.C. I was hooked.
I spent the next two months mastering the game and I could play it at the highest level and ace all the notes. Riding on this high, I thought how difficult could playing the real guitar be. So, I uncovered the layers of dust and cobwebs and took out the guitar. I saw the same instructional videos again, and to my surprise I still sucked as badly as I had.
But then this time around I was determined. I used to practice daily for an hour or so and after couple of weeks the pain reduced a bit (not completely, mind you). I had plenty of encouragement from my guitar advisers (comprising of my brother, Rakesh, Rajesh and of course Justin Sandercoe) and I plodded on relentlessly.
Now, though still a beginner, I'm not that bad. I can play songs, figure out strumming patterns on my own. Which now brings me to the point of the post.
Around two months ago I joined a guitar class. Being Bangalore it was heavy on the pockets and completely full of software engineers and yes all guys. The class, according to the instructor, was the most populous one till date. We had the classes once a week on Sunday afternoons. The classes went on and one by one the people started dropping. In the final two classes there were only three students left. At the beginning of the class there were twelve. I'm sure that they, like me, got awed by the task ahead and gave up. None of them were ready to be committed to the art for three months (approximate time when you stop sucking at guitar).
I think most people only commit a few days to a particular skill/endeavour. They don't get instant gratification and give it up (what was your last longest gym/morning walk/jog stint/musical instrument?). We have studied in engineering colleges where you study the last few days (hours?) before the exam and still manage to pull through. I think we are applying the same attitude to other things as well. And the truth is it just doesn't work.
Every skill/endeavour takes time (If you think about it, see how long it took you to learn English, learn to drive etc.) and the toughest part is the beginning: the time when you are not that good and it is so easy to give up. But once your past this stage, you will find that you start to actually enjoy the activity. And the key to this is nothing but plain simple discipline for the first three months.
I come back after many a day with few words of wisdom. Long time ago in our very own Bangalore, I had gotten bored and frustrated of the daily routine. Looking for a change and a hobby I decided to take up the guitar. Being a cheapskate and a cynic, I decided not to invest in one but borrow an orphaned guitar form a friend. Also, I decided not to join a class but learn from the wise internet.
After two days of dissonant sounds, finger-pain, rewinding and playing of instructional videos, I called it quits. Guitar playing was not for me. The guitar was orphaned again and it lay in a corner, accumulating dust and providing shelter to plenty of cockroach families.
Later that year, I went to the United States on official work. A colleague of mine invited me and few other colleagues of mine for an evening of video games. It was there that I first played guitar hero. And was it fun!
When I returned back to India, I found out that guitar hero was not available in India (well, I don't own a television or a X-Box 360 but those are trivial details). Sadly I slumped back into my cubicle and office work. In one of the following days, I was narrating the tale about my encounter with guitar hero to Naveen and my consequent disappointment, when he introduced to the wonderful frets on fire. The open-source guitar hero clone which works for the P.C. I was hooked.
I spent the next two months mastering the game and I could play it at the highest level and ace all the notes. Riding on this high, I thought how difficult could playing the real guitar be. So, I uncovered the layers of dust and cobwebs and took out the guitar. I saw the same instructional videos again, and to my surprise I still sucked as badly as I had.
But then this time around I was determined. I used to practice daily for an hour or so and after couple of weeks the pain reduced a bit (not completely, mind you). I had plenty of encouragement from my guitar advisers (comprising of my brother, Rakesh, Rajesh and of course Justin Sandercoe) and I plodded on relentlessly.
Now, though still a beginner, I'm not that bad. I can play songs, figure out strumming patterns on my own. Which now brings me to the point of the post.
Around two months ago I joined a guitar class. Being Bangalore it was heavy on the pockets and completely full of software engineers and yes all guys. The class, according to the instructor, was the most populous one till date. We had the classes once a week on Sunday afternoons. The classes went on and one by one the people started dropping. In the final two classes there were only three students left. At the beginning of the class there were twelve. I'm sure that they, like me, got awed by the task ahead and gave up. None of them were ready to be committed to the art for three months (approximate time when you stop sucking at guitar).
I think most people only commit a few days to a particular skill/endeavour. They don't get instant gratification and give it up (what was your last longest gym/morning walk/jog stint/musical instrument?). We have studied in engineering colleges where you study the last few days (hours?) before the exam and still manage to pull through. I think we are applying the same attitude to other things as well. And the truth is it just doesn't work.
