Happy feet!

Next generation Aristoni

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sitting duck when noone's watching

 

Sweet innocence

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

>>One bit fundaa..

Wie het kleine niet eert, is het grote niet weerd!

A Dutch saying that means ‘one who does not appreciate the small does not deserve the big’. Probably a cliche; I have a new found love for simplicity.

Super mooi klein meisje! :)

Last week a fellow Aristoni emailed to our Football group*..

Hoi Allemaal,

 

Gisteren is Annemarie bevallen van een lief klein meisje, Kim Karoline en ze heet Aline.

Ze weegt ruim 3kg en het gaat helemaal goed met haar.

Met Anne gaat het ook goed, maar een keizersnee is toch een hele operatie, dus die is nu rustig aan het genieten!

 

groetjes

 

van een trotse tante Marjoelen!

*All names changed.

Now, you know how I have been trying to read without help.

I manage to understand the articles in TU Delta pretty well.

But doesn’t always work eh! My reply..

Gefeliciteerd!!!

I really really need to improve my Dutch. Guess what happened when I read the 1st line of this email and translated ‘bevallen’ as ‘vallen’ and for a moment I thought she had an accident and an operation! Almost falling off laughing from my chair myself now!!

Thank god for Google translate!!!

Lovely news anyhow!

Bevallen apparently means GIVING BIRTH. *klap op mijn hoofd*

And the translation is..

Hi All,

Annemarie yesterday gave birth to a little girl, and her name is Kim Karoline Aline.
She weighs over 3kg and it is all fine.
Anne is also good, but a cesarean section is quite an operation, so it is now easy to enjoy!

Greetings

Marjoelen a proud aunt!

Attached to the email was a pic of a chubby red-faced klein meisje. Did you know that in Holland, women are given the option to deliver at home and invariably they choose to do so unless there is a need to operate. They believe women would be most comfortable in their own houses so they sort of bring the hospital home! Quite freaky isn’t it? No charges for a room though! *a point put forward by a stingy Dutchman i bet*

Who else is a super mooi baby girl?! My niece!

She decided to sit first before crawling!

For the love of drawing..

I bought a WACOM Bamboo Pen!!!

So the story goes that as a child I won ‘Camel Drawing Contests’ and once had my drawing selected to be printed in a newspaper drawing competition. St. Joseph’s High School, Pashan never spread awareness about Math Olympiads and National Talent Search. Instead went all out with Socials, P.T. Displays, Art Exhibitions, Crib Decorations and massive backdrops for stage performances! Naturally I once ended up with a shameful 65% in 6th standard. Don’t get me wrong, I have no complaints I swear! Now that I will be MSc. Microelectronics in 3-4 months, the geek that’s deep inside me is going to be super satisfied!! Instead of ‘taking the WALK’ though.. I would be dancing I guess!

Anyway, the first drawing with my graphics tablet was inspired by one of those heart-to-heart talks I had with Valia. This time we were in the faculty of Civil Engineering, pondering over some silly AC ground, DC ground and short circuit concepts. Damn it still confuses me! Sharing stories and what-ifs and what will-be..while criticizing the cables dangling from the ceiling. The ugly facade of the building is a put off anyway, they really need to do better with the interiors.

Nevertheless, the couches are quite a delight!

Or maybe it was the muffin.

We delved into dreams. Not only for the closely knit No.5ers, but also the ones she has for me. Dreams I have erased. I have wanted to. Just a pocketful of seemingly far-fetched ones.

But here she is, not letting me give them up.

Disclaimer: I am no fan of Eurovision with the exception of Lena’s Satellite.

Happy Ending – Marathon Part 3

Mumbai, 2nd April 2011. INDIA WINS CRICKET WORD CUP.

Unbelievable. 1983 and then 2011. Visualizing the whole nation explode.

So proud of the MEN IN BLUE. So wish to have been at home even though I am not a cricket fan.

