My Panchakarma Virechana Experience

I lay down face up on the bare bed, stark naked except for a cloth barely covering my privates. My hands are stretched far out to one corner, warm oil drips onto my starved and somewhat weakened body, from legs to the torso to the arms. Then, in pressurized machine like manner, he massages up and down and in circular fashion swishing the oil and squezzing my organs. As my skin stretches and my skeleton offers meek resistance, I close my eyes into submission...

For a couple of years now we have been trying Ayurveda – during Sh’s pregnancy, to battle my daughter’s asthma and incessant coughs and colds; with good success. Our confidence in Ayurveda’s holistic healing approach and our friendly neighborhood Ayurveda doctor (Dr. Nayana) has only grown since.

I tried to apply Ayurveda to cure a skin eczema that I have been having for the last 12years or so. The steroid based allopathy medicines don’t get to the root cause.

After a few months of some mild medicines and kashayam, my doctor suggested I “treat” myself to a full Panchakarma Virechana detox program to get rid of any Pitha dosha that may be causing this. It was the most I have spent on myself in a while, but I decided to give it a shot.

The best part of the whole exercise was the suspense factor. The doctor modifies the phases as per the reaction to the current & previous phases. It pans out one step a day. In my case, I was in constant consultation with my doctor on Whatsap. So it was more one “ping” at a time. I had no idea how the massage phase would be, no clue on the purging process, etc, only knew that it would go on for 12 days.

Preparation phase – 3 days

This was perhaps the easiest. I had to take digestive medicine Chitrakadi Vati for 3 days and have easy-to-digest home cooked food. Curd and fruits were proscribed.

Snehakarma or Oleation Phase – 3 days

My previous experiments with intermittent fasting & bullet proof coffee came handy here. You start your day by consuming 15ml to 50ml (increasing quantities – Shodana Sneha) of medicated ghee on empty stomach, sip warm water periodically and fast till noon, to aid the absorption of ghee. Ghee is actually euphemism, don’t imagine anything as tasty. My burping was not much but brought out the pungent taste back to the mouth. Diet for the rest of the day was only watery rice gruel (Ganji). By the third day, the boredom of not eating as per your regular schedule and the food you want got to me.

Abhyanga (massage) and Swedana Phase – 3 days

 This was the first time I had massage of any kind. Despite all the running, I have so far stayed away from deep tissue massages that are very popular with runners. The oil massage (with special oil – Shatavari + Chinchadi thailam) was an experience in itself. Taking your clothes off with just a komana to cover your vitals is in itself a quantum leap from my comfort zone. 40mins of Abhyanga, breaks more mental barriers than physical, I guess. 
I felt frail as I got off the massage table. The body is but on rent, take care of it enough to lead a happy life, don't be too attached to it, it is on rent after all.
Swedana / sweating follows for 15mins in a steaming chamber. I liked the Paanamrutha after the massage. The relaxation of the massage comes at the cost of dietary & sleep restrictions. Rice is ok, No Urad / Toor daal, no fermented foods, no coffee / tea – rules out a lot of staple food. Pongal with tadaka & tomato rasam (without daal) were my treats. I figured if you take a deep breath of coffee decoction and drink green tea, it comes close to actually drinking coffee. And, don’t relax too much, so you fall asleep - Sleeping during the day is prohibited.

The core of it all – Virechana Phase – 1 day (thankfully!)

This is the actual purgation process. The idea of the previous phases is to loosen the Kapha rooted in the organs, gut and intestines. The idea of Virechana is then to purge this out of the system via the anal route.

I was told that on this day, after the massage, a kashayam is given and within one hour, the urges will start. One would have urges for about 15 times during the day. You are only allowed to sip warm water till evening when the purgatory process is over. Simple, right? But the actual day was quite miserable.

The massage, medicine (one bowl of chamanprash like porridge) and a glass of diluted kashayam were actually nice, quite contrary to what was to come.