Every skill/endeavour takes time (If you think about it, see how long it took you to learn English, learn to drive etc.) and the toughest part is the beginning: the time when you are not that good and it is so easy to give up. But once your past this stage, you will find that you start to actually enjoy the activity. And the key to this is nothing but plain simple discipline for the first three months.
On Leaving Bangalore
Sometimes the really tough decisions are the ones which are easy to make. Usually the right choice is the tough one and you pick that.
Last Friday (9th July), after four years, I left Bangalore. I had a comfortable job, great friends, enough of interesting activities to do. When people ask me, how do I feel leaving Bangalore? I don't really know what to say. Frankly, I don't feel much. It just hasn't sunk in yet, I guess. There is much that I have learnt from the city, the people, and the experiences. But I left not too sad.
It's been a great four years. And this blog is a testimony to that.
Last Friday (9th July), after four years, I left Bangalore. I had a comfortable job, great friends, enough of interesting activities to do. When people ask me, how do I feel leaving Bangalore? I don't really know what to say. Frankly, I don't feel much. It just hasn't sunk in yet, I guess. There is much that I have learnt from the city, the people, and the experiences. But I left not too sad.
It's been a great four years. And this blog is a testimony to that.
Thursday, 15 July 2010
Wanna heat train? Come to Delhi.
Runners planning on taking part in KTM '10 or SCMM '11, come to Delhi. The weather here is superbly awful.
All my last 3 runs here were not too satisfactory. And I would like to believe that it was the weather.
Monday - 5KM (Pace: 5:20/KM)
Wednesday - 7KM (Pace: 5:18/KM)
Thursday - 6KM (Pace: 5:14/KM)
Granted that my mileage in the last 2 weeks prior to this one was ridiculously low (12KM and 5KM respectively ... for each week!), but I don't think I have lost conditioning.
In every single run of this week, my target had been a 10K, which used to get negotiated, while running, to 8K and then it would finally settle to the nearest whole number. Near the 3K mark of each run, I would feel overheated. I also felt my shoes burning up.
Another factor could be that I never drank water. This is just me being a spoilt Bangalorean. This is one thing which I can change.
So the goals for the coming run (please don't laugh at me). Break 10K; carry water; drop the pace.
All my last 3 runs here were not too satisfactory. And I would like to believe that it was the weather.
Monday - 5KM (Pace: 5:20/KM)
Wednesday - 7KM (Pace: 5:18/KM)
Thursday - 6KM (Pace: 5:14/KM)
Granted that my mileage in the last 2 weeks prior to this one was ridiculously low (12KM and 5KM respectively ... for each week!), but I don't think I have lost conditioning.
In every single run of this week, my target had been a 10K, which used to get negotiated, while running, to 8K and then it would finally settle to the nearest whole number. Near the 3K mark of each run, I would feel overheated. I also felt my shoes burning up.
Another factor could be that I never drank water. This is just me being a spoilt Bangalorean. This is one thing which I can change.
So the goals for the coming run (please don't laugh at me). Break 10K; carry water; drop the pace.
Wednesday, 30 June 2010
Typing: The Next Level
1. Touch-Typing or Hunt-and-Peck
Though it has been often stressed that as programmers you should know how to touch-type, I hardly find that in practice. In my experience, the number of touch-typists around me has always been less. The majority use the hunt-and-peck method of typing -- which is slower than touch-typing. Something even slower than hunt-and-peck is using just two fingers to type (two-finger-typing). In my observation girls who like to grow their finger nails often are two-finger-typists.
It's not that people don't want to type faster. They do. It's just that they don't want to put any effort into it. Or if they do start to learn, they soon give up. This is because when you first start to learn touch-typing, your speed and accuracy will be lower than hunt-and-peck. The short-term productivity gain of hunt-and-peck usually wins over the long term benefits of touch-typing.
2. Me: A touch-typist.
I learnt touch-typing around 7 years ago, while I was in college. A senior of mine -- James -- was a touch-typist and inspired by him I started learning. It took me around 3 months to be both reasonably fast and accurate. Since then I have always been touch-typing.
Right now, I average around 85 WPM (Word Per Minute). Which is pretty good and I usually beat people on type racer.
Which leads me to the question:
"Being a fairly good touch-typist, is there anyway I can further improve my keyboard productivity?"
Yes, I believe so. But before I talk about that, let me present some background.
