Saturday, March 26, 2005
hanif kureishi's essay
"To write is to be puzzled a second time by one's experience; it is also to savour it. In such reflection there is time to taste and engage with your own
life in its complexity."
from Hanif Kureishi's article Something given
This was enough provocation for me to change the title of my blog.!
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
Enduro-3
On Feb 4, 2005, three of us -Brijesh, myself and Jatin hit the road on our bicycles heading for nowhere to compete for the race called - Enduro-3. Enduro-3 as the website will tell you is an adventure race meant to test endurance or more precisely, it is meant to test which will break first (if anything does) in 3 days of cycling(140Km) and trekking(70Km) carrying a backbreaking ~15kg load in extreme conditions in the wilderness - your body or your mind.
Myself and Brijesh were already veterans in this race having done this in 2004 with Kartik – a complete fiasco that ended the very first day of the race. As we set off on that chilly Feb morning in a tempo carrying us and the cycles for the flag off at Kataria school, we could not help but bring the yesteryear experiences into discussions.Is bar aisa nahi karna ,waisa nahi karna. The plans for the first day were well charted, but, we had no clue on how to go about the race on the second and the third day of the race apart from fixing the food rations.
We called ourselves the “Crash Test Dummies” (very proudly) --after the very amateurish nature of our team. But let the name not deceive you as we had enough in us to give the best in the race some competition.
The key was practice, knowing what to expect, traveling light while also keeping risks to a minimum. We got ourselves preparing for this race since December. The Enduro organizers -- the NEF initially announced that it would allow a team with atleast one girl member in the team. Brijesh went girl hunting but in vain. Towards the end of January , we had almost given up hope when they announced category for all-men teams. Jatin became an obvious choice.
Captain Nair(Brijesh) took charge of team and its overall preparations , got us together for the meetings and took pains to ensure that we were not missing anything for the race and that we had the best of the equipment for the race. I remember--Jatin's cycle was too heavy and captain loaned his spare aluminium thunder bike. I didn't have a haversack to carry stuff and we all headed to MG road braving midday heat to that shop - Peak (who apparently were flooded with orders from other Enduro aspirants). Thanks to him, our bags were loaded for a safe cycling journey out in the wilderness.
Our fitness was of chief concern to us. Earlier in Jan, I had contracted an infection and was going through heavy doses of antibiotics. Luckily,with Feb arriving I was feeling much better and more so as I started kicking the pedals.
Captain Nair,was worried he had put on too much weight and might go against him. But he did well to recover his fitness, chiefly by the two practice runs(one with me and other with Jatin ) to Sinhgad.
It was Jatin on whom we were counting the most for the race, having contested in regional level cycling races before and with his fantastic temperament, we felt we had a fair chance if we just followed his footsteps(literally&metaphorically) . Jatin also planned a food programme for the race which was a 2000 cal per day diet regime consisting of dry fruits, whey based MRP ( meal replacement powder for the uninitiated, which we grew to abhor with all our guts), whey protein loaded chocolates and 1.5kg per person glucose.
We had very few practice runs. I, for one, was kept away from my bicycle throughout Jan because of the illness -- though earlier in december Brijesh and I had cycled to Sinhgad and back with poor timing. Jatin and Captain did a pratice run to Sinhgad and back in quick time -- and were soaring in confidence. I had not practiced as much, but the recovery from the illness boosted my confidence enough for the race.
The race started amidst great fanfare and pomp with gssl-3plm represented by no less than two guys to cheers us at the flag off at Kataria school. The photographs will show Arif and Nitin and his wife Slesha prominently. Arif arrived with a placard advertising our team's presence to the world. The burden of responsibilty was weighing heavy on us. We had to perform! -- for Arif -- and for ourselves.
The first day as the Enduro rule book will tell you involved cycling for about 125 km and a 8km walk. The second day was all trekking (45 km) and some cycling(15km) and the third day was all trekking. We cycled first to NDA where race and time checks would first be done. We covered this initial distance fast enough without exhausting ourselves. We soon, lined up for the "Rifle shooting" event. Rajyavardhan Jatin Choudary managed to hit bull's eye consistently while the rest of us contented ourselves on sparing the imaginary bull of the lethal shots.
