Left-handers Day!

I am rarely into 'Days' but today is special, and I just found out about it. One thing that totally surprised me after coming to the US was the overwhelming number of left-handers! Growing up trying to write righty was a painful experience. In second grade, after a parent-teacher meeting about my poor handwriting, mom almost decided me to remove me from English medium school because I couldn't 'write' English (or any other language, but she would discover that only later). Later on I had to literally 'draw' alphabets for them to be legible. It affected my confidence as one of the few things I remember about my earliest friends is their handwriting. I used to get complex seeing how effortlessly they could write. Even now, unless I am paying attention, my handwriting drifts from almost art-quality good to horrible in a matter of a few lines. Imagine my sheer frustration when I realized that all this was probably because I was just writing with the wrong f*king hand! Even now I don't really know if I am left-handed or mixed-handed. It's always confusing while taking up a musical instrument or a new sport: which way to play?? (One reason I ended up with the mandolin because it became increasingly difficult to bow the violin right handed, and my teacher ridiculed the thought of a lefty violin student. Mandolin having the same fingering as violin, it was the obvious choice).

Anyway, enough of the rant. Being ((may/ may not be) partially) lefty has been a pleasure. And it has had its surprising advantages (just holding the bat ensures a couple of wides an over, and it's been always effective at psychologically intimidating opponents, esp. in racquet sports).

Anyway, I always strongly felt that the Indian society needs to open up to lefties. Our 'sanskaars' teach us that using the left hand for anything (other than washing your ass after potty) is bad. We are taught to not give/ take money using left hand because it will 'get lost'. Even our 'gods' don't like it if we offer them their favorite flowers through the left hand. Left-handed discrimination is not a first world problem. It doesn't require any technology to overcome that our country can't afford. It's just a stupid taboo that achieves absolutely NOTHING (its not as if its a right-handed fascist's conspiracy to wipe-off all the lefties! Nor does it discriminates against other religions, which has become an essential now a days for something to be followed religiously!) but costs so dearly to lefties! This taboo needs to go, freaking ASAP!!

Recording a simple walk: Polar Flow Vs Garmin Connect Vs Runkeeper Vs Strava Vs Training Peaks Vs Map My Fitness

I have been using Runkeeper to record my hikes, runs, walks and bike rides for last 2-3 years. So far I've been quite happy with it. But recently I bought Mio Link, a wrist-worn heart rate monitor to pair along with my phone to get HR information during these activities. So I thought it was time to compare all the widely used fitness apps to see what kind of analysis they perform. This is a very informal comparison based on my personal criteria, but the observations are pretty generic and can be applied to you.

Expectations:
Following are my expectations from an app:
1. Use the phone's GPS to map the activity, as well as the ability to edit that map. For example, once, I forgot to turn off the activity and drove home. Editing the map was quite easy in Runkeeper.
2. Giving out usual information like pace, time, elevation, heart rate, and calories burnt. Preferable: the ability to have these metrics for each lap of customizable distance or time. Personally I don't care about sleep monitoring (yet!).
3. Heart rate, pace and elevation time series all overlapping each other (i.e. same x axis, but 3 different y axis, differentiated by color). This makes it super convenient to compare the three data. Presenting them in three separate plots makes them almost useless for me for a quick review.
4. Time spent in each heart rate zone. This is a super cool feature to have. For example, training at 60-70% of your maximum heart rate is optimal for fat burning, anything more intense will burn body carbs instead. So knowing how much time you spent in that zone gives you a good idea about how useful your workout was for its intended goal (fat-burning or endurance or strength building etc)
5. Ability to have several sports profiles. Well the only sport I'm interested in is Squash/ racquetball.
6. Ability to import/ export maps and data in generic format for importing in other apps.

The Walk:
It was a simple 3.75 mile walk with the heart rate monitor on. As Mio Link can connect with only one app, and as Polar Flow doesn't import maps (will talk on this later), I recorded the activity in Polar Beat, which then synced it with Polar Flow web app. From there I exported the session in .TCX file, and manually imported it into Strava. There is a website tapiriik.com that syncs many of these apps; from there I synced Strava with Garmin Connect, Runkeeper, Training Peaks and Endomondo. I've made the activity public and am sharing the links from each of these apps so that you can see for yourself, the interface and analysis given in each app.

Observations:
As all the apps fulfill majority of the above criteria (thats why they are featured in the comparison in the first place), I'll only highlight what each app seems to be lacking from the expected criteria. Clicking on the app names will take you to their record of the walk.

Runkeeper:  (you need to sign in in order to view this activity)
1. It does give splits, but they are for each mile, and are not customizable as far as I know. Plus while it shows pace and elevation gained/lost for each split, average heart rate for each split is not shown.
2. Pace, elevation and heart rate graphs are separate, and look very tiny during default screen. Zooming in is possible, but only on one graph at a time. This makes comparison very difficult to a point of being useless.
3. Time spent in each heart rate zone is not given in the free version.
4. Has only one activity called 'Sports' which encompasses all sports like volleyball, badminton, squash etc.

Polar Flow:  (no signing in required)
1. Doesn't import maps, and doesn't allow editing recorded activities/ maps.
2. Graphs doesn't show elevation data
3. Need a Bluetooth Smart Heart rate monitor (such as Polar H7, Wahoo Tickr, Mio Link/Fuse/ Alpha 2, Scosche Rhythm) to record heart rate activity (other data can be recorded without any additional device, just through the Polar Beat app, just like Runkeeper). This is not an issue for me as I have Mio Link.

Garmin Connect (no signing in required)
1. Seems to require to connect with a Garmin device to record any activity.
2. Separate graphs for pace, elevation and heart rate information. At least it has a zooming capability where in you zoom in/out of all three graphs at once.
3. Splitting of my walk (an imported activity) was not possible; I believe it wouldn't be an issue for recorded activities with Garmin devices.
4. Time spent in each zone not shown, though avg, min and max HR is shown for each split.

Strava:  (seems signing in is required)
1. While it does show pace, elevation, and heart rate in same graph, the time series are not scaled properly, and only one y axis unit (elevation) is given. So the graph is a bit less helpful than Polar Flow or Endomondo.
2. Time spent in each zone not shown in the free version.

Training Peaks:  (no signing in required)
TP has the most extensive analysis of all the apps, but its only for paid users. My initial trial Premium membership has expired, but somehow TP hasn't updated it on their website, so at this point, I can't really comment on what analysis is available as a free user. I'll update this section later when things become clear. UPDATE: I'm happy to say that Training Peaks' free version also includes HR data, and displays it as well as pace and elevation in one graph. Also, though the initial activity window says displaying time spent in each heart rate zone is reserved for Premium users, the chart is actually available for free users if seen in the 'expanded' view. Few apps compared here show this metric (time spent in each zone) for free- actually, one Polar Flow does.

Endomondo:  (no signing in required).
1. The capability of editing the workout maps seems to be missing
2. Time spent in each zone not shown in the free version.

MapMyFitness:  (no signing in required)
1. Absolutely no heart rate data is available in the free version.
2. Somehow it didn't register the elevation information as well from the .tcx file that I imported.

Some unique features:
1. Endomondo pulls the weather data during the activity. Really cool.
2. Strava seems to use actual Google Maps based elevation data instead of from the phone. This is not apparent in the above walk activity, but if you compare elevations in Runkeeper, and Strava, for the Royal Arch trail that I just hiked, Strava's graph seems identical to the elevation cross-section from this trail guide. May be it just appear that way due to larger elevation graph on Strava compared to other apps.
3. MapMyFitness mobile app is the only app that also shows daily activity data (steps, calories burnt etc).

Conclusion:
All the apps have their own pros and cons, and not a single app fulfills all my needs. But I find Training Peaks to have most features that I desire. It shows all three time series (elevation, pace, heart rate) on a single graph, as well as time spent in each zone. And you don't have to record activity natively in it, it imports activities (automatically if so configured). It doesn't allow editing maps though. Polar Flow comes at #2 on my list. It has all the features of Training Peaks that I mentioned except elevation data, and it also doesn't allow editing, nor importing, maps. The third app I liked is Endomondo, for its ability to show all three time series on one graph, and more importantly, for capturing the weather information for that place at that time. I think it is very useful. I can write notes describing the clothes I wore during each activity, so that I can get a hang of associating clothes with weather while running/ biking.

All other maps, viz Garmin Connect, Runkeeper, Strava, and MapMyFitness, I find to be disappointing for my intended use, in varying degrees. Garmin has been most disappointing. Given their excellent products (I used to use their GPS devices to do hydrogeological fieldwork in remote places in India), their software interface is ridiculously bad. I have some immense grievances regarding connecting my hiking GPS, Garmin Foretrex 401, with computer, but that is for another time.

Finally, I believe, syncing data to all these apps is a good strategy as these apps can get better/ worst in future, and you won't have to pick sides. So https://tapiriik.com/ is a good investment (for $2).