A blog update on the Marathon was pending and normal life had resumed. Blame it on the demanding bitch that Master of Science can be. But on this big day, TU Delft Indian Student Association organized a screening at the Culture Centre on a Sunday by paying a large amount. Celebrations of winning the WC will continue for weeks and every Indian in the world will have a big smile for a long long time.

Having been a cricket enthusiast a very long time ago and currently far far away from India, I cant help feeling humble at the greatness of this achievement and also slightly sad because of being broken away and left out. I’m in awe of this event, lucky to have lived to see it and still very very EXCITED that we won!!! Barely able to express the mix of emotions I’m feeling right now.

Pheww. Going on to close the Marathon series anyhow..

This post is not a blow-by-blow description but just a roundup of words images and emotions.

Bib pinned up and D-Tag fastened..

Ready for the Green Light along with a swarm of people..

Volunteers along the way handing water and Cool Hydrate Lemon Ice..

Kids stretching out their hand to give a high five, meant to create a flow of energy from them to you..

Residents cheering, playing Bongo and Tamborine..

Kom op! Hup Hup! Goedzo..

Bijna Half!

Laastse stukje!!

Finally the finish line..

Almost certain of making it within 2.5 hrs.

At home and checking the results.

YES.. It was a happy ending.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A timing of 2hr 27min 44sec.

A consistent speed and being able to bike back home without any problem.

 

A souvenir medal, my first ever sports medal..

A proud grandmother  who joked ‘No, I think you got a medal when you were a child, I remember you were really good in playing Limbu Chamcha*’ and who later sent a personal letter with some home-made sweets..

First thought every morning for many days later..

An immense sense of satisfaction..

I am a Half Marathoner!

Wind, Rain and Toe Nail – Marathon Part 2

I’ve been meaning to write the Part 2 since a while now.

Its the morning of the Half Marathon and I feel ready for it. Reflecting on my last run..

In the 3^rd week of Feb, Delft saw its worst weather.  Howling wind at the speeds of 50 to 70 kmph!! Imagine standing and paddling with the most power you can, cursing through gritted teeth. You push forward but a nasty gust lifts you and your bike off the ground and makes you drift off the road and oh-no-no-noo ..must  BRAKE and jump-off before it throws you into the 3ME pond on the corner of EWI!!

So a week went by without training.

Then the rains got here.  A grey, foggy, rainy Delft for days together. DULL. It gets annoying to go to the centre and come back with bags of grocery and everyone’s complaining of the day long rain. My next target would be a solid 2 hr run. Come on now, you don’t want to know how Chinese torture would feel. Went for a couple of Spinning and Pilates lessons which I supposed would work like ‘cross-training’.

Another week went by.

1^st March was the first non-rainy day and I decided to just go for it. Until I finished work that day it was already 7pm. The wait had been too long and I couldn’t trust the forecast for the next day which apparently showed a shiny yellow circle right there on the top. Yaaah, whatever.

-> TUD reflective running vest
-> Under Armour heat gear – full sleeves and leggings
-> Nike shoes with extra gel in-sole
-> Tiny iPod Shuffle

With all my gear I set out to run 2 rounds of my regular 8k circuit. I had avoided running with a water bottle in hand so far. Its too boring. As amusing as it may seem, this time I kept a bottle next to a bush at the entrance of No.5. so I can grab some in between two rounds. Klinkt goed! Klinkt = sounds. And klink is a sound! I think Yash would have found this amusing and laughed hard! Kheehee

It was around 0°C and the wind speed was about 25 kmph. Just had to keep going.  Halfway through my eyes start to feel strained because I don’t wear my glasses then. So like a nut, looking down while running I took  an earlier turn!  No way I was going to do lesser than I set out for. So I took another loop extra somewhere. $(*^(## killer wind made it unavoidable to break into a walk a couple of times. One time I lost 2-3 min because de brug was open.

This last run really felt like an endurance cum strategy race, trying to beat all odds. I came home exhausted, fingers swollen and coping with cramps during cool down. I had 2 large servings of Yash’s chicken soup which felt like heaven. The sensation of taking in hot wholesome soup that day will be unforgettable.

