A few weeks later through a common friend I was introduced to Basav, a techie who had just returned from the US and was interested in working together on the walking tours. I mentioned the Srirangapatna plan to him and said “You join us”!!

So on a lovely Sunday morning last September Akhila, Namarta (Akhila’s friend and another conversational architect), Basav and myself drove to Srirangapatna and spent the entire day exploring the island. A great place with amazing history but then I guess it also works on your chemistry!!

Before

And 10 months later Akhila and Basav  tie the knot!!

Let me not take too much credit for all this, after all they have worked really hard to make it happen. So heres wishing Akhila and Basav, who have decided to walk together in the journey of life, A lifetime of happiness!!

After

Dedicating Elvis Presley’s number Island of love to the newly married couple!!

So all you single folks out there… join us on our next walk, you might find more than what you expect.. a future wife/husband may be!!

Its been a long long time since i have blogged, the last couple of months being the tourist season have been pretty busy but I’m not complaining  And if you are still wondering when the hell is tourist season in India? Its Oct to March, thats when everybody wants to avoid the cold winters in the west and plane loads of tourists descend on Asia!!

Anyways, being busy is a lame reason to give. One has got to make time for things he wants to do so let me also own up to my laziness and if there is cure, I would love to hear it

So guys watch this space, there are lotsa interesting stories that I got to share!!

Au Revoir (Oh!Yeah, I have been learning French offlate )

Vinay

Did you know that Dasara is a 600 year old living tradition?  It was first started by the Vijayanagara Kings in Hampi and later carried forward by the Kings of Mysore and this year is the 400th year of Mysore Dasara

From the 7^th to 17^th of October 2010 you will find the entire city in a festive mood. The Illuminated Palace with 97,000 bulbs would be the centre of the entire celebration.

Here are five new things that you could venture out this Dasara !!

Mysore Style Yoga: You find Mysore Style Yoga studios in New York, London, Paris or Milan. Ever wondered how did it spread to the west ? Here is your chance to experience Mysore Style Yoga and understand its positive effects on the body. In Mysore you can get to know the story of how this style started and why this city considered holy for Yogis which attracts close to 500 foreign nationals every month for Yoga practice. You have quite a few Yoga Shalas  to try out in Lakshmipuram and Gokulam

97,000 bulbs up there

Night Walks : Its time of the year when the entire city is decked up like a bride and the illumination makes it special. A Night Walking Tour where you get a feel this city,learn the Significance of Dasara, understand Mysore’s relevance in World History, Get to see one of India’s Oldest Secret Societies, Get to have Mysore Pak from the family that invented it and much more. Mysore was recently voted the second cleanest city in India. So its enjoyable Walking. Organised by Royal Mysore Walks Call # 96320 44188

Tradition Food: Mysore’s delicacies find their place in every Indian restaurant around the world. From the sweet named after the city,Mysore Pak to a Mysore Masala Dosa there is an entire gamut to choose from. When in Mysore try the local fare, From the delicious Masala Dosas in Mylari and GTR to tender meat at Mugal Durbar.

200 yr old Garadi Mane, A traditional Wrestling house !

Garadi Mane,Traditional Wrestling House: This city has always been famous for its traditional wrestling, also known as Kushti. You can visit century old Wrestling houses to watch the men in loin cloths practice before they work on pinning down their opponents to the ground, Even the King back then was known for his wrestling skills, Do you want to try your luck? Then Mandi Mohalla is your best pick.

10,000 dolls on display

Gombe Mane,House of Dolls: It is a practice in Mysore for the girls of the house to make dolls  during the time of Dasara and work on bringing out a magnificent display their collection A lot of families even today follow this practice. You can get a peek in to the colorful tradition and if you wish you can also buy the dolls from a collection of 10,000 dolls at Bombe Mane at the Ramsons Kala Parishad Call 0821 2443669

Lots in store !! So see you in Mysore this Dasara :)

So lets play sherlock homes.

I was pretty surprised when I saw the message

message in envelope 8

If you look at the information here, There are 3 things that Nakul dug out to catch our attention.

