Hypocritical Indian News Media - A Menace

Today's Times of India (TOI) newspaper's Chennai edition's Page-3 comes across as one of the highly disturbing printed news pages to read anytime. What you see on the right is the page-3 of TOI paper on 16-April 2011. Before you continue to read any further, please take a few seconds to give yourself time for some inferences.

A big bold article title on this page reads "Woman posts porn profile of sis on net". Right below this, in a contoured box titled "Bay Watch", there is a picture of a non-Indian girl (perhaps a tourist?) in a bikini having fun in the Marina beach with her two friends. The picture also shows a man (appears to be a local Chennai-ite) wearing a lungi (a local dress worn in India) lying down and relaxing, appearing to be watching this girl and her friends. Any idea what the caption to this picture reads? Here is what it reads as -

SUMMER DELIGHT: The Marina beach got some added colour on Friday afternoon when a group of young foreigners couldnt resist the temptation of the sun,sand and surf. Little did they know that swimming here is a dangerous pastime, but then there were many on the shore who kept an eye as they took a splash

Running in Chennai - When, What, Where, How?

Many people have asked me about running in the city of Chennai, and I've tried to give them the right information. In this article, I thought of putting down my thoughts on this subject - I hope it will be useful for many in the days to come.

THE CITY OF CHENNAI

Firstly, I'd like to give a little information about the city of Chennai. Chennai is located in the state of Tamilnadu in India. Chennai is a pretty big city and is one of the metros in India. The climate is more tropical and the temperatures average at about 30 degrees Celsius annually. The humidity averages at about 70% and the day gets pretty busy by about 7:30AM. The traffic is pretty high during the day time with the peak hours being 8:30AM-11:30AM and 5:00PM-7:30PM. The atmosphere gets pretty polluted...especially during the peak hours.

The roads in the city are pretty wide in most places, but you are sure to bump into some pot-holes in many roads. The city enjoys summer from early-March to mid-August in reality with the peak summer falling somtime in the second half of May. Temperatures during summer can average at 37 degrees Celsius, and can go as high as 44 degrees Celsius during the peak season (second half of May). The city enjoys rainfall from mid-September to early-December (or late-November), and the roads get pretty much flooded with puddles of water. The winter season is during the months of December to early-February, when the temperatures can fall as low as 20 degrees Celsius.

RUNNING IN CHENNAI

Chennai is a city that loves sports of all kind. The city has one of the best cricket teams with equal excellence in the sports of football, hockey, kabaddi and field atheletics. Running has been a much appreciated sport with a big number of atheletes into short distance running. There are big organizations like the YMCA and SDAT which have extended unrelenting support to this sport through the years. Chennai Runners is the biggest running club in the city, and with more than 600+ members, this club has been doing extensive running programs ever since 2006. I strongly urge you to visit www.chennairunners.com to know more.

As you would have guessed by now, Chennai is pretty tropical and humid most part of the year. Should you want to run in the city, I strongly urge you to carry a bottle of water or a fuel-belt. With the sun up and shining by 7AM, I strongly urge you to do early morning runs. Ideal time to start your run will be at about 4:30AM or 5:00AM, if you plan to do longer distances (>10-15kms). Also, use a good non-greasy sun block (with SPF of 30+) is advisable to avoid su burns. Chennai also has a lot of stray dogs, but with an increasing number of runners hitting the asphalt, these dogs seem to have got used to seeing people run and hence don't get into your way!

In terms of the apparel, a good running tee that breaths is something that will keep you cool and comfortable during your run. A dry-fit tee is what I would strongly recommend. With the city traffic being high, it's a good practice to run on the right side of the two-way roads...against the traffic. Should you want to find out good running routes, do visit www.chennairunners.com. Also, if you are looking for a group to run with, you should join the Chennai Runners' Google Group and get updates on our regular runs!

Keep Running 'n' have Fun! Stay Fit 'n' Healthy!

