Well Played Zuck. Well Played.

Creating a service that allows people to connect with multiple people instantaneously – Check

Being able to monetize said service – Check

Becoming one of the world’s 30 wealthiest people by age 28 – Check

Marrying long-term girlfriend and learning Mandarin in preparation for a trip to China with her – Check

Pledging away 50% of personal wealth to charity – Check

Mark Zuckerberg – Living life like a boss.

Being Young

My dad loves to tell me that age is only a number. When a 60 year old man whom you love to death says that, you realize how true it is. We are the fittest we will ever be, we will never look better than this and we might give in to societal pressure and never again take the risks we can take right now.

But it hold’s true for everyone, not just the 20 year olds. You are as old as you feel. So let’s just go out take back the world.

I leave you with this catchy song that’s being played all over the radio.

A Little Xenophobia

The very first thing that Indian students are warned about when we come to India is, “Kallu log se bachke rehna”. It literally means be careful of black people. What is it about being “black” that makes people so afraid? I have had the opportunity to interact with lots of people from diverse backgrounds and I have found them all to be pleasant and welcoming.

Indians are inherently racist and xenophobic. We find ways to split ourselves into ever smaller pockets of people. Any dark man becomes “Kallu”. Anyone from south India becomes “Madraasi”. Anyone with oriental features is “Chinki”. These are our own countrymen but more importantly, they are fellow human beings. Everyone just wants to do things that make their life easier. Then why do we share these xenophobic thoughts?

When we have all descended from common ancestors, it’s about time we acknowledge that fact. Others who merely look different or come from different cultural backgrounds are not inferior or superior to us in any way. They are individuals just like us with their hopes, dreams, fears and desires. Let’s just leave the subtle xenophobia aside and try to get along with one another. In times like these, the world could use more of that.

All About The Will

Every time I have a conversation with someone about how my half-marathon went and when I mention that at the time, it was not too hard, the response I get from them is a slight shrug of the shoulders, a look of disbelief and a sentence along the lines of, “I don’t think I could even run one mile, leave alone 13.”

While I understand people not wanting to try a half marathon or any race because running does not hold an appeal, what I sense the most is a feeling of desire. A longing to do that elusive half-marathon or even a 5k. And I tell you it is not that difficult.

I had always wanted to run a half marathon but I never knew where to begin. When I was studying, I was irregular in running so I could not train well enough for a proper run. When I started working, I saw that my evenings were mostly spent watching something on my laptop so I decided to go back to an old love – running. Running once helped me lose 25 kilograms. I used to weigh an impressive 97 kgs.

I decided to buy a good pair of shoes and started running again. But this was still informal running. It was running to keep fit without any real point to it beyond not sitting at home and gaining weight. But come 2012, I wanted to seize the opportunity and run my first half marathon.

Up to that point, I was able to run up to three miles continuously on the treadmill but 13 miles? It seemed impossible. But I downloaded a training plan and started to stick to it.

When you do something often enough, it becomes a habit. Running gives me a real high and so it wasn’t so difficult to start running. What really got me was the ever-increasing distance. The first time I ran 5 miles, I couldn’t wait for it to end. I felt every step and I just wanted to give up and start walking slowly. But I always recalled what Patton said – “Make the mind run the body”.

It’s not about the muscles, it is about the will. Yes it gets hard but surely you can’t want something like this and imagine it would be easy. That rush of adrenaline, that realization that it’s all going to be over in a few more feet, the view of the cheering crowds and that finish line. It’s all worth it. So just get out there and do it.

 

Visionaries

After a recent comic on The Oatmeal, everyone seems to be talking about one of my heroes Nikola Tesla. Visionaries like him are hard to come by but I am disturbed by the ire thrown at Thomas Edison.

Of course “The war of the Currents” is well documented and Nikola Tesla did win it; but dismissing Edison because he was an “enormous douchebag” is a mistake. Tesla’s genius aside, Edison himself was a prolific inventor. He is fourth on the list of individuals who hold the largest number of patents. He invented the first device that could play recorded sound! He can’t just be good at “douchebaggery”!

What is surprising is that the same people who are now shouting out about what an evil cunt-nugget Edison was and how he was just good at selling things waste no time in fawning over Steve Jobs. Like Edison, Jobs saw opportunity where others couldn’t and created a market space for products that people didn’t know they wanted. Essentially, Edison was a geekier version of Steve Jobs.

While we can go on arguing about who was greater, Nikola Tesla or Thomas Edison, the fact remains that both men changed the world in their own way much like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Steve Wozniak did decades later. While selling “Edison is a douchebag” t-shirts is taken in good humour, it is important to remind ourselves that at the end of the day, these men are visionaries without whom we would still be lighting candles at night and generally have a very poor quality of life.

 

Here’s To The Underdogs

What is it about us that makes some of us root for the underdog? We love to see a good upset. Your heart jumps when a team like Bangladesh upsets Australia or when Ireland pull one over Pakistan in cricket. Or when Wigan Athletic pulls off an unlikely victory over Manchester United.

But why sport? Even a story of a lone man winning a hard court battle against a mega corporation makes you smile. It is because deep down, we see ourselves as that lone man. Like that small team or that lone ranger – doomed to fail 9 times out of 10, if not 99 times out of a 100, you live in the hope of that one elusive win, for that day your heart soars high above. Nothing can stop you.

It is what being human is about. Always on the verge of being crushed, you fight back and throw off the world and claim your place under the sun. Here’s to the underdogs. They remind us daily that life is worth fighting for.

 

 

All About Teamwork

On a glorious, sunny Sunday morning, I finished my first half-marathon. I ran a time of 2:09:56 and in-spite of a niggling neck sprain, I managed to beat my previous personal best.

Long distance running is not about competing with others. First and foremost, it is about competing against yourself. The first mile is relaxed, the second is where reluctance sets in. The daunting prospect of 12 miles looms ahead large and should a hill approach, the urge to stop running and walk up the hill is almost overpowering. But you  have to let the mind tell the body what to do.

After the 2nd mile, it is usually smooth sailing till the 10th. Then you start thinking,”Come on. You have already run 10 miles now! That’s a lot. Why don’t you just relax now?” Again, at these moments, slowing down or stopping is best avoided.

The best part about running an organized race rather than going on a run alone is the people around you. When the first hill hit, I started to buckle under the pressure but voices encouraged me from either side. “Good going!”, “You got this!”. And it kept me motivated. At various points during the race, we kept shouting out words of encouragement to each other when we showed signs of tiring.

There is no gloating involved as you speed past someone. Because you want everyone to finish. You want everyone who is running with you to show off that shiny finisher’s medal. And it feels like you are part of a team. A team of odd members from every age-group. It’s a like a wolf-pack where the survival of the pack depends on everyone doing their bit. And it helps.

It’s not just your fellow runners who are part of this team. It’s also the volunteers who direct traffic away from you, offer water at the hydration stations and constantly shout out to you about how great a job you are doing and how this is the last hard bit and it’s smooth sailing ahead.

I ran for almost 10 miles alongside a middle aged gentleman today. And in spite of all the stress we were under, we shared some light moments together. We groaned in agony during the hills and flew while going downhill. A veteran of several marathons past, he had  some fantastic tips to share.

But the best moment of the day was somewhere near the 10 mile mark. A bunch of 5 year old children were standing on the curb and cheering on the runners and as each runner approached, they gave him a high-five. And as I heard the hoots and claps and cheers and as I high-fived my way past the kids like any professional athlete would, I smiled. They were part of my team too.