Damn, I had always wanted to visit Wonderla for many years – literally the day I landed in the IT CITY.
So, this was the next trip/break that I took from work (remember, sometimes I used to work on weekends too 😰😇). The reason for the trip was my then girlfriend was back in Bangalore, and our group wanted to experience the thrill of Wonderla, which we had only heard about till then.
It was time to check this place out and I must say, this place didn’t disappoint!
We started our “journey” by taking the Wonderla bus to the spot. The one thing that disappoints about Bangalore, well, two things – the first and foremost – Traffic and the second one is that all the cool places are way out of the actual places, making it harder to reach the actual destination and spending more time in the journey than the actual place. Enough venting. 😁
This bus picked us up from a spot and dropped us off at the Wonderla “headquarters”, or where the actual theme park was.
Here, you can see, my sister in the background and my then roommate Daya, posing for a selfie.
(L-R) Minu Tai, Me, Daya
As soon as we reached the place, it was surrounded by so many IT professionals such as myself. This was one of the reasons, I wanted to leave India in the first place – TOO MANY PEOPLE. I am the kind of person who enjoys their privacy and deters the crowd. Please don’t hate me! 😁
There was a statue of the Monkey with a Wonderla T-shirt. So, naturally, we had to pose with it and click some photos. Here’s my sister Minu Tai doing the same. I couldn’t find my photo at this sport, maybe, because, I was busy standing in line for the tickets when the rest of the troop enjoyed clicking some memorable pictures.
As soon as we entered, we knew we were gonna have so much fun. There were too many things to do and it was up to us what rides to choose. It was a hard decision especially when you go with a big group, but, we managed to experience the “promised” thrill and excitement.
Once the Sun started dwindling down in the cold sky, we knew it was the closing time for the rides. This didn’t mean that we would stop having fun. After all the water rides were done and we were thoroughly exhausted, we changed into our regular clothes and decided to have some relaxed time at the 3D/4D/7D cinema that they had put up at the venue.
I don’t remember what the movie was about, but it was surely a different experience. I have had similar experience when I toured Mumbai with my family during 2007-08, so it was not something that I wasn’t expecting. Nevertheless, I was glad that my friends had fun.
Here’s the happy group again.
Now, after this movie, I don’t remember whether we ate after going back to our place or in some restaurant. The one thing that I distinctly remember is the return journey in the similar bus that we came in. The reason I still remember this return journey is I had to do some extraordinary thing (for me) and that was requesting someone to lend their water bottle as my then girlfriend was feeling particular thirsty and uneasy. She always had claustrophobia and felt uncomfortable every time we traveled in the car with the rolled up windows, so when the bus was almost filled to its capacity with that many people and the windows closed, I knew it would be a problem, but didn’t anticipate it to be that big. I remember, her being breathless, so I had to part the hugely populated crowd to reach the driver of the bus to request him to either stop the bus or at least lend his water bottle as we were out of it. It was a struggle for me, being the crowd hater, but had to do it. I was glad the gulp of water gave her some easiness and she could travel the rest of the way without any problem.
Fun memory! I didn’t know I remembered it until I started recalling this day. I MUST BE A GENIUS! 😎
After visiting my undergrad institute, it was a perfect opportunity for me to take some time off work and see my folks. During this point in my life, I was in a long distance relationship (which I sucked and still suck at), giving me more time to work. Naturally, I worked harder and harder.
I never knew I could work this much long. My day used to start with a 2-hour online Hadoop classes, followed by my 9 to 5 full time job, and again 2-3 hours of Hadoop and Big Data classroom sessions. It seems crazy to look at it now, but, everything that I did during this time was to accumulate more money to fund my MS education so that I could rely less on my parents. I didn’t want them to burn through their savings and I was glad that it didn’t come to that.
Anyway, getting back to this trip. It felt nice to be a part of the family celebration during the Ganpati Celebrations. It has been our family tradition for more than 25 years now, and it always feels special to host the Ganpati Idol at your place and having a good time.
A quick funny story behind how this tradition started and my MOM has told me this.
When I was a 4-5 years old kid, I was envious of a neighbor having the Ganesha Idol at their place, so naturally as a small kid would do, I grabbed the small Ganesha Idol and brought it to my place so that people could come to my place and worship the idol.
I could picture myself doing that, since I was and am a goofy kid at heart.
So, the morning I arrived at my place, it was so cool to look at the HOME, where I grew up and made so many memories. Funny how the moment you move out of “your” home, it eventually becomes your “parents’ home”. You don’t realize it sooner, but over time when you tell your friends that you are visiting your “parents’ home”, it hits you and hits you hard.
This is how “MILIND NIWAS” looked like back in 2015.
and this is the “MILIND” after whom this place is named. I look so corny in this picture.
During the rest of the day, we carried out many things related to worshipping the Ganesha Idol. It was a busy day and being the only son of the household, I had to take care of many things – both ritual and physical. As I have mentioned numerous times, I am an atheist, but I don’t mind celebrating these festivities with my parents as it makes them happy. I don’t mind keeping my beliefs aside so that they can be happy.