A note about calorie and distance counting:
Calorie calculations from these apps are all over the place. Its startlingly bad. For the 3.75miles walk, the calories range from 630 (Polar Flow) to 305 (Training Peaks) with 411 (Runkeeper, Garmin Connect, Endomondo),  630 (Map My Fitness) and 589 (Strava). As the calorie algorithm is likely a trade secret, either Runkeeper, Garmin, and Endomondo have same algorithm (can be confirmed easily by keeping all three apps active during a workout) or they simply copied the calorie count as a statistic from each other. As the workout was a simple walk, and calorie count from steps should be pretty straightforward, I think its the heart rate data that threw the calorie count all over the place. Each app is likely to have different calorie count algorithm. Anyway, it just shows that calories estimated is just an approximation, a huge one. The spread of 300 calories might be a big deal for someone working on a 1200-1500 calorie diet. One more thing, and this really surprised me, and which might have played a role in the difference in calorie count, is distance calculation! Training Peak, Runkeeper, Garmin Connect, Endomondo clocked the walk at 3.75 miles. Strava was less precise at 3.7 miles, and Polar Flow, which actually recorded the original activity, showed 3.45 miles (despite showing the highest calories burnt!)

UPDATE (12/25/2015):
The latest version of Garmin Connect is pretty capable. It is now possible to see all the time series (elevation, pace, and heart rate) in the same graph. It is also possible to see how much time was spent in which of the five hart rate zones. Plus Garmin Connect now shows the weather, like Endomondo. Thus, I have decided for now to use Garmin Connect exclusively. There are still a couple of things I'd like it to have: 1. Ability to edit map routes. 2. Recalculate calories of imported activities from other devices. But I'm quite content with what the latest Garmin Connect has to offer.
Here's one of my recent hikes as a sample activity (no signing in required)

India's daughters and the rape culture

Every single Indian citizen should watch India's Daughter. National embarrassment is not the documentary, but banning it. It's an extremely well made film. It enlightened me on so many new things. For instance- what a pleasant surprise to see Jyoti's uneducated parents selling their ancestral property to educate her to become a doctor! And to allow her to work part-time to pay for her expenses. And those who think its just another foreign film trying to show India in poor light, almost the entire screen time is taken by Indians, as are all the opinions. Not a single opinion from a 'privileged-European morals-looking-down-at-a-third-world-country'. From ludicrous statements from the rapists' lawyers to the massive protests and riots to the awesomeness of Jyoti's parents. EVERYTHING is India.

Saying that the documentary glorifies the rapist is utter nonsense. It's a silent critique. The things that the rapist and his lawyers say so confidently, are just so horrific, there is nothing to comment on. The film digs inside the rapists's brain. It highlights a psyche that is alien to most  middle-class educated Indians but can be relatable by a large portion of illiterate, lower class (yes, I'm erring at relating rape with socio-economic status). If you think of the rapist as a monster and you don't understand how anyone can say have these horrible views of women, wake up and travel around India. Not as a tourist but as a poor backpacker with nothing to loose. I call India a land of segregated diversity. It's diversity is so segregated that we know more about the US and other countries than we know about the culture of other Indian states, or even different economic classes in our own cities! By calling the rapists a monster, you are in a denial that you belong to the same culture. Only thing is that you see the culture manifested differently due to your education and well-being. You may not see men raping around, but of course you would see girls being discriminated against. It's a common link that unites us all Indians- discrimination against women. Uneducated and poor ones will kill their fetuses, will rape them. Educated ones will not educate them, or if they do, it will be to use their education as a leverage for getting a better husband. There is discrimination against girls in everything we do and we don't even realize it (Chivalry is also discrimination). And arguing that "we also worship them as goddesses" is just another hypocrisy we abide by. Like saying we worship Gandhiji, or Shivaji Maharaj (for Maharashtrians). We compartmentalize women so naturally, that I would totally believe if a man is genuinely obedient to his mother, vehemently protects his sister, discriminates against his girl child in favour of his son, and rapes his wife without either of them realizing it, and yet genuinely worship Laxmi or Durga or Kali. He's an Indian man. Not a monster.

And please stop saying "Rape is a global problem that is not unique to India. According to X data, more rapes happen in the US, U.K etc. So stereotyping India is so unfair". Western countries indeed stereotype us. From 'the land of spices and gold' to 'land of mosquitos and snakes and poverty' to 'land of yoga and Gandhi' to 'the land of cricket' to 'land of of filth, slums and rape'. But please don't forget that the stereotypes can't exist without a substance. We ourselves have stereotypes about South Indians, North Indians, Sikhs (Sardar jokes anyone?), UP-Biharis, NE Indians or Nepalis or Chinki as we call them, about brahmins, about muslims, about Congress and BJP. Not to mention stereotypes about women. So many of my friends share memes and videos about women drivers, about girls-boys as venus-mars thing, about girls as indoorsy and bookworms and guys as outdoorsy and sporty. If stereotypes dictate the very way you interact with everyone in your daily life, how can you accuse the world of stereotyping India? Those who argue that "the developed world is always trying to portray India in bad light", dude, wake up. The US was 'found' because the Europeans were desperate to come to India! If their perception of India has changed, WE are responsible for that. How on earth can we justify naked men lined up next to each other and shitting in the open for the entire trains to see? How on Earth can we justify spitting everywhere, creating filth everywhere? We can't. The 'Moguls looted us, the Britishers suppressed us' excuse won't apply for our filthy lifestyle (again please don't deny 'its not me its them'- its us Indians!). I mean, the Japanese were NUKED! And see where they are now. Western countries do not have a personal agenda against us. Frankly, they don't care about us because under the given state of the world, each country is, or has to be, a selfish bastard. Why would anybody (except Pakistan, whose very existence is based on anti-India sentiment) waste time by going out of their way in humiliating us? But if we provide them very compelling reasons to humiliate us, they of course would. Its naive to a point of being childish to call out the West for being biased against the East. Of course they are. And so are we. Grow up! You are not a whiny teenager with bruised ego. You are a freakin' government representing 1/7th of all existing humans!

And people make films at the drop of the hat. Heck we made a Bollywood movie out of the Mumbai-terrorist attacks. Weren't those attacks a national embarrassment? Wasn't the fact that the terrorists used the live, breaking-news channels to know the police operations and using it to their advantage a national embarrassment? How come nobody said anything about the crappy, masala movie that seeked profit at the expense of the biggest recent tragedy of a great city? And what gets banned? A real life documentary with all real (first hand!) people who were all actually involved in the biggest focus event concerning India's women.

The only people that would gain from the 'West is against us' is our own politicians. Every party, be it BJP or Congress (or local ones), have always placed a strong emphasis on our pride. By glorifying our pride and making us think just because our ancestors were awesome, just because ancient vedic folks were indeed very brilliant, just because Shivaji was born in our land, we are inherently awesome. Just by being born here. In fact they have broken us into as many small factions as possible to highlight a very specific, unique feature that makes us special. Once we are brimming with pride, then their agenda typically is to portray that this pride is under attack. Be it from other caste, class, religion or country. Done. They don't have to do anything else. All we then do is fight against each other and everyone. We become so obsessed with past that we loose focus on how we poor we are presently. How bad our standard of living is. How narrow our attitude is. How rotten and inefficient our government machinery is. And most importantly, how hopeless our future is. We get so obsessed and entangled with the past that we loose our present, and jeopardize our future. In the mean time, the politicians get rich by scams (if Congress) or push their agenda to create a uniform Hindu state (BJP) or take their shot at rewriting history (every political party from gully to Delhi). If only the public awakes from 'The Matrix' created by these politicians! Even when there is no evident fighting, the false pride still exists. I'm from Pune, and I see so many of my Brahmin friends started wearing some ear piercings, showing off their brahminess. They are all good natured folks, but that false pride is still there. I've seen more than one person display a symbol of a Parshu (an axe) showing off that they are kokanastha brahmins. (There I look like just another backward caste person criticizing Brahmins!). If we can't get rid of this silly false pride, we will never be able to look at others what they are, and look inwards to know what we are. And our obsession with history would only mean that we never make one.

Coming back to "Statistically more rapes happen in the US, UK etc" argument, rape is of course a global problem, and all countries are affected by it. (In fact, its not even limited to us humans. Just yesterday a colleague told me how duck vaginas have evolved to avoid rape and how their penises are evolved to enable rape- rape is so common in natural world that it influences evolution! But I digress). First, I doubt the very premise of this argument- the statistics. The fine print is 'reported' instances of rapes. You can tell someone something only if you are comfortable talking about it. I haven't seen Europe, and have seen only the western part of the US, but from what I have experienced, women (and men of course) here can talk about anything- from your dick to her vagina to her menstrual cycle to LGBT experiences whatever. Nothing is a taboo. In India, a girl, even when from an educated, middle-class family, can't even talk about her periods with her own dad. If you are Indian, I request you to visualize all the girls you know into these following situations and answer honestly- Would she report?: What if the rapist is someone whom the family knows? What if she's secretly dating someone and he rapes her? What if the rapist is her own husband/brother/father? The only cases which a girl would have no qualms in reporting is likely getting raped by strangers, that too in a situation/ surrounding where it would have been totally unavoidable by the girl. And even if she wants to report, her family will definitely debate the pros and cons of reporting as, it might hurt their position in their community (likely a close group of same caste folks), as well as hamper her marriage 'market value'. If the girl is willing and her family is supportive of reporting, we know so many cases where the police tried to not report the case! Imagine the humiliation! I did the (obviously subjective) thought experiment, imagining my Indian as well as US and European female friends in these situations- and I can say this- almost none of my Indian friends will report, and all my US- European friends will report. Didn't the psychiatrist say that someone raped 200 times (that he could remember!) and was convicted for only 12.

