Float

How often do we simply float through life and not realize what is happening. Days blend into weeks, then into months and then to years. Life becomes a series of small events that flare up briefly like fireflies at dusk and disappear almost as soon. The simple pleasures of existence or the banality of it. I think it depends on which way you look at it.

I struggle to think about what the people trapped in a building on siege a year ago would have felt. Their lives which probably had achieved a lot more held against the whims of a few people who had'nt achieved anything in life. Who even remembers any of the other killers? What would their victims have traded for a mundane future?

Memories are what remain, of shock, disbelief, anger directed at various people - the media who plunged into gory detail often doing more harm than good, the chest thumping fanatics who disappeared when the rubber had to meet the road, the sheer futility of it all...

Life as they say goes on, babies are born, people die, memories remain and we like fireflies flare briefly in the dusk and move along.

What do I have to lose?

15 kilograms of lard to begin with – 33 pounds.

Dragged myself to the gym and had an assessment done. Lots of work and I need to focus on getting it done.

The instructor/physio at the gym was quite cool about the whole thing, the flunking of the various fitness test – is it the marines test of how many sit-ups, pushups and squats you can do in a minute?

Anyhow, I have my work cut out ahead of me.

Frisk me

I find this whole drama pertaining to Shah Rukh Khan being detained in a US airport for an hour of questioning slightly nauseating.

There is definitely a certain amount of profiling which gets done to determine frisking, this can be biased. However, to make such a big ruckus about it seems more self serving publicity than genuine outrage.

As a sovereign nation, the US has a right to dictate what it’s security policy should be and really should not need to apologize for enforcing that.

For all his newly minted doctorate, Shah Rukh Khan is simply an actor (hammy in my opinion, but an entertainer). Delusions of grandeur might be more the case or even clever marketing.

Someone of Abdul Kalam’s stature, which is more than Shah Rukh or most of us can even aspire to become, accepted the frisking as part of his travel.

Its time we grew up.

Knock

He lay on the thin mattress, his back feeling every bump on the uneven floor. His heart pounded in a frenetic rhythm as he tried to clamp down on the uneasiness that spread like a stain from his belly.

This cannot be happening to me, shrieked his brain, sounding like a drawn out wail on a cliff top. The panic grabbed his heart as he heard footsteps pounding up the stairs, faster and faster bringing his doom upon him.

He willed the door not to open, half knowing that it was flimsy protection at best. His intuition did not fail him as the door slammed open letting the sunlight flood through.

“Yes” she said.

Peace returned.

Puzzling

Why does one gain weight when working out? I know I am eating healthy, working out in the gym..and I still gain weight. Hmmmm….

What keeps me from totally freaking out is that I feel fitter than I have felt in a long while. The treadmill is my friend.