My review, take it with a pinch of salt and lime. Every civilization has an epic. India has the Mahabharata.The British have Beowulf.The Greeks have The Odyssey. After watching The Odyssey, I couldn’t help but wonder… What if Homer wasn’t documenting history?What if he was documenting the greatest drunken explanation in history? Hear me out. The Trojan War has… Continue reading The Odyssey: The World’s First “Trust Me Bro” Story
Month: July 2026
Week 2/20: Building the Engine
Week 2 of the Ahmedabad Marathon training block was a reminder that marathon training is never a perfectly straight line. The plan called for a little more mileage, but life had other ideas. I missed one aerobic base run, which meant the week’s volume ended at 47.5 km instead of the planned 55–60 km. A few months… Continue reading Week 2/20: Building the Engine
Amar, Akbar… Anthony… and Maybe Me
I was born a Maithil Brahmin. For fifty years, I’ve been carefully maintaining this identity. Janeyu? ???? Puja? ???? Maithili? Work in progress. Arguments with my mother over rituals? Lifetime achievement award. Then one inconvenient question arrived. If Hinduism says I will be born again… will I be reborn as a Hindu? Or has the… Continue reading Amar, Akbar… Anthony… and Maybe Me
Aaj Ki Taaza Khabar: Dilli Mein Democracy Ka Murder?
New Delhi, July 2026. I’m not sure the readers have heard this song: India has always believed in matching the solution to the problem. Mosquitoes? Good Knight. Cockroaches? HIT. Students dressed as cockroaches? Apparently, somebody may have taken the branding a little too literally. Thousands of young Indians associated with the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) took to… Continue reading Aaj Ki Taaza Khabar: Dilli Mein Democracy Ka Murder?
Week 1/20 — Ahmedabad Marathon: Building the Engine
Prologue: New block, new language — from %Max HR to %LTHR This training block starts with one important change. I’ve shifted my Garmin training zones from percentage of maximum heart rate (%Max HR) to percentage of lactate-threshold heart rate (%LTHR). Why bother changing something that has worked for years? Max HR tells me where my ceiling is. LTHR gives me… Continue reading Week 1/20 — Ahmedabad Marathon: Building the Engine
Happy 70th Kusum Thakur
I have written about ATKT, pani puri, marathons and bad decisions taken with great confidence. But not enough about my mother. My report cards said: Can do better. There was potential. Evidence was limited. I got into BCS, got an ATKT, and later rebranded it as: Allow To Keep Trying. My mother may not have… Continue reading Happy 70th Kusum Thakur
Fifty Is Not the New Thirty—and may be Vanaprastha.
I understood Brahmacharya because my parents drew the boundaries. I entered Grihastha almost on autopilot. Now, at fifty, I am trying to understand Vanaprastha—but everyone around me appears determined to become thirty again. There was a time when life came with reasonably clear instructions. Study. Find work. Get married. Build a home. Raise a family.… Continue reading Fifty Is Not the New Thirty—and may be Vanaprastha.
Blending!
It’s not the same anymore,not the petrol,not the rumour.Somewhere between clean fueland clean speech,we lost the old humour. Petrol is blended,humour is blunted.Both come with a warning stunted:“Nazaar Hati, Durghatna Ghati.”Laugh too freely,and you may be hunted. We are 70s kids,from the age of leaded petrol,unfiltered jokes,and neighbours who could laugh first,and judge later,after two… Continue reading Blending!
Kohlu Ke Bail: 6 Hours, 157 Laps, and Three Men Running in Circles
There are some race formats where you run from Point A to Point B. There are some where you run from Point A to Point B, then question your life choices, then somehow reach Point C. And then there is a stadium run. Here, you run from Point A… back to Point A. Again. And… Continue reading Kohlu Ke Bail: 6 Hours, 157 Laps, and Three Men Running in Circles