Its not over, Until I Win

I am a fan of Less Brown.

He has had humble beginnings but with help of his mentor and his own self, will and handwork, he has achieved what he dreamt of!
And I love these lines which he says:

If you want a thing bad enough to go out and fight for it,
to work day and night for it, to give up your time, your peace
and sleep for it… if all that you dream and scheme is about it,
…and life seems useless and worthless without it… if you gladly
sweat for it and fret for it and plan for it and lose all your terrror
of the opposition for it…
if you simply go after that thing
that you want with all your capacity,
strength and sagacity,
faith hope and confidence
and stern pertinacity…
if neither cold, poverty,
famine, nor gout,
sickness nor pain, of body and brain,
can keep you away from the thing that you want…
if dogged and grim you beseech and beset it,
with the help of God,

YOU WILL GET IT! – Les Brown

Today is Less Brown's birthday,. so a happy birthday to you Less!
And thanks for playing your part in the universe and making life of many of the people easy.

Its all about Conquering our mind Barriers!

Friends,

This post is about a worthy moment of my life, the day I cycled to Kabirvad and back (almost!), travelling around 160+ Km on the road and that too on a Fixie (Non-Geared) Cycle.

Dec 22nd 2013: The day it began!
A few members of BCC (Baroda Cyclist Club), decide to go Kabirvad, over the next weekend. Luckily, I get to know about it. There are two car racks available, so in total, there is a capacity of 5 people to come by car. I start pondering can I do it? Can I go? Because, I have been out from majority of BCC rides since August (The Timbi lake ride). So first, I need to get prepared for it.

Dec 24th 2013: Confirming the Participation for the Kabirvad Ride!
There were 4 (Aakash Gupta, Manish Lakhani, Tripti Kathuria & Dr. Kinnari Patel) who had confirmed the participation for full ride, which they said was around 165+ Km. Two others (Milin Desai and Chandrakant Golani) had decided to come by car till Hotel Nyay Mandir and then ride till Kabirvad, which would be approximately 18-20 Km, one side. So there were 3 vacant places in the car rack. But, I had decided I am gonna do it -- Full 165 Km. Aakash said it would be difficult to do it on a Fixie (Non-geared) Bike -- as the avg speed needs to be around 22-25 km/h. (Poore week bed pe rahega!) A couple of well wishers said it will be impossible for me to do so. (Thanks, that was a challenge that motivated me!)

Dec 25th 2013: Merry Christmas.. The preparation Starts!
 Correct me if I am wrong, but we can't just dream and sit back silently and watch our dreams come true. There has to be a plan and then an action.
And as Bo Bennett has rightly said: "A Dream becomes a Goal, when Action is taken towards its achievement."
In that week, I tried doing 2 city circuits, (17 Km each) in as much less time as possible. And once, did around 45 Km at the avg. speed of 22 km/h.

Dec 28th 2013: The rest day!
A well wisher said, don't ride the previous day if you are planning a full ride till Kabirwad. So didn't ride that day. I was pretty sure I could do the full ride. As such, I had no other option because the 3 vacant positions in the car rack were full. So if I wanted to go, I had to ride. I serviced my bicycle at home and got a new gel seat cover to improve the cusion.
Sad news! Manish Lakhani is not accompanying, as he has something urgent on 29th Dec. Damn!
Aakash told me and Tripti "Make sure you arrange for lights tomorrow, to be safe on road". A dear friend, Milin Desai lended me his light (Oops, I still haven't returned it, Will do it soon Milin.. ;) ) and everything was set.

Dec 29th 2013: The day of the Adventurous Ride!
We were to meet from McDonald's OP Road at 4:45 AM. We all got up at around 3-3:30 AM and did some warm-up exercises. We had enough water, Electral sachets, dry fruits, some chocolates, glucose biscuits and 1.5 kg bananas as eatables along with puncture and maintenance kits.
The ride started with the four of us in alphabetical order -- Aakash Gupta,  Dr. Kinnari Patel, Tripti Kathuria and Varun Shringarpure.
The route for the ride is as follows:

Mcd OP Road -> Manjalpur -> Panasonic Makarpura -> Jambua Service Road -> BIT Edu Campus -> Varnama -> Karjan -> Hotel Darshan -> Hotel Nyay Mandir -> Kabirwad -> Hotel Nyay Mandir -> Hotel Sahyog -> BIT Edu Campus -> Makarpura-Jambua Service Road to Vadodara


View Larger Map

After around 32 Km, we took our first break, at Hotel Darshan for 10 mins, to grab a nice hot Tea and a Good Day. It was the onset of morning and a nice Orange sun was seen in the mist above the open fields. (The beauty and ambience can't be explained in words, so to experience it, join us the next time we go!)