Lastly, I wish to comment on the sex life of average Indian youth. Its essentially non-existant. Once India was an epitome of sexual freedom. The 'sanskaars' that our right-wing folks preach match more with the victorian era British lifestyle (its probably not a coincidence that 'Bride and Prejudice' was made). We (men and women) are expected to remain virgins until we marry. And then expected to have sex with that one individual until death. Sex is a natural need, especially in the youth. Denying it under the garb of 'Sanskaars' only creates a mass sexual frustration. Many of us grow up to vent it positively towards the competitive career race, but many don't. Even after marriage, since both men and women are first-timers, and women have been brainwashed into thinking their body is a shame, there are high chances that the frustration doesn't end. So here's what I think is happening: rapists are sexually frustrated, and assume (correctly) that women are too. But premarital sex is not 'allowed' in our culture. Then what to do? By raping, they get what they want and (they think) victims get what they want, all without committing the cultural heresy called normal consensus sex. So basically, rapists genuinely think they are doing the victims a favour! Rape becomes their 'normal' way of having sex. The rapist Mukesh in the documentary is 28 year old, and have had sex only once (actually twice, but that would mean he'll have to confess the rape). Imagine the level of sexual frustration, and desperation. Add to it the general lack of respect towards women in our culture (yes, our Hindu culture. Please don't point fingers towards muslims. Whether they are worse than us or not, we should own what is wrong in our culture! And if the rapists and the victim were muslims, I'm certain that the government would have welcomed Leslee Udwin with a red (or saffron?) carpet). Add to it poor, uneducated up-bringing, daily struggles and hustles for livelihood. Add to it addiction to alcohol (two of the rapists finished an entire whisky bottle before the act). How can one not expect rape???

-hrishi

P.S. I request everyone to not take things personally. I've witnessed friends 'marrying' an opinion and getting into trouble when it is exposed that the opinion is flawed, and then are forced to use irrationality as an aid. I also request those who have the 'right' opinion to not to humiliate your opposition, and give them an 'escape' to retreat and change their opinions. Ridiculing them makes it an ego issue and the opinion still gets pursued solely to save their honour.

Tumbling down the rabbit hole: How I came to know, like, love, and got obsessed with 'Chuck': II

The first half of this post can be found here.


Spoiler alert: A couple of scenes in S1. They don't affect the ‘spy action' storyline, but provide insight on the characters. 

     I enjoyed watching the pilot, but didn’t think much of it. It was a really witty and funny episode, but that was it. I didn't find anything special about it. I recommended it to my friend Juhi who too watched and liked it, but had same reaction as me. Next day, I watched another episode and again it was nice and i enjoyed it and forgot about it. Same happened until the 4th episode. That one had Sarah Walker and her spy friend/enemy Carina fight each other. It was very obvious what the writers were trying to do by making two tall, slim, attractive babes in skimpy clothes fight each other. I found it pretty shallow. 
     It was also very obvious that there was a love story developing between Sarah and Chuck. It was sort of amusing to watch since they are anyway faking a relationship as their cover, and then we see the real thing is beginning to happen. I didn't mind it, but it felt so cheesy, and stereotyped. Lack of evident love story between Mulder and Scully (as of mid-S4) was one of the main reasons I liked X-Files. It was evident that Mulder/Scully loved each other and cared for each other. But their love seemed to be a unspoken, private matter, sort of sacred that it was none of audience’s business to know. This cleared up a lot of screen time for actual X-file plot. 

     So after finishing the 4th episode, likable as Chuck was, I lost interest. I still couldn't ignore the silliness of the missions, and the trying-to-be-funny Buy More employees. And as I still wanted some time away from X-Files, I started watching another of Netflix’s recommendation- Dr. House. Then one day Juhi, who had continued watching Chuck, said the show is getting interesting. Hence I decided to give Chuck another shot, though not expecting much redemption.

     After a few episodes, I started realizing that Chuck offers a lot more. Even though its storyline was still silly and funny, and cheesy and shallow, the characters (all played by brilliant never-heard-of actors) made it seem a lot deeper than perhaps the writers actually intended. Most notably, Sarah Walker. I hadn’t given her much thought as whatever little attention I had paid went to Chuck. That’s what the writers had intended too. After all, the show itself was named ‘Chuck'. Sarah is just a bad-ass babe shown in ever-changing clothes and hairstyles and serves as an eye-candy, right? Just a supporting character who is the quest/reward that motivates our hero to perform. A stereotypical male fantasy, right? 

     But Sarah's personality didn't add up to her supposed place in the show. Usually action babes are given a tom-boyish personality-flamboyant, outgoing, playful, and some what insensitive attitude towards emotions/feelings and romance. Instead, Sarah’s character is an introvert- a quiet, seemingly boring person who likes to keep things to herself, who doesn’t like to show off her killer looks nor her killing action. An antithesis of her spy-friend Carina. Despite being stunningly beautiful, she uses her beauty more as mission tool, like her knives, rather than to use it for casual pleasure in real life. Also, even if she’s kicking asses throughout the missions and saving Chuck’s life several times, she doesn’t appear to be very dominating, manly or ruthless like Starbuck from Battlestar Galactica, nor does she has that smirk, or the subtle condescending attitude that Trinity is initially shown to have towards Neo. 

     The closest personality to Sarah that I can think of is also the one I liked- Clarice Starling, played brilliantly by Jodie Foster (who is the only other female actress/celebrity I ever came close to liking. Yvonne Strahovski is my first ever celebrity crush, and a big one!) in The Silence of the Lambs. Sarah never gives that be-grateful-I-just-saved-your-ass look to Chuck. In fact, she is vulnerable to Chuck, both on- and off-missions. She is sensitive to Chuck’s safety and well-being, not just for his own sake. During missions, she always respects him, and shows care and concern for him that goes beyond her job description of protecting him. To Casey’s disgust, she treats Chuck as if he were her child. And off missions, she is so convincing as a shy, quiet girl-next-door with a gorgeous smile and imperfect teeth, that its hard to believe she can use knives for purposes other than cooking. She is also very sensitive to what Chuck thinks of her, and gets genuinely hurt if he passes an offhand remark about their cover relationship.

     So it was Sarah’s personality that mainly got me interested in the show. Why would the writers write her this way? Is her complex personality even planned? Or is Yvonne trying to give her character more importance than the writers planned, by acting too well and beyond her expected supporting role to really bring out an extraordinary and original Sarah Walker.

     I didn't notice any exact turning point of my views on the series, but in retrospect, I think it might have been just one scene in Episode 1.8, when Chuck goes to Sarah after his ’near death’ experience to scratch off his bucket list. Sarah first thinks he will ask her out for real or may be kiss her. We see an upsurge of hope and excitement in her eyes. Her eyes waver, alternating between either of Chuck’s eyes. And then Chuck says he wants to breakup their fake relationship (so that he would start a real one with some other girl, Lou). Immediately, we see surprise, shock, hope-crashing disappointment, hurt, and finally her denial to all these feelings as she smiles and shows agreement that it doesn't matter to her as their relationship was fake anyway. And then she keeps staring into nothing even after he’s gone. 
     This entire scene is just a brilliant piece of subtle acting by Yvonne, and great music (‘Fresh Feeling’ by EELS). And then when she sees Chuck being happy with Lou, the look of pain and longing seen in Sarah’s face is again very well portrayed. To show you what I meant, here's the scene: Though I must warn you that watching the video without watching any episodes won't do Yvonne's acting enough justice. Revisit this video after watching the entire series and you'll know what I mean. 

     After this, things started getting exciting for me. In the next episode, a desperate Sarah disregards her denial of her true feelings as she thinks they both are going to die, and kisses Chuck. And then later her professionalism returns as she behaves as if nothing ever happened, and makes Chuck say something very painful; “You kissed because you knew you were dying and my lips were the most convenient ones around, or because it was about me” to which her reply is “what happened was a mistake which won’t repeat again”. Without getting into my past, all I'll say is that this dialog resonated with me, and made me pretty upset. Also, for a light and silly 'action-comedy', these scenes were surprisingly intense, and were totally unexpected. Chuck suddenly became an action-romance-drama-comedy. And I got very, very interested. 

     I felt for Chuck- he desperately loves Sarah, and he thinks she loves him. But then she’s supposed to love him as cover. Plus, as an underachieving genius, he’s not been very confident in life, and has identity crises after getting kicked out of Stanford. And now he gets inferiority complex as to why would someone as hot and attractive as Sarah really love him? May be just because he is the intersect, and all she’s doing is playing her part of cover girl friend, like a true professional. And plus, didn’t she had feelings for a guy who’s as smart as he is, but better looking, much better at kicking ass- the very guy who got him kicked out of Stanford and stole his girlfriend? Ops. Inferiority complex increases several fold. And so he gets confused, and she doesn’t make it easier for him at all. 
     And I felt for Sarah- she loves Chuck for what he is, despite (and not due to) the intersect, she sees how truly and innocently he loves her, but she can’t ‘compromise her cover’ (now what does that mean? hint: watch out for the term '49B' in Season 2). Yet, she can’t help being vulnerable towards him, and ends up giving mixed signals. 

     Suddenly, watching Chuck got interesting(*). Chuck/Sarah were so adorable as a couple, that in no time I became a 'shipper. Suddenly, those silly missions, Casey's grunts, and those Buy Morons, became not just bearable, but hilarious and enjoyable. Extremely enjoyable. 

