2500 km in 50 days...

It was an experience to cherish and relish!

What happens when you meet the real life heroes whom you have been reading about in the papers every day for the last 50 days? Well, it indeed proves to be an awe-inspiring moment, especially when you least expected it.

On one of my runs along the verdant East Coast Park (Singapore) almost two weeks back, i saw a motley crowd of enthusiastic runners. Obviously it was not too difficult to recognize that the group was led by the ultra-marathoners Lim Nghee Huat (62 years, clad in red tee) and Yong Yuen Cheng (43 years, clad in white tee).

If you are wondering why they have been in the papers, the answer is simple though their feat is not. Two days back, they accomplished what most people can only read about in the papers. They completed running 2500 km in 50 days, running at 50 km daily to commemorate Singapore's 50th birthday. Truly awe-inspiring considering that fatigue, heat or illness did not stop them from reaching their goalpost.

Non-chalant and down to earth, these ultra marathoners are representative of the "unsung heroes" whom we might chance upon in our everyday life, but fail to recognize. Lets not assess the people whom we meet in our daily lives by the way they look. They might be that "unsung hero"!

You cannot be anything you want to be...

You can be anything you want to be, if you just try hard enough” is the wrong maxim that all of us are trained to think from childhood.

The reality is “You cannot be anything you want to be, but you can be a lot more of who you already are.”

When Tom Rath explained this with examples in “Strengths Finder 2.0”, my eyes literally popped out reading this eternal truth" (blame the education system for this late realisation). Instead of correcting our weaknesses all the while and learning to be something which we are not, all we need to do is to change our optics by "investing on our strengths".

When I took the Strengths Finder (www.strengthsfinder.com) assessment, it helped identify my strengths that I needed to invest time on. My Top 5 Strengths turned out to be Connectedness, Positivity, Activator, Includer and Communication (in that order).

And if we a go step further in encouraging our peers and team members to take up the assessment, it can go a long way in understanding their work style better and will provide us insight on "why different people react to the same situation differently" :)

Once we identify our strengths, Tom Rath then recommends us to implement what he calls as the Recipe for Strength: "Talent  x Investment  = Strength"
Where …

Talent  is the natural way of thinking, feeling or behaving
Investment is the time spent practicing, developing your skills and building your knowledge base
Strength  is the ability to consistently provide near perfect performance

If this post inspires you to take up Strengths Finder 2.0 (www.strengthsfinder.com), do share your Top 5 strengths!

Dabaang: Wanted 2

Dabaang is truly Wanted 2. Even if you are not a Sallu fan, you can't not enjoy this film. Racy entertainer overall though sags sometimes in the first half, but then that's ok. Sallubhai is truly enjoyable as Chulbul Pandey, a character which I found very close resemblance to the tapori in Wanted though with a UP dialect. Found it difficult to get the UPwala dialect at times. But it was a true blue bang bang salman movie

Location:Flight to Mumbai

Back on blogspot

I am back at doing what I am always passionate about : Blogging. And that too after a long long hiatus....Thanks now to the blogpress app for iPhone. Twitter or facebook does not provide the satisfaction that blogging delivers. Will see more of my posts soon....

Location:Now in Kolkata....

Elections & IPL to pump in Rs 15K crores

An interesting article in The Economic Times today. The 2009 Lok Sabha Elections and IPL are likely to pump in Rs 15,000 crore into the system . Quite an amount!! With 0.3% of the GDP to be guzzled out by June 2009, it is likely to pump prime the economy. My take: I am sure 50% of the amount is definitely black money, which would have largely not come out had it not been for this twin events.

NDTV Greenathon

As I watched the NDTV Greenathon event last week, I was shocked to realise that there are about 200,000 villages across the length and breadth of the country which have no electricity. Shocking!!! 62 years after Independence, we still languish with this disgusting statistics when politicians continue to spend power lavishly in election rallies. Lets do out bit to mitigate this. Let's support TERI and NDTV on this initiative to light up the villages.

A ride in the City of Joy

I was in the City of Joy (Kolkata for the unitiated) a couple of months back. And I was taking a joy ride (sarcasm intended) in one of the city's infamous cabs (taxi). I was completely shocked to see that the cab's interior was in total shambles...maybe shambles is an understatement (check the photograph taken in my Nokia E61 i). The car was just a mishmash of various auto components, replete with stains of various hues and colors. If you think that this car was an exception, then you need to check out the other taxis too. Maybe this was far better...Thankfully, I reached my destination safely.

SMS galore!

Festive times pull up my spirits big time, thanks to the numerous SMSes that fill my mobile inbox. Wondering how? There are so many people who have stored your number in their mobile address book considering that you are important, and unfortunately I have not stored their numbers. And its so embarassing to reply to them asking who the sender is. So the best solution is to wish them back and thank them.

Jai Ram Ji Ki

Narendrabhai Dāmodardās Modī is back at the helm of affairs in Gujarat. Even at the risk of being branded communal, let me pen this down....Gujjus have done a remarkable step of voting him back.

This Advani protege and a true RSS man has definitely put Gujarat on the fast track of developmental growth. Not just that, he has been able to quell all sorts of communal (and Pakistan-triggered) violence post-Godhra riots, which in itself is not a mean achievement. What UP and West Bengal have not been able to stop, he has done it. No wonder, many like me have been rooting for Narendrabhai to stage a strong comeback.


One thing is clear...the stunned and quitened Congress camp will further go into hiding. Truly deserving for a lady and her son who made unnecessary statements such as "maut ke saudagar". Will someone teach Sonia and Rahul the art of politics, after the debacles at UP and Gujarat...