Within about 30mins, the medicine started doing its thing. The urges came in 30mins intervals to start with, then more frequently. I joked that the timing chart looked like my 5K split timings, precise to start with. S said it was closest to an edema-like feeling I will ever get. Jokes apart, by noon, I was already into double digits. By 3pm or so, the very idea of going to the bathroom was nauseating. Surprisingly, the last thing on my mind was hunger – I had lost the wish to eat, anything! By 4pm, the doctor gave the go-ahead for a bath and eat some Ganji. Finally by 5pm or so, after some 16 purging sessions, I was done and hopefully, the Kaphas have left as well.

Samsarjana / Recovery phase – 2 days

For the next couple of days, my weakened digestive system should be given time to recover slowly. More dietary restrictions, starting with Ganji, then moving to Pongal, rice and rasam for the second day. One the third day, I am allowed to eat fruits and get back to regular diet.

I am yet to figure out if this cures my skin eczema issues. My initial reaction is relief that I am nearing the end of this. I certainly feel light, I have lost 4kgs in this period. You are what you eat, there is no doubt about it. Do I recommend it? Yes.

Do challenge your body to move out of your comfort zone, and if the purging process comes with the multitude of benefits that it claims, you have more reason to do it.

The Wipro Chennai Marathon 2017

A few days before the Chennai marathon on Dec 3^rd, I had a cousin Dr. G pay us a visit. A great conversation ensued and it felt like my 50 year old self had time-travelled, paid a visit to give some wisdom to my 30 year old self (yes, that is what literary freedom is for. You are allowed to understate). I shall try to put my Chennai marathon experience through this kaleidoscope.

1.       Invest in your health – I try to keep working towards a running goal and pick up healthy habits along the way. This year has been one of consolidation of some of these habits – along diet, sleep & mileage. Moving away from “English” medicine to getting back to traditional kashayas and Ayurvedic medicines and home remedies.

I signed up for the Chennai marathon, to run this after a gap of 5 years, in a bid to fill the void after the Bengaluru marathon. I was looking to extend the benefits of a good training season this year, keep my weight in check and take another shot at a Personal Best.

I had 6 weeks to train, but was struggling with congestion in the chest for most of this period. The weather had turned quite cold and the rains were incessant.

2.       Live your life, Live in the present – I wear multiple hats; each day I’m an amateur athlete, a cook, a maid (what is the masculine for this?), a chauffeur, a business analyst, a father, a son and husband. I break stereotypes – we don’t have a maid, a cook, a driver, a baby sitter (do you know professional cuddling is one of the highest paid jobs?). We upkeep the house, cook & do the dishes, the laundry, the pressing, a wipe down the car ourselves. I even do my own haircut (and now my son’s) for the last 10years. Don’t let anyone tell you how you should lead yours. Don’t lead the life that your mom wants you to lead, your kids, your spouse or your boss wants you to lead. Live your life.

As always, I took the train, an open/unreserved ticket in the general compartment to Chennai on Saturday morning. I love the vibrant energy that is in a Gen compartment. There is no room for pretensions here, no flab, stripped down to the basic need of getting to the destination and whatever comes with it. Super crowded, not crowded, adjust-ments, suborn fights, smiles, laughs, stories, new perspectives – all of it at a cheap ticket cost. (See, no mobile phones and no tablets)

Right from the 4am start, I tried to run mindfully. I’m also mindful of my breathing nowadays, after reading ‘The Oxygen Advantage’. I only breathed through my nose, except for the last km or so during this run. I kept an easy pace, although a bit slower than target, almost right from about 15km or so, I tried not to worry about the finish time.

For most of the run, till 36km, I kept pace with the lead woman runner (in black stripes tee in the pic) who had a couple of bicycle escorts, made sure I wasn’t bored. I had 2 Fast and Up gels for this run and constantly fed myself bananas and chikkies. The HMers merged with us at 32km, I must have lost focus on my form about here. From 36km, I slowed down a bit to keep off some cramps. In hindsight, I should have tried to run through it, I had nothing to lose. Another day, perhaps.