Chennai Open ATP Tennis Tournament 2009

Thanks to our family friend, I got to see the Chennai Open ATP Tennis 2009 last evening. I happened to witness this wonderful mens singles semi-finals game of tennis between Marcel Granollers(ESP) and Marin Cilic(CRO), which the later won 6-4, 6-3. Some pictures can be found below.

Not sure if it was Somdev Devvarman's good or bad luck, he has made it to this ATP tournament's finals without having to fight his opponent Rainer Scheuttler, who suffered a wrist injury.

After Leander Paes(1998) and Prakash Amritraj(2008), Somdev Devvarman gets to share the limelight for being the third Indian tennis player to have reached an ATP semi-finals (and...is the second Indian player to reach the semi-finals in Chennai ATP, after Leander Paes did in 1998).

For my email subscribers who are not able to view the above slideshow, do visit my flickr page here. I'm hoping to be able to make it to today's finals match between Marin Cilic(CRO) and Somdev Devvarman(IND). Will definitely share some pictures if I happen to make it! Till then, stay tuned!

PS: Should you want to use any of these pictures, do feel free to drop me a note!

Chennai Runners presents Running Plus!!

Time has come to relive your dreams...
It's time to brush shoulders with some serial marathoners in this part of the country...
You need not wait more to talk to a sports doc about your fitness related queries...

Chennai Runners proudly presents Running Plus, a first of a kind Running Clinic in the city of Chennai! Details about this event can be found here. Do give me a holler if you need more details..

A larger picture of the above invite can be seen here.
If you are in Chennai on 10th Jan 2009, do come over!

My New Adizero - Here is how I selected my shoe..

I've dated injuries related to running for over three months now. Recently when I consulted Dr.Rajat, he diagnosed the problem to be due to ITB (Iliotibial band) in my left knee. Having said that, he had suggested me to buy a shoe that had a good support for over-pronation. He also suggested me the Adidas Nova Control ones or the Nike Bowerman series ones.

I visited the Adidas running website and went to their shoe section. I was surprised to see such a good website that was made available for customers in India (its clear that Adidas has understood the growing number of runners in the country!). The slider panel on the left hand side had three selections that would essentially take inputs from the buyer. These inputs included "Why I run?", "Where do I run?" and "What are my motion mechanics? (related to pronation)". Once I made my selections (as you see on the left), it presented me with a set of shoes that was filtered out from the entire basket.

I was presented with four different models of shoes

1. adiSTAR Control 5
2. Supernova Sequence
3. Response Control 7
4. adiZero Tempo

With this list in my mind, I decided to visit the Adidas store in my city (Chennai, India) to spend some time and buy the right shoe.

On Saturday (8th Nov), I visited the Adidas store in Chennai. Apparently, its Asia's second largest Adidas store (with the first one in Bangalore). There, I got my feet scanned with Adidas' very own Footscan™. The adidas footscan™ process is simple and it was a 5minute process. The footscan™ pad records the pressures created through your foot strike, and the software interprets this data to provide an accurate, graphic representation of your footstrike. My foot scan looked like the one on your right.

I finally tried out different models of shoes in the store, and decided to buy the adiZero Tempo. The damage to my pocket was INR 7500 (USD 158)!! I know that this is a steep price.....but I had a reason to spend. My existing shoe is worn out (I've done more than 400 kilometers in it) and I'm just 26 days away from my first full-marathon in Singapore. To top it all, I'm 'still' recovering from my ITB problem. With all of this, I cannot dare to run the Singapore marathon with the worn out shoe. I'm also a believer that when you want to achieve the best result, equip yourself with the best support system.

Well, if you are wondering about what really is there in this shoe to pay such a hefty price, here is a snapshot of the technologies it uses -

Midsole Material: Torsion® System
The Torsion® System creates stability and control and provides midfoot support.

Cushioning Technology: adiPRENE®+
Cushioning material that retains natural propulsive forces for greater forefoot efficiency.