Around 55 Km into the ride, Aakash started feeling a little exhausted, as he didn't have anything in the early morning. A strong person by heart, he grabbed a few dry fruits and some water and started riding with all his might. The next we stopped was only at our first destination -- Hotel Nyay Mandir on Bharuch Service road. We reached at an average speed of 22 Km/h and took around 3 hours 30 mins to reach. We got fresh, sprinkling cold water on our face, which felt hot as compared to our hands and faces. After having light breakfast and a couple of cutting chai, we waited for our friends coming by car.
Milin Desai, Chandrakant Golani, Deven Parekh, Mira Vora and Hitesh Divyeshwar reached and unloaded their cycles from the car racks, and we were set to leave for our destination - Kabirvad.

It was a dumpy-bumpy road with more potholes then flatter roads. The best part about travelling through the road were the farms on either side of it. Multi-talented CG started clicking pics with his DSLR wherever he could find a nice scene thorough the fields. We reached the destination, but Milin's cycle had some issue on the way. So he, Aakash and Chandrakant had to go back from midway and come to Kabirvad in Car. The total one side distance we travelled was 87.8 ~ 88 Km. There, we got a bad news that Tripti will not be coming back on cycle. Aakash, too was not in the best of his condition to ride back, so ideally there were just two riders returning back on cycle -- Dr Kinnari Patel and myself.

After a much needed break at Kabirvad (a way to longer one rather!), we started off, in the afternoon to ride back, first the bumpy ride and then the good highway roads. Coming back was difficult, due to the heat of afternoon along with the fatigue of the 88 KM done while going. The result was, we took too many breaks while returning back. Infact, my coming back on cycle was mainly due to Dr. Kinnari, who constantly motivated me on the way -- "Well done Varun, credit goes to you for even thinking of doing it on a fixie; I know you will complete the ride; You have the guts to do it.." We had an ice cream on the way around 75 Km from Vadodara, and a chai at around 30 Km from Vadodara.

At 24 Km from Vadodara, I started feeling pertubed and had to stop. A pain in stomach made me very uneasy. I thought I won't be able to ride anymore and need some vehicle to take me thereon. I requested Dr. Kinnari to continue as she had to attend a function at around 6 and it was already 4:30. 15 mins later, I puked -- I am sure having chai in hot afternoon was a bad decision -- nevermind. After taking electral mixed water and resting for 20 mins on the road, I was sure now to continue my journey on cycle. I was out of water now and had no wish to stop anywhere even for a bottle of water. I started the ride by reciting Bajrangbali's name and regained strength to move on. The sun was setting now, so it was cooler. phew.. Felt good! At Makarpura-Jambua Service road, I took a left to enter Vadodara and felt uneasy in left leg. Yes, it was a cramp. Again, decision of not to get down for a bottle of water had paid off!

It was foolish to travel by cycle now, as I had one fly-over minimum. So finally I decided to give up my ride there. Best option was to take and auto return back and hence exercised it. Though happy to have covered a good amount of distance, I felt bad for two things: Leaving Kinnari ma'am alone on a highway to travel and second unable to complete the ride till home!

Sincere thanks Tripti and Aakash on the way towards Kabirvad you guys were superb inspiration Aakash, it was a priviledge travelling a long distance with a pro-rider like you!
And Kinnari Ma'am thank you so much for being a great motivator throughout the ride coming back -- else I am sure I would have given up at Kabirvad.

Conclusion:  
Two things specifically:

1. I am definitely sure now, that its not about the bike. Yes, I do believe that if I had a geared cycle, then the ride would have been smoother than what it had. Also, I might have completed my ride till home. 
2. Barriers are in our mind, once we conquer them, we can do it. I remember during the Tour-de-Pavagadh ride I was morally down even while going and hence coming back was quite difficult. But for this one, we all had decided we gonna do it, we all had prepared for it, and in fact, we did it!
3. Seeing the spirit with which Kinnari Ma'am was riding and completed the whole ride, I am sure even Age is not the barrier either in doing something, that you wish to do!

Brevet 200, you are on the list to be conquered Next!

Mr Positive Uncle

Dear all,

This article is about my good morning friend, Mr. Positive Uncle.

Give me a chance to introduce you with him.
I call him by that name, because I don't know his name.
He is a little short, medium built person, with age above 60 for sure.
He is a regular walker on my road, and he is very regular at it.
Oh, you have a question, that why do I call him friend? -- Well, I think age is never a barrier to make friends.

One more thing about him my dear friends, (which I feel bad for) he only has a left hand.

Do you want to know what makes this person Mr. Positive?
Its his attitude!
He gives a broad smile and waves to every passer-by  -- walker, jogger, runner, cyclist who are exercising like him, and even school children, who are on cycle or with parents or in auto-rickshaws and vans.

Wow!