3. Mouse Hand Switches
While interacting with any application I usually use:
To given an example, say I'm reviewing a word document. The mouse is being used by the right hand to navigate through the document. The left hand rests on the keyboard. Now if I want to insert a comment:
4. Keyboard Shortcuts
The traditional alternative to avoid mouse hand switches, is to learn keyboard shortcuts. This is so that you avoid using the mouse as much as possible.
This still leads to problems:
5. One Handed Typing!
While using the mouse, your other hand is usually free and I would expect it to be on the keyboard. Now if you are a conventional touch-typist, you can type on the keyboard with your free hand, but that is restricted only to one half of the keyboard.
The reason is pretty simple. The touch typing method is so structured that the keys are divided between your two hands. When you become a proficient touch-typist, your right hand knows only the right side of the keyboard and the left hand knows only the left.
So to avoid mouse hand switches, you need to be able to type all over the keyboard with your one free hand!
6. One Hand Keyboard Layouts
One handed keyboard layouts have been around for quite some time. They have been designed for physically handicapped people or people who have lost function of one hand temporarily.
The prominent layouts are:
I want to learn the One-Hand-QWERTY method over the coming weeks. By doing so, I hope to cut down on the frequent right hand mouse-keyboard-mouse switches. It remains to be seen whether this experiment succeeds.
Though it has been often stressed that as programmers you should know how to touch-type, I hardly find that in practice. In my experience, the number of touch-typists around me has always been less. The majority use the hunt-and-peck method of typing -- which is slower than touch-typing. Something even slower than hunt-and-peck is using just two fingers to type (two-finger-typing). In my observation girls who like to grow their finger nails often are two-finger-typists.
It's not that people don't want to type faster. They do. It's just that they don't want to put any effort into it. Or if they do start to learn, they soon give up. This is because when you first start to learn touch-typing, your speed and accuracy will be lower than hunt-and-peck. The short-term productivity gain of hunt-and-peck usually wins over the long term benefits of touch-typing.
2. Me: A touch-typist.
I learnt touch-typing around 7 years ago, while I was in college. A senior of mine -- James -- was a touch-typist and inspired by him I started learning. It took me around 3 months to be both reasonably fast and accurate. Since then I have always been touch-typing.
Right now, I average around 85 WPM (Word Per Minute). Which is pretty good and I usually beat people on type racer.
Which leads me to the question:
"Being a fairly good touch-typist, is there anyway I can further improve my keyboard productivity?"
Yes, I believe so. But before I talk about that, let me present some background.
3. Mouse Hand Switches
While interacting with any application I usually use:
- Only the keyboard.
- Only the mouse.
- Both keyboard and mouse.
To given an example, say I'm reviewing a word document. The mouse is being used by the right hand to navigate through the document. The left hand rests on the keyboard. Now if I want to insert a comment:
- First, I will use the mouse to select the insert-command from the menu.
- Then I will have to move my right hand back to the keyboard to start typing.
- Finally, once I'm finished with the comment, I will move my right hand back to the mouse.
4. Keyboard Shortcuts
The traditional alternative to avoid mouse hand switches, is to learn keyboard shortcuts. This is so that you avoid using the mouse as much as possible.
This still leads to problems:
- Not all commands have keyboard shortcuts; these commands can only be accessed through the mouse.
- It's hard to remember all the shortcuts of a particular application.
- Shortcuts change from application to application.
- Sometimes navigation is faster with a mouse.
5. One Handed Typing!
While using the mouse, your other hand is usually free and I would expect it to be on the keyboard. Now if you are a conventional touch-typist, you can type on the keyboard with your free hand, but that is restricted only to one half of the keyboard.
The reason is pretty simple. The touch typing method is so structured that the keys are divided between your two hands. When you become a proficient touch-typist, your right hand knows only the right side of the keyboard and the left hand knows only the left.
So to avoid mouse hand switches, you need to be able to type all over the keyboard with your one free hand!
6. One Hand Keyboard Layouts
One handed keyboard layouts have been around for quite some time. They have been designed for physically handicapped people or people who have lost function of one hand temporarily.
The prominent layouts are:
- Dvorak: There are layouts for both left and right hands. The key mappings are completely different from a standard QWERTY keyboard. All major operating systems support it and a QWERTY keyboard can be converted to Dvorak through software mapping.
- Half-QWERTY: This layout is specifically for people who already know QWERTY based touch-typing. The keyboard uses standard QWERTY halves. Your hand rests on its natural QWERTY half. To type characters from the other half, you hold down the spacebar, which causes the characters from the other half to remap onto your hand's half, and type the characters.
