Monday, July 20, 2015

Why Do I Run?

“Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up, it knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn't matter whether you're the lion or a gazelle-when the sun comes up, you'd better be running.” 


Now that I have been running for exactly a year, I think it's a good time to try justify a few questions which has always clouded my mind. - Why do I run? Why do I have to put myself through a 3-4 hour long suffering? What do I get out of it?

I don't have direct answers to any of these questions. Truth is a I enjoy having pizzas and beer with friends much more than I enjoy running. I always loved sports growing up but hated running. Running without a purpose disgusted me, and it was just something that had to be got over with everyday, so that I could start playing as soon as possible. Nevertheless, having run 1523 Kilometers for the past year, I think I have had plenty of time to ponder over these questions.



Why do I run?

We as human beings always look for ways to validate ourselves in this world. Even if my life is going absolutely nowhere, after a three hour run, I tell myself, I am in control of this, so maybe I can control other things in life too. Believe it or not, we are all control freaks, to varying degrees. Does that help in life? Mostly no, you can only control so much in life. But for those fifteen minutes when your are warming down, dripping with sweat,you feel you have it in you to make it through. A decent food habit and fitness are bonus cards which come with it. It's a fair trade off.

What when we figure things out in life? I don't think people ever reach a stage where they figure things out totally, unless of course you are a Gautam Buddha. It's a fact of life you have to become friends with. Running gives me strength. Not strength to my calves or quadriceps, but to my soul.

Why the suffering?

We get our answers through suffering. I don't introspect when I am happy. The last five miles in a three hour long run, when your lungs scream for air, joints are creaky, that is when you start getting different perspectives. At that point, you can almost think of anything else than the voice inside you that urges you to quit. Sometimes, we don't want to accept truths in life and we look for all biased reasons to prove ourselves correct. Suffering cuts straight through that.

What do I get out of it?

Nothing. And that is the whole point. Life is not profit and loss statement. You have to do something which gives you nothing in return. No long distance runner runs to stay fit. You could do much less and live out your life healthily. You put on your running shoes, watch the overcast sky, impeding rain, and you know its going to be a thankless suffering for the next two hours. Without caring about anything, you set off. There is strange sense of freedom in that.


“There's something so universal about that sensation, the way running unites our two most primal impulses: fear and pleasure. We run when we're scared, we run when we're ecstatic, we run away from our problems and run around for a good time.” 

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Sound of Mountains



"I am going to write about this.", I told myself countless times.Staring at the outer Himalayan Range while moving along on another snow clad peak on a surreal day with brilliant blue sky, I was simply mesmerized. Mostly moments pass us by,but there are some,where you stop thinking about any particular thing and reach an absolute void.All of a sudden you get the perspectives,you realize your purpose,you are thankful for the love you get and so on.Then the moment disappears and you're right back into the rat race that life is. Standing atop the peak,looking at an incredible view, it seemed the fleeting moment would go on forever.It was partly funny too. On most other days of the year I would be staring at a wallpaper imagining myself in places, only for someone to break my reverie. The world is not a wish granting factory. Well, not always. 

It was sub zero temperatures outside. We were tired bodies sitting on planks in a small abandoned hut some on top of a peak discussing life mostly while gulping down Old Monk. Most of them were strangers to me until earlier that morning,yet here we were discussing our lives, weaknesses, fears. We discussed about how mountains teach you humility.The vastness captures you. In the end love is all that there is, love for your family, for yourself, for nature, for everything. Everyone discussed about things or people they cared about.We came outside, and it seemed I could almost touch the stars. My mouth fell open. It was the purest moment in my mind where I simply could not have anything but positive thoughts. Almost everything seemed fair. I realized how lucky I have been to have the people I have had. Family, my closest friends. It wasn't a full moon  but I looked around and I imagined myself standing in a mountain of silver, or was I? "I am going to write about this" , I thought to myself.

Aritra Majumder and Shisagnee Banerjee, thank you for being such a constant rock in my life. I have never done this much, but in those moments where the only thing interrupting my thoughts was the sound of mountains,I made up my mind to let you two know how thankful I am to have you in my life. One requires constancy in life, and I would not be the person I am without family and you people behind me. Thank you for everything.I hope I don't fail you, ever.      

I have never had the opportunity to travel much. Yet the graph has seen a somewhat rise in the past couple of years.I have read travelling gives you perspective.Indeed it does.This blog serves as the pensive of my own thoughts.I can only hope I turn out to be a better person than yesterday.  
        
This is not a travel blog, yet, for information's sake we had gone for a snow trek at Parashar Lake. It is on top of a peak some 50 kms from Mandi from where the famous Dhauladhar Outer Himalayan Range starts.