3.       Count your blessings – I finished the marathon in 202mins, 2mins over my target. But I try to focus on the 180mins that I ran well and not on the 20mins that I didn’t run so well. I feel His love and blessings. I tried to smile, wide, ear to ear on many stretches during the run. Amongst other things (like a good running pic), it helps with running economy, you tend to use oxygen better. I ended up finishing 26^th overall. After the finish, a colorful medal and good hot breakfast (of idly upma, Pongal, sira and sundal), I was able to run up the steps (on the double) to the train station to catch the local to the parking lot. Again, I took the evening train back to Bangalore that very evening (was lucky to hop on to a sparsely crowded train and stretch my legs).

4.       Build relationships / Connect – Any marathon is a great occasion to catch up with the running fraternity. I met Suresh, Partha, Bobby, Sampath and Vatcha after the run, in addition to many familiar faces during the run itself. Chennai runners (the club) – the soul of the Chennai marathon, volunteering at every water station made sure there was a lot of cheering and motivation en route. I love the support that I get as my in-laws putting all sops to make me feel comfortable, pre-race and post.

5.       Make a bucket list – Next year, I will make an effort to build some bridges, I plan to invest more in relationships. I’m not where to start, but I will try to put a bucket list up!

Thanks Dr. G, to have made the effort to drop in and spend time.

Coming Soon - Long Hair and Lean Muscle. Stay Tuned!!!

SPBM 2017 - Infographic Report

Pacing Strategy for Malnad Ultra 2017

Over the last few days I have been getting enquiries on how to pace for the Malnad Ultra 2017. Given that I did this last year and have a fair sense of the trail and remember a lot(you can get a runner off a trail, but never a trail off the runner), I thought I should put it to some use.

The net elevation last year was 2850m, this year it is 3497m. It will be a tall order.

Distance (km)	2016 course for 110k	2017 course for 110k	Pacing strategy	M=7min/km, marathon finish = 5hrs (mins)
0-10	Down from K-top	Down	M pace + 1.5min/km	8.5	85
10-20	Up	Up to Summit	M pace + 2.5min/km	9.5	95
20-30	Down to Lalbagh	Down	M pace + 1.5min/km	8.5	85
30-40	Down	Down	M pace + 1.5min/km	8.5	85
40-50	Up to Summit	Uphill	M pace + 2.5min/km	9.5	95
50-60	Down	Uphill	M pace + 2.5min/km	9.5	95
60-70	Down	Down	M pace + 1.5min/km	8.5	85
70-80	Down to Lalbagh	Steep climb & down	M pace + 2.5min/km	9.5	95
80-90	Up	Rolling up & down	M pace + 2min/km	9	90
90-100	Down	Rolling up & down	M pace + 2min/km	9	90
100-110	Up to K-top	Rolling up & down	M pace + 2min/km	9	90

Legend (how to read the table): The ones in red and highlighted are for the 50k (also the course from last year). The ones only in red are for the 80k and the entire table for the 110k.

So, if you have been doing 5hr for a marathon, target 16.5hrs for the 110km. This gives a sub-total of 12hrs for 80km and about 7.5hrs for the 50km distances.
These are, of course, very aggressive timings and you should add rest times, eating times and budget for some slowing down due to running in the dark. Give yourself 2hrs or more, if needed to cover these.
Drop a comment, if you need specific information. I will try and help as much as I can.
That said, just go there and enjoy the run

Ps: I am not running it this year, and the course has changed this year, so please take this with a handful of salt (& enerzal, etc.)

Silverware shopping at SOW 2017

One rainy Sunday morning,

• our dear friend wakes up in the middle of the night (read 3am)
• to ride to some obscure location in the middle of nowhere (just because it's called NICE road, does not mean nothing)
• to add his own little mountain dump (yes, single sachet wet wipes are his best friend on "crappy" mornings)
• to run some random distance 21.1km (this is where Queen Elizabeth comes in)
• with some random (or little) competition (the guy who beat me at my 12hr Ultra also beat me here).

In the end my Silverware shopping bag, looked more like a provision shopping - perfumes (for men and women, mind it), pad (not the iPad types, the kinds that come with a pen - also branded W*pro), liquid detergent, fabric conditioner, toiler soap, handwash, coffee mug, Deo (both spray and roll on) and light bulb!!!