- One-Hand-QWERTY: Your one hand types on the standard QWERTY layout. No hardware or software remapping is done.
I want to learn the One-Hand-QWERTY method over the coming weeks. By doing so, I hope to cut down on the frequent right hand mouse-keyboard-mouse switches. It remains to be seen whether this experiment succeeds.
Monday, 21 June 2010
Mid-Year Resolution Review
It's somewhere in the middle of the year and a good time to review the goals which I set out to achieve in January.
- Watch Avatar 3-D. Done. I first watched it in Fame, Shankarnag. The 3-D experience there was pathetic and thus was forced to watch it again in Fame, Lido. By the 3rd time the movie's charm had worn off.
- Take up drinking again. Done. Not really a tough thing to do. I got back to it soon after I finished the Mumbai Marathon. I celebrated the successful completion of the race with Shantanu, Ankita and Rajaram at the Mumbai airport, with a beer.
- Do a sub-20-min 5K. In Progress. At the outset itself I had realized that this is going to be a really tough goal. Till now I haven't even managed to do a sub-23-min 5K. One of the reasons being that for the past 2 months I haven't been focusing on this goal. A realistic goal at this stage might be to aim for a sub-22-min 5K by year-end instead.
- Lose weight. In Progress. I had put on a bit of extra weight after the Mumbai Marathon. Mainly due to the pre-race "carb-loading", where I went totally berserk with food, and the post-race celebrations. I'm happy to say that I have cut down on all the extra kilos gained. There is still some more fat which I can lose though.
- Learn to swim properly. Not Done. I haven't put any planning or action into this.
- Learn a new skill. Done (partial). OK there is no way anyone can claim to put a "Done" against a skill. There's always scope for more. I still mark it as done, as I pursued Latin Dance classes for 4 months which culminated in a performance in Kyra (a theater-restaurant in Bangalore).
- Decrease unproductive time, while increasing productive time. In Progress. Again, this is something which I can't really mark as "Done" ever. But at the current stage I will mark this as "In Progress." Till now, I have read David Allen's "Getting Things Done."and am implementing its teachings with the help of my smart-phone and a really useful website called Todoist.
Sunday, 13 June 2010
The DF Dudes
Yesterday my good friend Rakesh told me about the 'DF Dudes.' He was in BITS Pilani, to write an exam where he first discovered these guys, although I'm sure everyone knows people like these.
The DF Dudes are categorized by their frequent usage of the words 'Dude' and 'F*ck'. Where the word 'Dude' is used to express disbelief. 'F*ck' is used to denote astonishment, as the prior object of disbelief turned out to be true. Each word is used in an elongated manner and should take at least 3 seconds to say. So 'Dude' is actually 'Doooooood' and 'F*ck' is 'Faaaaaack.'
This shall become much clearer with examples:
Example 1 --
Guy 1: 'My flight is delayed by 2 hours.'
DF Dude: 'Dooooood?!!'
Guy 1: 'Seriously.'
DF Dude: 'Faaaaaaack!'
Example 2 --
Guy 2: 'India won against Zimbabwe.'
DF Dude: 'Doooooooood?!'
Guy2: 'Seriously.'
DF Dude: 'Faaaaaack!'
So watch out for these DF dudes. Maybe you are one of them.
P.S: Rakesh, sorry if you were planning to write a post on them.
Saturday, 12 June 2010
Two Statements
I bring to your consideration two statements. The first from Ezra Klein in a Newsweek article, titled "How much Does a Gallon of Gas Cost?"
The second by U.S. state department spokesman P. J. Crowley in an article by the Hindu.
One of the reasons we [referring to the U.S] drill wells far offshore and in countries with poor safety and environmental records is that we don't want oil companies mucking about in shallow waters near us.
The second by U.S. state department spokesman P. J. Crowley in an article by the Hindu.
Mr. Crowley today also noted that it was hard to draw a comparison between the Bhopal gas tragedy that left over 15,000 dead and the BP’s oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico now, saying the American companies were “very mindful and respectful” of the rules of the land when they operated overseas.
Thursday, 10 June 2010
Facebook Privacy Concerns
Few days ago there was a lot of hullabaloo about Facebook's privacy settings. A number of newspapers and online media reported this. In my findings, there were 4 items which were targeted, namely:
- Articles questioned the way Facebook originated, highlighting the charges presented in a lawsuit which said that Mark Zuckerberg had stolen Facebook's idea from three of his seniors.