By the time, we came closer to the end of the day, my MOM and our domestic helper worked really hard to cook some delicious food and I can still taste this mouth watering food that you see below.
I never knew I would be the FAN of the Indian food so much, but, having spent so many days outside and cooking your own food, makes you miss home food more than ever!
After the quick bite, it was time to catch up with friends and relatives. Below you see my nephew, Ananya, who is so cool and down to earth person for a kid, and so well-behaved I tell you. I don’t remember what we talked about, must be something that he was curious about!
After everything was done, it was time to see off our beloved Ganesha. The picture that you see at the top is the Ganesha Idol that we installed that year. Before seeing the Ganesha Idol off, we have to “celebrate” by playing with the pink colored powdered chalk – “GULAAL” as we call it. You can see my parents with a little bit of GULAAL on their faces. This was taken just before leaving our place to see off our Ganesha Idol.
It was a good day, filled with so many memories and delicious food and lovely people and their talks.
Day 1 – Sunday, April 19, 2020 – Quarantine Day 34 Starting the week on a high note. The COVID19 positive count for Michigan has dropped to 633. I think this is the lowest number of daily cases I have seen for Michigan so far, so definitely something to cheer about.
Now, yesterday I ran a Half Marathon, so I am still recovering from the pain that I endured during that run. Naturally, I had to skip the run, but it didn’t stop me from exploring one more state recreational area in the state of Michigan. This time, it was Pontiac Lake Recreational Area.
Man, it was so beautiful to hike through the woods, fallen trees and their leaves. The moment we started the hike, we were greeted with this tunnel and I couldn’t stop myself from being goofy and trying different voices in the tunnel.
You check it out yourself.
Hehe, I know it is childish, but it is funny.
The trail that we did was the EQUESTRIAN TRAIL, so I was hoping to see a few horses. Unfortunately, I had to wait till the end of the hike to see a couple, but it was worth it.
Here they are.
Now, what do I talk about the trail. It was awesome with the lovely company and funny little kids. My Apple watch decided to act funny, splitting a single hike into two. Good that, I could finish the 5 mile hike, I meant, Apple Watch let me finish the hike at the 5 mile mark.
A Sunday well spent!
Day 2 – Monday April 20, 2020 – Quarantine Day 35 Good news again! The positive COVID19 cases are seemingly dropping off at a consistent pace and today’s count is 676, which is far less than I anticipated, so it is a good news.
The weather decided to play its tricks again today, so we decided to stay indoors and enjoy our home workout. Today, I felt like keeping it simple with the regular push-ups, sit-ups, and Russian twists. The only improvement was the number of repetitions – I added one more round to the existing 50-10 variations, so it was 60-50-40-30-20-10 this time and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Day 3 – Tuesday April 21, 2020 – Quarantine Day 36 As I celebrate on April 23rd per Indian time and April 22nd post afternoon per US times, I decided to take 21st as the rest day and do nothing, except work my ass off.
Even though we are working from home and the plants are closed, work has never been this busy. I like it this way, helps you pass the day relatively quickly.
Day 4 – Wednesday April 22, 2020– Quarantine Day 37 My pre-birthday.
I have so many people to be grateful for! Parents, family, and friends. Everyone made me feel so special by celebrating my birthday. Felt so good and blessed. I will talk more about it in other section of my blog though! 🙃
Talking about the workout, it was simple workout for my legs. I haven’t run since Sunday’s Half Marathon, so it was time to start working on my legs and what better way to do it than a home workout during the quarantine times.
I decided to do the 50-10 pattern of three movements. 1. Air Squats 2. Lateral Lunges 3. Mountain Climbers
The reason we did this workout was to burn off *some* calories from the delicious cakes below. My friends, Monika and Anupam, were kind enough to order *two* cakes for me. The TIRAMISU which is my favorite and the FRUIT CUSTARD which the kids like. Thanks for doing this for me! ❤️😊☺️
Damn, don’t they look delicious?
Day 5 – Thursday April 23, 2020– Quarantine Day 38 Happy Birthday to me! I am 29 years old, and haven’t been this fit before in my life. All thanks to Monika, happy now?
Being the birthday, I took this as the rest day to recharge myself for the busy weekend!
Day 6 – Friday April 24, 2020– Quarantine Day 39 I ran after so many days!
I am not sure whether I told you guys or not, I started wearing the KNEE CAP after a little injury post my Half Marathon. This knee cap has been a blessing for me.
The 5-day rest and the knee cap helped me clock such a tremendous pace during today’s run. I couldn’t believe that I could run this faster without pushing myself. It was such an awesome run coupled with the lovely Michigan weather.
The pace was so good at the end that I finished the last mile of the run at 8’ pace. Felt really good!
Day 7 – Saturday April 25, 2020– Quarantine Day 40 Here comes the weekend and the last day of the week.
I had to skip the run today as we planned to do a 9-mile beautiful hike at the lovely Island Lake Recreational Area. This hike is full of uphills and some breathtaking views. We did the BLUE TRAIL, for those who have been here. I would love to go back to this place again!