We had no time to lose and rushed immediately in full gear to the next TC at the peakcock bay. The roads in NDA are a feast for any rider. We cruised over the smooth roads feeling the acceleration as the pedals yielded easily to the kicking legs. At the peacock bay, we stepped into a boat and began rowing about a prescribed path in the Khadakvasla lake. Inexperience was telling on us , as we noticed with envy a team consisting of a girl rode past us easily here. We had head enough to realize the flaws of not rowing in tandem which we quickly switched to and profited.
We got off the boat in quick time, TC-ed (time checked) and started off on the next course towards next TC via "Splendour country club" . At this point , we were still in full steam and already ahead of some NDA students in the race. We cycled steadily for about 10km and just ahead of the next TC we stopped for a breather and decided to reload on our fuel--water and food. We had Whey-Protein loaded chocolates,figs and plenty of water to down them. As we ate, a pack of NDA guys who had been chasing us all this while managed to get past us. There was nothing to panic-- the fact that we kept these guys at our heels was feat enought for us.Having finished our food, we rushed to the next PC near Panshet dam.The heat was beginning to tell on us and other teams too. Riders on bike would offer us lift to neighbouring village which we politely refuse hiding temptation. With the ghats nearing , the ride was more roller coaster like - long never ending uphill rides and short downhill rides. We could no longer ride the bicycles uphill and had to drag it up. Some NDA guys in order not to lose pace at uphill roads would push with one hand the cycles of the female memebers in the team while managing their on cycles on the other hand!!. We had our own ordeals to deal with.Till this point we were more or less together and none of us had to wait for the other to catch up heat and the pain in the toenail from shoebite got me behind other members of the team. I was taking short laboured steps and stopping every once a while to keep the breathing normal. I caught up with the rest of them eventually as they sat down to take a breather. Here, another team captained by a brigadier caught up with us. Interestingly, there were girl members in the team. With competition arriving, we urged ourselves to perform harder and started off again uphill and raced past some members of the competing team. As we walked on, we noticed the brigadier panting hard and trying to catch some sleep on a boulder in the shade. --- which was heartwarming ( or cooling should I say) --See we werent the only ones feeling the heat!. Encouraged , we took time off again to unload the aching backs and breathe easy for while. A notch not far uphill from our resting point was the highest point from which it was all downhill . We rushed downhill in no time with the cycle speed I am sure exceeding 60kmph all the while taking the jolts on our tender bottoms.
We had left the other team far behind. This was about 3 pm in the after noon. We had cycled and walked hard and were losing steam. We took one final break to reload on fuel-- MRP and figs which we barely managed to get down the gullet. By 5 pm we had finished the cycling leg of the race for the day. The other team was nowhere in sight. The cycles were handed over to NEF guys and we began walking the 8km flat terrain . By this time the body was tired but pains had numbed. As we approached the end we noticed that the brigadier team that lagged behind us was inching closer and was to soon get past us. It was clear that our cycling was good but we needed to improve on trekking speeds. It was twilight 6.30 odd when we reached the final destination at Kumble. The resting place was out in the open near a school. We noticed that all the NDA teams had managed to arrive before us . We were the 8th team to arrive. Not bad at all for Crash test dummies , used only to clicking mice.
We dined on the MRP again and opened our sleeping bags and slept as if on fever out in the open. On another day this would have been the perfect romantic night to sleep under the stars but right then the body pains and feverishness could not get us into any appreciative mood. Jatin and brijesh had some trouble sleeping but I soon slept forgetting all pains in the world under the serene gaze of the stars.
By 5:30 in the morning we were woken up rudely and were arranged in ranks and files to start off trekking again. The night was over but nightmares had just begun for us. In no time all the teams that arrived last night got ahead of us. We trekked down a beautiful looking ghat by a stony path left by what used to be waterfalls in the monsoon. Captain now started to lag behind complaining of a pain in the knee but wore a brave face. My toenail didnt bother me much and I just kept jumping from one stone down to the next. We had a few misteps and falls and bruises but all minor.