Welcome to Spirit of Wipro half marathon 2017.

This race used to start from the Wipro Sarjapur campus when it started, and then moved to the Electronic city campus. Now they moved the "Spirit..." to the monotonous undulating concrete road some 20kms from civilization. I shouted out to Sampath (who led from the word go) and we spoke for 20secs, then he took off. I spoke to Brojen for another 20secs and then I took off. That was it, I ran alone for all of the rest of 88mins to finish second in 1:28:52

My second podium of the year, the first one coming after running a 100k, hopefully the next one will be a distance in between - bring on, Bengaluru Marathon.
Many thanks to Sanjeev and Gokul for helping out with the registrations as always!

Q&A on the 12hr Stadium Run 2017

Thanks for the overwhelming response to the FB survey asking for the questions you needed answered about my stadium run this year. With great difficulty I have shortlisted 4 questions (of the 4 asked 😉 ) to address in this post...

Q1: Would like to hear from you about the secret behind such enormous reserves of energy which sustain your pace for such long?

“One of the beautiful things about running is that it is direct and elegant. The formula is simple: put one foot in front of the other. It doesn’t take much to figure out that if you want to improve sprint speed, you run faster. If you want to improve distance-running performance, you run farther.”
― Bernd Heinrich, Why We Run

The last 2 months, I bumped up mileage to over 100km a week, with back-to-back long runs during weekends. It helps to have Nandi hills in your backyard - http://visorview.blogspot.in/2017/06/nandi-in-my-backyard.html. You can read that post to give you a flavor of the training for this one. For me, I have to put in the miles to have the confidence to dig deep on the race day. 

Q2 (3,4,5?): What runs in your head? What are you thinking over these 12 hours? Is it only the end goal that keeps a runner going? Or is there a methodical thought process that works with the legs and the body?

The thoughts are really all over – the biggest ones are body sense (how you are feeling), the mathematics (how long / pace are you doing, what is the target left, etc.), the water/electrolyte & food intake.

Then there are many other thoughts – about family, friends, about life in general, about the gifts that God has provided. I even did a few laps chanting out “Hare Krishna” mantra. I also periodically did a few positive affirmations – about how strong I felt and how the cramps wouldn’t come.

Allow me to break it down:

6AM to 10AM 100 laps – 40k

The conditions were great, I had Santosh warn me about going too fast after about 3hours or so and I slowed down. I had my breakfast, set dosa rolled with chutney and had this on the track while on walking breaks.

10AM to 1PM  67 laps – 27k

It was beginning to get hot by now. 50k in 5hrs, 58 in 6 and 67 in 7. Some cramps were beginning to come now and I had worked myself a run-walk pattern, walking for about 50mts every lap. Sometime now, I told Santhosh I would try and walk for the next 2hrs to conserve some energy. He advised me to continue to run-walk. I decided to keep a pattern – run the straights and walk the bends. At the mandatory medical check, I was a 110 sugar levels & 90/110 BP.

1PM to 4PM 47 laps – 19k

The sun was at its glory during these few hours. I continued to run the straights and walk the bends (almost till the very end). And poured water on my head almost every other lap to cool me down. I did well to grab a plate, got some curd rice and eat while I walked. I added 3 loops with curd rice, before the race director, Nagaraj asked me to get the plate off the track!

I kept telling myself that I trained hard for this. There were occasional pulls and I went to the physio tent twice or thrice, told them specifically which area to stretch and was out within 5-7mins each time.

Q3. What were you telling yourself in the last few hours when your body is begging for rest?

4PM to 6PM 42 laps – 17k

I had gone back and forth about wearing my Garmin forerunner (GPS watch, for the uninitiated) for this run and finally decided to go with it (thankfully). The battery did a personal best as well – it lasted all of 12hrs! At 4PM, my Garmin showed 88km. Jaggi warned me that there could be a difference in the laps, the announcements were not too frequent to be relied upon. I checked with Nagaraj Adiga (the race director who never left the track) and he said I had 214 laps (~86k). To complete 100k, I needed another 36laps in 2hours – stiff target but doable.

