Monthly Archives: March 2012

‘I was fine with becoming blind, but not when asked to give up running’

Amazing Feats, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Records, All, Sports, Uncategorized

Living out loud with Dr Rajat Chauhan, (37) Marathoner, sports medicine doctor

Dr. Rajat Chauhan (37), Matathoner, Sports Medicine Doctor

The world’s highest ultra marathon, La Ultra, is his brainchild. But there was a time when this sports medicine doctor was asked to forsake his dreams because he was losing his vision

 

I started running when I was nine. I was studying at Wynberg Allen School, Mussorie. All the boarders had to run every Sunday morning for four kms; it was quite a distance for a nine-year-old and that too in the mountains. The one who finished last would be caned. That’s how it all started. Back then it was more of something I was expected to do. Later, the school started giving mango juice to the first six boys at the finishing line. 

There was no way I was going to miss that! I was pretty useless at other sports, so I thought why not running. I was in 9th standard when I got into the cross country team and that is when I realised how much I was hooked to running. I ran my first half marathon (the Rath half marathon in Delhi) at 16 in 1 hour 29 minutes.

My parents didn’t object to my obsession with running, but when I told them that I wanted to be a runner, they flipped. They wanted me to be a doctor. In the first year of med school I suffered from retinal detachment in my right eye. The doctors forbade me to do physical activities. I was completely fine with the idea of becoming blind; it wasn’t an issue with me, but being told that I can’t run was a huge blow. I got operated in 1994 and after that my power jumped to -6.
For the next four years, I’d run for just 30 minutes once a week. And that’s when I decided to study sports medicine in the University of Nottingham in the UK. Peter Gregory, the chief medicine officer of the English cricket team, was my immediate supervisor. He had a huge impact on me. I went to South Africa in 2004 during the World Cup; it was my first on-field exposure. That’s where I realised that the guys behind the scenes really impact the activities on the field.
I also ran my first ultra marathon from Paris to London covering 200 miles. I worked in the UK as a sports medicine doctor before moving to Bangalore in mid 2006 when my wife was expecting our second son.
I conceived La Ultra, the world’s highest ultra marathon, by chance. In 2010, I asked a friend of mine whether he wanted to go to Manali to run in the Rohtang Pass. He agreed. We couldn’t run beyond 30kms in four hours. Luckily, for our egos, there was a landslide! In Manali, we saw an altitude map from Manali to Leh in an internet café. It reminded me of the Badwater ultra marathon in Death Valley, California. Manali to Leh is 500 odd kms. I thought we could run 222 kms because I wanted to do a run that was longer than Badwater (which covered 217 kms). This route is far more difficult than Badwater! On our way back to Delhi, my friend and I charted a plan for La Ultra on the back of a newspaper. But we were told that at high altitude runs, you need to rest at 13,000 feet. But I wanted to do an uninterrupted one.  So I thought, why not descend from a higher altitude to a low altitude so that the body gets acclimatised to that condition. People thought I’d lost it and said it’s not doable because of the lack of oxygen. But we did it! We started the run from Leh. ‘La’ stands for Tibetan mountain passes. The track required us to cross four mountain passes, including the world’s highest pass, Khardung La and that’s where we got the name from. So it’s the Ultra of passes.
There was five of us, two from the UK and two from the US who got to know of the run from Facebook. A lot of strangers from Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore volunteered to help, and not all of them had running backgrounds. But only one person, Mark Cockbain, finished the run. The biggest thing that this run, which has now become an annual event, taught me was discovering human nature. Out in the open, people become unpredictable.
Both my boys (one is six and the other 10) run. The older one started when he was three years old and the younger one did his first mile nonstop when he was 18 months old. I don’t push them; they love it as they find it pretty cool. But I have not been able to convert my wife into a runner, maybe I haven’t tried hard enough. She just goes to the gym. I have been running for the last 28 years and it’s a way of life. It means the life to me. When I don’t run, I am pretty miserable. In hindsight, I am grateful to the man with the stick for giving me a reason to run. It gave me so much more than just that mango drink. 