And so began my obsession with Sarah Walker's and Chuck Bartowski's love story(**). 



* And things just keep getting ridiculously better in Season 2, which can be considered as the quintessential Chuck season. 

**I wanted to limit the spoilers in this post, hence I'll write separately about my thoughts on Chuck and Sarah's story through all five seasons. 

Tumbling down the rabbit hole: How I came to know, like, love, and got obsessed with 'Chuck': I

Spoiler alert: I’ve tried to keep spoilers to minimum, but this post has spoilers on the pilot episode.

Chuck! 

     This one word pretty much summarizes everything I have been doing after work hours for last 2 months. I've now watched the entire show, twice (2 x 91 episodes). Yes, in two months! All my other hobbies have come to a complete stop. Daily things like cooking, eating, sleeping- all necessary to maintain my productivity at work, housekeeping- to maintain relations with my roomie who has shown extraordinary love and patience to tolerate the constantly on TV, and keeping minimal hygiene- to avoid being a temporary social outcast, are the only activities that have been distracting me from watching Chuck!

     First of all, let me admit that I'm pretty embarrassed to write these Chuck-related posts. I've read, and loved several stories- from books, movies, manga, and TV shows, but I've never been so obsessed with any of them. The ending of His Dark Materials did affect me for weeks, but I got over it eventually. I would have considered myself a diehard fan of HDM, LOTR, and Harry Potter, but the intensity with which I feel about Chuck is many fold stronger than with them. My love for them was not irrational. And no matter how much I've liked a book/movie/TV show, I've never rewatched it immediately. Its hard to keep things rational with Chuck. I might have written worth at least 100 129 single-spaced pages while I rewatched the show, and I was (I am) so embarrassed to go public about it, I even considered posting a new, Chuck-centric blog and going by a pseudonym. But then I thought, this is a part of me, and there are several fans spread across the internet who rever Chuck with a similar passion. So why care to hide? 

     It all began with me raving about X-Files. Indeed, isn’t that show just awesome?! Mulder and Scully are so seriously professional-never crossing the line between partners/friends, and lovers (as of S4), and the stories are so logical (considering outrageous paranormal themes that dictate the episodes) that within no time, X-Files became my favorite show! X-Files is one of those rare, intelligent shows that acknowledge that the audience is not stupid, and hence don't dumb themselves down. 

     But as I continued watching, the initially-rare horror themes started surfacing far more often, and started giving me nightmares! Coming home from office, cooking my own dinner, and then experiencing the intense, dark, gloomy X-Files everyday, suddenly didn’t seem like a good idea anymore. The opening whistle started sounding even more ominous as days went by, until one day, I had an epiphany- "I don’t have to do this! Nobody’s forcing me to watch!". That is when I went back to the Netflix homepage, and saw the recommendations from the awesome Netflix algorithm, and that’s when an action-comedy which Netflix believed I’d love, caught my attention. Chuck.

     Now, action-comedy (according to show creator Chris Fedak, '24' meeting 'The Office') is not a genre I’ve watched many shows of. I remember watching only one, and loving it- Firefly. In fact, I even drew a sketch of the spaceship. The poster of Chuck, however, looked far less interesting, and was good example of the kind of shows/movies I would avoid watching. That is why Netflix’s estimation of my probable rating amused me. I’ve grown to be a firm believer in Netflix’s algorithm. I’ve liked ALL the movies/shows it recommended me. Norwegian Headhunter, French Tell No One, Brazillian Ellite Squad 2 are some examples of awesome movies I may never have heard of without Netflix’s algorithm. So when Netflix said “Our best guess for Hrishikesh: 4 + stars”, I was intrigued. Plus the show description made it sound like a lightweight fun show, which served as a perfect antithesis to X-Files. While I’ve written all this at length, in that moment, it was a spontaneous decision, sparked by me wanting something far lighter than X-Files, and the fact that Netflix thought I would love Chuck. So without a second’s delay, I clicked on the pilot- Chuck Vs. The Intersect. 

The pilot is about a Stanford-dropout-underachiever-computer-geek, Chuck, who works at Buy More (ala Best Buy) and lives with his over-protective sister Ellie and her awesome boyfriend, Captain Awesome. He’s not dated a girl in last 5 years, and his best friend is a slacker. Then one day, he accidentally/mysteriously gets a computer with government secrets, called the intersect, into his head. Both CIA and NSA send agents (Sarah, and Casey respectively), to get Chuck, to retrieve the intersect, only to realize that Chuck doesn’t have the intersect, he is the intersect. Amidst Casey/Sarah's attempts to kill/save Chuck, he helps them avoid an assassination, and diffuses a bomb. In the end, CIA/NSA realize that he’s a good guy and decide to keep Sarah (who acts as his cover girlfriend but whom Chuck falls for at first sight itself) and Casey (who hates the very guts of the likes of Chuck Bartowski, and is very wary of femme fatales like Sarah walker) to protect Chuck and use him as an 'asset'. 

    From the first scene itself, I liked Zachary Levi’s Chuck. A nerdy underachiever with a not-so-smart-nor-funny best friend, socially awkward, but not unpleasant. Despite his tragic past(getting kicked out of Stanford, and getting dumped by girlfriend), he doesn't complain much, but rather prefers his shell, and does things like running away from his own birthday party. He demands immediate sympathy, from those who can feel him, and care and protection, from those who fight for underdogs/underachievers. 

     The pilot seemed pleasant and light and funny. I liked the fact that Chuck used his inherent common sense and computer knowledge, and not the intersect, to diffuse a bomb using a porn virus! There were some good characters namely Sarah Walker, John Casey, and Captain Awesome. Some of the scenes, like Chuck downloading the intersect into his head just by clicking an email, made me realize immediately that I need to switch off common sense(*) and logic else I won’t be able to continue. 

 I enjoyed watching the pilot, but didn’t think much of it. It was a really witty and funny episode, but that was it. I didn't find anything special about it(**). 

The second half of this post can be found here.

*Almost all the spy action in Chuck should be taken with a grain of salt.The biggest plot-hole perhaps is the fact that the real CIA sends only offshore missions, while most of Chuck's missions are based in Burbank! But Chuck's plot-holes are almost always unimportant, and hence can be easily forgiven. In fact, I realize now that I fondly remember them, just like all other Chuck moments!

**Season 3's Nacho Sampler, The Other Guy, and S5's The Baby, throw a new light on the pilot by giving it a context on Sarah's life just before the pilot, and what she thought of Chuck during the pilot. And also, the series finale has too many callbacks on the pilot. Rewatching the pilot with all this context was an amazing experience! So much so that I continued rewatching the next episode and the next, and ended up rewatching the entire series. 

Getting into art journaling

     When Sachin Tendulkar announced that he will be retiring from cricket, it was hard to come to terms with the fact that I, India, and the cricketing world won't be seeing one of the finest batsmen of all time play anymore. A person who was the only constant in the ever-changing faces in the last quarter century of international cricket. In a country like India, where uncertainty defines life, Sachin was the only certainty. To see my childhood hero, who continued playing not just till I was 10 or 15, but 27, finally call it a day was just so obvious, but yet, simply unbelievable. Among zillion emotions that overwhelmed me, was a tiny, insignificant desire to sketch him.

Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, drawn in 2002

     I drew my last proper sketch in 2002, after finishing my 10th grade. My sketches weren't great, but they were decent. Most importantly, I liked them! :-). So when my sketch of Sachin came out to be utterly horrible, I had to sit down and wonder. After reflecting over it for a few days, I decided to revisit sketching with a fresh perspective. After all I am a very different person right now than I was in 2002. Also, since I'm in the US now, I decided to explore if there are any different methods, styles and materials that are interesting to experiment with. Like any other online buyer, I went to goddess amazon for answer. It was when I was skimming through countless books on sketching and watercoloring that I came across Cathy Johnson's Artist's Journal Workshop.
     It was a love at first sight. As someone who loved watching birds and maintained a field notebook, as well as a dairy, it never occurred to me to merge the two, and extend the concept to include vast number of interesting day-to-day things we all witness, study and appreciate in our subconscience even if our outer self is engrossed in seemingly important endeavors. After a couple of days, the UPS guy delivered the book to my apartment's patio.

Graphite pencils, 2005

     The central idea behind keeping an art journal is that you unleash your creativity without hurting your ego. For example, you are far less concerned how your drawing would turn out to be if you are drawing on a $5 sketchbook of size 4 x 6 as opposed to drawing on a 24 x 36 canvas. Plus, as there are several more pages at your perusal, you don't think about ruining the sketchbook drawing. Though this may sound obvious to you, I find it to be the single most important thing I've, as a average 'non-artist' person next door, heard about art and drawing.  Draw not for the sake of drawing but for documenting something which you really liked and care (to draw) for. End result: more sketches, more happiness, and no bruised ego.  :-)
     Since then I've also got The Laws Guide to Drawing Birds- an amazing, amazing book by a very talented artist- John Muir Laws. And the latest, and likely to be the last investment on art book for a while, is The Complete Watercolorist's Essential Notebook by Gordon Mackenzie. Its a brilliant book that is considered as a one-stop-shop for all things watercolor. It is a joint book of two of Mackenzie's bestsellers, and if I hadn't read one guy's review on amazon, I would have bought the first book for the same price as I paid for this two-books-in-one book!