Heel Technology: adiPRENE®
Maximizes heel protection and stability; is located under the heel to provide extra protection from harmful impact forces.

Outsole: adiWEAR®
A non-marking rubber outsole compound offering abrasion-resistance and durability.

Lacing System: Ghillie Lacing
Ghillie lacing system provides a secure and custom fit.

Some of its Unique Features are -

1. ForMotion® adjusts to the ground to bring your foot in for a smoother, more natural touchdown at high speeds
2. Flex grooves provide optimum forefoot flexibility

That's not all about it! I did something really daring yesterday with my new pair of adiZero. To know more, Stay Tuned!!

Chennai Runners on Chennai Live 104.8FM!!

It was indeed a special moment for Chennai Runners yesterday. Though we've been on many printed media publications (from newspapers to magazines), it was the first time we were ON AIR! Yes, in light of the ECR8 that we are organizing tomorrow, Chennai Live 104.8 FM, a part of the Muthoot Group invited us to their studio in Egmore, Chennai, for a talk show.

This group launched Chennai Live in July this year. The most unique aspect of this FM station is the fact that they are more focused towards rendering 'theme-based' programs to the Chennaiites. They have this morning breakfast show where they do a 'theme-based' talk show with noted personalities on the phone line and the RJ (Radio Jockey) facilitates a discussion around a subject.

Shahid, Hari and myself went to their studio at about 3PM yesterday. We were welcomed by an every-smiling Sonali, who hosted the show for us. I must admit one thing - hosting a radio show is not a joke! Yes, Sonali perfected the art of talking and more importantly 'steering the discussion' in the way she wanted it to proceed. We spent over an hour and a half at their studio, but it felt like a very short time.

After a cup of coffee, Sonali lead the three of us into the studio where we were welcomed by the sound engineer (he does a real good job with those bunch of gadgets in the studio!). We were made to sit on one side of the table, while Sonali and the engineer took their seats in the studio 'cockpit' (ah...its the name I gave...looking at the bunch of mixers and other controls). After a brief about how the show would go on and an explanation of the 'technical terms' that's used to denote a break and a recording, Sonali started off the show.

Pretty much in line with my expectations, the show was more like a talk show. We ended up having a lot of short conversations (which is termed as a 'link' in their parlance) which were recorded. We had longer conversations between these 'links' which was more of an informal chat. The show was centered around the ECR8 Run that we are organizing tomorrow on the ECR Road (starting from Mayajaal). We covered almost everything we wanted to - from the ECR8 to our history to our vision, we covered every single topic in this show (Yes, we did even talk about the 'runners and the dog chase' problems!!).

We really missed Ram, KK, Vidyuth and others on the show. It would've been a lot more fun to have you guys in the same room yesterday. Personally, I loved this experience of being on a talk show at Chennai Live 104.8's radio station. I've longed for this experience ever since I've heard the shows on AIR (All India Radio) 15+ years ago. Overall, it was a very good and a pleasant experience!

See you tomorrow at the ECR8!! As always, Stay Inspired!

ECR8 - You better Run!

Have you started to plan for the weekend? Wondering how to spend the weekend differently? Are you one of those who loves to meet people and indulge in some physical exercise? If the answer is a 'yes' to these questions, then ECR8 is for you!

We at Chennai Runners are organizing the 8th East Coast Road Run (nicknamed ECR8) on the 19th October on the East Coast Road. Here are the details of the event -
Date: October 19, 2008 (Sunday)

• Start Time: 5:15 am

• Start point: On Shore resort inside the Mayajaal compound

• End point: On Shore resort inside the Mayajaal compound

• Assembly time: 4:30 am

• Events: 5K, 10K, 15K, 20K, 25K, 30K, 35K

The registration fee is Rs.250 which will include a buffet breakfast at Mayajaal, Gatorade while you run, Aquafina mineral water, bananas. You can do a pre-registration here. We have a complete medical support system and ambulances that will ply through the course, so you are going to feel totally safe!

