How constraints are good for you

On Sunday met up with Rekhi's in Freedom Park, a beautiful newly constructed garden out of the the old Bangalore Jail . To just show him the way back home, I escorted him part of the way to Cubbon Park. On the way back, we crossed Vidhana Soudha and took a U turn for going to Cubbon Park. Turns out that U turn was prohibited at that spot.

Well it was a Sunday evening light traffic and no harm done to any body , I took the forbidden U turn. Now Rekhi is a very rule bound person and would not violate any law, however probably he has decided to relax a little and followed me and took the U.  As luck would have it, there was a police constable who flagged both our vehichles down.

He asked us for our D/L and saw that my D/L was prepared in Chennai, Rekhi's was probably made in  Delhi and the constable asked if we were out of station and I said I was from Delhi and so was Rekhi.

I was prepared to pay a fine of Rs. 100/- or so but the constable started talking about a Rs. 500/- buck fine. If I had been on my own, it wouldn't have mattered, but getting a friend to waste money on a traffic fine because of my fault was very embarrassing. Left to myself, I would have bribed the guy 100 or 200 Rs. and gone my way but with Rekhi there, bribing was just out of the question . So both of us would pay the fine, whatever the amount.

So any way I got talking to him and said I was a consultant to the State Government and this sign prohibiting no-entry was not there earlier. Also I just casually mentioned names of a few Senior police officers who I knew, merely with the intention of paying a reasonable fine Rs. 100/-, 200/- or so and not Rs. 500/-. Obviously asking a senior police official to intervene to avoid even a cumulative Rs. 1000/- fine was also out of the question.

Well at some point of my talking , the constable said OK, don't bother, don't do it the next time and he sent us on our way without any fine. I  was so relieved; No more violating any traffic rules , ( except for parking under no parking signs, we will take some chances ) though the city gives you many opportunities for the same.

A picture of the beautiful freedom park 

Some bloggers who have done a good job of describing freedom park
http://www.bangalorebeats.com/bangaloreblog/index.php/freedom-park-bangalore/

http://www.mybangalore.com/article/freedom-park-in-bangalore.html

Freedom park is designed by a young Architect couple, Mathew and Ghosh, who were selected through a competition.

Done That

Well, for the first time in my life I jogged for about 6.4 Kms ( atleast guessing) 4 rounds of Sankey Tank . Distance covered in 55 minutes. I have never been physically fit much and previous to this in 2007 I joined a Gym for 4 months which I did pretty regularly  and then it dropped of. In December I and my wife joined an Aerobics class for a month and ofcourse enjoyed it. The issue with me has been that while I enjoy physical fitness I could never get the time for it ( I know what you readers are saying) and stuff like walking or climbing stairs in our apartment is not fun.   The problem is that most Indian offices work late and by the time work gets over its 7.30 - 8.00 there is no place to jog at 8.00 PM.  I can wake up early but I feel morning times are best for intellectual exercise and not physical one. However thanks to wifey for the past 2-3 weeks got into the habit of going to Sankey Tank, though not very regularly. Started gradually 1 round about 12 mts , then increased it to two at 26 minutes . Yesterday I jogged for 30 minutes and today I set a target for 35 minutes. So I jogged for 35 minutes at a slow regular pace, and found I could go some more. Then I completed the IIIrd round probably in 40 minutes and I said a little bit more. Then I did 1/2 of the remaining round but felt that completing 3 1/2 rounds doesn't give anyone bragging rights which 4 rounds does so I pushed myself for the 4th round. It was Ok, light pace, I think I could have run another 10 minutes.  So all those couch potatoes, get off your A@@ and run, If I can do it so can you. All cheers to Wifey who pushed me to go to Sankey tank.

For those curious about the location of Sankey Tank, this Wikimapia Sankey Tank link will give you some idea, though the Satellite photo looks dated.  A picture is enclosed herewith ( as they say in Government letters)

Update : I always wanted my Brother to run, when he was staying in Oakland, he had a wonderful park surrounding a lake of 5 Km but he would never run. So I thought why not run 5 Km and show him that it is not difficult. So that was the motivation for running 6.4 Km

Joke

A wise person said that a person marries due to lack of judgment, divorces due to lack of patience and remarries due to lack of memory

ishqiya - Amazing Songs

Ibn-e-batuta and Dil to bacha hai, both a little different but amazing

Facebook vs. Email

I think, facebook is some kind of club where you meet every one. While on email or phone, the communication is one to one. On facebook, you just throw the idea, conversation out in the open, hoping somebody may catch it.