Let me narrate a recent incident with him..
I was off all exercising some weeks back. No Cycling, No walking or jogging. I love the rains, and getting drenched, but somehow was getting tired and missed out on most of the action this year. But one day, when I was back on saddle, I met him on the road. I met him. He almost waved as if he had something to talk to me. I stopped and moved near him. He came near to me, put his hand on my shoulder and said: "Son, I saw you after so many days. Were you ill? Otherwise I normally see you daily, Hope you are ok? What made you take such a long break from your workout? Or did you join a Gym or something?"
Honestly speaking, I was taken aback for a moment. He touched my heart by showing the concern towards me. Who in the world other than our Family and Close Friends even have time to look and talk to people so simply and affectionately? Who actually cares? Well, I got an answer that day, there are many who don't but there are many like him who do.
I replied to him honestly: "I think its my laziness that deprived me of either riding a cycle or walking/jogging. No I haven't joined a gym, as I don't like it. But yes, even if I missed it, I will continue cycling, and be as much regular as possible".
He patted me on my back and laughed, take care and don't bunk..

This event increased my respect for him.

A Conversation

Awesome Conversation between God And a Man. Read it and don’t forget to share it with your friends.

Man: God, can I ask You a question?

God: Sure

Man: Promise You won’t get mad …

God: I promise

Man: Why did You let so much stuff happen to me today?

God: What do u mean?

Man: Well, I woke up late

God: Yes

Man: My car took forever to start

God: Okay

Man: at lunch they made my sandwich wrong & I had to wait

God: Huummm

Man: On the way home, my phone went DEAD, just as I picked up a call

God: All right

Man: And on top of it all off, when I got home ~I just want to soak my feet in my new foot massager & relax. BUT it wouldn’t work!!! Nothing went right today! Why did You do that?

God: Let me see, the death angel was at your bed this morning & I had to send one of My Angels to battle him for your life. I let you sleep through that

Man (humbled): OH

GOD: I didn’t let your car start because there was a drunk driver on your route that would have hit you if you were on the road.

Man: (ashamed)

God: The first person who made your sandwich today was sick & I didn’t want you to catch what they have, I knew you couldn’t afford to miss work.

Man (embarrassed): Okay

God: Your phone went dead bcuz the person that was calling was going to give false witness about what you said on that call, I didn’t even let you talk to them so you would be covered.

Man (softly): I see God

God: Oh and that foot massager, it had a shortage that was going to throw out all of the power in your house tonight. I didn’t think you wanted to be in the dark.

Man: I’m Sorry God

God: Don’t be sorry, just learn to Trust Me…. in All things , the Good & the bad.

Man: I will trust You.

God: And don’t doubt that My plan for your day is Always Better than your plan.

Man: I won’t God. And let me just tell you God, Thank You for Everything today.

God: You’re welcome child. It was just another day being your God and I Love looking after My Children..

Just a note guys, I read this somewhere, and thought of sharing it here.

Why always do what you love?

Hey Friends, well today, on my Birthday, I would like to post something regarding Passion and about doing something that you love!

We all do many things, some because we like to do them, some because we are forced to do them. Ask yourself, which ones do we enjoy the most? There is no double mind in answering this one, they are obviously the things that you like or you love to do. There are many success stories of people who have excelled by doing what they loved to do, may it be Sachin Tendulkar in Cricket, or Roger Federer in Tennis or Steve Jobs in Software Development.

Remember Steve Jobs thrown out of his own Company Apple when he was 30? Just think of it. The company that you started, you are thrown from at after running it for 10 years? Hell! But he had taken some decisions which his board members were not in favor of and eventually he made his way. He did it because he was in love with what all he did, and didn't want to compromise that at any cost. Finally the result was Next and Pixar Animation Studio, the best computer animation film studio we know. This is just talking about a small instance of Steve Jobs.

Here, I would like to share an example of my grandmother. She is a good cook.. Oops, I mean a great cook *wink. Not just because she prepares delicious food, but even because she is always ready to learn anything new that comes up. Daily, she checks out newspapers and magazines, to get knowledge about preparing some new dish. Even today, at an age of above 70, she is not ashamed of learning anything new, and never does she say that she knows everything. Talk of preparing some dish, and she would have a number of ways of doing it, with some quick tips and the best way to do it. Also, even if she is down with fever, if she has made her mind or someone asked her to prepare something special, nothing can stop her from doing so. Nothing at all! (May she always remain as she is -- Touchwood!)

That's what happens when you do what you love. You may succeed or may fail. But even after failure, they would be happy because they might be loving  that -- even after failure. Because, no failure can let you quit. You go on and on and on.. Come What May! For all such passionate people, one thing is in common, Success or Failure never matters, what matters is they love what they do.

You can think of some instance of your life that you enjoyed the most. The one that you gave your best effort. The sole reason as to why you put in effort for that thing or loved that thing is because you loved doing it. Well, while concluding this, I would like to re-itterate two things that many have always said: If you have found what you love, go behind it without wasting anytime and in case you haven't be in search of it. Because its the best feeling you can ever have!