1. My name (Vinay)

2. Name of the Book (Black Swan)

3. The page number and the line (Uncertainty of the Nerd)

The name of the Book was quite easy to crack, I had to pick from a lot 4 books. The other 3 books were ordinary looking, almost the same size, similar kind of color on the cover but this Book the Black Swan was a lot brighter and catchy, slightly bigger in size,overall it had a superior feel and stood out !! So it was an obvious pick !! Its like asking you to choose one from  Rakhi Sawant, Jennifer Aniston or Sherlyn Chopra. For the fairer sex, say pick from Brad Pitt, Niel Nitin Mukesh & Bobby Deol. The point is Jennifer and Brad are much better packaged and have a much higher probability of getting picked.

What kind of baffled me was my name in there. How could he predict that. You walk into a room of around 100 people where you just know a handful of them and you find your name being called out in the end . So did he know that I would be the winner right when in walked in ??

At snacks post the event, I picked up my plate and happened to spot Nakul in conversation with another person, I walked up to them and asked “Can I?” Nakul replied ” What if I said, I knew you would come here !!” Well thats the guy for you, he’ll play it so well with that smirk on his face that you’ll just stand and notice. I was curious and wanted to know how did he pick me? He said there are lot of clues that one could pick up and make such a decision, Like, when he asked people to volunteer, I was the first to stand up. Clues that we normally ignore, Nakul would pick it up and form a pattern. So it was clear that the inking my name happened during the event. But when ?

If you go back to the previous post when I said, the 8 of us went on stage and he asked us questions.

“Next he got to me, gave me the same probing look for a while, I was eager for my question and shrugged my shoulders. He said “I haven’t asked you anything yet” for which I replied “I didn’t answer anything either”. Nakul said “You did !!”  I thought he was just acting smart “

Here Nakul was not interested in the answer, he was looking at how we answered it and more importantly our body language/facial expressions. Thats why the probing look (he did that to every volunteer on stage) So when we exchanged this..

Nakul: “I haven’t asked you anything yet”

Me: “I didn’t answer anything either”

Nakul: “You did !!”

I gave away information through my expressions. May be it was eagerness, smartness (I would like to believe), dumbness (I would not like to believe)  which was enough information for Nakul to place a calculated bet on me. So when I thought that he was acting smart, Nakul was actually smart !!

He went around picked up the sheet where all the other info was there previously and he just inked in my name in the space, put it in the eighth envelope, sealed it and passed it to the judge. (In the show he will do it so seamlessly that you will hardly notice it)

As for the page number, it still beats me !! It was my friend Vivek who read out the page number and he was very sure that there was no slip up. Nakul stopped the very moment he was asked to.Unless all the pages of the book were numbered 122,123 which wasn’t the case. He pulled a pretty good one out there. Full credits to him on this. But if any of you can help, then we crack it all

So now if you look at the whole thing what nakul was doing was just picking up clues. Just in the first couple of minutes (standing up to volunteer and with the simple questions on stage) he had made up his mind for a result that would present itself only half an hour later.

Books like Freakonomics and Blink will change the way you look at things. As per the mind reader The Definitive Book of Body Language is the best work on the subject so far  !!

This entire episode opened up a new window for me. To pick up clues that we normally ignore and to read body language (I’m sure it takes time) closely that can help you deal with people. No I’m not thinking of picking a wife. Its a big plus for business. After all business is all  about people skills.

btw, Nakul is an x-texhie who is now following his dream, Like he says,to be Mandrake the Magician !!

So whats stopping you from following yours?

or the mind of your client to find out whether he is going to give you Big Business??

Well, not on the same but something similar happened a couple of days back when I was in Bangalore to attend the website launch of Paul Writer (some great articles on marketing in there)  In the end was a mind reading session by this person called Nakul Shenoy !!

Nakul Shenoy was introduced as one of India’s best and a world class mind reader ! He claimed that he can actually “read” minds, He asked for 8 volunteers to come on stage to prove that. Now I don’t trust these kind of guys, So I almost instantly volunteered.