- Later there were reports of some IM conversations between Zuckerberg and a college friend, which apparently highlighted Facebook's "cavalier attitude toward user privacy."
- There were also concerns regarding the complexity of Facebook's privacy settings. NYTimes calling it a "A bewildering tangle of options." One of the points presented in the NYTimes infographic being the length of Facebook's privacy policy, which is longer than the constitution of America, without amendments (a number of articles and tweets left out the "without amendments" part).
- Then there were those who claimed that deleting a Facebook account is a "complex process" and as Facebook didn't "provide an interface to delete your account" they had "crossed the border of unethical behavior."
- Quit Facebook Day. A movement aimed at making Facebook users delete their accounts by May 31st 2010.
- Diaspora. Which calls itself an "open source social network" which is "privacy aware." It's being developed by 4 college students. NYTimes did an article on them in which the time needed to write the code for the social network system is given as "three or four months."
- Elliot Schrage, vice president for public policy at Facebook, who answered privacy related questions on NYTimes.
- At a later stage, towards the end of May, Facebook updated their privacy settings UI aimed to "simplify the controls."
- Questions regarding the origins of Facebook. There is no denying the fact that there was a lawsuit against Mark Zuckerberg. The judge presiding over the case said that the allegations were "tissue thin" and both the parties eventually agreed to settle. Most of the article seems to be based on speculation and story-telling.
- Zuckerberg's IM conversations. The article says that in the IM conversation Zuckerberg was joking and also the conversation was presented out of context: "Could Mark have been completely joking? Sure." As far as I'm concerned drawing conclusions from anything presented out of context is wrong. I don't see how something like this could show "Facebook's aggressive attitude towards privacy."
- Complexity of Privacy Settings and Length of Privacy Policy. I agree that the earlier privacy settings UI was quite deep and a novice user must have found it difficult. But for an advanced user, it did provide a greater amount of granularity. The privacy policy is lengthy, but it was compared against the American Constitution (without amendments). Most people, and many other articles which I read, tended to ignore the "without amendments" part and started believing that the privacy policy is lengthier than the American Constitution -- which is false.
- Difficulty in deleting a Facebook account. I didn't find the procedure to delete a Facebook account difficult. Searching for "delete account" in the Facebook help center pulls up the link which guides you how to delete your account permanently. I don't think the process is complex and Facebook does provide an interface to delete your account. Facebook's decision to first deactivate your account before deleting it makes sense for three reasons. First, Facebook wants to retain you as a user. Second, if you mistakenly delete your account you have a means to revert your action. Third, if someone else hacks into your account and deletes it, you can recover.
- Quit Facebook Day. I would call this movement a failure. According to this PCWorld article only 26000 people committed to delete their accounts. Note that they only "committed" to delete their account. It doesn't mean that they actually did. 26000 is not a large number if you think about the total number of users in Facebook. The number of people committed to quit is only 0.005 percent.
- Diaspora. I find no point in speculating over how great a new online social networking site is going to be without it even having a sign-up page.
- Facebook's UI Change. The recent UI change, I feel, does give novice users an easier interface to control their privacy settings while allowing advanced ones to achieve more granular control. That seems to have quietened the skeptics, at least for now.
Wednesday, 9 June 2010
The Return of the Passport Ordeal -I
I'm in Delhi again and this time around it's not a vacation or illness. The reason I'm here is to get my passport renewed. Renewed, mind you, not reissued ... read on.
Five years ago, after a lot of struggle, I was issued a passport. That passport was issued under the Tatkaal scheme. A scheme which allows people to obtain fresh passports within a week's time by paying an extra amount. The only catch being that these passports might only be valid for 5 years and not the whole 10 years. Such passports are called short term validity passports and mine is one of them.
The problem with short term validity passports is that you can't, in passport terminology, get them reissued but only renewed. Reissue means that you get a fresh passport, provided your previous passport is nearing expiration. Renewal, on the other hand, means an extension of the validity period, from under 10 years, to the whole 10 years. For example, in my case the 5 years' validity will be extended to 10 years.
Knowing all this, with complete forms, I went to the passport office. I reached there early enough to be the 6th or 7th person in the queue for the miscellaneous services (renewal is a miscellaneous service, unlike reissue). When I came to the front, I was told that renewal is going to take time ... 25 days (his exact words were "इसमें टाइम लगेगा; पचीस दिन"). He also gave me a bunch of other forms to fill. Now 25 days in babudom-speak can be an eternity. Also it requires another round of police verification.