A ship of books (based on a bookmark). Ink and
Alberecht Durer watercolor pencils on 4 x 6

     In terms of materials that I've armed myself with as I embark this journey, here's a list.
-Pencils: normal mechanical (0.5mm lead), 4B, and 6B
-Pen: Fabser Castell Pitt Artist pen- An amazing pen with waterproof ink
-Colors: I decided to give watercolor pencils a try since I'd never used them before, and their appeal in terms of portability is unmatched. So I got six colors of Faber Castell's Alberecht Durrer: two shades-a warm and cool, of the three primary colors red, blue and yellow. I really liked working with them. So much so that I decided to bite the bullet and get a basic set of watercolor paints. As getting just a few colors is enough as they can be mixed together to produce all the other intermediate colors, I decided to go for quality over quantity, and got myself a Daniel Smith Susie Short Essential Watercolors set. It is an amazing value for money purchase and several artists, including Cathy and John Muir Laws, use Daniel Smith paints. With 8 tubes of 15 ml each for ~$8 per tube, the Daniel Smith Susie Short collection is almost as cheap as the student grade Cotman series from Winsor and Newton.
-Brushes: Both Cathy and JML recommend waterbrushes in their books. Cathy recommends them for certain situations and especially so when using watercolor pencils. JML, however, mentioned in one of his youtube video that he stopped using normal brush, and now uses waterbrushes exclusively. Having said that, I am more comfortable using them as normal brushes and not as waterbrushes. Ever since their water got finished the first time, I haven't yet refilled them!

Spaceship Serenity. Ink and watercolor on bristol bonded paper
bottom half of a 9 x 12

-Sketchbooks: I first got Strathmore Bristol Bonded paper journal of size 9 x 12 because all I wanted to do was pencil sketching. But soon, mostly because I got discounts, I collected a 4x6 Strathmore Series 3000 sketchbook, Winsor and Newton's watercolor postcards, and Strathmore's series 4000, 5.5 x 8.8 sized sketchbook with watercolor paper. The idea is to have a heavier paper when using watercolors.
     I've seen several artists comment that the paper is the most important thing in watercolors. But again, that is for a studio-quality painting. We are talking about sketchbooks here. JML mentions that he likes drawing as well as painting birds on his cheap Canson book, and in fact stated that the crumpled paper (due to wetting from watercolors) adds a character to the sketchbook! My personal experience has been that I am quite satisfied with all the paper types when it comes to watercolors. It is just a journal, so I don't pay too much attention. Thats another liberating thing about journaling :-). However, I haven't made up my mind on what size journal I prefer. I initially liked 4 x 6 the most, but now I'm increasingly feeling constrained by that size for watercolors.
     One last thing that was a magical discovery for me is a kneaded eraser. All I can say is that I wish I knew about it and used it during my school days. Its ability to not erode the paper simply seems miraculous to me.

     Now with the three books and these materials, and countless tutorials and videos on youtube, I think I'm set to explore the world with pencils, ink and watercolors, and eventually specialize in birds and landscapes- the two fields that I strive to master as a nature photographer!

Tunnel View, Yosemite. Ink and watercolor on a 4 x 6 basic sketchbook. It was so small and fast, that start-to-finish took less than 20 minutes

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::An update::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

YES!! I was able to draw Tendulkar. Not the original portrait style that I had imagined, but with ink and watercolors.

Avocado Chaat

For someone who could make nothing apart from Chai and Maggi until a couple of years ago, it will be too presumptuous to write about a recipe. But this particular recipe is an exception- because it is my very own, original recipe! Yah!
Panu-puri and ragdapuri (as called in Marathi, or gol gappe and chaat, as they are called in Hindi) are amongst my favorite dishes. You get them as road side dishes on a cart for Rs. 20 (1/3rd of a US dollar! Still, I find the current price is a rip off, because they used to cost Rs 5 when I grew up!) in almost all the regions in India. If you are concerned about road side hygiene (which I am not), given the correct ingredients, they are super easy to make, and very, very tasty! But there lies the problem: the right ingredients. 

After moving to Irvine, CA, I find myself at loss- ain't no road-side chaat in this country! Some of the Indian restaurants in the orange county might be serving chaat, but I am sure they don't taste half as good. But here I found a few new things, like avocado and tortilla chips. So trying to preserve what is my interpretation of the bare fundamentals of making chaat, I came up with my own version of chaat, which I call avocado chaat. It's very quick and easy to make, and tastes great, and is arguably healthier than the normal chaat! 

Here's the recipe: (serves 2)
To be chopped: onions (1 medium), tomatoes (1 medium), avocados (1 medium), boiled potatoes(1 medium), and if feeling adventurous, 2-3 green chili
1. Crush 7-8 tortilla chips in each of the two bowl, add potatoes, avocados, tomatoes, onions, green chili
2. Add pasta sauce (2 tbsp), non-sweet yogurt (2 tbsp)
3. Sprinkle red pepper powder (just a pinch), chaat masala (just a pinch)
4. Add shev (bhujia- I think they can be called as Chickpea fried noodles!) as a topping, sprinkle lime juice

I want you to experiment and make your own avocado chaat- Treat this post as a source code to an open source software. Take this and build your own!
Here's a photo of the chaat that a friend of mine made:

Good luck, and do let me know what you think!

Naruto

I never liked anime. I didn't know what manga meant. Growing up, I was so used to watching traditional, western cartoons that when I first saw anime, the characters looked ugly! Almost two years back, a friend recommended me to watch an anime series called Naruto. I told him I hate anime. He asked me which ones I had seen (and hated), I said none. Well, both of us being PhD students, there is no room for making conclusions without evidence. So I watched the first episode of Naruto. Didn't like it. I thought the lead character was an idiot, there was a lot of emotional drama (being tortured by family drama serials in India all my life, I certainly didn't look forward to see more of this) and there was unnecessarily hysterical dialogs, and the conversations were, well, highly animated (no pun)! After I told him I didn't change my view, he said watch the first 8-10 episodes and then you will get hooked. I said "let's see", but both knew it may not happen.

Fast forward 2 years. In between, I had seen a couple of Kurosawa films, rewatched Kill Bill, and was now aware of the 'animated' dialogs in Japanese. Somehow it is very familier. I can easily visualize such dialogs happening in any of the Indian languages.  Japanese didn't sound alien. So when I was free last fall, I decided to give Naruto a go. Watched the first few episodes, and as my friend had said, I got completely hooked on to it. Loved the story, loved the plot, loved the style, loved the humour, loved the animation, loved the music, loved the action, loved the emotions. In short, I loved everything that Naruto presented. The whole experience is super duper inspiring. Within a couple of months, I had watched the entire 10 year old series. Now I started bugging a friend to get her to watch Naruto. So with with her, I rewatched the entire anime. I didn't get bored as it evoked a very powerful nostalgia as the plot covered several years and I loved to watch again, the characters when they were younger. Now I was up-to-date with the anime, but the story is going on, and I was loosing patience. Enter Manga. The anime is based on the manga comics and Naruto manga was several subplots ahead of the anime, and so I read the manga. Now I look forward to the new manga every Wednesday, and the anime every Thursday.

What I liked the most about Naruto is the plot. Its such a well thought out story. The integrity is maintained throughout its long span. I liked how it started on a small scale, a small happy village, and plot got increasingly bigger and bigger and now its dealing with a world war and the fate of humanity. Very similar to several books that I have read which start at a small scale (the Shire; 4 Privet Drive; Lyra's Oxford), and then the plot expands to include several big kingdoms/ nations. The lead character is carefree, in fact even a nuisance at the beginning, and then grows up to shoulder some heavy responsibilities. Same happens with Naruto. I liked the setting of the Ninja world. Similar to Jedis (I've read George Lucas got the idea of Jedi from buddhist monks). The concept of duty (or dharma) is very common in India. I have been aware about the chakras since I was a kid (my dad used to urge me to 'awaken' my chakras by doing specific yoga). Even the manipulations of different forces of nature using ninjutsu is very similar to the mythological wars in the texts Ramayana and Mahabharat. So may be that's why I could relate very well with the world of the ninjas.

Another thing I liked was how the characters were not black and white. Even the protagonist does things which one would not expect a 'hero' to do, and even the 'villans' are shown to be good humans at some point. There is a constant transition in the perception of a character's morals and now I expect that to almost all the negative characters, still it is never boring when it actually happens. The music is very well placed and there is this weird leitmotif, not just associated with particular persons, but also associated with particular situations (for example a specific music when a fight between two ninjas is about to have a complete turn around).

Judging from the manga developments, it seems like Naruto is going to end pretty soon. I'm sure the creator has a very powerful end up his sleeve. He has already told us how the series is going to end: with Naruto becoming the Hookage (village head)- his childhood dream/ ambition since the first episode itself. But that's the beauty of this manga/ anime. Its easy to guess whats going to happen, but the way it happens always takes your breath away.

About the drawing, this is the first real sketch I have drawn on a computer. I used a Wacom bamboo tablet (which I had gotten for 50 bucks when it was on a 50% rebate) and Sketchbook Express, a free software for mac. Initially I was just going to draw a quick and dirty sketch in less than 10-15 minutes. But then later decided to take advantage of the ability to create multiple copies in the digital world, and do a colored version after completing the sketch. When I started looking for tutorials on coloring, I realized that there are several smarter ways of doing the whole process using layers. First draw a rough sketch, reduce its opacity. On top of it, draw another layer with 'line art' (clean, powerful strokes of outlines, not the messy dirty ones I draw as sketch). As there is already the rough sketch below the layer for reference, its super easy to draw the line art. Once that is done, put the line art layer at the topmost, and create a color layer below it. Coloring is also very easy. Getting colors using palette is easy. For highlights and shadows, it is possible to increase or lower the palette's darkness to get the desired effect without searching for a darker yet similar colored shade. Easy. And obviously, it is possible to erase anything, so there is no 'dead end'.