The 8 of us had to introduce ourselves. He starting off asking us some questions, which we were supposed to answer instinctively without thinking, like described in the Malcolm Gladwell book Blink. He stood in front of the 1st person, looked at him probingly for a while and asked him “Up or Down” the reply was “down”. Next he got to me, gave me the same probing look for a while, I was eager for my question and shrugged my shoulders. He said “I haven’t asked you anything yet” for which I replied “I didn’t answer anything either”. Nakul said “You did !!”  I thought he was just acting smart and then  he shot my question which was “White or Black” and I answered “White”. So there you are.. just some random simple/silly questions shot at all 8 volunteers. after which he got back opened his file, did something. Got 8 sealed envelopes numbered 1 to 8 out and handed it over to a random person in the audience whom he declared The Judge !!

The rule was that the Judge was supposed to cut open each envelope and read out aloud the message that was inside !!

So the game starts, Nakul read out the first one, which was something to the effect..

Envelope 1, “Listen to the questions carefully and act responsibly, If not you will pay for it !! ”

So the stage was set !!

Envelope 2 read, “Any 4 of you take a step forward !!”

That was simple, I stepped up and so did four others, So we were 5 in all. Nakul asked if anybody wanted to step back. One person did. So we were 4 left !!

He now asked the other four to stand behind us !

Envelope 3 read, “The ones who did not act and take a step forward, Kindly get back to your seats”

So the 4 on the back returned to their seats..

Envelope 4 read,  ”Any 2 of you raise your left hand”

I guess I pulled up first, we were 3 who had our hands up !! Again, On being asked if one would want to opt out, one of the gentlemen pulled his hand down !!

Envelope 5 read, “The ones with the raised hands stay !!”

The other two got back to their seats. So it was just the two of us now !! Me and my friend Vivek.

I was finding this kind of funny !! and then

Envelope 6 read, “One of you take jump ahead and strike a pose !”

That is something we both did, I guess I was a little slow. So was asked to stand back !!

Envelope 7 read,  ”Its very easy to jump in front and hog the limelight but its tougher to stand back, So the one who stood back is the ‘Winner’ !! ”

Now I was the only one on stage , It was a little confusing but then I was fine “Winning” now Nakul wanted to give me a gift so he pulled out 4 books and said “Choose One”. I went through the title briefly they were on game theory and so on. The choice was upto me, I could choose any book and I picked the “Black Swan”

Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Nakul ran through the other book and showed me that nothing was handwritten written in there, he now asked me to open mine and I found the below (expect for my name which he wrote much later )

It said “The Impact of the Highly Improbable is rather Intriguing !” and “Thank You for making all the Right Choices !!” Signed Nakul Shenoy.

The inner page

I was surprised !!

Now it gets more interesting

Nakul picked up one of the other books, asked a person form the audience to stand up,Nakul was going to run through the pages of this book and whenever he heard the word Stop!! he would stop at that particular page. He started running through the pages, There came the Stop !! Nakul asked if he was sure or should continue flipping , The person said “No, Stop it there” !! He gave him the book and asked him to read out the page number, It was 122/123

Now asked me to get to that page number in my book and said read the 2nd line, and I read out

the Uncertainty of the Nerd !

and finally the Judge was asked to open the Envelope 8 which read :

The Final Message !!

I guess there were close to a 100 guests in the hall and we had all seen him handing over the sealed envelopes to the Judge. This was surely impressive !!

This surely freaked me out a bit, I dont believe in these things and there he was reading my mind !! Had a brief chat with Nakul after the show and kept thinking of it  on the entire drive back to Mysore.

You must be thinking “How the hell did he do that??” well..now even I can read minds huh

I eventually figured most of it !!! and i was thankful to Nakul for not revealing that part of my mind which was also looking at pretty chicks out there.

Now how I think he did it will be in my next blog !! until then do enjoy this case study on Royal Mysore Walks & Social Media written by your truly for Paul Writer.

Keep thinking guys !!  It always helps

Mr Nagarajan Srinivasan (I shall take the liberty of calling him Snags, thats how he popularly known in Infy, plus I think it also sounds cool !!) Snags wanted to get his leadership team at Infy on the walking tour so we exchanged a couple of mails back and forth to decide the date and in between he suggested if I would be interested in coming down to the Infy Campus to talk about my experience with Royal Mysore Walks, They had their Leadership meet coming up and he extended the invite. You know for me if its Talking then there is no Stopping ! So gladly I accepted. The Walking tour also happened for their small group. Great audience to be doing such tours for. Well read, well traveled folks who have this strong love for the city !!

