Seventeenth Marriage Anniversary

Seventeen Years back on this day,
We got together in pristine setting;
Seven vows and seven promise,
My heart still feels we are dating.

Seventeen years back on this day,
Your heart jumped with excitement of a new life,
but also cried in pain;
You wished for your Dad to be with you,
But he was not there ever again.

Seventeen years back on this day,
here is the deepest secret nobody knows;
life was taking a turn,
the soul was not ready and the mind was going crazy;
you wished for a man,
who not only will hold your hand,
Firmer than anyone else;
but does so with a surreal,
charm and grace.

Seventeen years back on this day,
I was still thinking about career,
The thought of marriage seemed to be
In very distant future;
Life seemed just too good to be true,
With hardly any responsibilities and a decent career.
Have always been traditional at heart and a little orthodox
And left for my parents to decide for me,
To find the girl in my destiny;
Gave my parents the carte-blanche for all the dealing,
But finally listened to your mothers feeling.


Seventeen years of living with a man,
Who hardly goes with a plan;
Is not easy to handle,
With such grace, poise and élan.

Seventeen years of your life ,
Keeping personal aspirations aside,
You always rooted for the family’s pride.
Not sure if any amount of love, share and care
Will ever erase the pain of losing your mother,
And in quick succession your younger brother.

Seventeen years hence on this day,
It is for you to decide;
Because there is hardly any thought,
That I don’t abide.

Marriage they say is the union of the soul,
Even if thoughts are like opposite pole;
It’s not about reaching a common goal,
But to hold tight when the other does not seem right.
I love you more than you know,
I just wish I was not so slow;
I want all seven lives with you,
Wish you would have yearned for that too.

Here’s is whishing
A very Happy Marriage Anniversary,
Let’s raise a toast;
For the ups and downs,
Highs and lows;
But please stay with me forever,
Take my hand and lets be together.

My Third Half Marathon

The Bay Breeze half marathon in San Leandro on Feb 20th was my third half marathon race. I thought I trained adequately in the last couple of winter months. Siva's wife dropped I and him well in time to collect the bibs, shirts etc. The race setting was quite homely considering the overwhelming setting of more widely advertised and known races like San Francisco half etc. There were barely 300-400 racers and picking up the bibs, shirt and goodie bag was a breeze. The race started promptly at 9:00 AM and the race organizer announced that the race trails will mostly be alongside the bay. They also reminded all the half marathon runners to turn back after the third aid station (half way mark).

0-5 Miles : The first 5 miles was uneventful except for a very nice and flat trail. We were running very close to Marina bay and you can even touch the water if you wanted; it was so close. The weather was unseasonably cold and because it was by the bay it was quite windy as well. I completed my 5 miles in 59 minutes ~12 minutes/mile pace.

5-10 Miles : My right knee meniscus muscle and my IT band muscle started acting up. I prayed for it to go away and let me finish my race strong. By 6.5 miles when I reached the turn point and stopped for a quick drink, I was still feeling strong. However, I think I ran below my potential in this crucial segment because this five mile stretch took me 64 minutes to complete, a full five minutes late than the first five miles. Between the 9th and 10th mile, I also seem to run out of energy but a couple of “blocks” helped me to regain my focus. Since there were close to 200 participants only for this half marathon, the run seemed more lonely as there were considerable distance amongst runners.

10 -13.1 Miles : The small pain in my right knee was not bothering me anymore. I was tired but I think the last two months of training helped me to pull along. The course was so flat and predictable that sometimes you seem to get bore after running 10-11 miles. That’s when I think some help from your co-runner and / or some music helps. But neither had I had the luxury of any co-runner nor I like to run with any kind of music. The final couple of miles was no doubt a drag but surprisingly trying to walk a little bit seemed difficult than running and hence, I continued running to the finish line. At the finish line I waited for Siva to complete his race as well and cheered him up while he was finishing.

I completed in 2:47, a little over 12 minutes / mile pace. I would like to break the 2:30 finish time some day. I am sure it will take me to increase my training a couple of notches more to achieve that goal. Overall, I was satisfied that I completed the race comparatively stronger than my last two races and as long as I continue to finish strong and remain injury free, I don’t complain.

I plan to run this race again next year because of the feel of a smaller race where you don’t feel overwhelmed by the occasion and all the race necessities are available within 10 meters of start point. I would strongly recommend this race to our Fremont running group members to include this race in their itinerary for 2011. Thanks to the organizer for the nice arrangements and a beautiful finisher medal.

Trust can be so fleeting

On January 21, Toyota announced its intention to recall approximately 2.3 million select Toyota Division vehicles equipped with certain accelerator pedal mechanisms that may, in rare instances, mechanically stick in a partially depressed position or return slowly to the idle position. Toyota vehicles affected by the recall include:

• Certain 2009-2010 RAV4
• Certain 2009-2010 Corolla
• 2009-2010 Matrix
• 2005-2010 Avalon
• Certain 2007-2010 Camry
• Certain 2010 Highlander
• 2007-2010 Tundra
• 2008-2010 Sequoia

Within a matter of days, the mood turned from “…big deal” to almost “…oh my God, what do I do now”. Toyota shut down the manufacturing of their 8 best selling models. The Transport Secretary in the US Congressional hearing announced that no one having the recalled Toyota models should drive the car except going to the dealership to get the car fixed. The stock market pushed Toyota shares downed by almost 12% within a matter of a week. What happened? A company whose cars have virtually become the bench mark of auto industry suddenly seems to be caught in its own success.

1. We live in such an interconnected and 24 hours news channel world that within a matter of hours any news can spread around the world sufficient enough to even rattle a rock solid reputation of companies like Toyota.

2. Media in their effort to sensationalize the news can really play to the psyche of people in evoking emotions at the extreme end.

3. Media channels like CNN, BBC, Fox; internet media like facebook, twitter and blogs have international reach which goes far beyond just their reach. Their coverage has the effect of shaping the opinion of masses that for most of the time fails to distinguish between facts and fictions

However, it is no denying that Toyota grossly miscalculated the magnitude of the problems affecting their cars. Hundreds of people over last few years reported problem that their accelerators just seems to get stuck and car races to uncontrolled speed resulting in even deaths of drivers and passengers.

What lesson does this event gives to us :

1. Trust and faith can be extremely fleeting - While it takes years of hard and impeccable work to reach a position of envy, it just takes a few moments or potentially a week in case of Toyota to lose the reputation. Building it back will again need years of hard work. So even if you are wildly successful, don’t take your eyes off the most critical piece of your brand, in case of Toyota- Safety

2. Perception always precedes reality - While I thought that in the last couple of years the quality of Toyota cars have come down and the quality of American cars have gone up, still I went ahead and bought a Toyota car just a couple of months back.

3. It will take a radically different kind of thinking and action in the 21st century to tackle bad news. The timing and the art of communication has to be mastered. The CEO of Toyota took almost 10 days to come out and assure the masses that they can still trust their cars. In these times of lightening speed internet world, such kind of response seemed to be so 19th century. Leaders need to be seen ahead of the problem not behind the problem.

4. Swift, decisive and futuristic action needs to be taken for defects that affect millions.

Don’t you think that some or all of these lessons also apply in our personal life? I do