This brings us to the end of Week 16 – My birthday week. I took it a little bit light on myself to *celebrate* my birthday in a relaxed manner (without any injury).
10 more miles to go for 250 miles in 2020. Let’s kill it next week!
For those who don’t know what Rakshabandhan is, the Wikipedia definition is “a popular, traditionally Hindu, annual rite, or ceremony to celebrate the special bond between the brother and the sister”. On this day, the sister ties as amulet a.k.a. Rakhi to remind her brother to protect her through thick and thin. Gosh, such a deep meaning in a simple thread!
Anyway, we have been celebrating Rakshabandhan for as long as I remember. I do have three sisters and many cousin sisters, so it has been a part of my life for many years and I really look forward to this day as I get to gift them something during the ceremony, which I really love.
In 2015, I was in Bangalore with my first sister Minu Tai, so, we decided to celebrate it at my apartment in a traditional fashion. My other sisters Shubhu Tai & Dikshu Tai sent their Rakhis to her so that she can tie them on my wrist. We dressed up in a nice traditional outfit to commemorate the occasion. We had our friends, Akash and Harshal, to accompany us during the ceremony which was really cool. Here’s the picture of the group.
(L-R) Akash, Harshal, Minu Tai, Myself
So, there are many variations of observing this wonderful Hindu festival. Some people prefer to go quite extravagant, whereas others try to keep it light. We chose the latter one.
I think it was a team effort to put the Rangoli on the floor. The white powder that you see in the below picture surrounding the blanket like seat is Rangoli. Then the brother is made to sit on that pedestal like seat. Once everything is set, the sister takes the plate which holds the worshipping material and circles it before the brother’s face. Gosh, it is so hard to explain it in plain English, without a video. 😁
Once the plate circling is done, the sister ties the amulet/Rakhi to the brother’s hand and (optional) touches his feet. What followed this is that the brother is *supposed to* put his gift in the same plate/thali that was used for the ceremony.
I think that’s what concludes the ceremony. Here’s the picture of Minu Tai tying Rakhi to me.
Oh, one thing I forgot to mention that they feed each other a couple pieces of sweets. Here’s Minu Tai doing the same.
And if you thought I would end this blog post without posting a self loving picture of myself, you were wrong. Here’s the solo pic, which I loved BTW.
This Friendship Day celebrations were not planned at all.
For those who know me personally know one fact about me that I like to plan things and execute those in order, so it was kind of an anomaly that we were celebrating this Friendship Day in such a fashion. But, I am glad that I could celebrate with my friends and especially my baby sister – Minu Tai.
One thing that I would like to tell you guys about my special bond that I share with Minu Tai. We have been together since the kindergarten, just a year apart. We went to the same convent, same middle and high school, same college. We worked at the same organization and in the same building, so, over all these years, I did not realize how much I would miss her once we set ourselves on different paths. This harsh reality hit me when I was leaving for the US and realized that I would not get to spend more time with her and cursed myself for not spending some more time with her. If we want to generalize this to other aspects of life, I would say, we do (most of the times) take things, people, and relationships for granted; and, we do not realize their importance until it is gone, so please do not take anything for granted in life. You never know when it will be your last time and chance to meet that person.
Anyway, I will not deviate further and get back to the topic of this blog post.
So, one of the reasons we went out to celebrate this day was because of my college friend, Umesh. He was in Bangalore for a few days and was staying with us. I have always liked him and thought him to be a really funny and genuine guy. I was happy with him being around, even though, for a few days.
Here’s the picture of the group outside one of the malls in Bangalore. Damn, we used to go to so many malls. Unfortunately, many trees perish for many construction projects in Bangalore or for any major city in India for that matter, increasing pollution, temperature, and global warming. Hope, we will understand the gravity of the situation well before everything slips away from our ungrateful hands. Deviating again!!!
We decided to celebrate the Friendship Day by dining out. Those days, the only way we could spend time with each other (outside work) was to go out and dine. In the past, I was not too much into the hiking or running or any other fitness related activities for that matter, as I was focused on earning more money so that I can come to the US for my next career and academic move.
The location was the restaurant called Tamarind which is in Banashankari area of Bangalore. I think, Daya, one of my roommates, suggested this place and we were sold to the idea as we wanted to try some other place than our regular dining places. The one problem with Bangalore is that it is big and you have to take so many things into consideration before going out like holidays, traffic, and pollution.
The food at the restaurant was really good, as it used to in almost all the Indian restaurants. How stupid was I in the past? I used to eat Indian food at my place, and used to order only Indian food while dining out, such a waste of both money, time, and energy.
Anyway, after the dinner was over, we clicked the mandatory picture to post of Facebook. Ah, the good old days of Facebook, which I don’t use anymore and has been such a good decision.
Here’s that picture.
(L-R) Akash, Harshal, Daya, Minu Tai, Myself, Akash
And off course, I could end this post without posting a self loving picture of mine.
So, here’s the handsome hunk that you have been dying to see. JK, it’s me!
Wow, this place has a special affection in my heart. SGGS has played a huge role for me both personally and professionally that is very hard to put a proper “THANK YOU” in words. During my time at SGGS, I never imagined that one subject that I just took a random interest in, would turn out to be so crucial for my career years after.