Downhill, we were severely short of water and began searching for villagers for a source of water. A shy girl from a nearby hut offered us water and we unabashedly drank all she had in a small container. We still needed plenty of water.We werent sure of the path and wandered a while asking passers-by of the next village. Luckily, we caught sight of a PC( passage check) where the gentlemen were kind enough to offer us a bottle of water and also pointed us to a nearby borewell . We filled up all our bottles, got the glucose mixed in all of them and started off again. The next PC was not too far but the flat terrain however seemed to increase my toenail pain. I needed to fix this urgently before it could get worse. I first tried removing some sponge from the helmet and wrapping it around the toe, but it did not help. I finally cut open the toe part of the shoe to finally get some relief. We had lost precious time in this slow tramping and by the time we reached the next TC at Randhwe , it was 11:30 am. We still had ghats to climb and lot many miles to cover.
Uphill on the ghats , we could see a slow line of coloured midgets-in-red dragging themselves uphill. Brijesh's knee was getting unbearable now. We stopped after every 10min and take a breather. By 1pm we reached a village up in the ghats and stopped to have midday meal of MRP again. The chocalatey complan like taste of it was nauseating,but I gulped it all the same. We still had a mother-of-all-treacherous-ghats ahead to finish before the cycling leg started. We were joined by a couple of youngsters who would accompany us in this crossing. They call themselves the "sweep team" which is obliged to stick with the last of the teams still competing in the race. Their plight seemed more miserable than us. They did'nt have water or food since they arrived in the morning.We werent short on food supplies so would give them dry fruits and some water too. The climb was particulary exhausting in the midday sun, climbing, stopping everying once in a while with hardly a shade to hide from the sun. There are photographs Jatin took showing our plight here. But we kept together all the while and egged each other up. How Brijesh managed we dont know. He would refuse to get up at each resting point. We knew that our endurance was being tested to the maximum here. It was already 4:30 pm when we reached the next TC. The sweep team were relieved to leave us.
We now had to cycle to the next TC 15km away where the next session of trekking was to begin. We felt a lot relieved pedaling on the bikes and cycled hard stopping only twice at the steep roads through the ghats. But with the the sun setting, I was losing hope that we could cover next 30 km on foot.
At 6:30 pm we started the trekking and Jatin said he was all set, but I had my doubts. It was already dark when we started and a new sweep team now accompanied us.
My body and mind were suffereing from complete exhaustion and a thirst no amount of water could quench. I felt all too eager to sit down and rest for night. Brijesh walked limping because of the knee and my stomach refused anything in. All the while Jatin tramped along ahead of us with absolutely no mental or physical complaints. The power chocolate I last had in the evening was attempting to make its way out of my mouth. I controlled it vain and had to puke. Jatin offered to carry my bag for while but could not move easily with it in the night with a faint torch . In a short while, we were lost in the woods. Sweep team that accompanied us was trying to contact by a walkie-talkie. This gave us time to rethink , and I first broached the topic of quitting. We decided about postpone discussion until reaching the next village . In the meanwhile, the sweep team could not make any contact and tried in vain to search for a path in the dark leading to the faint flicker of the next TC visible in the horizon. We decided at about 10pm in the night to start a camp fire and sleep in woods. NEF guys offered us chappati with pickle – the delights of which was a revelation hidden from us by urban office going life. Food never tasted better.
At about 12am, as I was wrapped all cozy in the sleeping bag , a villager with a gun wandered over to us. The NEF guys waved money at him and asked him to get us jokers spending night in the middle of nowhere, to the next village which he agreed unconditionally. I reluctantly got up and decided to continue with the rest, cursing our luck. Humour and endurance was desperately needed to get us past these miseries. The puking had stopped by now but the hiccups had started. Despite all this, the our pace was brisk and we made it to the next village by 2am. I had already decided to quit and put this across to the team clearly. Brijesh quickly followed suit. The NEF guys tried to encourage to complete the race as only 10% of the race was left. But I was firm on my stand-- I had reached my limits and decided to quit. But the hero of the day-- Jatin decided he would continue.!!