Apollo DKV has come forward to be the 'Associate Sponsors' for this event, and Gatorade is our 'Hydration Partner'.

So, what's still stopping you? All you need to do is to set your alarm to reach Mayajaal on the Sunday morning and enjoy the experience! We believe in the fact that running is fun, and I'm sure you'll feel the same too!

Marg Chennai Marathon - Organizers need to first get Educated on Running!

Organizing a running event is not like organizing a mela! Its not about colorful balloons and celebrity speeches. Its not about hoardings and advertisements. Its about dedicated understanding of the sport - Inside Out.

Marg Chennai Marathon organization is like selling an expensive car without any after-sales support and service! The organizers got sponsors, advertised really well, reached every school in the city, reached every household. But they miserably failed to concentrate on the actual event - The Run!

Based on inputs and observations, here are some reasons for the failure of the event -

1. Starting time was really really late - 6:45AM is NOT the time to start a 21kilometer run in the Chennai weather - It was humid and hot
2. Political and Celebrity intervention was unnecessary - It just increased the support ecosystem to get them safely to the event start point
3. There were no enough water stations during the course of the run - Its a best practice to have water stations for every 2 kilometers (atleast!)
4. Water stations were too crowded - they were literally like swarmed beehives!
5. Water stations had nothing other than water - Its best practice to have other energy drinks and fruits, to say the least
6. Organizers' support ecosystem was absent towards the end of the three-hour period
7. Certificates were missing!
8. There were no refreshments available for runners at the finish point - water is the least they should have

Doing the following could've made things better -

1. The celebrities could've cheered to the crowd over a video conference showcased on a large screen
2. Started the half-marathon at 5:30AM
3. Have water stations for every 2 kilometers
4. Water stations should've been well manned by people who were associated with this sport (running)
5. Stocked water stations with fruits andenergy drinks
6. Sought the sponsorship of energy sports drink companies
7. Provided proper certificates for participants

NDTV 24X7 and the organizers made a bold claim that this event might've pulled more than a lakh participants - This is good marketing! Remember - QUALITY IS BETTER THAN QUANTITY! Number of runners DOESN'T matter. Event quality DOES matter!

The other claim was that Chennai Marathon was bigger than Delhi and Mumbai. In my opinion (and so would many of my fellow long-distance runners would say), this is NOT EVEN CLOSE to any other running event in the country. Recently, the Hyderabad Runners organized a marathon. It was one of the well organized marathons of recent times. They did not concentrate on marketing, but on the event organization. We at Chennai Runners have been doing ECR Runs every two months. We've never had a problem till date. Our participants have always enjoyed every bit of it.

Mumbai marathon has chip-based timing, medals and certificates, is one of The Greatest Race On Earth, good crowd supprt, amazing number of water points with well stocked sports nutrients. Did Marg Chennai Marathon have even one of this properly?

The list can go on for ever. But the request I'd like to make to any running event organizer is -

For God's sake, PLEASE STOP CONDUCTING RUNNING EVENTS FOR CHARITY OR ANY OTHER PURPOSE. You can associate a run with a charity, but not a charity with a run. PLEASE DON'T RUIN THE SPORT EVEN BEFORE IT STARTS IN CHENNAI.

My request to the kith and kin of aspiring runners -

Please DO NOT discourage your loved ones from running. The accident that happened today in the Marg Chennai Marathon was due to mismanagement and can also be due to the runner's lack of knowledge on running. Running is absolutely safe and very good when practiced and trained with guidance. Our country and our city has the potential to produce champion runners.

Keep Running! It's Fun!

Chennai Marathon 2008 - It Happened Today...

The Chennai Marathon finally happened today. I've never seen a crowd as big as this in Chennai ever before! There were loads of runners at both, the half-marathon starting point and the 7-kilometer race starting point. The latter was filled with more school and college kids. With my injured knee, the only thing I could (and wanted) to do was to cheer my Chennai Runners team. They were all there when I went there at 6:05AM, ready for நம்ம சென்னை run.