I didn't pay much attention to the image while sketching, and while coloring, I realized some of the parts needed to be redrawn. Damn. Next time, I am going to pay a lot of attention, and proceed with coloring only when I am 100% satisfied with the drawing. I believe it will cut my time by half!

Happy manga, anime, and happy drawing and coloring to you all!

Sheet music for Hindi songs: 1. 'Aye Meri Zohra Jabeen' from Waqt (1965)

I have always been fascinated by old Hindi film music. Growing up, there was hardly any other music I listened to. Later, I got introduced to, and liked several other genres, but my love for the old Hindi film songs never ceased. Over the years, I have learnt to play a few songs on Mandolin. Many of these songs were taught to me by Chandrakant Ronghe, an excellent mandolinist in Pune, who shares similar love for the old hindi and marathi songs.

When I uploaded a video of me playing such a song on mandolin, several people asked me for notations/ tabs. Requests were so diverse: some were for Indian style notations (Saa Re Ga Ma..), some for notations in A B C D, a few mandolinists asked for Tablatures and one person asked for staff notations! Now I know all these notations but I don't follow them, as I play simply by my ear. So I procrastinated over making notations as I didn't know which format to write in, and because it was equally tedious for me to write to any format rather than simply upload what I could play. But now I am trying to come up with a solution so that I can do my little bit in sharing such lovely songs to a greater audience.

Thankfully, with the help of TuxGuitar and Musescore, both open source freewares, I started writing sheet music for Aye Meri Zohra Jabeen from the film Waqt (1965). I chose this song simply because it was the one that occurred to me first, and also because it is such a lovely song, with excellent lyrics, and magical voice of Manna De. After encountering a few hurdles, I have completed the sheet music to the best of my abilities, and presenting it here. The sheet is not refined (you might see several instances where there are say two tied quarter notes instead of one half note), but it works as per my satisfaction.

I chose to write in staff notations because it is universal and could be played/transposed to several instruments. In the future, I hope to upload the Tabs too (I haven't been able to solve some problems with Tux Guitar and as a result cannot provide Tabs at present). I cannot learn music without audio, so I am glad to present the audio along with the sheet music.The file could be downloaded here. You can download Musescore and play the file on it and even edit/ refine it.


Please let me know if you like the song. I aim to write atleast one song per month.  Let's see how far it goes! :)


Aye Meri Johra Zabeen by hrishikeshac



To watch (and thereby torture yourself) me play this on mandolin:

Leaving home

I am finally overcoming the procrastination to update this blog. My last entry was, embarrassingly, more than a year ago. Still, I find some solace in stating that this was the most eventful year of my life. For, I left home. Not my just my locality Kothrud, or my city Pune, or even my State Maharashtra, but India!

In December 2009, I was quite happy doing my job as an Environmental Analyst in an architectural firm working on sustainable buildings. Then suddenly one Sunday, it struck me. My entire life flashed before my eyes, mostly the critical decisions that I took and the resulting directions my life had taken. I wondered how my life would have turned up if I were to take different decisions. Surprisingly, I found that the academic decisions that I took were pretty good, and I would still prefer to take the same decisions if I were to go back. Also, the firm where I was working had taught me a lot of practical things which academia could never have. So looking back, I was satisfied. However, looking ahead, I wasn't. Five years down the lane I couldn't imagine myself working in the private sector. I couldn't imagine working 'for someone', advertize for him, sell for him, no matter how good he is. For, I've always worked for a concept, an idea. And so it struck me- I've always been very happy doing science, and research. It hit me so hard that the idea obsessed me, and grew so rapidly (ala Inception) that the very next morning I made a plan, of pursuing a career in research. So the next obvious step was to get a PhD. For serious research, a PhD is but a prerequisite- just a gateway I believe. But PhD in what? I had several options, as I have had a diverse background. Most logical would be in sustainable buildings. Over the year, I had gained enough on site knowledge that developers used to be shocked that to hear I wasn't an Architect.  However, it is pure, natural sciences that I was always inclined towards. Also, inadvertently, I have been always fascinated by water. I've always considered it as, err, my element. It was the link that followed me throughout my education, and research. So there I decided to do a PhD in hydrology.

Next obvious question was "where". Thankfully, my beloved University of Pune answered that question by not qualifying me in their entrance test. The test was a simple one, even a school kid could have cleared it with some preparation. And the passing was only 50/100. Yet, me and all my classmates, save a few, got 49/100. The less I say about this, the better. So naturally Pune wasn't an option, and I would have to leave my house, my parents. Then, it didn't matter whether I was in Mumbai or Delhi or some other city outside of India. My parents were very supportive of my crazy idea, which is quite rare for their generation. The decision I was making was- leave the job and concentrate on applying to different universities, brush up my skills in the sciences, and learn some important technologies like computing, and remote sensing and GIS. This was not going to work out if I keep my job, for this is a full time commitment. So basically I was asking my dad to cover my sustenance for about one and half years, as well as fund my applications to different universities and the tests required to qualify them, and fund for the expensive remote sensing, computing courses. My dad, agreed, without blinking. I can't emphasize how difficult was it for any one to buy my plan, it was full of loopholes, and most importantly, there was no contingency plan.And I wasn't even making a good efforts to sell my plan to him. Yet my dad, who could pursue only basic education because of family responsibilities, and who has had a generation gap of 42 years between me, agreed. I will never be repay him back for this.
My company's directors were very supportive too. In fact they maintained that I could continue to work with them until the day of my flight or come back to them any time if things don't work out. How many private firms in Pune can say this to their new employees?

Then came the most liberating yet high pressure 1.5 years of my life in which I learnt much more than my entire formal education, applied and got admitted to different universities, trekked the Himalayas and hiked the leeches-filled rainforest in the South, and, on 3rd September 2011, exactly 1 year ago, I left home for Irvine, California, USA.

Surpassing the Sar Pass

Note: This writeup is intended mainly for those who are actually interested in going for this trek in the future. Hence, you'll find a lot of mindless details in here. Regarding photographs, all of them are of around 1200px wide, so click on the individual images for larger viewing. Feel free to download them. I encourage you to use them for educational purpose (if any), but as with my other images, please ask me before using/ posting them anywhere else.  

Late March, I decided to enroll for the Youth Hostel Association of India's Sar Pass (Himachal Pradesh) 2011 trek. I did consider their Saurkundi trek, but there seemed to be a consensus that Sar Pass is more beautiful and more difficult. Though many of my friends showed initial interest, they eventually dropped out of the plan. Only a friend- Juhi and I were left. By the time we enrolled, all batches till 19^th of May were full. So I enrolled for the 21^st. The batch was SP_21. Reporting venue was a village called Kasol. After checking for train routes, and asking queries on Indiamike forum, we realized that the optimum route was as follows:

Pune-Nizamuddin: Goa Express

Nizamuddin-New Delhi (ISBT Kashmere Gate): Bus

ISBT Kashmere Gate-Bhuntar: Direct bus to Manali; get down at Bhuntar

Bhuntar to Kasol: local Bus

However, inspite of booking the train tickets more than 45 days before the travel day, our status, at the time of chart preparation, was W/L 5,6! Finally had to book by Tatkal. I have never found New Delhi very hospitable to strangers. At least not the way Mumbai is. People actually just stare at you or grunt and walk away without answering even simplest of your queries. Anyways, at ISBT, we came across an old man who advised us to go to Chandigarh and from there, board a bus to Manali. He was so convincing in stating that we made a mistake by wanting to take a direct bus, that we decided to follow his suggestion. There, changing a well made plan at the last moment is always risky! Once at Chandigarh, we got down at Sector 17, then had to rush to Sector 43 from where buses to Manali leave. It was already 9pm. Now we had no option but to board whichever bus came first. The one that came had only two seats vacant and those too were next to the driver. The bus had come from Dehra Dun and was packed. There was absolutely no room for luggage and hence we had to keep our luggage with ourselves and sleep on them. After spending a very uncomfortable, sleepless night, we reached Bhuntar at around 5.15am. From there Kasol was 1 hour bus ride away.

River along the Base camp

On reaching Kasol, the bus dropped us at YHAI Base camp, which was right next to the rapids of Parwati river. The location of the camp is simply beautiful. You can't ignore the constant rushing sound of the river. The receptionist greeted us with a big smile. We were asked to fill a movement chart, an identity card and submit our medical certificate form. People, please fill the form provided by YHAI alone, else you will be asked to go to a doctor some 9kms away and get the form filled, as 3-4 of our batch mates had to do. YHAI doesn't accept any other medical certificate but theirs. By 7.30am, breakfast was ready. Food was very simple and bland, but good considering the expenses and the camp population. Every batch consists of around 50 trekkers and at the basecamp, there are atleast 4 batches at any given time. Don't forget to bring along our own plate and bowls. Washing the plates is not a good experience as the water used for washing is the one pumped from the adjoining river and is full of suspended particles. Its color is all muddy. Plus, the water is chilling and one tries to get done with washing utensils ASAP. As washing powder gets over soon, try cleaning with soil or use a tissue paper instead to clean off the oil stains. One member was smart and had plastic sheets on the plate. Thus the plate didn't get dirty and all she had to do was throw away the sheet in the dustbin.