— As told to Piali Dasgupta

source: http://wwww.BangaloreMirror.com / Home> Sunday Read> Special > Story / by Piali Dasgupta / Sunday, March 04th, 2012

These ‘gurls’ love their rides

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Uncategorized

It’s all about passion for a classic bird, say the biker girls in the city. They take Bhavya Thimmaiah for a spin on their bikes and share with her stories of their obsession

The distinctive thump of a long-stroke, single-cylinder engine reverberates, amid the cacophony of Bangalore traffic. It’s a 1970, Classic 350cc Royal Enfield Bullet weighing 180 kgs plus and measuring 2120 mm (millimeter) length, 780mm width and 1080 mm in height. It’s a beauty. As she thunders down the road on a Sunday afternoon, people awaken not to her beauty, but to the damsel straddling it- Bhavya Srinivasan, 5.4” tall and weighing 65kgs. A speeding car making its way through the traffic slows down a wee bit; the passenger window rolls down and a gentleman gives Bhavya a ‘thumbs up’. “Great job, ma’m. Keep going,” he says. That’s the kind of attention Bhavya gets every time she goes for a ride on her Bullet.

Left to right: Shilpa Thoudam, Bhavya Srinivasan, Bindu Reddy, Vinutha P G and Swathi Reddy (pillion)
Bhavya, an entrepreneur, has been riding a Classic for the last nine years. What began as a curiosity “about bikes during college days” has now turned into passion. She’s now joined hands with HopOnGurls!, the only group in the city to teach women how to ride a Bullet.
HopOnGurls! is the brainchild of 25-year-old Bindu Reddy, a solutions engineer. “I can never forget my first experience on the Bullet; it started off as a bet that became a craving. I took my friend’s Thunderbird and rode away with my friend running behind to catch his birdie,” she says, giggling at the memory. “A memorable day that made me go crazy about this machine.”
Bindu’s friends taught her to ride a Bullet. “I always wondered why isn’t there an instructor to teach girls to ride a Bullet.” Why not start a riding club for girls? She asked herself. As a birthday gift, she asked her college friends – Lionel, Mrudul and Raghunandan – to help start HopOnGurls! in 2011. Bindu’s first students were a mother-daughter duo – Kusum, 56, and Roshini, 25. “The mother was more enthusiastic than the daughter,” recalls Reddy. The mother took about 4 weeks to master the bike. Bindu had another student, Jayanthi Kalyanaraman, a 34-year-old business analyst, who would come from Chennai every weekend to learn to ride the Bullet. “I wanted to learn to ride for a long time but was unable to find a willing teacher in Chennai despite being ready to learn from a male one,” says Jayanthi. She completed the course in 3 weekends. For Jayanthi, it all began with her father challenging her to ride the Bullet in “front of him and then, only then, he said that he’d allow me to buy one,” says Jayanthi, smiling at the memory. Today, there are 60 women Bullet riders in the city and more than 80 associated with HopOnGurls!
Come every Sunday, you will see a bunch of girls learning how to ride a Bullet in a peaceful lane in Koramangala. Spread over 8 sessions, the classes are conducted every Sunday for an hour or so. Apart from teaching to ride, technical sessions are also conducted which include servicing of the bike and knowing your bike better. “We are the only ones to provide bikes to the learners unlike other places where they ask you to bring your vehicle. We also give an opportunity to those girls who have learnt from us to come back and teach others,” says Bindu.
A woman Bullet rider in the city roads always makes heads turn. There have been instances where people have placed bets to know if it is a girl riding a Bullet, encouraged them, challenged them and tested them if they are capable of handling this mean machine.
Bhavya recalls her trip to Chickmagalur in December 2011 where the villagers clad in dhoti and turban stood in a row watching the women ride past them. “There were men calling each other and pointing towards  us,” recalls Bhavya. Interestingly, nobody teases a girl riding a Bullet but they are put to test or challenged. There are some who provoke them to race with them, but “there is a lot of respect shown to the women riders”. When Shilpa went to get her driver’s licence, the RTO officer was impressed when he came to know that she rides a Bullet. “There are times when I’m not charged a parking fee; the attendants take my helmet and say, ‘Ma’m, I will take care of the bike and the helmet’,” says Bhavya. But, not all have the same outlook towards woman riders. “Once a cop asked, ‘Is it necessary that you ride such a vehicle? Can’t you get a smaller size vehicle for yourself?’ When we offered them a ride, they quietly slipped away.” At times, the men on the road also get protective about the women riders. “There have been instances when they’d wave to bus drivers asking them not to overtake us. We have the confidence. Wonder why they get so worried?,” asks Shilpa.
Riding bikes boosts the confidence level. “Mine has shot through the roof since I started riding,” says Shilpa. “I have realised I can handle such a mean machine.” But there are some who are still struggling to convince their parents about letting them ride a bike or even buy one. The girls say they are not feminists. To them, riding a bullet is not about being macho. They enjoy wearing a sari and attending a function as much as they do wearing jeans and riding a Bullet. It’s all about passion for a majestic bird.
source: http://www.BangaloreMirror.com / Home> Sunday Read> Special> Story / by Bhavya Thimmaiah / Sunday, March 04th, 2012