I tried to control myself from sharing this, but alas. Anyway – a quick story about the “subject” that changed my life – “BIG DATA ANALYTICS USING APACHE HADOOP”. The professor that taught us this subject was Mr. Hemant Ambulgekar. When we were going through this topic, I used to dread this topic and found it bone chilling; but, the moment Mr. Ambulgekar started teaching us it with his utmost passion and enthusiasm, I think, I got the concept what Hadoop was and from that day on, never looked back. Here, my knowledge of Unix OS came so handy – all credit goes to Mr. R. K. Chavan.
HADOOP & UNIX has helped me transform my career from a regular Software Developer to a Data Wizard and I couldn’t be more thankful of SGGS.
Anyway, enough of the “other” stuff. Lemme talk about what was so special about this trip.
So, I had to take this trip to apply for my B.Tech. degree at the RTMNU campus which is located at Vishnupuri, Nanded, a small village, 10 miles from the Nanded Railway station, where my alma mater, SGGS, is located. The reason I had to apply for my degree in person and not online is because having the undergrad degree was ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS FOR MY MS IN US JOURNEY. So, to leave no stone unturned and to make sure I receive my B.Tech. degree in time before I leave for the US, I had to do this process in person. For many of my friends who graduated from the reputed institutions such as NITs and IITs, they do not have to do this and their degrees get delivered in a convocation ceremony – all the stuff. Hopefully, SGGS will have in future if they don’t have it already. I am not complaining, just saying that there is always a room for improvement.
So, let’s get started. Too many pictures, I tell ya!
This is me, just woke up from the heavy sleep that I was comfortable enough to take in a moving train. I haven’t had a chance to do the same in the last few years, so it will be an interesting experience to see if I could go through it. (I don’t think so!)
After reaching the Nanded Railway Station, I took an auto rickshaw and headed straight to my alma mater. I was dying to take the first glimpse of the *new* gate that everyone was talking about on the WhatsApp group and I tell ya, I wasn’t disappointed. I was amazed how grand it was and couldn’t get enough of it!
The below picture is the building where I spent three years of my Engineering journey. My department was Computer Science and Engineering, and we shared the building with the E&TC department. It was a LOVE-HATE relationship between the two departments, which I find funny now!
Right across from this building a sprawling tree which got its name due to *alleged couples* that used to spend *quality time* under this tree. The famous name of this tree and the surrounding area is PIYA MILAN CHOUK a.k.a. PMC, which roughly translates to LOVERS MEET POINT in plain English. Unfortunately, I did not get to hang under this tree with my PIYA. I know many of friends did. 😁 But I miss telling my friends to meet me at PMC whenever we used to rush for our project submissions.
After reminiscing around these two spots, it was time to visit the spot/place where I spent most of my college days and it was the college sports ground. On the way, I got to witness so many developments and under-construction buildings which soothes you in a way to see that the institute has come a long way since you left. Again, getting emotional here.
Anyway, just before taking the left turn for the college sports ground, I was greeted by the recently constructed temple of Lord Hanumana. I have always been an atheist; however, I couldn’t help but notice the care that went into constructing this temple and I wonder how many people might have become happy after seeing this.
The most awaited moment for me was in front of my eyes just after crossing the temple. I still remember a little bubble forming in my stomach, as soon as I realized I will witness the SGGS SPORTS ARENA in a matter of seconds. Man, I cannot tell you how happy I was just after taking a look it. I couldn’t believe I was at the same place which helped me develop as a person, and hone in my leadership qualities in so many ways.
I love you, SGGS SPORTS ARENA!
Before, I could scan the entire field, I was pleasantly surprised by the hard working SGGS CRICKET TEAM. They were practicing their morning drills when I made my entrance. This scene felt straight out of the movie. It was so surreal to see them carry on the legacy that me and my fellow teammates left a few years ago.
The player you see with the bat in his hand is the then captain of the SGGS cricket team and a lovely guy. I tried giving them my 2 cents, but most importantly asked them to enjoy the game, make some memories, and have fun!
What followed this was reminiscing the things that were not part of the SGGS fraternity when I left the institute in 2013. This recently built/still-build auditorium building was highly impressive. I am sure it has been further developed after that.
And this was the newly constructed Boys hostel, eclipsing the existing one where many of my batchmates made so many memories. I was fortunate enough to be really good friends with a couple guys, who were kind enough to let me stay with them for a day or two, whenever I felt like and have fun!
Now, it was time to head back to the university campus and carry on with the task that I was there for. So, on my way out to the institute, I was fortunate enough to visit the Institute’s Ganpati Idol – SWAYAMBHU. Again, being an atheist, this didn’t excite me, but was happy to see the legacy being carried smoothly by the fellow SGGS students.
After this, it was time for the lovely gut filling breakfast at the Idli centre, across the street from the SGGS campus. I have had countless meals at this place and have never found any other place matching the tastiness and crispiness of the Idli and Vada that this place makes. Man, my mouth is watering right now just writing about it.