The drizzle at about 5:30AM played the spoil-sport. The weather got very humid, and I expected the run to be a taxing one (looks like it indeed was so). As I'd forgotten to take my camera with me, I resorted to using my mobile's camera. It's only today that I realized that Nokia E90 indeed has a really good camera! Below are some pictures...



Overall, the crowd was good. For the rest of the news, do check out www.ChennaiRunners.com shortly.

Update: From feedbacks received so far, I understand that this event was not well organized. Moreover, a 21 year-old runner apparently died in this run.

Update: Here is the link for the news on this unfortunate event.

Update: I understand that there was no adequate refreshments provided for runners. Sad to see such an unprofessional organization.

Watch the latest videos on YouTube.com

Chennai Half-Marathon - Round 'D' Corner!

I'm happy to see the Marg Chennai Marathon pulling great attention from the media and the people of Chennai. Infact, it's the first time that my parents asked me "Is there a marathon happening in Chennai on 31st Aug?" They have not asked the same question when the Chennai Marathon was held in Fedbruary this year. I'm also happy to see that the organizers Marg and Tamil Maiyyam, have taken a lot of care in putting together a good website.

All said and done, it still makes me wonder why the organizers call this a marathon, as the maximum distance it offers to the runners is just that of a half-marathon. There has been a lot of questions from friends, relatives and readers on what is a marathon distance. And, it took me a lot of time to explain to these people - what is a marathon distance and what is the maximum Marg Chennai Marathon distance. I just wish we could call this something else...say Chennai Half-Marathon? Organizers! What do you say?

Well, still, I give all credits to the organizers for having successfully created a buzz around the city. I'm waiting to see how the run goes off. We have more than 50 runners from Chennai Runners participating in this run. I'm not running because of a serious left knee injury. With another 3 days to go, I certainly do see a lot of people getting prepared to hit the asphalt on the D-Day. Good Luck to everyone...especially those First-Timers who have made up their mind to start a healthy life!

Run Chennai, Run!

Chennai Marathon curtain raiser on 24th August

Chennai Runners is doing a curtain raiser to Chennai Marathon tomorrow. You can find the details as below. If you are running the Chennai Marathon, and looking to share some pre-race tips or get some from seasoned marathoners and runners, do make it a point to come over and run with us. We will also be doing car pooling from Dimensions Gym. If you want a ride, pl. assemble near Dimensions by 4:30 AM sharp.

We are expecting some media coverage tomorrow of our run. (from The Hindu)

Date: August 24, 2008
Assemble by : 5.00 a.m
Start Time: 5.15 a.m (sharp - We got to start at this time to minimize exposure to chaotic traffic and resultant pollution).
Starting Location: Elliots Beach (Near Cozee Corner / Police Outpost)
Route: Chennai Runners - Elliots Half Marathon (Pl. browse the link and familiarize yourself with the route.. straight forward one..)
Distance - The total distance is about 21.1 kms but you do what you are able to.. and remember.. you can always Do More but for that you need Start Running

Chennai Runners' Third ECR Run

It was 2:45AM and the alarm went off on my mobile! Being a guy who normally puts the alarm on a snooze, it was a contrast today - I was bright and active at 2:50AM! Having mentally prepared for the 30Kms run, it was just the reaction expected of me. Left home at 3:30AM and drove down to Dimensions gym, where we Chennai Runners planned to meet up and car pool to the ECR Toll Booth (which was our planned start point for the run).

It was 4:05AM and we started our drive to the ECR Toll booth. Ram joined me in the early morning drive and we reached the destination just in time at 4:30AM. Having done our pre-run conditioning, we got prepared for the BIG Run! Vidyuth briefed the volunteers of their modus operandi. We began our run at 5:00AM sharp, after Ram and Hari briefed the runners of safety instructions.

