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Start with Why.

It’s a brilliant book by Simon Sinek. But it’s not easy to find Why behind everything that we do in life.

I came to Bangalore in 2012. The weather of Bangalore is a pride for every Bangalorian. Hence catching early morning sleep was the best thing to do to make optimum use of what the city had to offer.

Back in 2013, a friend asked me to start running. Those days I used to wake up by 9 am. Exercise didn’t exist in my dictionary back then.

“Why should I run?” I told my friend when he suggested that I start running.

“You will experience Runner’s High.” He replied.

I started with 100 metres and gradually moved to 400 metres, 1 KM and 2 KM. It took me almost 6 months to run 2 KM without huffing and puffing. But there was no sign of Runners High.

“Hey, where is that Runner’s High? It has been 6 months and still I didn’t get it.” I asked my friend.

He suggested that I run for a bit longer.

All this didn’t make any sense to me. But I had started to enjoy running a bit more. I complained less and made peace with whatever I learnt on the way.

It has been 10 years since I started running. This beautiful sport has given me things which I had never imagined in my wildest dreams.

From a complete non-runner to completing 50 KM Ultra Marathon;
Being someone who didn’t have any interest in reading to writing a book on Running;
Coming from a non-english medium education to writing a 312 page book in English;
And the biggest transformation from being an introvert to meeting new people every week and writing about their lives.

It has been a wonderful journey so far. Every week when I meet new people, I witness a completely new world and a whole new perspective to lead life.

Many times we may not be clear why we should do something.
We may have no clue what the future beholds for us.
We may not know when we will achieve success.

You may not have all the answers to your questions.
During such times, have patience, don’t give up and keep moving.

Leaving you with a quote from Legendary Entrepreneur Steve Jobs.

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something—your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”

Climate Change is the biggest challenge of our times. It’s a global problem that requires action at all levels.

However without transforming individuals, it will be hard to mitigate the problem of this magnitude.

I believe if individuals are empowered, any problem can be addressed.

But without action, hope and belief don’t bring change.

With this thought, a handful of volunteers in my village in Odisha started a plantation drive back in June 2016. We didn’t have any funds to start with. We didn’t know where to begin. We didn’t even know the benefit of what we were about to do.

We identified a vacant government land on the outskirts of our village. We spent the next several weeks cleaning up the place and digging holes for the plantation. We went to a nearby government nursery and brought 500 saplings.

Just before the monsoon, the plantation was done. More than 50 volunteers participated in this activity.

Next year in 2017, we planted 500 trees at another vacant land. With regular care and supervision, the two mini forests came alive and became major attractions. Young people from nearby villages came there to take selfies and record videos.

We continued the plantation work in the years that followed. We still didn’t realize the impact that we were creating until 2022.

On 5th June 2022, Government of Odisha felicitated our Team with “Friend of Environment” award at a decorated event organized at Bhubaneswar.

When we look back on our journey of the last 7 years, it was full of uncertainties and challenges. We witnessed Super Cyclone Phani that impacted 80% of the plantation in May 2019. In Aug 2019, we lost one of the oldest members and biggest strength of our Team in an unfortunate road accident. Onset of COVID19 derailed our plans.

However, every time something didn’t go as per plan, someone from the team stood up and steadied the ship. Every time we faced challenges, we believed in team work and were prepared to put in the desired effort to make things happen.

Final thoughts:
– Real change requires consistent effort.
– Action is more powerful than thoughts and ideas.
– Motivation is overrated. So, get ready to go through the grind and make things happen.
– Think Global, Act Local. That’s a powerful way to address Climate Change.

The whole world may think what a 58-year-old can possibly do.

Someone getting ready to join senior citizen club prepares mentally to make frequent visits to hospital. As the retirement age approaches, expense towards medical bills heads north. Career comes to an end after decades of service leaving a void which many find hard to accept.

A few brave souls in their late fifties will even think of testing their mettle and create a whole new future for themselves.

This is a story about the passion, determination and consistency of a 58-year-old gentleman named Harinath Sastry.