Getting away from these cravings (for now)! After this lovely breakfast, it was time to head to the university campus, where I was greeted with a long line for the application forms. I knew I had to spend an entire day there, but it was nothing for the wonderful rewards that I was going to get in the years to come.
I was happy I made the correct decision of going down to the university campus in person and take care of it so that I will have a relief that my degree will reach me before I leave for the US. It felt like a moment of achievement. I know it is silly, but, I am the kind of person who enjoy small things in life.
Before, I headed to the Nanded Railway Stations, I made sure to meet many of my fellow batchmates, who were around the college area and some of the juniors who were Seniors at the Institute. And, how could I miss the chance to click the last picture before I head away from my lovely alma mater!
I will have to be honest. This has been one of the most important and enlightening experiences of my life.
I am so lucky to have spent this time with friends like family – Monika & Anupam and their wonderful kids – Aryan & Arnav. I couldn’t thank them enough for their wonderful hospitality and generosity.
I feel not so good about people back in India where we do not have this kind of luxury and people are struggling to score two meals a day!
Now, being in quarantined for so many days give you a rare opportunity to reflect upon yourself (both physical and mental). As any sane person would do, I started my quarantine days binge watching Netflix and doing useless stuff, but sooner I realized this might not end sooner, so I should use this “downtime” for personal growth and development.
As you might be aware that I did 30-day 100 push-ups challenge in December 2019, so I thought of doing the same, with a little twist here and there to keep myself fit and healthy. So, I ended up making a list of all the exercises I could do at home without any extra equipment or weights required. I am glad, it worked out so well for me.
Over the last one month, I ended up doing what seemed impossible to me in the past. I came up with a genius strategy of breaking down the repetitions in smaller chunks to accumulate those in big numbers, and so far, this strategy has worked and you will see the results of these at the end of this post. Below are the movements that I do when I am working out at home.
And below is the graph that shows the number of repetitions I did in last one month.
Impressive, isn’t it. If you haven’t started yet and would like to give a try to these movements, please do! You never know till when we will have to stay like this, so it is better to start working on stuffs which actually make us better.
Also, apart from these home workouts, I have been running not so regularly, but was happy to notice that I finished 50 mile running distance during this one month.
Apart from running, me and my friends are into Hiking, Outdoor walks, and biking. You will be surprised to know we could finish more than 40 miles of hiking and almost 80 miles of biking during last one month. So grateful to see these numbers.
How can I forget about the most important of all – “FOOD”. I had so much healthy food during this time that I did not have for the last 28 years. All credit goes to Monika & Anupam. We tried and are trying to keep things as healthy as possible. As you know, I don’t like to eat outside frequently so the timing of the shutdown couldn’t be perfect.
Here’s a small glimpse of the type of food we have consumed in the past. So grateful!
Now, to summarize the results in a single picture, I would say my abs have never been this stronger and I like to keep those that way.
Though, it is not a clear picture and was clicked hastily, I think, it perfectly reflects the strength that I have gathered over the last one month both physically and mentally.
If this continues like this, please don’t be surprised with the 2nd month update. Who knows what we have in store for the future.
Let’s hope this will be last for the peak cases for COVID19 cases.
Day 1 – Sunday, April 12, 2020 – Quarantine Day 27 Good news after so many days for fellow Michiganders. Surprisingly, the COVID19 positive cases have dramatically decreased to 645 from the previous number of 1,200. While communicating this to the general public, our Governor did really important thing, which I think, needs some acknowledgement.
Our Governor made sure to communicate to the public that this does not mean the positive cases will go down tomorrow onwards, it means, it is a positive news but we should not take it for granted and continue monitoring the situation. I loved how she used STATISTICS while announcing this. She communicated that there is a pattern of lower number of cases every SUNDAY for the last three weeks, so we shouldn’t be surprised if the count increases tomorrow.
I am keeping my fingers crossed and hoping that this count will reduce as the week progresses and by the end of this week, we should have total control on this virus.
Getting back to my topic, I had to skip my running again due to weather and my not so great knee. I think, the knee is getting better, but I am giving it much needed rest so that I can bounce back with more energy.
We decided to take a bike tour of the lovely city of Ann Arbor, home of the UFM, one of the most reputed universities in the US. We chose the location called Bandemer Park and explored the city on our bikes. I must say, it was refreshing to witness the city like this, without many people and students around. It looked like a ghost town, strange times we live in, I tell you.
As you can see, we tried staying closer to lakes to get some good views and click some beautiful pictures. We were disappointed to cut short our biking at 9 miles, but I think, it was enough for a Sunday. We will have more opportunities like this in future, and should be able to cash on those later.
Let us hope for the best.
Day 2 – Monday April 13, 2020 – Quarantine Day 28 A positive news after many days. For the first, the number of legit COVID19 positive cases fell below 1,000. It is 997 but still counts. We are treating one day at a time, and hopefully within a week, we will have everything under control.
Let us hope for the best.
The weather today was not that great, so I chose to skip the run and made sure that I put in some work in the evening workout. Also, today was the last day of the Ford shutdown so I wanted to get in some CrossFit feeling before I “head to work” tomorrow.