A toast to the French taste

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Nri's / Pio's, World Opinion

One literally has to crane one’s neck out of the car window to spot the ‘home of Mariannick’ or Chez Mariannick. Located in Siddapura, off Varthur Road, Chez Mariannick is housed in a brick-and-mortar shack with fields on one side, and signs of concretization on the other. This quaint and rustic French creperie-boulangerie, was first started as a bakery by French-born Mariannick Halai and her husband of Indian origin, Shashi, four years ago.

The home of Mariannick started off as a bakery, in a 10- feet-by-10-feet stone structure located in the middle of a field which the couple had rented from a farmer at Rs 1,100 a month.

“I built our first wood-fire oven in that small plot. My wife and I would carry trays with baguettes and croissants for a kilometre from our apartment. After the baguettes and croissants were baked we would then set off on our scooter and sell our produce to whoever wished to buy them,” recalls Shashi, who worked as a carpenter besides dabbling in other artisan works along with Mariannick in London, before shifting to Bangalore.

Today Chez Mariannick has grown to be a 60-seater restaurant that dishes out a lunch and dinner menu six-days a week, with Sundays off. On Fridays and Saturdays the restaurant serves crepes, while on other days wood-fired pizzas are a staple as are baguettes, croissants and few French desserts. Fresh salad and breads are served to diners “just the way it’s done in France,” Shashi says.

And then comes a straightforward admission: “Nothing comes for free. Call it complimentary and put the price up on the food or just say that’s the meal deal, that’s the combo.” Pizzas come for Rs 350-450, bakery products start at Rs 50.

The couple delivers over 100 croissants and close to 80 baguettes a day to the posh residences in an around Whitefield such as Prestige Ozone and Palm Meadows. They also deliver to Bangalore’s Beverly Hills address, Epsilon, and other high-end gated communities such as Adarsh Palm Vista.

On the difficulties in running an authentic French restaurant Shashi says, “I have only been able to train one person who’s been with us for three years. It’s impossible to get someone who’s committed. You get them, they learn and they move on.” He adds, “Our flavours are what you’ll find in a very good French bakery. And that’s because of Mariannick’s hands. One must understand that in India things always change. Each bag of wheat that you’re going to open will be different from the one opened before. That’s just India.”

source: http;//www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / City> Bangalore / by Anshul Dhamija / TNN/ March 04th, 2012

 

Bhupathi, Bopanna win first crown

Sports

<strong>Indian tandem dismisses Fyrstenberg-Matkowski with 6-4, 3-6, 1-0 (5) upset victory</strong><em>

Mahesh Bhupathi (right) embraces Rohan Bopanna after beating Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski in the men’s doubles final of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship.  Image Credit: Hadrian Hernandez/Gulf News