The date of the talk arrived and there I was at the gates. Now anybody who has been to the Infy Mysore Campus will tell you about the kind of security cover it has got, No!! not the Group 4 kind of joke that passes for security, In wake of latest terrorist threats Infy has armed CISF (Central Industrial Security Force) personnels guarding their campus, There is a “Quick Action Unit” too (Don’t know how exactly they act though) stationed out there. Trivia ! Infosys is the first corporate organisation in India to get CISF cover !! Anyways considering yours truly is not a terrorist getting past the rings of security was not too much trouble.

The Infy Mysore Campus has always been a kind of a crystal maze to me (the couple of times I have been there before) But thanks to my friends there this time, I got to the building I had to get to without much trouble.Here I met with Ms Soumya (who happened to be a alum from my college,SJCE) ,who took me to Snags chamber.A very unassuming personality who would put you at ease. The three of us headed for lunch to this restaurant called Rajadhani, Places like these are generously sprinkled in Malls all over but to expect something like this in your office food court must surely be soothing. After a sumptuous meal where the waiter in a traditional attire forces you to have more like you are one of the members of his family I hope do people get back to work after lunch here !!

Snags had given me this option of touring the campus post lunch, either by Walk or on a Buggy! No points for guessing what I chose !! Hopped on to the buggy with Soumya who is this pro at doing these campus tour and she was very polite in letting me know that,”The Buggy is used only when they have a client visit or important guests. Even the top bosses don’t get to use it in the campus” So she said I was privileged !!  It sure felt good but it also made me realize that with a Kurta you are undressed for the occasion!! I was from this  Gandhian Era when everybody else on campus was ‘tie’d up, in spite of the heat !! Anyways off we were on the tour. The shapes of the buildings unique stretching towards weird (for this common man), The running tracks, 7   food courts, The Global Education center, which makes you feel you are in Rome !! The sports complex, the series of Tennis, Badminton,Squash Courts, Rooms for Yoga, Aerobic, Super Market, Mini Hospital, Banks, Manicured lawns all over the place. In short you could say that they have whatever a man (even a woman for that matter) could ever need. But wait, they didn’t sell beer !! They also have this magnificent Multiplex which on the outsidelooks like a Cactus !! Soumya declared that this is better than the PVR multiplexes (Trivia !! PVR stands for Priya Village Roadies,A joint venture between the owners of the Priya Cinema hall in Delhi and Village Roadshows,the austrailian production firm, the folks behind the movie Matrix !! ) Anyways I thought she was kidding but when inside you are proved wrong. A 1000 seater big screen place was where the much coveted TED Conference took place last November.

Since the Mysore campus is their central training facility. The campus has approx 13,000 beds, The capacity to accommodate the highest number of people in a single complex in whole world !! Snags tells me that The Venetian in Vegas comes 2nd with 7,000 odd rooms , The MGM Grand again in Vegas with 6800 odd rooms comes 3rd !! Now this one place where Mysore beats Vegas huh ! and like Soumya quips, “If ever the software industry collapses, Infy can turn this facility into a world class resort !!” I’m sure their code will run the slot machine if that happens!  The hostel accommodation is spread across their sprawling campus and it almost never ends. At the end of the tour my respect for the facilities team increased who are always on their toes to keep the campus in shape and for Soumya who in spite of doing this tour for the nth time was so full of enthusiasm !!

I can already hear most you saying, I must be a great campus and all that but but whats the big deal !! Well, I too have seen my share of world class facilities but thinking of it some 30 odd years ago, A time when our Mulayams and Lalus were calling for a ban on computers in India because they thought it would take away employment, A bunch of guys from middle class backgrounds in the 20s decided to give up their cushy jobs to pursue their dreams and in the process they built a World Class Corporation !! Yes the Big two tech companies in India are TCS and Wipro, not taking anything away from them. The former always had the Tatas behind them and Western Indian Oil Products had made its money in the FMCG sector before entering the IT space !! Talk to most entrepreneurs today and they’ll tell you that they look up to Infy story for inspiration. Doubt the Infy founder had somebody to look up to in our country back then ! Which is why their story is so commendable. Back in Snags cabin, waiting for him to finish his work, got this thought, here is a person who is the Associate Vice President of the company today and The Head of this sprawling campus which trains 25,000 people each year !! But 19 yrs ago right out of college he joined Infy as a Software Engineer, when it still wasn’t a flashy company and climbed up the ladder to the position he is in today !! Its people like him who probably truly represent the Indian IT success story! And you ask him how ? His modest reply “I was at the right place at the right time” then you couple that with his  smartness and shrewdness and you’ll know why he got there so soon !!