So, I ended up doing a longer track and here is what i did:

1st March. 55kg. 19km. 2h 20m. >> 12 days ago. Doing another long run would do more harm than good.

Would like to thank everyone who supported, gave helpful tips and sent me good luck wishes!

The race begins at 14.30 today from Malieveld in Den Haag.

Hopefully sleeping a whole lot and eating and drinking plenty every day all through the last week will help. Also not being tired at the end of a working day, better weather, fluids on the course, music and energy from running with 20,000 people will all sum up to a great finish!

Zo’n zon op Zondag!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wind, Rain and Toe Nail – Marathon Part 1

 

 

I had been looking for Marathons in Holland since I got here.

My first was the Sunfeast World 10k Bangalore on 31^st May 2009. I jogged in the parks in Kormangala and NGV with couples making out and oldies having a gala time at Laughing Clubs. Beats me how I also jogged along the traffic filled inner ring road when it did not even have a pavement! Best of all, I had a running buddy in Gaurav who prodded me often enough that I could complete the race in 1h 16m. It was a fun experience!

Since last May, I have been nursing two broken toe nails. Even with sports tape during football training, it would get pretty painful beyond 1hr. After the New Year Tournament of Ariston 80 on 31^st Dec 2010 I was basking in the glory of the 2 goals I scored for Team Internationals! Honestly, I feel I was just lucky to be in the right position at the right time. But as they say, that is already something. *raises eyebrow and shrugs* Even this could not mask the sad truth that my pink baby toe nails really weren’t ready and I was pushing myself too hard. I accepted that I had to take a break. I need to take good care of my feet. Right.

What then? I know the slight condition I suffer from when there is an absence of intense exercise. Quite predictably the Marathon idea came back! Rotterdam in June was 60 Euros. Den Haag in March was 18 Euros.

Hello!!! Running would also put pressure on toes duuuhh! At least give it a try, my heart whispered.

7th Jan. 57kg. 7km. 1h 5m. >> Day 1. Geen problem! Maybe it is the sprinting, shuffling, kicking, turning that hurts. Registered for Half Marathon of 21km at CPC Loop Den Haag! I had 2 months in hand.

Day 1. Photography and Apparels Courtesy: Valia.

 

I did not ever get down to making an elaborate scientific schedule. Started with a modest aim that gave me some flexibility- twice a week 1 hr each. Then one day it was forecasted to be above 10 °C. I decided to go for a long run. I asked Nishant if he wanted to join but he was busy. We had covered 8k in 55m prior to it. I loaded my tiny 1 GB iPod Shuffle with a random clubbing playlist. It is the only Apple product I own – gifted by IBM as a bonus to regular salary in 2008. I think I would like a MacBook after I graduate.

Anyhow, the playlist turned out to be shit. But it didn’t matter. It was a beautiful day and when I left from No.5 at 4.30pm it was really sunny!!! Going over the highway, then along Provincialweg that lies in the western outskirts of Delft going in the direction of Rijswijk, then turning east to meet Oranje Plantage, continuing straight along the canal until the picturesque Oost Port and finally back to No.5. It was a perfectly timed run with the sun setting on one side and the New Church against a barely orange sky on the other side. Also because the time when I got back was 6pm and I had covered 12km.

The key is speed. *Slow speed.

Soon I knew that if I started slow enough and allowed my body to warm up, I would not feel any weird muscle pain. If the 1^st 30min were fine then the whole run would be fine. If I didn’t pay attention to wearing right socks or tees, evils like blisters and chafing would be lurking around and would even come back to bite me in the following runs.

13th Feb. 55kg. 14km. 1h 40m. >>Exactly 1 month left for the Marathon. With this speed I would make the 21km in exactly 2h 30m and that would mean victory.

One bit fundaa..

If you worry about reaching the end when you are running your 1^st couple of miles you are never going to make it.