<strong>Dubai: </strong>The experience of Mahesh Bhupathi helped hand new teammate Rohan Bopanna a perfect birthday gift as the Indian duo powered their way to a 6-4, 3-6 1-0 (5) upset win over third seeds Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski in the Dubai Duty Free Men’s Open doubles final here yesterday.Bopanna, who celebrates his 32nd birthday today, was thrilled at making an entry into the big league with their first ATP World Tour title.”I have never won an ATP 500 doubles, so this is going to be a special one for me,” Bopanna said.The Indians started off well with a break on Fyrstenberg’s serve in the seventh game, which just enough to hand them the first set 6-4 in a little over half an hour.
“This is our first final together and definitely we were a little jittery out there,” Bhupathi admitted.”But I think we played the big points well and that made the difference,” the 37-year-old added.
In the second set, the Polish pair got stronger, especially Matkowski, with some great first serves to dominate the Indians, and a break on Bopanna’s serve in the second game handed them the set 6-3 and pushed the encounter into the deciding super match tie-break
The Indians were off to the best of starts in the tie-break as they raced into an early 5-1 lead, which they ultimately went on to win 10-5 and claim their first-ever doubles title after coming together only this season.Strong favouritesGoing in as strong favourites on the merit of being the third seeds, Frystenberg and Matkowski were playing in their 32nd ATP World Tour doubles final, while it was a maiden appearance for Bhupathi and Bopanna.Bhupathi is the only player from the two pairs who has won the doubles in Dubai, though with different partners — in 1998 with Leander Paes, in 2004 with Fabrice Santoro and in 2008 with Mark Knowles.
source: http://www.GulfNews.com / Sports,Tennis / by Alaric Gomes / Senior Reporter / March 04th, 2012

Big boys don’t want to spend

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Leaders, Uncategorized

* Our local hottie has now become one helluva an international one too. Nicole Faria was in Perth to host an exclusive event at Mazzucchelli’s store. This Miss Earth has already been doing so much for the forgotten lakes of Bengaluru and is quite the activist.

Nicole Faria

Now Faria is travelling the world, as the global brand ambassador for Frederique Constant Geneve and was seen pretty busy rubbing shoulders with Perth’s celebrities and the who’s who of Ozzie land. And she looked beautiful, if we say so ourselves. Kudos to Nicole and should we see a Hollywood venture in the offing too? Let’s hope so.
* This popular coffee and quick snack hangout for youngsters on the busy Church Street, Java City allegedly shut shop a few days ago, owing to bad business. Singer and actor Sunil Raoh was often spotted at Java City most evenings with his gang of friends from the Sandalwood industry. Just next door to Java City is a small but always buzzing wine shop that is thronged by many after work every evening and that is doing brisk business. Just opposite is another eatery, Empire Restaurant that continues to rake in the moolah. Does that say something about our city’s changing preferences?

*February was one lucky month for Sandalwood actress Harshika Poonacha. She took part in two game shows and was crowned the winner in both. The people competing against her were Kavitha Lankesh, actor Suriya’s mother and another actress from their upcoming release Crazy Loka. At the other game show, her competitors were the same as the first, except Suriya’s mother was replaced by Nam Anna Don actress Sana. The tasks were simple but the prizes were extravagant. Harshika won lots of goodies, cash prizes and gift vouchers.
*The three city youngsters who were selected to play lead roles in Malayalam film Cinema Company are on cloud nine. The shooting is done and post-production is underway. But the actors Basil, Shruti and Sanjeev are aggressively promoting their film. They are not going big on promotions. Word of mouth publicity, SMSes and social networking sites are the latest promotion tools for this team of youngsters. The May release will be a first of its kind film in Mollywood where the lead actors were chosen through a reality show format.
Who, what,when, where, why
Who is slowly becoming the personal AD guy of the season? From the “Bold Look of Kohli” to the cartoon of a sad Malinga doing the rounds with a larger than life “Melan-KOHLI”, written across, the Royal Challengers Bangalore lad Virat Kohli is the one everyone relies on for excitement and admiration… on and off the field. These recent ads and cartoons doing the rounds on social networking sites are all about the Kohli quotient!
What can Arundhati Nag’s fans look forward to? Her much-awaited film Chaurahen — Crossroads is finally releasing on March 16. The movie which was shelved for nine years has since travelled to 11 film festivals before releasing in India.
When will we see a new nightclub in the sky? Soon… as the newest mall in the City MG Road One is touted to have one helluva party place on its terrace… but we’ll wait till it opens to decide on that!
Where was Nidhi Subbaiah spotted prancing with her boyfriend, actor Sudhanshu Pandey? In Mumbai, where she is shooting for an upcoming Kannada movie. She was seen spending all her free time with him there.
Why is danseause Madhu Natraj a happy lady? She will be receiving the ‘Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar’ from the Sangeet Natak Akademi? Madhu has been chosen for her contribution to the field of creative dance. The award will be conferred on March 7 in New Delhi.
source: http://www.DeccanChronicle.com / TABLOID / Home> Tabloid> Talk of the Town / DC, Bengaluru / March 02nd, 2012