The workout looked like this.
And doing 100 burpees along with the rest of the exercise sounded easy before I actually began my burpees. I was so drenched at the end of this session. Take a look yourself.
Man, it nearly killed me. I was glad I did not give up.
Day 3 – Tuesday April 14, 2020 – Quarantine Day 29 After yesterday’s good news, today was a worse day for number of positive COVID19 cases in Michigan. Today, we reported more than 1,300 cases in the state and the curve doesn’t seem to be flattening enough.
Hope we are strong enough to sail through these tough times.
Having given the bad news already, today was a good day for me on a personal note. I managed to go outside to run *like a normal person* and was so ecstatic that I clocked in the best time for my 5K. I was so happy after the run as I did not expect this kind of result after almost a week’s break.
My knees are in great shape right now. I would see if I can get an ice bath tomorrow just to give them some relaxation.
Day 4 – Wednesday April 15, 2020– Quarantine Day 30 A little relief after many days of high numbers of positive COVID19 cases. Today’s count was just over 1,000 giving us some relief after many days of speculation whether Michigan really is on the descent of the COVID19 graph. You know, statistics. Anyway, it is a positive news. I know it is still a long way to go, but we are making progress one day at a time!
Talking about my Marathon preparation, as you know, I killed the 5K yesterday, so I took a feather of inspiration from yesterday’s run and tried to replicate the same feat, but this time for 10K. This time, I had a company for the run. My friend, Anupam, was running with me and his two kids were biking. Anupam is fitter for his age and runs faster than me, so even after trying hard catching up to him, I couldn’t.
Nevertheless, apart from the fast pace of Anupam, I had the extreme fluctuation of the weather to worry about. One thing constant about Michigan weather that it is always changing, so I had a tough time to be comfortable with the wind, snow, rain, and sunny weather that we witnessed this day. It was pathetic but some of you who do not experience such type of weather changes find it amusing. Trust me, it is not!
Even though I am expressing the downsides of this run, I had a great pace for the 6 mile run and could finish it under an hour. This is my best performance till date for 6 mile distance. Hope I will be able to better this performance. Amen!
Day 5 – Thursday April 16, 2020– Quarantine Day 31 As most of the statistical analysis predicted, I am starting each day with a better news. Today, the number of positive COVID19 cases dropped to 760 for Michigan and we are showing somewhat *positive* signs of recovering from the wrath of this deadly virus.
Talking about my fitness routine, today was the day of the 4 mile walk. I was looking to destress after a couple of days of continuous running and there wasn’t a better way to do it than an outdoor walk. Additionally, I had the longest day at work with way too many meetings to remember. A long walk was a perfect way to retrospect the day and spend time with my loved ones – Monika & family. I had a great time and could feel my knee to be in a better shape than yesterday.
Day 6 – Friday April 17, 2020– Quarantine Day 32 After two good days in a row, it was time for a step back and experience a slight increase in the number of positive COVID19 cases. Thank God that the number is below 1,000 – 996 to be precise. I think it is one of those days and we should see the drop in the numbers real soon.
It was REST DAY for me and I couldn’t be happier.
Day 7 – Saturday April 18, 2020– Quarantine Day 33 As predicted, Michigan experienced the drop in the COVID19 positive cases. Today’s count was 768, more than 200 lesser than yesterday. In any way, it is a good news and I hope that this count will *only decrease* from on. Something to feel hopeful about.
Now, coming back to my run. It was a big day for me.
THIRD HALF MARATHON OF 2020.
If you are following the Martian Races calendar, you would realize that today would have been the Half Marathon day at Martian Race. Alas, due to COVID19, they have rescheduled the event to July 25th. Nevertheless, to keep the momentum and stick to my preparation plan, I planned to run a Half Marathon thinking that I was running in the race. The start of the run was extremely well. I was so in my zone and didn’t feel anything for the most part of the run. I remember the first time I refueled myself during the run was at 5 mile mark, where I had to stop at the traffic light. As soon as I hit the 8 mile mark, I knew I had to think about my return strategy as the 13 mile distance was gettting closer and closer.
Everything was going really good till 11 mile mark, where I had to stop again at the traffic light, this time, for more than 1 minute. This is where it all went downhill. The moment I restarted my run, I felt a shooting pain in my left knee. I don’t know where it came from. My friend, Anupam, thinks that it is because of the shoes that I am using. He may be right, I might have to upgrade my shoes. I think it might be because I am not using the proper socks, which can support my calf muscles. You never know what might work and what might not! The only thing that we can do is try, fail, and try again! Isn’t life is like that?
Anyway, as soon as I felt that pain, I knew I had to stop and take care of it. So, I ended up spending a good 5 minutes stretching my legs, refueling myself and taking rest basically. Nothing worked. So, I had to carry on with that pain. As soon as I started running again, the pain resurfaced, but as soon as I pushed through the initial part of the pain, I couldn’t feel it that much. It felt like the pain has become the part of the knee and I could carry on my running with that pain. I know some of you think that I shouldn’t have done that, but, being a motivated and extremely deterministic person, I did what I had to do.