We made enquiries about the next bus to Pune and slept there in a temple. Jatin,meanwhile, got himself lost in the woods but managed to reach the destination by 6:30am in the morning. He slept till 9:00 am and continued the race till 3:30.pm. It was plain, he had that extra bit the rest of us did’nt have. It is difficult to convey the exact feelings as we quit. I found it difficult to keep my attention away from my body which was crying for rest. I was glad I took the decision to quit as I eased myself into the sleeping bag but the back of my mind kept nagging why I did not put that extra effort. The debate still rages in my mind. But, there is always the next time to learn from our mistakes-no?.
Myself and Brijesh were already veterans in this race having done this in 2004 with Kartik – a complete fiasco that ended the very first day of the race. As we set off on that chilly Feb morning in a tempo carrying us and the cycles for the flag off at Kataria school, we could not help but bring the yesteryear experiences into discussions.Is bar aisa nahi karna ,waisa nahi karna. The plans for the first day were well charted, but, we had no clue on how to go about the race on the second and the third day of the race apart from fixing the food rations.
We called ourselves the “Crash Test Dummies” (very proudly) --after the very amateurish nature of our team. But let the name not deceive you as we had enough in us to give the best in the race some competition.
The key was practice, knowing what to expect, traveling light while also keeping risks to a minimum. We got ourselves preparing for this race since December. The Enduro organizers -- the NEF initially announced that it would allow a team with atleast one girl member in the team. Brijesh went girl hunting but in vain. Towards the end of January , we had almost given up hope when they announced category for all-men teams. Jatin became an obvious choice.
Captain Nair(Brijesh) took charge of team and its overall preparations , got us together for the meetings and took pains to ensure that we were not missing anything for the race and that we had the best of the equipment for the race. I remember--Jatin's cycle was too heavy and captain loaned his spare aluminium thunder bike. I didn't have a haversack to carry stuff and we all headed to MG road braving midday heat to that shop - Peak (who apparently were flooded with orders from other Enduro aspirants). Thanks to him, our bags were loaded for a safe cycling journey out in the wilderness.
Our fitness was of chief concern to us. Earlier in Jan, I had contracted an infection and was going through heavy doses of antibiotics. Luckily,with Feb arriving I was feeling much better and more so as I started kicking the pedals.
Captain Nair,was worried he had put on too much weight and might go against him. But he did well to recover his fitness, chiefly by the two practice runs(one with me and other with Jatin ) to Sinhgad.
It was Jatin on whom we were counting the most for the race, having contested in regional level cycling races before and with his fantastic temperament, we felt we had a fair chance if we just followed his footsteps(literally&metaphorically) . Jatin also planned a food programme for the race which was a 2000 cal per day diet regime consisting of dry fruits, whey based MRP ( meal replacement powder for the uninitiated, which we grew to abhor with all our guts), whey protein loaded chocolates and 1.5kg per person glucose.
We had very few practice runs. I, for one, was kept away from my bicycle throughout Jan because of the illness -- though earlier in december Brijesh and I had cycled to Sinhgad and back with poor timing. Jatin and Captain did a pratice run to Sinhgad and back in quick time -- and were soaring in confidence. I had not practiced as much, but the recovery from the illness boosted my confidence enough for the race.
The race started amidst great fanfare and pomp with gssl-3plm represented by no less than two guys to cheers us at the flag off at Kataria school. The photographs will show Arif and Nitin and his wife Slesha prominently. Arif arrived with a placard advertising our team's presence to the world. The burden of responsibilty was weighing heavy on us. We had to perform! -- for Arif -- and for ourselves.
The first day as the Enduro rule book will tell you involved cycling for about 125 km and a 8km walk. The second day was all trekking (45 km) and some cycling(15km) and the third day was all trekking. We cycled first to NDA where race and time checks would first be done. We covered this initial distance fast enough without exhausting ourselves. We soon, lined up for the "Rifle shooting" event. Rajyavardhan Jatin Choudary managed to hit bull's eye consistently while the rest of us contented ourselves on sparing the imaginary bull of the lethal shots.
We had no time to lose and rushed immediately in full gear to the next TC at the peakcock bay. The roads in NDA are a feast for any rider. We cruised over the smooth roads feeling the acceleration as the pedals yielded easily to the kicking legs. At the peacock bay, we stepped into a boat and began rowing about a prescribed path in the Khadakvasla lake. Inexperience was telling on us , as we noticed with envy a team consisting of a girl rode past us easily here. We had head enough to realize the flaws of not rowing in tandem which we quickly switched to and profited.