Hoping that there will be another faster route to get it done, I didn't submit the forms. After a lot of investigation and talking to people, it turns out there isn't any faster way.
Given that I need to go for a US visa interview for my further studies, the delay in this passport renewal formality could become a disaster. My future hangs precariously.
Five years ago, after a lot of struggle, I was issued a passport. That passport was issued under the Tatkaal scheme. A scheme which allows people to obtain fresh passports within a week's time by paying an extra amount. The only catch being that these passports might only be valid for 5 years and not the whole 10 years. Such passports are called short term validity passports and mine is one of them.
The problem with short term validity passports is that you can't, in passport terminology, get them reissued but only renewed. Reissue means that you get a fresh passport, provided your previous passport is nearing expiration. Renewal, on the other hand, means an extension of the validity period, from under 10 years, to the whole 10 years. For example, in my case the 5 years' validity will be extended to 10 years.
Knowing all this, with complete forms, I went to the passport office. I reached there early enough to be the 6th or 7th person in the queue for the miscellaneous services (renewal is a miscellaneous service, unlike reissue). When I came to the front, I was told that renewal is going to take time ... 25 days (his exact words were "इसमें टाइम लगेगा; पचीस दिन"). He also gave me a bunch of other forms to fill. Now 25 days in babudom-speak can be an eternity. Also it requires another round of police verification.
Hoping that there will be another faster route to get it done, I didn't submit the forms. After a lot of investigation and talking to people, it turns out there isn't any faster way.
Given that I need to go for a US visa interview for my further studies, the delay in this passport renewal formality could become a disaster. My future hangs precariously.
Thursday, 27 May 2010
Predicting Race Times Through Curve Fitting
You will find many race time calculators on the web, which will ask you to enter your time for a specific distance and you will get back the predicted race times for various distances. More often than not, the race times predicted are either too high or too low than what you observe in real life.
Take me, for example. My best 10KM time is 48:48. If I enter this into the runningforfitness.org race predictor, the predicted race times which I get are:
5 KM - 23:26
Half Marathon - 01:47:35
Full Marathon - 03:46:58
Whereas my best times for these distances are
5 KM - 23:06 (predicted race time higher)
Half Marathon - 01:51:23 (predicted race time lower)
Full Marathon - 04:50:26 (predicted race time significantly lower)
These race predictors take one race time and apply a formula to get all race times.
Taking the same race times which I had:
The formula for the polynomial curve is:
Take me, for example. My best 10KM time is 48:48. If I enter this into the runningforfitness.org race predictor, the predicted race times which I get are:
5 KM - 23:26
Half Marathon - 01:47:35
Full Marathon - 03:46:58
Whereas my best times for these distances are
5 KM - 23:06 (predicted race time higher)
Half Marathon - 01:51:23 (predicted race time lower)
Full Marathon - 04:50:26 (predicted race time significantly lower)
These race predictors take one race time and apply a formula to get all race times.
Taking the same race times which I had:
| Distance | Hours | Minutes | Seconds | Equivalent Minutes |
| 5 | 0 | 23 | 6 | 23.1 |
| 10 | 0 | 48 | 47 | 48.78 |
| 21.1 | 1 | 51 | 23 | 111.38 |
| 42.2 | 4 | 50 | 26 | 290.43 |
Table 1: Race Distances and Times
Now if I take that data and plot it, here's what I get:
Figure 1: Distance Vs Time According To Race Times
The blue curve which you see in the above chart, is a polynomial curve which has been fitted onto the data points (race times). The curve is in fact almost a perfect fit, the R-Squared value being 0.99.
