Some books

In what has been a year of relatively low book buying, the following were bought on coupons + cc points

Taj Mahal Foxtrot by Naresh Fernandes

Korea by Simon Winchester (from Blossoms)

The Etymologicon by Mark Forsyth
A Japanese Mirror by Ian Buruma
The Information by James Gleick

The above 3 from Landmark.

In general, I am quite saddened by the lack of attention to books in most bookshops these days, especially both Landmark and Crossword. While both have drastically cut the size of their bookshops (which I am not as fussed about, since I do most of my reading at home), they have also cut on the time/attention their staff bestow on the books section. While earlier you could walk in and ask the staff for certain books, these days you could pretty much do as good a job as the staff in finding the books you want. Maybe that's what they should do. Set up multiple terminals for catalog search, since the staff  manages little beyond that anyways. In Crossword, I went and found Naresh's book after the staff told me they didn't have it!

Follow Every Rainbow

Read my review of Rashmi Bansal's book here

Leaders on Leadership

My review of the book for BW

My love-hate relationship with my Garmin

I bought my first Garmin Forerunner (a 305) in 2007 in the US. I have really liked using it.
Over the years mostly due to use, my 305 has approached the end of its life. It reboots on its own and the buttons have peeled off. It also refuses to interact with any of my computers.

In 2011, my brother gifted me a 610 on my birthday and I loved that too. However that device began causing me problems in less than a year of use. As some of you who use it may know (this has also been covered on Garmin forums), the early version of the 610 came only in black and had a metal back cover. This was coated copper which after a while began to react with your skin especially if you sweated a lot and cause skin bruises. I complained about this to Garmin and they replaced it (I'd have added "very graciously" if only they had picked up the freight charges to Taiwan). They sent me a new one then. I used Fedex when I mailed the old device to them and they mailed back by Fedex. While I complained to Garmin in Apr 2012, my issue got resolved by July 2012. I was happy till about Apr 2013 with this. The same issue cropped up since the replacement they had sent was nearly identical to the old one. So I began having the skin issue again. I complained again. Garmin this time picked up the freight charges and collected by Fedex. This is where the misery began.

They sent it back by DHL using something called cargo mode, which is what you typically use for trade shipment. The Indian customs promptly seized my Garmin. Now I am stuck with paperwork issues and will in all likelihood pay duties on my own Garmin (old one!) to even get my hands on it.

If only Garmin had stuck to the old process and sent me a new one like last time, none of this misery would have resulted.

FYI, the later 610s have plastic backs or black coated metal unlike the aluminium colored coating that my old 610 had. So the issue of skin abrasions should not arise with them.

Lesson: Don't use Garmin in India if you are daunted by this issue of service or pray that your Garmin is flawless or at least, lasts for 5 years w/o issues. If your Garmin conks off, just hope that it has survived a year, so that your misery/mourning is less.

I will update this as the story unfolds.

As a side-story, I won a Garmin 610 from Schneider which sponsored the Paris Marathon in a contest. I just ended up paying Rs. 4827 as duties since Schneider sent it as a gift but indicated a high value in stead of a nominal value (usually gifts/prizes are exempt if they are explicitly identified as such, although I think the Indian govt. is selective in what it treats as new/subject to duties). The upside is that I can now sell it since duties are paid!

I want more books...

Thanks to some irrational decision making, I have allowed myself the liberty of buying books with money I don't really have

Hansons Marathon Method by Luke Humphrey with Keith & Kevin Hanson
CV Raman, a biography by Uma P
The Art of Thinking Clearly by Rolf Dobelli (influenced by reading this piece in the Guardian)

Now to get some reading done and hopefully earn some money to fund these

My write-up on the Boston Marathon bombing for Citizen Matters

After this blog post that I had written in the moments after Monday's incidents at Boston, which made a lot of us lose sleep, I wrote this piece for Citizen Matters. Please do read and let me know what you think

Read Book-Win Book Coupon at Quiz-Buy Book-Repeat

As part of the cycle outlined in the title, "A Crack in the Edge of the World" by Simon Winchester about America and the Great Californian Earthquake of 1906 has been bought from Blossoms Book store in a visit to Church Street, intended to be for a visit to Indian Coffee House with a friend.

Some other lovely books have been spotted at Blossoms. Waiting for next cycle now.

Thoughts from Boston Marathon 2013

The Boston Marathon 2013 will be remembered for years to come, unfortunately for the bomb blasts at the finish line yesterday than for the heroics of thousands of runners.

3 people died and 144 were injured - quite a large percentage of those injured, coming from spectators. Around 10 people had to be amputated due to the nature of injuries. Also moving was the story of the 8 year old, who was one of the dead, while about to greet his dad who was finishing.

While there was a series of blasts in Iraq which killed almost 30 people (on the same day), the Boston incident caught my eye first largely because until about an hour before the blasts, I had been live tweeting the race, which had been exciting. Kenyan Rita Jeptoo won the women's race and Ethiopian Desissa won the men's race. There were several other things to remember from the race including Jason Hartmann's brave run as top American and Kara Goucher crossing the line asking how Shalane did, just seconds after she did. Yolanda of Colombia who has her own inspirational story leading up to the race also had a good run, till a point. I could go on, but this post is not just about running.

Kate Carter of the Guardian has a nice post on their running blog making her statement on why we need to remember the joy of running, all over again on this day. Please do read it.

I am personally quite outraged by the fact that a space dear to me and an event which is pretty much in the heart of my life, for the most part, has been violated. I am not blind to other events like the Iraq one where loss of life is higher in terms of body count. Each such event hurts. Tragedy is not a contest. All suffering hurts. Some of it is personal, some vicarious. All of them sadden me and make me feel worse about the world we live in and where it is getting. Most of my disorientation, even since I found out about the event is largely from a conflict between rage and sadness tinged with cynicism.

I got way more emotional than I usually do because of the number of friends, etc who checked on my well-being thinking I may have been in Boston. For one who sat in the safety and comfort of his home in Bangalore, watching the race on TV, that was quite overwhelming.

I can only commiserate with the families and friends of the victims (both dead and injured) in Boston (and for that matter in Iraq) y'day and hope that things will improve.

I did run this morning since that is pretty much the only remedy which works to clear my head. I can't say it worked perfectly but I know I'd be worse without it.

Here's hoping for a better future.

Run safe everyone. Be nice to each other. At least, don't be nasty if you can't be nice.

The world is a better place without so much ill-feeling. Running is one way to keep it so.