During the acclimatization walk 

There is nothing to do on the first day except report and rest. I was accomodated in a tent full of SP_20 trekkers. Aparantly, SP_21 members came very late and a few came the next day. So if you are pressed on time (such as getting leave and all), then you can skip the first day. The only events (apart from morning exercises and other routine events like camp fire) for the second day are a 3 hour acclimatization walk in the nearby woods and an orientation session. The walk is enjoyable and refreshing. You walk mostly beneath the trees and henc even if it is sunny outside, you feel the pleasent cool wind. We were issued a backpack, two blankets and a sleeping sheet before the walk and we were made to carry this and a litre water bottle for the walk. There is a chance that you might feel awefully tired during this walk alone and have immediate doubts about completing the actual trek. If this happens, just rubbish these thoughts out of your head. Don't overthink. That should be your mantra for the trek. Orientation session was informative. A lot of suggestions, warnings were given- regarding behaviour, clothes to wear, things to take for the trek etc. Be open to all suggestions.

I've come to realize that it is impossible to know what is the right gear to carry unless you actually carry it. So unless you have trekked in the himalaya before and are set regarding gears, better carry a little more. We were told that rain sheets, which can be bought in the base camp or in the Kasol market for Rs.40-100/- are enough to protect you from the rains. There are people who have successfully used them and who vouch for them. But my rainsheet got torn in the first 10 minutes from the market! We bought rain jacket and rain pants for INR 250/-, all the while cursing why I din't bring my jacket from Pune! One advantage of wearing a long raincoat or jacket-pant pair is your hands are free to move. Though same is true with the rainsheet, in heavy winds and rains, you need to actually hold it onto you. Also, later on in the trek, you are supposed to slide on the snow for about 2kms. A rain pants is extremely useful for this as it prevents your pants (and thermal, if you are wearing one) from getting wet. My advice- get your own sturdy raincoat from home and buy the rainsheet from the base camp for 50/- in order to cover your bag. While going to sleep, ensure that your shoes are inside the tent else, they will get wet due to due! Buy a candle from the Kasol market and rub it on the outside of the shoes to make them waterproof. Bring a pair of woolen socks or buy them from the market for around 100/-. Wearing them during night keeps feet warm. Shoes form the single most important item. I had got Quechua Forclaz 500 Ventiv following suggestions from Indiamike forum members (there is a long thread there on alpine trekking shoes, do visit it). My friend wore Forclaz 100 Lady and found it comfortable enough. Indeed, though everybody recommends a Forclaz 500, if on budget, do consider Forclaz 100. If you become a member of decathlon.in, you can get it for INR 700 instead of INR 2000. As a decathlon member, my shoes had cost me INR 2500 instead of INR 3500. Of course hunter shoes from Bata and other local manufacturers are also recommended, but I don't find them comfortable to use. In case you go without a good trekking shoes, you can buy hunter for about INR 250 at the Base Camp or in the market.

Base camp at before dawn

The third day involved a rock climbing session. The rockface was 25feet tall, all natural (quartzite with fractures) We were made to climb using these cracks/fractures. It was considerably difficult for a number of reasons. First, it was not an ideal rockface for first timers, which majority of our batchmates were. The cracks were too small and too wide apart and for people below 5.5”, where in majority of the ladies fell, getting a grip was next to impossible. Secondly the shoes which we all were wearing were high cut, hardcore trekking shoes. It was downright stupid of YHAI trainers to expect someone to do rockclimbing in these! As my shoe was a number larger than my feet, my toe was about an inch smaller than the shoe, making it almost useless to get any grip. Also, after a point, there was simple no notch in the rock and we were expected to simply leave all grip and leap upward and try getting hold of the rockface top! Of course there was a rope and ultimately the trainers had to help almost each one of us. I got severe cramps due to rock climbing as I had to use all my strength. (I do endurance training but not weight training!) My advice, don't try too hard during rock climbing, it is somewhat pointless and might jeopardize fitness for the trek! But do try sincerely and follow all the instructions given by the trainers, they are very useful. Another activity was rapelling. It was a piece of cake for almost all of my batch. Remaining of the day went in planning the gear for the trek. It was our last chance of buying things from the market.

A Pashmini lamb while on the way to Grahan

We left for the trek on the fourth day. It our first destination was a village called Grahan. I was down with fever, cold, severe headache and body cramps. The initial walk through the woods was very pleasent. However, after a few hours, once we came out on the open patch, we were hit by the glaring sun. It was downright hot and going got very tough. Almost all of my batchmates rate Grahan trek as the most difficult one of all. (Note: There is no need to carry more than a litre of water. The route is almost always along the stream/ river and one can refill the bottle anytime. Make sure to add a drop of chlorine to the water. ) We heard that a member of the previous batch suffered from acute dihearrea, so much so that he was shitting blood! Of course he had to go back. On our way to Grahan, we met Meenakshi, a young porter from Grahan. I was taken aback to hear that many trekkers hire porters during the trek. Initially I thought it betrayed the very concept of trekking. But then I considered that it is obviously justified for someone who wishes to travel, rather than trek through the Sar Pass. About 5 members of our batch hired Meenakshi's services. Along with her was her sister in law- Reena who shared the baggage with her. Grahan village comes before the YHAI camp. Many of the localites offer hot water bath and charging point for cellphone/ camera batteries. We couldn't do both because we were very late. However if you keep a fast pace initially, you will not only be able to have bath and get your batteries charged, but also avoid the sun for good. During our trek to Grahan, we saw Lammergier, the majestic bird whom I had seen in Yamunotri during the Great Himalayan Bird Count 2009. I was to see it again during the Padri and Ratapani trek routes. Himalayan Griffons were also frequently seen.

Grahan campsite after sunset

Once at Grahan, I was literally fuming with fever. Batchmates helped me with an array of pills. I had sponge bath at a nearby stream and then had hot maggi at a canteen (actually a small hut) beside our tents. Felt much better. I had taken along my D80, 18-135mm lens, extra battery and a tripod. The evening light was good and I got a few nice exposures. Tried doing star photography at night, but batchmates unknowingly ruined my shots with their torches. I was still feeling weak. Also, night photography consumes a lot of battery and I was unsure as to how fast the batteries will drain and exactly how much photography opportunities will arise throughout the trek. So I decided to rest and continue with night photography during later nights. The camp leader provided with two blankets and a comfy sleeping bag. I had a sound sleep.

A stream on the way to Padri.
This is my attempt at a realistic looking HDR

Next day I felt much better. My brain was able to grasp things as normal. Our next destination was Padri. There is no village at site and the camp is located in wilderness. The trek is 100% forest trek so was very comfortable. The descend from Grahan to a lower altitude is very steep and the soil is all organic-humus and soggy. But we didn't encounter any leeches (I like getting bit by them!). As all expected the route to be a very exhaustive one like that on the previous day, we were pleasently surprised to reach padri within no time! The camp site is beautiful and we get awesome view of snow clad peaks and that of Nagaru- our later camp point. It did rain, and because of that, the night was very cold. Apart from the camp food, I had maggi at the canteen and got the warmth from the chulha. Others had omlets at the same. During orientation session, we were told that our body requires a lot more calories while trekking and hence we were all adviced to eat more. However, I found that I felt much better by eating less! I used to have only one roti, half a cup dalhia, only a few spoonful of rice and dal. And of course maggi at the lunch point. I had no problems whatsoever and I think this diet actually helped me a lot throughout. I had fantastic sleep at night and was very fresh the next morning.

Camp site, Padri

Ratapani was our next camp site and the route was relatively quite long. I carried a friend's bag for considerable time. However I was feeling quite well and was breathing right and didn't feel tired at all. At Ratapani, we were given awesome Delhi style Chola Bhatura for breakfast, thank to our Delhieite Camp leader Mr. Gupta.

Mist and Peaks, while on the way to Nagaru

During Ratapani- Nagaru trek

On the route to Nagaru, out next camp site, we spotted jungle rats- beautiful hare/rat like animals who feed on the available vegetation. I later googled them to find that they are Indian Pika.The trek to Nagaru was magical. We were amidst clouds and the the breeze was cool and pleasent. I also came across the first ever snow on the way! I'll never forget that moment. I was just frantically grabbing as much snow as I could, having no definite plans regarding what to do with it! I didn't wish to part with it. But then someone pointed that I'll get plenty of snow in Nagaru, only then did I continue with my trek.

Nagaru camp was at a serious elevation. It was amidst snow. The terrain gradient was steep. Tents were all inclined and people were sliding on to eachother while sleeping. We went to bed quite early- at around 7.30pm. We woke up at 2.30am and left for Sar Pass by 4. Reason being, snow starts melting as the day proceeds and in that condition, snow becomes scarily slippery. Hence we had to avoid this by crossing Sar Pass at the earliest.  

A panorama of sunset at Nagaru camp

The start of the Sar Pass trek. 4am!