The formula for the polynomial curve is:
y = 0.0799x2 + 3.3858x + 5.2075
Armed with this perfect formula, I thought I could predict race times for any distance. So I fired up IDLE and started putting in values:
>>> def CalculateTime(distance):
time = .0799 * (distance**2) + (3.3858*distance) + 5.2075
hours = math.floor(time/60)
mins = math.floor(time%60)
sec = int((time - math.floor(time)) * 60)
print str(hours) + " hours " + str(mins) + " minutes " + str(sec) + " seconds"
>>> CalculateTime(10)
0.0 hours 47.0 minutes 3 seconds
>>> CalculateTime(12)
0.0 hours 57.0 minutes 20 seconds
>>> CalculateTime(21.1)
1.0 hours 52.0 minutes 13 seconds
>>> CalculateTime(42.2)
4.0 hours 50.0 minutes 22 seconds
>>> def CalculateTime(distance):
time = .0799 * (distance**2) + (3.3858*distance) + 5.2075
hours = math.floor(time/60)
mins = math.floor(time%60)
sec = int((time - math.floor(time)) * 60)
print str(hours) + " hours " + str(mins) + " minutes " + str(sec) + " seconds"
>>> CalculateTime(10)
0.0 hours 47.0 minutes 3 seconds
>>> CalculateTime(12)
0.0 hours 57.0 minutes 20 seconds
>>> CalculateTime(21.1)
1.0 hours 52.0 minutes 13 seconds
>>> CalculateTime(42.2)
4.0 hours 50.0 minutes 22 seconds
Everything looks as expected. So I thought, let's predict other times, say for a 50K...
>>> CalculateTime(50)
6.0 hours 14.0 minutes 14 seconds
6.0 hours 14.0 minutes 14 seconds
That seemed reasonable. So what about shorter distances?
>>> CalculateTime(5)
0.0 hours 24.0 minutes 8 seconds
>>> CalculateTime(3)
0.0 hours 16.0 minutes 5 seconds
>>> CalculateTime(2)
0.0 hours 12.0 minutes 17 seconds
>>> CalculateTime(1)
0.0 hours 8.0 minutes 40 seconds
0.0 hours 24.0 minutes 8 seconds
>>> CalculateTime(3)
0.0 hours 16.0 minutes 5 seconds
>>> CalculateTime(2)
0.0 hours 12.0 minutes 17 seconds
>>> CalculateTime(1)
0.0 hours 8.0 minutes 40 seconds
Woah! According to this model, I will be doing my 5K at a slower pace than my 10K and if I were running a 1K, I would be walking?!!
Not satisfied, I tried fitting other curves -- exponential, power, linear. But none actually gave me reasonable predictions across distances.
The polynomial curve was the only one which gave the relatively better predictions, but only for distances greater than 10KM.
The only place where I can use the polynomial formula, would be to define a lower limit of performance in a race or, in other words, the least expected time.
Which leads me to the conclusion that you can't reliably predict race times through mathematical formula. What a waste of time!
Monday, 24 May 2010
Sunfeast 10K 2010: Race Report
The Sunfeast 10K 2010 went mostly according to plan. I finished the race in 48:48 which translates to an average pace of 4:51/KM.
My goals were as follows:
When the gate opened there was a lot of pushing and shoving. Like last year, people did jump the fencing and come on to the track. When the race was officially started, there were a bunch of people who, with the pushing and shoving going on, fell on the track. Although, I don't think any of them got seriously hurt.
The weather was cloudy before the start of the race. It seemed that we will be racing in ideal conditions. But as soon as the gates were opened and the race started, the sun came out and it remained hot for the entire duration of the race.
I stuck to my target pace for the initial stage of the race and didn't take water for the first 5 KM. Things started getting a bit tough between the 5 and 6 K mark, where we had to deal with a slight gradual incline. When I started getting side-stitches, I decided to try what Paula Radcliffe does when the pain starts: count backwards from 100.
I kept the counting going till the last stretch. I was pretty drained out towards the end and couldn't manage a final sprint.
Regardless, a good race.
My goals were as follows:
- Finish -- Pass
- Get a personal best (beat 50:36) -- Pass
- Finish Sub-50 min -- Pass
- Finish Sub-48 min -- Fail
When the gate opened there was a lot of pushing and shoving. Like last year, people did jump the fencing and come on to the track. When the race was officially started, there were a bunch of people who, with the pushing and shoving going on, fell on the track. Although, I don't think any of them got seriously hurt.
The weather was cloudy before the start of the race. It seemed that we will be racing in ideal conditions. But as soon as the gates were opened and the race started, the sun came out and it remained hot for the entire duration of the race.
I stuck to my target pace for the initial stage of the race and didn't take water for the first 5 KM. Things started getting a bit tough between the 5 and 6 K mark, where we had to deal with a slight gradual incline. When I started getting side-stitches, I decided to try what Paula Radcliffe does when the pain starts: count backwards from 100.
I kept the counting going till the last stretch. I was pretty drained out towards the end and couldn't manage a final sprint.
Regardless, a good race.
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