So, the last couple of hrs were really very mathematical, counting down, making sure that the muscles were still relaxed. I did not want to get ahead of myself and kept to the easy paced run-walk routine. During this hour, my boss, Ravi had come over to cheer me. My family and my best pal, Tima joined at 5. Bobby informed me that I needed 16laps in the last 1 hour. Lap after lap passed, before I knew I had 6 more to do in 30mins. When I checked with 15mins to go, I was on my 249^th. It was a surreal feeling, I looked skyward and ran the entire 250^th lap, with my forefinger pointing up! I had this!

The next lap, I informed my co-runners on the track – Jaggi, Praveen, Santosh, Chandra, Mani, Vipul, Rahul, Apurba, that I had done a century. In the last few hours, it had become our combined goal. I pressed on, running the last 15mins for the podium. With still some 2 slots (and about 30 runners) yet to start the 12hrs, it could be a tough fight to the podium, although on this slot, I had secured the first spot.

And like last time, I pushed myself for the last few minutes to squeeze in just another lap. I finally finished 256laps, my Garmin showed 105kms in 12hrs. Cheers all around!

The morning after

The Sunday felt like you were the Indian team, waiting for the England vs. Bangladesh match result to see if you made it to the semi-finals. It was a close contest to the podium, and Gaaju was a worthy competitor till the 11^th hour (quite literally). I managed to get to the 3^rd place overall with a narrow 5 lap lead (now who is laughing at the dude who carried his lunch on the track?)

Q4. Don't you place key body parts like knee joints and feet let alone the heart under undue stress of running such long hours and over such a distance?

Only time will tell, better than any medical test or research. My first Ultra was a 78km run in 12:07 was ten years back. The report makes a good read, many points relevant even today - http://visorview.blogspot.in/2007/12/bangalore-ultra-marathon-2007.html. And since then, I have added another 25000kms on those knees, recovered from another torn ligament (http://visorview.blogspot.in/2015/02/je-suis-cyclist.html) and added many personal bests.

I said this in my little “speech” while we collected medals on the stage, reiterating what Coach Beedu said when he flagged off our run, “What good is it to go to your grave, not knowing what your body was truly capable of achieving”.

I don’t know if we are over-doing it (talk about running the 48hr event). Not sure if all this will add years to my life, for now, it sure is adding life to my years.

Arigato Japan - Our trip to Tokyo-Kyoto-Hiroshima

We took the plunge in the middle of chaos of bringing up 2 young kids and decided to squeeze in a trip to Tokyo (a long pending ask by my dear friend R). R&R were fantastic hosts. We got back and put all scraps together to create this scrap book. Let me know if it tells you the story!

PB at Bengaluru 10k 2017 - The tougher 10k

Bengaluru 10k on Jul 9, 2016

A PB effort at a 10k distance

A saga of a fast start,

a faster middle,

a blistering last 2k, and

a sprint at the finish

to get 6secs inside my previous best.

Finished in 39:01

Nandi in my backyard

I picked up "Why we run" by Bernd Heinrich and if the title does not already ask enough questions, there is "How does a grown up man convince himself to spend money and precious time to run himself half to death..." - a question that I ask myself multiple times, as I embark on a 8 week high volume, back-to-back weekend long run journey to my next 100km race.

So, like a mad man, I run around my neighborhood, in loops of 8k to 14k and a lot of mathematics to make up my weekly long runs of 30k, 36k, 40k and so on. But the 50k ones are the ones that matter.

And coincidentally, my house happens to be this exact same distance from this hill that I grew up looking at, on a clear day, on the horizon - Nandi Hills.

If you have read my Malnad Ultra report from last year, you know I have done this a few times now. But this year, when I google mapped "home to Nandi hills" and used the "walkin" option, it showed me an interesting back route. I have hashed with the Bangalore Hash on trails off this route on numerous lazy Sunday evenings. I tried this once early this year (including the "downhill biking trail" to the top) and got hooked!