Went for the talk which was their Leadership meet for Project Managers and above, Great audience to get across to. It was about “Converting your passion to Entrepreneurship” It was about my short journey so far of trying to club my interests and making a living out of it, with the challenges faced. It was close to an hour. After the talk over coffee I was still curious how would a one man venture addressing the leadership team of a billion dollar company help ? for which Snags replied “We would want our team to think like entrepreneurs not expecting all the decision to come from the top” He was right , Ownership makes all the difference. Something the Japanese Auto companies did very well and the American Auto giants didn’t !!

Here I was to to share my experience so that they could get a different perspective and probably learn from it but in the end I it was a great learning experience for me personally !! Happens so often than not that you get back more than what you could give… Aint it

n hey by the way.. Snags is a SJCE alum too !! I’m so proud of my alma mater I tell you

PS: Here I’m not trying to change anybody’s mindset on Infy !! Because even now I know i will have my friends complaining over minor issues in the company, I too did not appear for the Infy campus interview in college because back then I thought they were too big !! now I feel every entrepreneur should read the Infy story, It sure is a very humbling experience !!

I know that  ”I’m feeling so sleepy” or “I miss my dog” type tweets get on most of our nerves. Even now most of us junta uses networks like twitter and facebook to tell the world about things we are better of not knowing. But these very networks can also be a powerful tool !! Just like that knife in the hands of thief or the robber theory.. Read on..

Having read and liked Rashmi Bansal’s last book Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish and after interacting with the author last week I decided to buy her latest book Connect the dots considering the good reviews it been getting. Being the lazy guy I am I prefer buying books online plus you get a good deal online these day.

Not being too happy about the online book store http://www.infibeam.com since their last delivery Maharajas came in a not so  nice a condition after being partly drenched the rain but still usable. In spite of which I decided to order this book through them because they were selling an autographed copy. Since I my  collection of Author signed copy book is slowly growing I decided the small increase in price compared to the other online stores was justified, So i went ahead with the order.

The Book was delivered (I must say is very good condition this time) but my repeated efforts of trying to find some ink on paper was in vain I felt cheated that they dint keep up their word on an  Author Signed copy !

You know I am not the ones who keep will quite.. right I looked up infibeam.com on twitter and found them , It helped that I also found their rivals flipkart and the author Rashmi Bansal on twitter. Tweeted about my bad experience with infibeam.com something I hadnt faced (so far) from flipkart. Also gave them my order number asking them why I dint receive an Signed Copy.

10 mins after this tweet I get a phone call from their Customer service. They apologize for their slip up explaining that they had run out of the signed copies. They offer to ship me one as soon as they got stock. I refuse saying that its not about another copy (and cutting more trees for books) Its about failing to keep up your word. They accepted it, offered me a refund of the amount (I dint ask for it) for not keeping up their promise. In the next hour I get a mail with the refund credit and the news that they have removed the Author Signed copy offer. I was impressed with their swiftness !! Now with the refund they are forcing me to try their service again, They have a chance of winning back a customer if they get their acts right. Smart move there !!

It was nice also to heard back from the Author about infibeam.com running out of Signed copy.

So the next time before tweeting about your girlfriend’s dog or neighbor’s daughter.. Thinking again about twitter power !!