It was pitch dark on the ECR road with no street lights at all! I started off in full swing and managed to stay up to my expectations for about 15Kms. Rupert, Hari and Shumit whizzed past in the very beginning and were the leading runners. Ram and Ashvini were the others to go past me later followed by Anuj and Abhijit. I did not wear my iPod and it was a nice experience in the morning....enjoying the sound of silence and insects and the sight of darkness all around us.

There was a point at about 10-12Kms when I was kind of running out of mental fuel. KK came to my rescue with his company and some motivating words. We chugged on for a kilometer and a half, and then KK went on his own. It was then when I bumped into Rajesh. That was the beginning of a wonderful experience - Pushing the limits! Me and him kind of pushed each other's limits in a very unique way. Initially we walked for about 800meters. Then he started to jog...I continued to walk. Then he started to walk....and I started to jog to get past him. So this activity continued all the way to Mamalla, and we made it to our destination! We actually went past our destination by a kilometer and then realized we missed out. But to our pleasant surprise, we had our dear friends Mr. Ravikrishnan and Mrs. Savithri Ravikrishnan, who volunteered help through the entire run and gave us a ride back to Mamalla Resorts. Thanks to you Mr. & Mrs. Ravikrishnan!

Puffing and panting...and a sigh of relief and achievement were some of the expressions that was found in most of our faces when we gathered at Hotel Mamalla Resorts (about 3 kms before Mahabalipuram). It was Bliss!

Some lessons learnt/observations:

1. Running on the roads where there is a curve/bend in the road is slightly challenging. The banking on the road puts uneven pressure on the knees
2. Running is a Mind Game, and not just a Game of Physical Fitness!
3. Camaraderie can take a team a very long way. Run as a team and reap the benefits!
4. If you feel tired after a 10-15K during a 30K run, try doing Power Walking or just keep chugging on without lifting the feel much off the ground. It helps!
5. Take an energy drink like 100 Plus or Gatorade with you in a bottle/fuel belt. It can push you thrice the distance as much as what plan water can
6. Arm and shoulder movement helps propel your body ahead and helps you shove through the wind blowing in the opposite direction
7. Be Positive! Never think you will get injured...the very thought might injure you!

Find today's run on MotionBased here and here.

You can also find some good running routes in Chennai on the right hand side of my blog, under "My Running Trails".

Happy Running!

Running Routes in Chennai

I've seen many people asking me - "Do you decent running trails in Chennai??" or "You do road running in Chennai? Have any good trails?"

Hence I thought of posting all my Chennai running trails under a section "My Running Trails" in my blog. Please check this out. You can pick any one of them based on the distance you are looking at. Most of them will be loops, as I find loop running very interesting and also helps beginners run along.

Happy Running!

Anyone ready to Challenge me in doing this feat?

Hop into your car (be it a Maruti, a Honda City or a Mercedez)...Turn On the ignition switch....drive it stylishly into the city roads....spot a nice vehicle (like a Mahindra & Mahindra Jeep or a Eicher Tractor)....set your car right behind this mini truck....Smile!.....transfer your weight to the accelerator peddle and ram the mini truck with your car :-)

Wondering what I'm talking about? Ahh, thats something I did this morning - rammed a mighty Mahindra Bolero with my baby Hyundai Santro! No....it was not to find a place in the Guinness Book!...it was a road accident.

Having said that, an accident report is never complete without the cops, and in India, a story that involves cops and accidents is never complete without money! To put it in simple terms, cops in India are closely associated with bribe. And, I had my first experience (hopefully the last!) today.

It was about 09:40Hrs when the accident happened. Both the vehicles, my car and the monstrous vehicle I'd hit, were made to clear the road and we had to park the vehicle on the road side. I was filled with shock and darkness on seeing my lilliputian car's front portion damaged like a boxer's face. The bonnet was smashed and so was the front bumper and the headlights. It was about 10:00Hrs when the police investigation team arrived at the spot and noted down the details of both the vehicles involved. A cop from the investigation team then got into my car and we drove down to the local police station.