I ended up running this route twice in 10days. First time on a Saturday morning, staring at 4am, finishing on top at 9:20, turning around immediately, putting my thumb out for a lift. Getting dropped off at the Nandi turn off point on the highway, back home by 11am.

On Ramzan holiday, I repeated this, only this time, I reached the top in 5:30, ran back to the highway turn-off to complete a 72km training run in 7:50mins. Took a "DVD bus" back to the city. And this came within 48hrs of finishing a fast paced 40k run on Saturday, on a mentally weak day.

En route, I get multiple quizzical looks, gestures, inappropriate comments. On rare occasions I get a good one, that shoots bloods into my head... must have been after 68k or so, close to noon, hot sun, this car slows down on the opposite side of the road, a guy sticks a thumbs up outside the window, then his head appears and he checks with me, if i need water...

I can do without the water and even food - I pack my camelbak quite optimally for these runs. On the 72k, I managed to do away with even the idli break, carried oatmeal in stead.

I refill water at a chai shop over some niceties with the chai shop owner, at the 33k mark. There are plenty of villages with water tanks to pour water over my head to keep it cool.

All this begs the question that we started with - Why?

As Prefontaine put it, "A race (or a training run) is like a work of art that people can look at and be affected by in as many ways they're capable of understanding". Yes, the key to appreciation is in the understanding.

TCS World 10k 2017

In case you came here wondering if I ran this - Yes, I did. I ran the 2017 edition of the running festival of Bengaluru 10k, in a personal best time of 39:07

However, despite a good strong finish, with negative splits, I am somewhat unhappy about missing a podium finish. I finished in the 4th place in my age group, yet again, making this an agonizing 3rd consecutive 4th place finish in the last 3 10k races that I have participated in.

Happy about:

• Of course, the PB - faster by 26secs from last years' 39:33
• My sister coming out to support me today, a long drive from Mumbai, sleepless nights notwithstanding. She shouted out over the din of traffic at CCD at the start and then at the finish. Thanks!
• Staving off a challenge from D from the 7th km on, sprinting the last 200m to beat Ath to the finish line
• Negative splits, some tremendous amount of grit to stay on pace and finish the race - I had (like on all my tempo runs) to overcome lots of voices in my mind to stop and let this be
• I made up 13 positions in the last 750m to finish within the top 50 overall

Unhappy about:

• A third 4th place finish, this time the gap to the podium as narrow as 7 secs!
• About not being to use the race day adrenaline to translate to race day performance
• Somewhat wavering focus. Only when I saw D over my shoulder, did I pick up my feet again to push pace
• Pre race breakfast, perhaps a bit too much - oats and 2 large bananas, heavy-ish feeling for the first km or so

Pics courtesy Marathon Photos & Geeks on Feet

 The push in the last few hundred meters will remain in memory for a bit...

 It was tough to take on Ath in the last 50mts or so, both of us were bent over and gasping for dear breath, when my sister walked across the barricade to check on us at the finish line.

I am glad its over and I can now get back to focusing on podium of those longer runs. Wish me luck!! 

Tirupati by steps

The week that was:

I passed one of those age-wala milestones earlier this month. Shreya and I were planning to climb the steps up to Tirupati temple for a while now. Her being in Chennai presented a good opportunity to do this.

There were many pieces that were falling in place in our general personal-professional mosaic, and when things cleared a bit my week looked like this:

·         Tuesday – 350k Bullet ride to Chennai

·         Wednesday – Rest day!

·         Thursday – 150k ride to Tirupati, Darshan, ride back

·         Friday – 350k Bullet ride back

·         Saturday – Train to Chennai

·         Sunday – Return with family back to base

Don’t rationalize this itinerary, I had to do the bullet ride, and a chance to do a bullet ride with my dear wife on my birthday to Tirupati was worth the effort of the yo-yo week.

Tirupati temple visit climbing Alipiri Steps

There are plenty of information on various website out there, to help you plan the climb.