Last one, Since we are taking about books and buying them online, this is one simple and great site which is give you the best prices online. Great service for book lovers

The Mahrajas

Sayaji Rao Road, the main thoroughfare in Mysore is named after the Maharaja of Baroda, Sayaji Rao Gaekwad, The legendary Maharaja is said to have been adopted by the Royal family. The story goes that as a young boy he was asked by the queen as to why he was called to the Palace and the boy grandly announced with confidence , ‘I have come here to rule !!’ Mighty impressed he was appointed the heir apparent. He did a greatly reformed the kingdom of Baroda. When Dr BR Ambedkar did not have the money to study further, It was this Maharaja who sponsored his education in Britain of this brilliant student from the backward classes of the society which was unthinkable back then, Who would later on go on to write our constitution ! In a smiliar fashion it was the Mahraja of Mysore, Chamarajendra Wodeyer who would partly sponsor the trip of Swami Vivekananda to America to attend the first international religion parliament in Chicago in 1893, where he gave his famous speech on Hindu Religion which is still remembered to this day ! Infact one the main thoroughfares in Baroda was named after Chamarajendra Wodeyar which is now popularly known as Palace Road ! Chamarajendra Wodeyar was an adopted Maharaja too !! And as per one of the stories on the origins of the Wodeyar Dynasty, The very first King Yaduraya is said to have come from Dwarka in Gujarat.

Ramchandra Guha, the famous historian says, Most Maharajas of India were useless expect for two of them, Maharaja Sayaji Rao Gaekwad of Baroda and Majaraja Krishna Raja Wodeyar IV of Mysore for their great contribution to their respective Kingdoms !

Raja Ravi Verma

The famous Fateh Singh Museum of Baroda boasts of good collections of painting of Raja Ravi Verma’s painting,  And it sure is a very good collection indeed. It was this famous painter who introduced water colours to India and some of his great works adorn the walls here and his studio was set up right next to the Museum, which is now in shambles. But this Museum is surely one of the best kept ones in India with a great collection of painting and sculptures from across the globe. The Jagan Mohan Art Gallery in Mysore too has some priceless collection of Raja Ravi Verma and the other place which has a significant Raja Ravi Verma collection is the Sree Chitra Art Gallery in Trivandrum. They say time stops when one begins to admire Raja Ravi Verma’s paintings. This gifted artist with the strokes of his paint brushes created magic more than a 100 years back and even today it looks as if its brand new ! One needs to see it to believe it and be sure you’ll be drawn in.

The Musicians

Ustad Faiyaz Khan, the court musician of the Baroda Kingdom was an exponent in Hindustani classical music. In 1908, a grand competition was arranged in Mysore where he sang so splendidly that he eventually won the top spot for which the Maharaja of Mysore awarded him the title “Aftab-e-Mousiqui.” meaning the ‘the sun of music’. Veene Sheshanna,the famous veene mastter in the Royal Court of Mysore when on a visit to Boroda, It is said that the Gayakwad Maharaja was so pleased with his recital that he took a procession of Veene Sheshanna in a palanquin in the city of Baroda.

The Sights

In the heart of Baroda you have a bustling and colourful marketplace called the Khande Rao Market, In an old stately building selling fresh flowers, colour and vegetables, Built by Maharja Sayaji Rao in 1906 to commemorate the silver jubliee celebration of his rule and gifted it to the Baroda Muncipality. Its resemblance to our very own and vibrant century old Devaraja is striking.

You even find quite a few clock towers in Baroda just like how you find them in Mysore, Generously erected in the city by the Royalty back then for the benefit of their subjects. You find a very promineint one very close to the Baroda city Railway Station.

The stately Laxmi Vilas Palace sits pretty in the heart of the City. Intricately carved this majestic structure has more than 3000 beautiful stained glass windows, The highest used in any structure all imported from Belgium. The architect of the Laxmi Vilas Palace was a Englishman named Major Charles Mant who committed suicide in the 1890s for fear he had got his calculations wrong and that the palace would fall down !! How said because it still stands strong even today !! Unfortunately this Palace is very poorly maintained which is still the private property of the Royal family of Baroda ! Infact the central Arch of the Amba Vilas Palace in Mysore is modeled after the Laxmi Vilas Palace !

You also have a Oriental Library in Boroda which was inspired from the Oriental Research Library in Mysore which in Mysore is housed a grand structure which was built in 1887, to commemorate the jubilee year of Queen Victoria reign.