The police station investigation cell was nothing but a thatched room with walls made of a material that had more of earth and less of bricks. The sunlight entered the room through the entrance door only. The room adjacent to this cell was a resting room for cops - found 4-5 cops in there resting (seemed to me like four buffaloes in a contamination bin). I was asked to wait outside this cell for more than an hour. Its been a cloudy day today, and the humidity was in its highs. I was called in at around 11:10Hrs.

The Sub-Inspector of Police for that jurisdiction asked me to sit on a bench on the other side of his wooden table. This was his opening statement - "Sir, where are you working?"...to which I said "I work at Alwarpet". (Not getting what he wanted to know) The Sub-Inspector again asked "Which company are you working?"...and I said "IBM". He immediately asked me "What role do you play?"....(Ahh, he has finally narrowed down!)..and I told him "I am a programmer and lead a small team" (to underplay. Giving my real role will raise the bribe-bar!). Then he told me "Sir, there are two options - either you can go to the court and pay a fine, which will take you a lot of time and money. I can help you in a better way too - you can pay the fine here and finish the formality in 5minutes". (Ah, that revealed the money-hungry cop) I told him that I would prefer to finish the formality at the very moment in the station. (That brought a smile on the cop's face) He said "Okay Sir, you will need to pay a fine (for a cop, this term that refers to bribe) of INR 2000." I ended up paying the fine.

This was not all! Then came the driver of the vehicle ahead of me - "Please do something for the damage. My vehicle owner will otherwise take it from my salary"...I told him that I can pay a mx of INR 500 (as it was just a step that was broken in his vehicle). But the driver insisted that it would cost more and that the owner would deduct the amount from his salary....he claimed that he was the bread runner for his family. (Oh, that triggered the humanitarian in me) I agreed to pay him INR 1000.

Thats not all! The cop was now wondering how to make more money! He then took that driver into task for not having an insurance for the vehicle (which seemingly expired in February this year). By this time, I had received my Accident Report Certificate, which I needed to claim motor insurance for the repair. Opportunity strikes only once! I told the cops and made my way out of that dingy investigation cell!

Net-Net, I had to spend INR 3000 for bribe and compensation (which will never get into the hands of the driver!) for getting a certificate of accident. I take this opportunity to give a few tips to the readers (in case you ever happen to fall into such a situation, which You Will hopefully Not!):

1. Firstly, stay really cool. This helps you tackle the situation really well
2. Approach the other part involved in the accident, and propose for a compromise (if you have hit them from behind) else ask him if he will bear the damage (if you were hit from behind)
3. On agreement, just say a big NO to the cops (who will manage to appear in the scene from nowhere), and tell them that you both have agreed on a compromise
4. Call up your vehicle dealership/ service station and explain them the situation
5. Drive down to your service station after duly settling the damage with the other party involved

Thanks to Hari for sharing these tips (he just called me to tell this :-) )!
Had I known this earlier, I could've potentially saved INR 2000.

A Tricky Trick - Subliminal Messaging - Its now in Indian Politics!

Power of the subconscious mind is often not considered with enough seriousness by most of us. In 1957, market researcher James Vicary claimed that quickly flashing messages on a movie screen, in Fort Lee, New Jersey, had influenced people to purchase more food and drink. Vicary coined the term subliminal advertising and formed the Subliminal Projection Company based on a six-week test. Vicary claimed that during the presentation of the movie Picnic he used a tachistoscope to project the words "Drink Coca-Cola" and "Hungry? Eat popcorn" for 1/3000 of a second at five-second intervals. Vicary asserted that during the test, sales of popcorn and Coke in that New Jersey theater increased 57.8 percent and 18.1 percent respectively.

Vicary's claims were promoted in Vance Packard's book The Hidden Persuaders, and led to a public outcry, and to many conspiracy theories of governments and cults using the technique to their advantage. The practice of subliminal advertising was subsequently banned in the United Kingdom and Australia, and by American networks and the National Association of Broadcasters in 1958.