We got off the boat in quick time, TC-ed (time checked) and started off on the next course towards next TC via "Splendour country club" . At this point , we were still in full steam and already ahead of some NDA students in the race. We cycled steadily for about 10km and just ahead of the next TC we stopped for a breather and decided to reload on our fuel--water and food. We had Whey-Protein loaded chocolates,figs and plenty of water to down them. As we ate, a pack of NDA guys who had been chasing us all this while managed to get past us. There was nothing to panic-- the fact that we kept these guys at our heels was feat enought for us.Having finished our food, we rushed to the next PC near Panshet dam.The heat was beginning to tell on us and other teams too. Riders on bike would offer us lift to neighbouring village which we politely refuse hiding temptation. With the ghats nearing , the ride was more roller coaster like - long never ending uphill rides and short downhill rides. We could no longer ride the bicycles uphill and had to drag it up. Some NDA guys in order not to lose pace at uphill roads would push with one hand the cycles of the female memebers in the team while managing their on cycles on the other hand!!. We had our own ordeals to deal with.Till this point we were more or less together and none of us had to wait for the other to catch up heat and the pain in the toenail from shoebite got me behind other members of the team. I was taking short laboured steps and stopping every once a while to keep the breathing normal. I caught up with the rest of them eventually as they sat down to take a breather. Here, another team captained by a brigadier caught up with us. Interestingly, there were girl members in the team. With competition arriving, we urged ourselves to perform harder and started off again uphill and raced past some members of the competing team. As we walked on, we noticed the brigadier panting hard and trying to catch some sleep on a boulder in the shade. --- which was heartwarming ( or cooling should I say) --See we werent the only ones feeling the heat!. Encouraged , we took time off again to unload the aching backs and breathe easy for while. A notch not far uphill from our resting point was the highest point from which it was all downhill . We rushed downhill in no time with the cycle speed I am sure exceeding 60kmph all the while taking the jolts on our tender bottoms.
We had left the other team far behind. This was about 3 pm in the after noon. We had cycled and walked hard and were losing steam. We took one final break to reload on fuel-- MRP and figs which we barely managed to get down the gullet. By 5 pm we had finished the cycling leg of the race for the day. The other team was nowhere in sight. The cycles were handed over to NEF guys and we began walking the 8km flat terrain . By this time the body was tired but pains had numbed. As we approached the end we noticed that the brigadier team that lagged behind us was inching closer and was to soon get past us. It was clear that our cycling was good but we needed to improve on trekking speeds. It was twilight 6.30 odd when we reached the final destination at Kumble. The resting place was out in the open near a school. We noticed that all the NDA teams had managed to arrive before us . We were the 8th team to arrive. Not bad at all for Crash test dummies , used only to clicking mice.
We dined on the MRP again and opened our sleeping bags and slept as if on fever out in the open. On another day this would have been the perfect romantic night to sleep under the stars but right then the body pains and feverishness could not get us into any appreciative mood. Jatin and brijesh had some trouble sleeping but I soon slept forgetting all pains in the world under the serene gaze of the stars.
By 5:30 in the morning we were woken up rudely and were arranged in ranks and files to start off trekking again. The night was over but nightmares had just begun for us. In no time all the teams that arrived last night got ahead of us. We trekked down a beautiful looking ghat by a stony path left by what used to be waterfalls in the monsoon. Captain now started to lag behind complaining of a pain in the knee but wore a brave face. My toenail didnt bother me much and I just kept jumping from one stone down to the next. We had a few misteps and falls and bruises but all minor.
Downhill, we were severely short of water and began searching for villagers for a source of water. A shy girl from a nearby hut offered us water and we unabashedly drank all she had in a small container. We still needed plenty of water.We werent sure of the path and wandered a while asking passers-by of the next village. Luckily, we caught sight of a PC( passage check) where the gentlemen were kind enough to offer us a bottle of water and also pointed us to a nearby borewell . We filled up all our bottles, got the glucose mixed in all of them and started off again. The next PC was not too far but the flat terrain however seemed to increase my toenail pain. I needed to fix this urgently before it could get worse. I first tried removing some sponge from the helmet and wrapping it around the toe, but it did not help. I finally cut open the toe part of the shoe to finally get some relief. We had lost precious time in this slow tramping and by the time we reached the next TC at Randhwe , it was 11:30 am. We still had ghats to climb and lot many miles to cover.