Fortunately, I could finish the run soon and had to walk the rest of the distance (a good 1 mile) to reach my destination. Here’s the picture showing you how my run transpired.
The after effect of the run was that I had a mild pain in my left knee. I could walk but barely could run. I think I was okay with the pain, given the fact that I just finished the Half Marathon.
This day didn’t end here.
After the Half Marathon, it was time for some hike. As I told, I was okay with the walk, so please don’t bombard me with your comments. I know you won’t, still saying. This time, we decided to go to the Pinckney State Recreational Area for the hike.
Man, it was such a beautiful place. The most amazing part of the hike was the bridge on the Crooked Lake. Our fellow hiker, Mr. Arnav, called that bridge as the GREAT WALL OF CHINA. Good that we still got our humor during these stressful times.
I will not bore you with the details as I will pen down my thoughts about this hike in the Travel section of this blog. So, I will stop here and conclude the week.
Before you go, please have a look at my Running Journal.
This day marked the end of an era and the start of the new one. This was my third apartment in Bangalore and it was hard to say goodbye to it because we made countless memories here.
The new apartment that decided to move in to was closer to our workplace, like 5 minutes, so it was little bit costlier than the current one but if you think about long term benefits, there were plenty. If you are a person living in the US, you will know how beneficial it is to stay closer to downtown. You have all the luxury in the world and things are very near to you and readily available. The place where we were moving to was kind of like Downtown Nagawara. I know it sounds funny, but it was true. We had all the vendors readily available just across the street. The vegetable market was available most times during the day and there were plenty of things to do to pass time as compared to the current apartment. We were happy to move to this new place and call it home (I don’t know for how much time, though).
So, the refrigerator that you see below was my prized possession. I think this was the only thing that I had purchased while living in Bangalore. I think this belonged to some of my friends’ home owner, who wanted to get rid of it in exchange for money 💸 so I ended up buying it, because WHY NOT! 😛 By looking at the picture, you can get how I used to live as a bachelor in Bangalore. Never knew I will post this picture on the internet.
To give you one more idea how unorganized I was during 2015, take a look at the below picture.
This was everything that me and my roommates owned at that point in time. When you reflect on the past like this, you don’t help but feel proud how far you have come in life. I know that we were not struggling for food and had a steady, handsome job, which used to pay our bills, but I never imagined in my wildest dreams that one day I would be sitting in a beautiful apartment like mine and would be writing about it.
Funny how times change.
Switching gears here.
Here’s how we dumped the same stuff in our new apartment.
Our new apartment was a total upgrade as compared to the new one. As soon as you enter this apartment, you were welcomed with a grand living room. This living room was twice the size of the living room of the old apartment, so we were immediately sold.
Apart from that, it had two bathrooms and a spacious kitchen with an attached balcony which opened to the nice view of the Downtown Nagawara. Please don’t hit me now! 😂
I remember we were drenched in sweat after “moving” to this new apartment. Having lived in the US for last 3-4 years, I have become accustomed to using the work “move” instead of “shift”. The old Milind would have said we “shifted” to this new flat, just to put things into perspective.
One more thing that you should know about me is that I have always and I repeat always been fortunate enough to be accompanied by wonderful roommates who were great cooks, so I never had to worry about food. So, naturally, one of my roommates, Daya, was kind enough to cook that day even though being so tired. And, he cooked this beautiful Aaloo ki sabji that day, which turned out really good. Obviously, we helped him with cutting and everything, but he was the mastermind behind this dish, so thank you for that!
After dinner, I remember being sound asleep at our new “home”!
This post is about my Dad, so if you want to skip it, you please can! Also, I do have a Marathi translated text for him to read this! I used easyhindityping.com for translation, so thank you to them!
Little did I know that COVID19 will impact my life. I didn’t imagine in my wildest dreams that it will impact me and my family to such an extent. मला माहित नव्हते की कोविड 19 माझ्या आयुष्यावर परिणाम करेल. मी माझ्या अत्यंत स्वप्नांमध्ये अशी कल्पनाही केली नव्हती की त्याचा माझ्या आणि माझ्या कुटुंबावर इतका परिणाम होईल.
As you know I am in the US, living the life many people can only dream of. I am and will be forever grateful to everyone who have helped me achieve this dream. आपल्याला माहित आहे की मी यूएसमध्ये आहे, जीवन जगणे बरेच लोक केवळ स्वप्ने पाहू शकतात. ज्याने मला हे स्वप्न साकारण्यास मदत केली आहे अशा प्रत्येकाचे मी नेहमीच आभारी आहे आणि मी आहे.
