To go or not to go

Finally did it. Told the boys (United Cricket Club team mates) about my leaving for India next month. They were shocked and tried to convince me into changing my plans. Sadly I too want to stay for the entire season and I thought I was going to stay for the entire season. But then I assumed the season would be over for us by mid-August.

But now that we've started doing well and are into the next round ... they obviously want me to continue so that we can do well as a team this season and end up among the top teams in the league. Anyway let me try to do my bit before I leave!!!

Cricket was always a passion ... but now I know that playing Leather ball cricket gives the word passion a whole new meaning!!! If I ever come back to the US, this would be reason number one. Coming into the Midwest region would be my preference for this one reason too since this is turning out to be a FUN team to play with.

Tips to losing weight

Am I the right person to provide tips on losing weight? You bet. I can lose weight as easily as I can gain it. This time decided to lose some flab before heading homewards. Joined Lifetime Fitness by paying a whopping 150 bucks since my current gym was relatively further away from home than LFF.

Started controlling my diet - went off burgers and Pizza for a few days. There was obviously the occassional day at lunch when I got tired of eating a Veggie Sub everyday and had to go for variety. But mostly went off Pizza n Burgers n MacD's. Totally off Soda - I hate it anyway - so this one wasn't tough.

Coming to the main topic - had a few sessions with a personal trainer - a 50$ value ;) according to the Sales Guy @ LFF. Since I had 3 sessions that I could take, I was supposed to get my money's worth in those 3 sessions anyway. :)

Here are a few tips that he gave - most of these I'd read online just the day before I went there. So it was a kind of deja'vu feeling I felt when he said what he said.

*** Don't lose weight too fast. You gain it back sooner than you lost it ... :o
*** Approx weight loss should be around 1-2 lbs per week
*** To lose 1lb, you need to burn 3500 more calories than you consume.
*** To do this, reduce daily intake by 500 cals and burn 500cals more.
*** How to reduce 500 cals? In US, this is easy. Almost every canned item - be it milk/cereal/canned soup/etc has calorific value mentioned on it. So just have to jot down how much you consume in a normal day and reduce it by making small sacrifices like 1 less cookie and smaller portions of dinner.
*** How to burn more cals? Just put on your running shoes and RUN like HELL!!! Nothing like running on the road. This really made him sound like an ANTI-GYM person. Why would he say that?
*** Do weight training before CARDIO to get the full benefit of the cardio. Doing cardio in the morning on an empty stomach helps burn fat. Evening work outs take energy out of food in body.
*** Free weights > Machines

... and many more to come!!!

Coming up ... Tips to gain weight!!! which I'm surely going to once this cycle of weight loss is over. :)

Losing friends!!!

Another one bites the dust. Another friend finds his soulmate. Is that a bad thing? Why am I sad? Shouldn't I be happy for my friends? Of course we are still going to be friends and hopefully nothing much will change. But when I suddenly out of the blue need someone to call and talk to, can I be sure I can call my friend without worrying if I'm being a "Pain in the b%##". Maybe that's why we all need a soul mate.

Just like on leaving school, we used to think "Why do we have to grow up? Why do we have to leave school?". Now I feel, why should people get engaged / married? Why can't we all stay single, hang out together have fun like we always used to.

But just like I grew out of or reasoned with the previous question, I know I will grow out or answer this question on my own soon. Or maybe just maybe, I'll find my soulmate soon too!!! and then there will be some other single friend of mine who'll get these stupid thoughts.

India's (dis)appearance at the world cup

India did make it to the world cup, once. Kind of. Well, not really:

No, don’t rub your eyes in disbelief. India did make it to the 1950 World Cup finals. Well sort of. Four countries from Asia were invited to participate in the qualifiers. Burma, Philippines and Indonesia all withdrew, so India qualified automatically.

India was placed in Group 3 with Sweden, Italy, and Paraguay. But their request to play barefoot was turned down by FIFA and they withdrew!

Sadly, this was back in the hey days of Indian Soccer. Until India makes it to the world cup again, we’ve always got Vikas Dhorasoo and his action figures.

The Zahir - A novel of Obsession

This is a book by Paulo Coelho about love, marriage, life, sex; how the protagonist's (supposedly Paulo Coelho himself) love was possessive and obsessive; how he was able to learn from his wife's lover to change his love to be self-less. And his journey of re-discovering true love and re-uniting with his true love.

I recommend this book, to people who would like to know how the journey of love should be - to re-discover your love. Too much of love, a?

I know in the real world, I'm not the person to be lecturing about love. But in my world, I am. And this is my world. :p

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Here's a short discussion of the protagonist with Marie (his new companion after his true love deserts him):

P: Marie, Let's suppose that two firemen go into a forest to put out a small fire. Afterward, they go over to a small stream. The face of one is smeared with black, while the other man's face is clean. Who do you think will wash his face?

M: The one with the dirty face of course.

P: No, since the man with the clean face sees a reflection of himself in his partner, he washes his face. While the man with the dirty face (mind ???) sees his partner and thinks everything is fine.

This made me think, if I'm feeling low today - it probably is because of my surroundings and the people around me. So what's the solution, go hang out with a different set of ppl. That's the cowardly soln. ain't it?

One should look at the effect we have on others to see our true selves. Make your partner/friend feel better than he/she was before they come in contact with you. That shows the true person that you are. What you feel about yourself or how others feel about you is not as defining as how others feel about themselves after they come in contact with you.