Uphill on the ghats , we could see a slow line of coloured midgets-in-red dragging themselves uphill. Brijesh's knee was getting unbearable now. We stopped after every 10min and take a breather. By 1pm we reached a village up in the ghats and stopped to have midday meal of MRP again. The chocalatey complan like taste of it was nauseating,but I gulped it all the same. We still had a mother-of-all-treacherous-ghats ahead to finish before the cycling leg started. We were joined by a couple of youngsters who would accompany us in this crossing. They call themselves the "sweep team" which is obliged to stick with the last of the teams still competing in the race. Their plight seemed more miserable than us. They did'nt have water or food since they arrived in the morning.We werent short on food supplies so would give them dry fruits and some water too. The climb was particulary exhausting in the midday sun, climbing, stopping everying once in a while with hardly a shade to hide from the sun. There are photographs Jatin took showing our plight here. But we kept together all the while and egged each other up. How Brijesh managed we dont know. He would refuse to get up at each resting point. We knew that our endurance was being tested to the maximum here. It was already 4:30 pm when we reached the next TC. The sweep team were relieved to leave us.
We now had to cycle to the next TC 15km away where the next session of trekking was to begin. We felt a lot relieved pedaling on the bikes and cycled hard stopping only twice at the steep roads through the ghats. But with the the sun setting, I was losing hope that we could cover next 30 km on foot.
At 6:30 pm we started the trekking and Jatin said he was all set, but I had my doubts. It was already dark when we started and a new sweep team now accompanied us.
My body and mind were suffereing from complete exhaustion and a thirst no amount of water could quench. I felt all too eager to sit down and rest for night. Brijesh walked limping because of the knee and my stomach refused anything in. All the while Jatin tramped along ahead of us with absolutely no mental or physical complaints. The power chocolate I last had in the evening was attempting to make its way out of my mouth. I controlled it vain and had to puke. Jatin offered to carry my bag for while but could not move easily with it in the night with a faint torch . In a short while, we were lost in the woods. Sweep team that accompanied us was trying to contact by a walkie-talkie. This gave us time to rethink , and I first broached the topic of quitting. We decided about postpone discussion until reaching the next village . In the meanwhile, the sweep team could not make any contact and tried in vain to search for a path in the dark leading to the faint flicker of the next TC visible in the horizon. We decided at about 10pm in the night to start a camp fire and sleep in woods. NEF guys offered us chappati with pickle – the delights of which was a revelation hidden from us by urban office going life. Food never tasted better.
At about 12am, as I was wrapped all cozy in the sleeping bag , a villager with a gun wandered over to us. The NEF guys waved money at him and asked him to get us jokers spending night in the middle of nowhere, to the next village which he agreed unconditionally. I reluctantly got up and decided to continue with the rest, cursing our luck. Humour and endurance was desperately needed to get us past these miseries. The puking had stopped by now but the hiccups had started. Despite all this, the our pace was brisk and we made it to the next village by 2am. I had already decided to quit and put this across to the team clearly. Brijesh quickly followed suit. The NEF guys tried to encourage to complete the race as only 10% of the race was left. But I was firm on my stand-- I had reached my limits and decided to quit. But the hero of the day-- Jatin decided he would continue.!!
We made enquiries about the next bus to Pune and slept there in a temple. Jatin,meanwhile, got himself lost in the woods but managed to reach the destination by 6:30am in the morning. He slept till 9:00 am and continued the race till 3:30.pm. It was plain, he had that extra bit the rest of us did’nt have. It is difficult to convey the exact feelings as we quit. I found it difficult to keep my attention away from my body which was crying for rest. I was glad I took the decision to quit as I eased myself into the sleeping bag but the back of my mind kept nagging why I did not put that extra effort. The debate still rages in my mind. But, there is always the next time to learn from our mistakes-no?.