For someone running his very first 10 KM run at the tender age of 54 may seem like a very late start.

Many don’t even dare to run in their entire life with the thinking that running may spoil their knees as they grow older.

Despite a late start, nothing seems to meddle with his mettle. Can you even think of a 57-year-old doing 99 half marathons (HMs) and one full marathon (FM) on 100 consecutive days?

He was ranked 34 among more than 14,000 runners in the 2021 edition of HDOR (Hundred Days of Running) event. In his age category (55-59 year), he secured 4th rank with astounding distance of 2,267 KM. He did 173 HMs in the year 2021 alone.

There is no better example than Rahul Dravid, best known as The Wall of Indian Cricket who epitomised the word consistency. Hari has followed a similar path and allowed his passion to find the way forward during times of uncertainty.

During 100 days of running in 2021, his work took him to 4 different places. But that didn’t deter his spirit as he ran 5 HMs in Goa, 2 HMs in Tumkur, 2 HMs in Mercara and 3 HMs in Bagalkot.

He has 104 HMs in 2020 and 66 HMs in 2022 to his credit taking his total tally of HMs to 264 (till 26th Oct 2022). Till date he has completed more than 10 FMs. Age is just a number. Isn’t it?

The age at which most people think of retiring from active work life and leading a quiet life, Hari seems to have just got started.

In the last two years he has progressed to become an Ultra Marathoner. He has run 60 KM at Vagamon Ultra, 50 KM at Malnad Ultra and 50 KM at BISON Ultra events.

Despite such incredible feats, Hari comes across as a humble human being. He credits his astounding success to the support received from Mohan Devegowda, Team RunAddicts, Narayana Swamy, Pradeep Senapati, Team Run2Rejuvenate, Rajesh Jana, Sambit Routray, Dr. Girish, Dr. Anu, Dr. Manjunath, Shankar Biswas, Preyasee, Sriniwas, Manoj Bhat and many other runners who have contributed to his running journey.

Till date he has covered more than 15,000 KM. Last year alone he clocked more than 5,000 KM by running and walking.

What’s the secret behind his incredible running expedition without even a single injury over these 4 years?

“8 hours of sleep every single day”, he says happily.

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It was 9:00 pm and I suddenly felt an urge to order food from my favourite restaurant. I opened a food delivery app and browsed the menu to select the desired food. I selected a few items and made the payment. The app showed that food would be delivered in 45 minutes.

I wanted to wait patiently, but kept looking at the app from time to time as my hunger was steadily increasing. Those 45 minutes seemed like ages.

The food got picked by a delivery partner after 30 minutes. I kept checking his movement through the app.

For a few minutes it seemed he wasn’t moving at all. Did he stop on the way to deliver food to any other customer? Did his bike break down on the way? All sorts of questions were popping up in my mind and trying to make me frustrated.

After a few minutes, he started moving. He arrived at my apartment within the stipulated time. As soon as I approved the notification on an app to approve his entry within the apartment, he arrived at my doorstep quickly. .

He might have manoeuvred treacherous traffic, braved broken roads and potholes, navigated through dust and constantly thought about delivering food on time. All this for earning an honest living in an expensive city like Bangalore.

I thought of giving something to him. As soon as he handed over the food packets, I gave him two KitKats.

His face lit up with a beaming smile. He tried to thank me for this act, but I was thankful to him for ensuring timely food delivery in spite of whatever he might have encountered on the way.

In today’s fast paced world where most of the things are now available online, human interaction is steadily on the decline.

I remember a time back in 2003-04 when we had BSNL landline at home. I used to go once a month to the BSNL office and spend 2-3 hours in the queue just to pay the bill. As there were no mobiles back then, people had time to speak to complete strangers for hours. That was lots of fun.

Things are turning out to be more transactional these days. We are reducing opportunities for expressing human emotions. Be it ordering food, grocery, medicine or paying bills for utility services, everything gets done instantly without any human interaction.

