- Took a three month break from work.
- Taught at the Delhi School of Advertising.
- Stepped out of the country on my own, knowing there would be nobody to receive me.
- Flew for 14 hours (with the help of a Boeing... if only...).
- Tried skiing on my third weekend here.
- Did Snow Walking, wearing special plastic shoes that make you look like a penguin.
- After walking like one for over two hours, had my first fondue.
- Saw a professor get up on the table and jump on it, to demonstrate physical laws.
- Sat on the first bench so I could watch him as closely as I could.
- Went to a pub located on the top floor of the main block of the university.
- Played football for the first time in fourteen years (Oh yes, this qualifies. At least in my book it does).
- And I haven't seen my angel for the last 4 weeks.
Friday, February 23, 2007
for the first time
We all live in our little comfort zones. We take solace in conformity. Often building walls that stand in the way of new thoughts and different living. So I thought of making a list of all the new things I have done or experienced over the past few weeks and months, just to assure myself it is safe. And I dare say they haven't had any visible impact on my life. I still eat, sleep and fart as much as I used to. So here goes -
Monday, February 5, 2007
Lessons in Kinetic Friction!
At the start of the second week of class, we were taken on a whirlwind tour of application of physical laws to the world of sports. We discussed stuff from the basic Newton’s law of action and reaction, to some very interesting discussions on aerodynamics, float and air resistance. But the one that took the cake was kinetic friction. Not so much because of the theory itself, but because I would be exposed to its full glory in just five days from the date of the lecture.
It’s not that I have no prior exposure to kinetic friction. I still remember the day when after our evening lecture at the Aptech centre in Pusa Road, we decided to have a little dance party right there in the parking lot. So Aman put on his car stereo on full blast and opened up the boot of his Maruti 800. And there we were, dancing under the blue sky to the amusement of those who passed by. But the highlight of the day was how we kinda got obsessed with sliding on our knees. Though I had to make up a big story of how I slipped in the parking lot, coz we basically ended up with some really colourful jeans, it was quite a lot of fun; and if I may be allowed to take the liberty, I must say I did much better than some of the others. But here’s the problem, that was about 11 years back and the trick itself did not require any great skill. But you can’t say the same when it comes to skiing. With skiing, you are introduced to whole new level of kinetic force. And to the amusement of my friend Denis from Canada (Denis studies with us and incidentally is a professional snowboarder), I got my first real glimpse as to how this force can wreck havoc with your intentions.
Denis, Aditya and I traveled on the following Friday across the country to Arosa to watch the Snowboarding World Championships. While the event itself was to be staged over 9 days, we decided to go for the first weekend when the Men’s and Women’s Snowboard Cross championships were to take place. At the end of the first day of competition, we decided to finally try out doing some for ourselves. Since I saw Denis on his snowboard, I was quite fascinated and wanted to try out snowboarding myself. Thanx to some timely wisdom from Denis, who proposed I should first try and learn some basic tricks of balancing on snow coz one can hurt himself quite badly on a snowboard, I decided to pick up snow blades. Why snow blades? Simple, because they a smaller than skis, so you will probably not tangle yourself in them. And if you have done a bit of skating, I imagine you could try the typical skating movement of the feet pushing slightly towards outside alternatively. And I have done a bit of skating. A ‘bit’ coz while I could go straight quite rapidly, I never could figure out how to turn or stop. So I would stop eventually by falling! But snow the blades didn’t turn out friendly at all, and I was doing an impressive one fall in every three seconds of being vertical. Denis was most helpful and patient coz he continued to give me tips and help me stand up. He even went up and down with me on the small slope a few times on foot to make sure I don’t give up that easy. But I also suspect that he was as amused as he was helpful. Hell, he even took a video to share with everyone in class and you can hear him laughing behind the camera. And worse, he says he just can’t forget how I would actually slide backwards (obviously I didn’t mean to) with a look of doom on my face!
Had it not been for some good advise from Denis once again, my first shot at skiing would have ended at this tragic note. Denis noticed that I kept loosing balance and falling backwards. Aditya had quite finished with his skiing by then, so Denis suggested I try some skis, the real one, sine they are longer and may be able to support me from behind. By the grace of god, I finally managed to negotiate a small deal with kinetic friction. So after coming down the slope twice in considerably better mental and physical condition, I decided to call it quits for the day. So we headed back to our hotel. Denis kept looking at the video and the pictures and laughing right till he slept (hell he was laughing for quite a while even after we switched the lights off). And I resolved that I have to learn to ski well before I leave this beautiful country.
(Click the link for some more pictures, http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/tarunchow/SkiingInArosa)
It’s not that I have no prior exposure to kinetic friction. I still remember the day when after our evening lecture at the Aptech centre in Pusa Road, we decided to have a little dance party right there in the parking lot. So Aman put on his car stereo on full blast and opened up the boot of his Maruti 800. And there we were, dancing under the blue sky to the amusement of those who passed by. But the highlight of the day was how we kinda got obsessed with sliding on our knees. Though I had to make up a big story of how I slipped in the parking lot, coz we basically ended up with some really colourful jeans, it was quite a lot of fun; and if I may be allowed to take the liberty, I must say I did much better than some of the others. But here’s the problem, that was about 11 years back and the trick itself did not require any great skill. But you can’t say the same when it comes to skiing. With skiing, you are introduced to whole new level of kinetic force. And to the amusement of my friend Denis from Canada (Denis studies with us and incidentally is a professional snowboarder), I got my first real glimpse as to how this force can wreck havoc with your intentions.
Denis, Aditya and I traveled on the following Friday across the country to Arosa to watch the Snowboarding World Championships. While the event itself was to be staged over 9 days, we decided to go for the first weekend when the Men’s and Women’s Snowboard Cross championships were to take place. At the end of the first day of competition, we decided to finally try out doing some for ourselves. Since I saw Denis on his snowboard, I was quite fascinated and wanted to try out snowboarding myself. Thanx to some timely wisdom from Denis, who proposed I should first try and learn some basic tricks of balancing on snow coz one can hurt himself quite badly on a snowboard, I decided to pick up snow blades. Why snow blades? Simple, because they a smaller than skis, so you will probably not tangle yourself in them. And if you have done a bit of skating, I imagine you could try the typical skating movement of the feet pushing slightly towards outside alternatively. And I have done a bit of skating. A ‘bit’ coz while I could go straight quite rapidly, I never could figure out how to turn or stop. So I would stop eventually by falling! But snow the blades didn’t turn out friendly at all, and I was doing an impressive one fall in every three seconds of being vertical. Denis was most helpful and patient coz he continued to give me tips and help me stand up. He even went up and down with me on the small slope a few times on foot to make sure I don’t give up that easy. But I also suspect that he was as amused as he was helpful. Hell, he even took a video to share with everyone in class and you can hear him laughing behind the camera. And worse, he says he just can’t forget how I would actually slide backwards (obviously I didn’t mean to) with a look of doom on my face!
Had it not been for some good advise from Denis once again, my first shot at skiing would have ended at this tragic note. Denis noticed that I kept loosing balance and falling backwards. Aditya had quite finished with his skiing by then, so Denis suggested I try some skis, the real one, sine they are longer and may be able to support me from behind. By the grace of god, I finally managed to negotiate a small deal with kinetic friction. So after coming down the slope twice in considerably better mental and physical condition, I decided to call it quits for the day. So we headed back to our hotel. Denis kept looking at the video and the pictures and laughing right till he slept (hell he was laughing for quite a while even after we switched the lights off). And I resolved that I have to learn to ski well before I leave this beautiful country.
(Click the link for some more pictures, http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/tarunchow/SkiingInArosa)
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