Dance, life interwoven for troupe

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

The Indian dance company Nrityagram Dance Ensemble performs Sunday at the University of Notre Dame’s DeBartolo Center for the Performing Arts. (Photo provided / January 3, 2008)

Literally translated, “Nrityagram” means “dance village.”

And what audiences will see from the Nrityagram Dance Ensemble Sunday at the University of Notre Dame’s DeBartolo Center for the Performing Arts is the unified performance of a group of dancers that lives, eats and dances together every day in a live-in dance community in India.
Founded by dancer Protima Gauri in 1990 near Bangalore, India, Nrityagram fosters dancing through community, according to the school’s website. Gauri died in 1998, but her dream lives on through the school.
“I dream of building a community of dancers in a forsaken place amidst nature,” Nrityagram’s website quotes Gauri as saying before the school’s founding. “A place where nothing exists, except dance. A place where you can eat, sleep, dream, talk, imagine — dance.”
Surupa Sen, the current artistic director for the ensemble, has been dancing with Nrityagram for 22 years.
The program for Sunday’s performance is a blend of dances found in India and Sri Lanka, Sen says. Dancers in richly colored and ornate costumes will grace the stage to dance in styles that are inspired by yoga, martial arts and meditation.
A speaker will give a post-performance talk after the show Sunday. The discussion begins immediately after the performance ends.
“My favorite part of the performance is the way the rhythmic beats of the two styles combine to create a new, exciting sound,” she says via e-mail.
Sen was the first soloist of Nrityagram, according to the ensemble’s website. She studied under Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra, as well as Gauri. Sen has performed all over the world with the Nrityagram company.
Nrityagram is in the “Gurukul” tradition, meaning the students take care of the guru, or instructor, as well as the school itself, according to the website. At Nrityagram, students are taught by several gurus and have daily requirements in exercise, prayer and, if they live on campus, chores to take care of the school.
The philosophy of Nrityagram is all-encompassing, impacting every aspect of a dancer’s life, according to the school’s website.
“At Nrityagram, dance is a way of life, a matter of faith and belief, nurtured and enriched by the souls of its own people,” the ensemble’s philosophical statement says on the website. “We believe that being a good dancer is second only to being a good human being.”
Sen says she spent eight months developing the choreography for the upcoming show.
“(Audiences can expect) a joyful collaborative effort and a common resonance between two completely different styles of dance born out of two countries and their respective cultures,” she says. “They will see spectacular costumes and live music played by musicians from India and Sri Lanka.”
The show will be traveling all over America, with 12 scheduled stops, Sen says. The ensemble will have a weeklong run at the Joyce Theater in New York.
“(The best part of performing is) dancing to a new audience and seeing their reactions,” Sen says. “(I enjoy) traveling and learning about the country and its people.”
Onstage
The Nrityagram Dance Ensemble performs at 2 p.m. Sunday at the University of Notre Dame’s DeBartolo Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets are $35-$8. For more information, call 574-631-2800 or visit the website performingarts.nd.edu.
source: http://www.southbendtribune.com / Home> Entertainment> Entertainment, Events from inthebend.com / By AMANDA GRAY ,South Bend Tribune / March 1, 2012