What they don’t tell you:

• There is no “Information Desk” at the bottom of Tirumala (the start point of the Alipiri Mettu). Be prepared to get bits of information from security, luggage handlers, auto drivers, et al – and only in Telugu – use a lot of “Ekkada undi”
• If you need your bags to reach the top, you have to check them in at the start of the Alipiri Mettu. The security is tight, you will not be allowed to check in if there is metal, etc. My saddle bag, with some bike spares did not make it through. In any case, once you check it in, you will have to collect it once you reach the top and then stove it in lockers in another counter. Budget for time and effort for this.
• If you do not need your bags (worked for us), you need to deposit luggage at Bhodevi guest house, where there are lockers provided, free of cost. But we were harassed for ID proof photocopy, and insisted for Aadhar card (yeah, it is outside bounds of Supreme court). Be prepared to walk about half a kilometer to the guest house (in the heat, with the luggage) from the Alipiri mettu start point.
• The bike and car parking is also near Bhodevi complex, near the bus stand
• You can use footwear, but I recommend against it, purely for spiritual reasons
• You don’t need to wear a lungi or dhoti. Shirt and pants are perfectly fine – all the way
• Free lunch is served at the temple complex between 11am and 3pm only and then later in the evening
• And the big one – Once you are done with the climb and reach the top step, you have to walk on a carpeted footpath till there is no more footpath left. Then you have to a BUS! Yes, you heard right, you have to wait for a bus to take you to the start of the queue to enter the temple. These buses are run by TTD and made to look like chariots!
• You still have to get into a queue (special darshan queue for padayatris). Be prepared for long waiting time (in our case, we entered the queue at noon and were out after the darshan by 4pm. But could have easily been longer.
• There is no free transport back to the Alipiri gate

In his book, The Power of Habit, Duhigg talks about how the cue-routine-reward cycle. First, there is a cue, a trigger that tells your brain to go into automatic mode and which habit to use. Then there is the routine, which can be physical or mental or emotional. Finally, there is a reward, which helps your brain figure out if this particular loop is worth remembering for the future.

I have spent enough time on my bullet for the reward to be a craving, which is hard wired in my basal ganglia.

I went into auto mode, it was delight simply to get out the jackets, the saddlebags, the gloves. I checked the oil levels & tweaked that accelerator cable to be sure, didn’t want a repeat of that Chennai ride when I jammed cams-rocker-tappet, all for the lack of engine oil.

I started by 5, the roads till Mudbagal could easily take much more power and more speed. Of course, even having a high beam would have helped.

My intermittent fasting ensured that I could skip breakfast and ride all the way. It felt good to get an eventless ride and I quite enjoyed it. The euphoria continued the following morning. With S on the pillion, we took to good roads from Chennai and cruised along. 

One stop for breakfast, and we reached Alipiri gate in about 3hours.

But with no information kiosk at the gate, we first parked, changed, then checked in into the transportable baggage counter, then walked to the bhodevi complex, then ran around for the photocopies, then locked our bags in.

By then time we hit the first step, I was already sweating profusely and was already 8:45 or so. The first 2000 steps were the steepest and went up one hill, and then it plateaus, get into a bit of a valley, then climbs a bit more. TTD can do with using the public address loud speakers to narrate stories about the Lord.

We reached the TTD temple complex (the end of the carpeted footpath) in about 3hours. By noon, we found our way through well marked directions via Padayatri special queue. By noon, we entered a “compartment”, after having to deposit our phones. We were offered hot bisi bele bath inside. Although the notice board outside the coupe said that the estimated time for exit was 4pm, we were allowed to continue into the temple by about 2. When the queues join near the inner sanctum, we were all squeezed like sardines.

Those 10secs or so that you get the darshan as you walk in the sanctum made good all that we had to endure to get there.

In the melee, I had lost one of our biometric tickets – 3 ladoos loss!

We picked up our phones, got into private taxi that got us back to Bhodevi complex. You can’t be in Andhra and not have Andhra meals. We ate our fill of rice and pappu before we turned back to Chennai. The last 50kms of the ride was messy, dusty, trafficy and in the night. All that time we lost in mis-information could have made the finish a lot sweeter.

I totally loved the ride back.

In the end, it was a mix of adrenaline, romance, divinity, lowdowns & sweat – a snapshot, summing up the last 37 years!