InDepth

Today lets talk about one aspect of my daily life - that of pursuing calmness through working out!  In no way I am a fitness freak or a gym rat, all I do is try to keep myself fit and healthy. I am not even in the mad rush to make me look good, but I just want to stay somewhat happy. It all began in 2011 after the elder daughter had grown 2 years old and was able to take care of herself. She could say when to go to sleep, when and what she wanted to eat and what she did not like. That meant I had some free time over and I could focus on my wellbeing. Back in those days, in Sweden, we would prefer to hire a personal trainer, at least for a few hours to give us a demo of all the machines available at the gym. I did the same, more so, because I had never touched any of those machines ever in my life before. My only orientation to exercises were - some free hand push-ups, sit-ups and squats, first at a local cricket club and then on the rooftop of our house in India. The association wi...

Returning back after a few days is never easy. Life has been hectic these days, shifting between morning exercise, strict dieted breakfast, getting to office on time, back to home, doing laundry, cooking and not to forget, doing the dishes. Sometimes, I am surprised at my own multi-tasking skills - normally, a man is not gifted with that. Besides these tasks, due to my own indulgences (several of them) I am always able to find something to do - creative writing, listening to music, maybe some occasional sketching and if nothing else, then just plain simple thinking. But beyond these, I have one more new passion nowadays. It is to furnish my new apartment. It is a big task on hand, but before I start to talk about it, first, it is important to note a few strange things when one moves to a new place, be it an apartment or a house. There will be sharp edges by the doors, walls, corner section of a room, inside kitchen cupboards and bathrooms/toilets. Watch out for those, especially when i...

It dates back to the time when I was hardly 14 or 15 years old. One day I ran up to my mother and said - I want to drink a cup of tea. I want to taste it. My father was a chain tea-drinker, and I want to imitate him. Obviously, I was big fan of my dad and as a matter of fact, he had great qualities to create several fans across generations. One of the ways he connected to people was through tea. He drank tea in the morning over a conversation and flipping through the newspaper, he would drink again at his office, at the community club or purely when relaxing with his friends. I liked the first tea, so much so that I started drinking it often. It helped me to concentrate on my studies, spend quality time with my parents and also be by the side of my grandma. My grandma liked tea, and we could bond over it! Years passed, the context kept changing, but drinking habit did not. First with high school friends, then with college friends, finally with office colleagues. During these phases, a ...

Today was an odd day. I got late to wake up again. I had dreams too, that of having a pain on my knee. But nothing too scary. I think it sometimes can be due to overwork or over-reading. Today let me focus on my habit of reading. I try to meditate through reading. I like all kinds of books, suspense thriller, fact-based, investigative journalism, or the odd short story collection. When I read I am deep into it. However, when I am done I still a bit in trance - thinking of the content. Finally I get a bit restless - can I be good enough to write something worthwhile one day? These days one such book is making me restless. It is Malgudi Days written by R K Narayan. I have not yet gone deep into his childhood and upbringing, but reading the short stories I can get a feel of the person behind the author. This is actually also a tip for someone wanting to read or starting to read the works of an acclaimed author. Actually his or her works reflect the personality behind the creative talent. ...

Today I have promised to write about the World Championship of Football. So, I would quickly wrap up the otherwise simple day and switch over to the "Beautiful Game". Today morning was ordinary - I woke up late, as late as 8:30 AM! In total, I lost 3 hours of productivity. The early riser that I am I had a rather slow start due to the early delay and the slowness. One good thing of Bayern and Germany is - we love our food here. I had bought a full corn sliced bread from the local supermarket, Aldi, the other day. To my surprise, I found it tasty and healthy. Healthy I can imagine but tasty? That too the corn variety? A bit unthinkable, but it was rather good. Once food was done, I took myself to the Danube river. The river was calm and serene today, it was not the usual tom-boy kind temperament. By the way, a small tip to people going to the part of the river just opposite to the Stadttheater, the parking rules are as simple as that. You just drive in, park the car within the...

When my mother was with me in Sweden between 2020 and 2021, we did two things almost everyday - talking about life, and spending time together while doing long afternoon walks. Mom used to say - look, you people in Europe can accomplish many things during the day and the reason for that is the favourable weather and access to a car that you own. I cannot comment much on the weather nowadays! After she had left me in 2023, the world has seen more wars, and more extreme weather conditions. However, on the other front, which is the aspect of owning a vehicle, I can agree fully. Today proves the point somewhat. I do not even know how many tasks I managed to accomplish today, only thanks to the hired Volkswagen car I got here at Ingolstadt.  Ok but lets switch back a bit to the early morning. In the new house which I have rented since a few months, I am blessed to wake up with chirping of birds and a smiling greenery covering the entire periphery of the house. After a nice early breakfa...