Getting back to the subject; unfortunately, my entire family is in India, inflaming the feeling of dreadfulness for their safety, so much so that sometimes I get up in the middle of the night just to check with them. विषयाकडे परत येणे; दुर्दैवाने, माझे संपूर्ण कुटुंब भारतात आहे, त्यांच्या सुरक्षिततेबद्दल भीतीची भावना भडकवते, जेणेकरून मी कधीकधी एनआयच्या मध्यभागी उठतो
Talking about the head of the family – my DAD. My Dad owns a grocery store back home and it has been around for more than 30 years now. During all these years, if my Dad has done one thing, then that is to WORK REALLY HARD. I have never seen anyone working this hard to provide for his family and to make sure that kids get quality education and food. कुटुंबातील प्रमुखांबद्दल बोलणे – माझे बाबा. माझ्या वडिलांकडे परत किराणा दुकान आहे आणि आता जवळजवळ 30 वर्षांहून अधिक वर्ष झाले आहेत. या सर्व वर्षात, जर माझ्या वडिलांनी एखादे काम केले असेल तर ते खरोखर काम करायचे आहे. कुणालाही आपल्या परिवाराचे पालनपोषण करण्यासाठी आणि मुलांना दर्जेदार शिक्षण व भोजन मिळावे यासाठी हे करण्यासाठी कठोर परिश्रम करताना मी कधीही पाहिले नाही.
Since this pandemic hit India, everyone is impacted and our doctors have emerged as superheroes to treat the patients and save lives. I thank the doctors, healthcare professionals, and everyone involved for their heroic efforts to save more lives; but, we should not forget about our grocery stores. As my Dad owns one, so I know how hard it is to get the supplies so that he can provide those to his customers. या साथीच्या रोगाचा प्रसार भारतावर झाला, तेव्हापासून प्रत्येकावर परिणाम झाला आहे आणि आमचे डॉक्टर रूग्णांवर उपचार करण्यासाठी आणि प्राण वाचवण्यासाठी सुपरहीरो म्हणून पुढे आले आहेत. मी डॉक्टर, आरोग्यसेवा व्यावसायिक आणि अधिक लोकांचे जीवन वाचविण्याच्या त्यांच्या वीर प्रयत्नांसाठी सामील असलेल्या प्रत्येकाचे आभार मानतो; परंतु आम्ही आमच्या किराणा दुकानांबद्दल विसरू नये. माझ्या वडिलांच्या मालकीची असल्याने, मला माहिती आहे की तो पुरवठा करणे किती कठीण आहे जेणेकरून तो ते आपल्या ग्राहकांना पुरवू शकेल.
My family lives in a small village, which sometimes lacks basic necessities, which are usually taken granted here in the US, such as electricity. माझे कुटुंब एका छोट्याशा खेड्यात राहत आहे, ज्यात कधीकधी मूलभूत गरजांचा अभाव असतो, ज्याला येथे यूएस मध्ये दिले जाते जसे की वीज.
As the virus is spreading to many parts of India, especially Maharashtra, my home state, the vendors are making it harder to provide supplies, so my Dad has to travel at least twice a week in 100F 🥵temperatures to get those supplies and provide it to the needy. हा विषाणू भारतातील, विशेषत: महाराष्ट्र, माझे मूळ राज्य, बर्याच भागात पसरत आहे, विक्रेते पुरवठा करणे अवघड करीत आहेत, म्हणून माझ्या वडिलांना आठवड्यातून किमान १०० एफ मध्ये प्रवास करावा लागतो आणि ती पुरवठा करण्यासाठी गरजू लोकांना.
While doing this, he has made sure he doesn’t raise the prices as some people might not be able to afford, which is not the case with other vendors, and I feel sad for them that they are using these times to churn in more profit rather than showing some humanity.
हे करत असताना, त्याने हे निश्चित केले आहे की ते किंमती वाढवत नाहीत कारण काही लोक कदाचित घेऊ शकत नाहीत, जे इतर विक्रेत्यांसारखे नाही, आणि मला त्यांच्याबद्दल वाईट वाटते की ते अधिक वेळेत ही मंथन करण्यासाठी वापरत आहेत. नुसती माणुसकी दाखविण्यापेक्षा नफा.
I have barely spoken to him on the phone since the lockdown began in India as he is mostly busy with the grocery store and helping his customers. I cannot thank him enough the way he is serving the society and proving to be a superhero. तो मुख्यतः किराणा दुकानात आणि ग्राहकांना मदत करण्यात व्यस्त असल्याने भारतात लॉकडाउन सुरू झाल्यापासून मी त्यांच्याशी फोनवर बोललो होतो. तो ज्या प्रकारे समाजाची सेवा करत आहे आणि सुपरहिरो असल्याचे सिद्ध करतो आहे त्या प्रमाणात मी त्याचे आभार मानू शकत नाही.
To make sure the Police doesn’t stop him when he is on his way to shop for the grocery store, he has put up a sign on his moped that he drives around. Here’s him with this moped. किराणा दुकान विकत घेण्याच्या मार्गावर असताना पोलिस त्याला थांबवणार नाहीत याची खात्री करण्यासाठी त्याने आपल्या मोपेडवर एक संकेत लिहून ठेवला आहे की तो फिरतो. या मोपेडसह तो येथे आहे.
Thank you, Pappa, for everything that you do, for the family and society. परिवार आणि समाजासाठी आपण करता त्या प्रत्येक गोष्टीबद्दल पप्पा, आभार.
stochasticity 