 Thankfully the weather was pleasant and the sky was clear. By the time we reached a mid point, the dawn was breaking and I could see the mountain peaks, which rose above the clouds, glitter in the Sun's golden glory. A magnificent view! Soon enough, the actual snow trek began. We had two sherpas and a localite- Khem Thakur to help us. Sherapas used to dig their feet in the snow and make a step-like way for us. We had to step exactly in their step. The problem was their feet were just too small for most of us and we could barely fill our toes in their entire footsteps. Still it was manageable.

Peaks being kissed by the first of the sun rays

Sherpa is busy texting his girlfriend at 5am!

As I was busy taking pictures, I would almost always fall

behind and sometimes my fellow batchmates used to

 look no larger than tiny specs

A snowscape

Crossing of Sar Pass

'Sar' from Sar Pass actually means a lake. We did see a few frozen lakes like the one in the above panorama

Everybody was carrying walking sticks for additional support. Being left-handed, I was holding my stick towards the valley side and my body was inclined towards it rather than being against it. While the Sherpas asked me to hold the stick in my right hand, I didn't really have any problem holding it left-handed. Quite a few members slipped towards valley, but they used to slide a few feet and then stop. Then the Sherpas used to skate towards them and bring them along. Just at the end of the Sar Pass, right before biskeri top, there is a steep climb. A few members had difficulty in climbing this.  

Snow forms a beautiful photography subject. An abstract snowscape

Mist and summits

Crossing of Sar Pass; towards Biskeri top

Another snowscape

The last, steep climb before Biskeri top

Yet another one

Khem Thakur

 Once on top, the descend began. The terrain was so steep that one has no option but to slide down for 2-3 kms! Yes its a one big long slide on snow with your bag. Don't forget to unfast the waist and chest belt of your bag. 

Me with Meenakshi Di

And then zooom! I enjoyed the slide a lot. As I was wearing rain pants which offered very little friction as opposed to the jeans which most people were wearing, I slided at breathtaking speed. I had the option of slowing down by thursting my feet in snow but I didn't. Before I knew, it was over as I reached gentler slope. I got up quickly as to avoid being collided by the next person down the slide. I didn't feel like removing my camera. I missed quite a few good shots. Though I enjoyed it, sliding was actually quite dangerous. A lot of snow had melted in previous days and many rocks were being exposed. A few batchmates banged against the rocks. With so little precaution, I though it was downright stupid of YHAI to ask people to slide in such conditions. It is just a matter of time before some incident happens. And it did, the very next day, as I later came to know. A bit on that later. My rain pants had gotten torn and my clothes got wet. Once the sliding was over, we reached lunchpoint. Maggi prices, which increased by 5/- at every camp, reached a whooping 45/- at this point. Of course people didn't complain. 

While going to Biskeri

Englacial drainage

A stream crossing; on the way to Bhandak Thatch 

Bhandak Thatch: 'mini Switzerland'

The Biskeri camp was again at a very good location. But it was nothing as compared to Bhandak thatch camp. It is called 'mini Switzerland'! And aptly so. Its beauty is breathtaking. Unfortunately we didn't get clear blue sky but even in the overcast conditions, I could create some interesting images. All throughout the trek, I was regularly having a drink prepared by Meenakshi. It had nothing but pepper, ginger, salt and sugat, but it tasted wonderful. It kept my throat and stomach all okay.

A 360* panorama of Camp site, Bhandak Thatch

Camp site, Bhandak Thatch

Attempt at night photography, Bhandak Tatch. The illuminated tent belonged to the cook

Another one

A small waterfall on the way to Barsheni

The following day, we descended to a village called Barsheni from where you get a bus to kasol. YHAI pays for the bus as long as you give them printed tickets. On the way we had to walk through a dusty site where a dam is being constructed. The sudden urban construction noise after days of recluse was a little unnerving to me. But that is how things go.

We got down at Manikaran which is 5km before kasol (from Bersheni) and a long bath in one of the hot water springs found over there. There is a maginficient Gurudwara over there and having a good hot lunch at the lunger is heavenly! Later we were invited by Meenakshi to her house at Kasol. She made some good black tea.

At Kasol, we booked tickets for our return bus to New Delhi from Bhuntar. At Bhuntar, we met Aniket from SP_22. He had suffered from a shoulder dislocation during the snow slide. His batch was very unlucky it seems. They got rains at all wrong moments and got snow fall during actual crossing of Sar Pass. They had to hold their tent from flying off during a midnight storm at Nagaru. Aniket was hit the most. He wasn't given any instructions whatsoever by the sherpas before sliding. He slided with his bag's chest belt, waist belt on and his stick dangling over his shoulders (Khem Thankur hadn't let us slide along with the stick- he was being careful and there I had thought he might be intersted in reselling the sticks to the upcoming batches! I felt very guilty for thinking so). Worst was what happened later. YHAI were totally clueless as to what to do with him. The camp leader offered to apply relisprey on a shoulder dislocation! It was here that all the loop holes were exposed. YHAI asked him to climb down – they said no doctor will climb up. Aniket had to climb down in pain till the lunch point and a little after that. There, two guides from Nepal came who carried him by turns. They reached the base camp at 2am!! His elder brother Aniruddh was with him all through. People were demanding exhorbitant money for their help. All except Khem Thakur who was one person who actually helped them. He refused 500/- which Aniruddh had offered to him (and which is equivalent of a portar's gain for carrying two person's luggage for a day), saying he helped them out of humanity. From the Base camp, Aniket was taken to Kullu- the closest place with a hospital. What was evident was that YHAI were totally unequipped and unprepared for something like this! This is unacceptable! I know for sure that two ladies had died during this trek a couple of years ago. YHAI should obviously have more medical help for their toughest trek, especially when all they ask is their stupid medical form. Just keeping medical supplies is not enough, they should have a medical personnal with every batch. It is essential. Even if the person charges say 2000/- per day, it comes down to additional 220/- for the 50 participents. Thus, YHAI should charge that much more to the participants- I am sure everybody will be willing to give more for the additional safety.

While I tried to be as dedicated to landscapes as possible, couldn't resist this one!

The bus journey from Bhuntar was going all okay before we hit a traffic jam, which was stalled for 4km! Our bus was late by 7 hours! We had to catch Jhelum and so we got down at Karnal as per the bus driver's advice. From there we realized that there is no train for Delhi for next several hours. So we decided to go to New Delhi and catch Goa Express instead. The bus we boarded was actually only till Panipat – the conducter cheated us by calling aloud “Delhi Delhi” to attract us. Ironically, the bus broke down at Gharaunda and didn't reach even Panipat! So from Gharaunda we had to board another bus to Panipat. From there we got a bus to ISBT. From there, we boarded one to Nizamuddin (as Goa Express leaves from there and not New Delhi). All the while, we were carring our full luggage! At NZM, after we went through the chaotic process of getting a general unreserved ticket, we went to platform number 7 only to see Goa Express arriving at that very moment! Even if we had been just 1 minute late, we would have had hard time getting seats in the general, unreserved compartment. The chaos that preveiled at the compartment is simply too painful to describe as I will have to relive it to write about it! To cut a long story short, a lady was not getting seat and she claimed that it was a ladies compartment. People ignored her. About half a minute before the train deparature time, she came back with a policeman with rifle and he forcefully made all of us board down. And that very moment, the train began to leave. We made desparate reach for the nearest sleeper class compartment. There we had to pay penalty of 440/- each for entering into sleeper class on a general ticket. Thankfully, it enabled us to be in the comparment. There I found Vinay, another Puneite. He had missed his flight and was in a similar situation like us. We sat on the berth number 57. Bless that soul, he didn't turn up the entire time. However, soon too many people realized this and within no time, 5 people were on the berth. Again I don't want to get into the details. Just imagine the worst you can. Finally it was such a relief to be in Pune. Indeed, whoever said that travelling in India is not for the fainthearted is true. I am saying this as an Indian, who had no language issue with the localites. Imagine if I were a western tourist! Oh God, its uncredible!

My string of bad luck continued in Pune as well. It took me 3 days to process all of my photos in Linux. I dual boot with Linux and Windows. I had kept the photos folder open in Windows and then hibernated it. Then I edited my photos in Linux. The moment I opened Windows again, to my horror, all my photos were gone!!!!! I restarted the computer both in Linux as well as Windows, even tried recovering files with Recuva. All photos gone forever!!! I later realized that Windows must have gotten confused as it had a different memory of the folder than its updated state. Whatever! I cried after a long long time that day. Reliving the argument with the base camp leader over the extra weight due to the bulk of the photography gear, those dilemmas whether to setup tripod or not in the middle of the trek when I was down with fever on the way to Grahan, all those careful compositions for my vertoramas and panoramas, that joy seeing the perfect clear blue sky during Sar Pass. I had created a backup in an external harddisk. However, the files in that were not opening. It was much later that I realized that only about 20% of the files had gotten corrupt on this external HDD. Rest RAW files were intact, to my great relief. Of course, I had to reprocess all the images again, but still, 80% of my images were saved and that is all that matters.

I consider my self a lucky person. So much so that if a plane is to crash and only one person can survive, I can atleast consider for a moment that it could be me! Now, how does one feel when suddenly luck becomes a mixed bag?

I don't know whether to curse God for deleting my images or to thank him for saving the rest. Whether to blame him for the insane travel or to thank him for the perfect wheather and health during the trek. Whether to blame him for making us miss our train or for giving us the sense to be at the berth number 57. Whether to blame him for Aniket's plight or to thank him for seeing us safely through!

I don't know.