These days I keep some chocolates inside a blue box which I call the Happiness Box. Whenever a delivery boy comes to my home to deliver some item, I handover a chocolate. I can’t change a whole lot of things in their lives, but a small token of appreciation for their effort goes a long way to build that human connection.

Happiness in our lives compounds when we share it with others. It’s the way to build our own happiness.

This World Kindness Day, let’s make a better and kinder world.

Next time a delivery partner comes to your doorstep, unbox happiness. Share a chocolate.

In spite of all the negativity that has of late engulfed the beautiful city Bangalore, there is one thing that even entire Europe would envy. It’s the weather. Most Bangalorians consider it a matter of great pride. Except for a few weeks in summer, the weather remains extremely pleasant throughout the year.

If you are a runner, you would enjoy such beautiful weather during morning runs. And if one has absolutely no inclination towards running or any kind of physical activity, it’s a pure bliss to catch up on more sleep during the morning. The city has something to offer to everyone.

If you are a non-runner and you have a change of heart, the greatest challenge that awaits you is getting into some kind of routine. Comfort of a warm bed is so tempting that waking up itself may seem like the most difficult task. Running may seem like a distant dream which is beyond your reach.

Puneet Kaur hails from Punjab and currently lives with her husband Amandeep Singh in Bangalore. Aman is a gym buff and loves workout sessions. For many years, he tried to encourage Puneet to start some kind of exercise, but all his words fell on deaf ears. As Aman persisted, she tried running a few times, but she could barely continue it for a couple of weeks. She was happy to keep herself busy in the household chores and exercise regimen could never make any place in her daily ritual.

They moved to a new apartment in Whitefield earlier this year. She came across a few runners in her apartment and made a fresh beginning in early 2022.

It took her absolutely no time to fall in love with running. Within a few months she became an obedient disciple of the sport. She was keen to learn each day and test her own limits.

Few months back she registered for an event called “Hundred Days of Running” also known as HDOR. This is an event where you are supposed to run for 100 consecutive days. Although she was a newbie in the world of running, she was excited about the challenge. She was driven by a deep desire to put her best effort each day until the event was over.

When you dig deeper within yourself, more likely you will find hidden treasures that are lying undiscovered. Such a voyage is not easy. To say that it’s difficult may also be an understatement. But if you hold your patience and are willing to put yourself under the grind, you will discover goldmine. And Puneet was just about to stumble upon such a momentous occasion in life.

Even after 79 days of continuous running, she showcased outstanding passion and supreme commitment for the remaining three weeks of the HDOR challenge. For the next 21 days, she did something which is simply unthinkable.

Day 80 – 21 K

Day 81 – 35 K

Day 82 – 32 K

Day 83 – 12 K

Day 84 – 27 K

Day 85 – 50 K

Day 86 – 21 K

Day 87 – 21 K

Day 88 – 33 K

Day 89 – 30 K

Day 90 – 28 K

Day 91 – 26 K

Day 92 – 42 K

Day 93 – 35 K

Day 94 – 28 K

Day 95 – 39 K

Day 96 – 32 K

Day 97 – 42 K

Day 98 – 34 K

Day 99 – 42 K

Day 100 – 76 K

Can you believe that she finally completed her 100 days expedition with a 76 K run?

For someone who didn’t even do a 5 K run until 2021, it sounds beyond belief that she ended up being the best runner in her age group (40-44 years) and overall 6th top women finisher in the event.

A couple of weeks later, she showed up for a daunting race at Nandi Hills on the outskirts of Bangalore. She shined as the third best women runner in this event called “The Bull Run”.

It’s my privilege to witness and write about a champion in action.

If you are wondering how she managed to run so much without getting injured, I would soon publish another story that would contain everything she does to remain injury free. From diet and strength training to practicing gratitude everyday make her what she is today. And she finds her husband’s unflinching support as the most important factor that shaped her transformation.

If you are someone who is still finding it hard to find inspiration, I hope this remarkable story of a humble human being would help.

Are you ready to start running?