The century old central library is Baroda is sure not a place to be missed with some great collection of rare books,the entire flooring is made of Belgium glass and when you walk on it in the first and second floors, it sure makes you jittery The central Library of Mysore might not be housed in similar setting but set up in the Chamarajendra Technical Institute building, once up on a time it sure was a treasure for book lovers !

Baroda is house to the famous Maharaja Sayaji Rao University,Initially started off as Baroda collage and later on acquired the status of a University !  The Mysore University set up in 1916 was the first among the Princely States in India, For which Krishna Raja Wodeyar IV sent study teams to great universities around the world to come up with what is the best model for Mysore. Both are housed in beautiful Heritage Buildings !

One could go on with more such familiar sites in Boroda like the imposing Nyay Mandir, the Law Courts, The old city and its town planning, The beautiful man made lakes. Sprawing gardens, Crickets grounds and lush green golf courses so much like how it is in Mysore ! Infact a popular sweet in Baroda is called Maisur,which is also made from gram flour !

Like they say, in the Tale of town cities there are so many many stories that are common ! and it all stands out pretty for us to notice and compare. And as this lady from Baroda now settled in Bangalore  put it, Yes Baroda and Mysore are so similar, its just that Mysore is a little more classier. Couldn’t agree with her more !

It had been more than 6 months since I had gone running, Yeah I know I do Walking Tours for a living but then Running is a totally different ball game. And the first day I went running I cursed myself for registering ! It felt like I was carrying a barrel all along. But then if entrepreneurship has ever thought this Walker anything it is to ‘Never Give up’ So there I was every morning doing about 5/6 kms whenever there wasnt a Walking tour to do !! And I found the amazing android app My Tracks on my Google Nexus one fone which uses GPS to track your route gives you some great stats on your running like speed, timing, plotting graphs on your performance etc etc !! So it really helped to show how much I sucked !! I know you must be thinking that did I need that app to tell me that ?? I know I know, but then having spent the cost of almost half my kidney on this fone I better use it in whichever way possible than just voice and text thts another thing biz teaches you, makes the most of your moolah , if you have any left thts is

Anyways getting back to the running, what really helped was running up Chamudi Hills, An 8 kms uphill track takes out all the juice out of you but then I would its still say its worth it, considering the amount of respect this atheist got on completion from the god fearing and the devout  near the temple  So doing this uphill track twice was a good test for my endurance. By now I had begun to enjoy the running and just a couple of days before the THE day, decided to run on the periphary on the Kukkarahalli lake (where the greatest Indian English writer, RK Narayan took his evening Walks cooking up stories of Malgudi) with my friend Suraj, who was also preparing for the run. Did two laps of the lake and was fortunate that Suraj dint beat by a lap, the man runs like a manic, his body gives him a better mileage than mine because it runs on fresh cane juice and not on Barley water But few tips from him surely helped, like for example start slow and then slowly build up speed and more importantly keep your mouth shut while running (some have advised me to do it all the time too !! )

The run was on Sunday the 23rd, but was in Bangalore a coupla days before just catching up with friends and in the pretext of loading up carbs for the run ended up eating quite a bit. I must say, collection of the bib (your running number) and the goody bag was quite well organized at the Kanteerava Stadium unlike last year when there was a mayhem, where you could have easily mistaken it to be a sabji mandi with well dressed customers !!

The run began at around 8 am at the Kanteerava Stadium, with more than 7000 runner participating the atmosphere was electic ! It reminded me of one those Nazi Army procession held by Hitler !!  It was great to see so much energy together. The 10 km route was sketched in the heart of Bangalore and thanks to the number tress in our Garden City the blazing sun dint do much havoc. So morons in the corporation, Stop cutting Tress !! All along the route you had people cheering for you, right from Amry jawan to general public and trust me it really helps you pull up and with so many people running you tend to run a tad faster than you normally do, after all we all like to show off, dont we So I ended up finishing it in 70 mins, was hoping I would do a gone in 60 mins but looks like that movie is still under production

In the end it was a great experience, considering one of my friends Raga came down from Singapore fir the race., No No, he dint come running from Singapore, the airfares now are so cheap that people might even come down for an haircut with our local hajam Anyways good to know that I’m still mobile !! Oh and yeah !! It sure is a great personal high !!