Today, I sense something very similar to this happening in Chennai, India. DMK, the ruling party in the state has practically covered the city with posters of its supremo M.Karunanidhi and his son M.K.Stalin. Those hoardings which housed advertisements of Honda City and MRF, is today brandishing the pictures of the DMK Supremo and his son. This reminded me of the famous infamous art of advertising that used Subliminal Messaging.

With the elections approaching, the DMK has resorted to this never-before mass scale poster/ banner trick. People in the city notice these posters every time they hit the roads on their way- to office, to school, to shopping, to home, etc. Little do people realize the fact that their eyes captured the pictures of these two people more than the number of traffic signals.

I am personally against this kind of a marketing strategy, especially in the field of politics. I hope people in the city realize this and consciously take decisions when it comes to the D-Day - The State Elections. I wish this kind of political marketing is banned in the country.

Chennai Runners all set to go!

We at Chennai Runners have finally come out with our poster. Here is a copy for the internet readers. I greatly appreciate if you could pin a copy of this poster @ your office notice boards too! (Please buzz me incase you need any help)

"Search Chennai" - A Web 2.0 Portal

There are a zillion websites and web pages that offer links to various places and areas of interest in Chennai. But most of these links lead to pages that most often are outdated. What if we had a website that hosted data and information about ins and outs of Chennai - and managed by Chennaiites! ? What if Chennaiites could collaborate to both, consume and refine information! ?

"Search Chennai" is for the Newbies in the city of Chennai, or for those who are planning to migrate to Chennai from an outside location (viz., R2I). Search Chennai is a Web 2.0 portal that is designed to serve people with content and information that has been populated and refined by Chennaiites. Its a Wiki that has just been rolled out on PBWiki's powerful Wiki hosting service.

I will need help from Chennaiites in populating the Wiki with information and data. I see many people put up some really useful information in their blogs and other personal web spaces. It will be great if you could add the same to this portal too. Some basic categories of information has been created as placeholders under the Quicklinks section on the Wiki main page.

I also request everyone of you to please forward this link (http://searchchennai.pbwiki.com/) to as many Chennaiites you know. This is an effort to effectively create and harvest information about Chennai. I look forward to your support.

I also appreciate comments - good and/or bad - to this idea. Thank you very much!

Chennai Runners now runs on the Internet!

Yes, Chennai Runners has started to run on the internet - We have our own website!!

Chennai Runners is a group of enthusiastic and fun loving runners (beginners to marathoners!). We do weekly runs in the southern part of Chennai and also unique Friday "Fun Runs" in a place that is located in central Chennai.

No...we are not kidding! Nike and FitnessOne have come forward to support us in spreading the message of running to stay fit...and ofcourse the Fun in our Run!

For more information on what we do and how we do, do check out our website at www.ChennaiRunners.com

Run! Thats the easiest way to stay Fit!

Chennai Runners Homepage

We at Chennai Runners have been actively working towards getting the message out - the mantra that we have been wanting to spread to all the Chennaiites for quiet sometime - "Run and Stay fit".

As a part of our campaign, we have also started to work on a web site for Chennai Runners, which will help the world know what we are, where we are and how to join us. A few days back I'd posted a couple of logos that we created for Chennai Runners.

Today, I'd like to post the first-cut of the welcome page of our web site. I would like to get your views and comments on the web page - either by mail or on the comments section. The "picture" that you will see in the welcome page is just a placeholder for any picture that can convey the spirit of Chennai Runners - this is bound to change based on the availability of good pictures.

Oops..the screen capture seems to have got too distorted. You can click on the picture to get a better view. Else, do let me know if you would like to have a better version of the welcome page. I can point you to that if needed.

Cheers!

A Logo for Chennai Runners

Chennai Runners has finally made a century! Yes, we are 100 strong today!

With this, we are all set to float our own website, and in this attempt, we have started off with the creation of logos. Here are three of them.







Hope to see more Chennaites at Chennai Runners.

"Run!" - This is all you need to do to live healthy and long!