Friday, November 23, 2012

Thanks for Nothing, Thackeray!

Restarting the clock today...with a cumulative mileage of 16.5 miles

Why the reboot? Well, it's the first time that I started using the IMapMyRun app since going plant strong. Moving to a vegan diet has resulted in a weight loss of around 20 lbs. so far and that's making a huge difference in my running. First off, a 10-minute mile is now well within reach and I feel that I don't have to struggle any more. And perhaps, because, it takes less effort to get to a mile, I can run further than my usual 2-3 miles. For about 2 weeks now, I have been, on each occasion, chalking up 5 miles and ending the runs with energy left to run farther, if I wanted to. This feedback from the body is unusual and unexpected for me because I am not getting any younger with each day.

To see the band of sycophants - Amitabh Bachchan, Pranab Mukherjee, and Lata Mangeskar -- sing the praises of Bal Thackeray is really a low point in the history of Bombay. Bal Thackeray was a hoodlum and a criminal for instigating the riots against innocent dwellers of Bombay and for encouraging violence against non-Maharastrians. He was a self-confessed fan of Hitler and his own actions certainly proved that he was a fascist. Love takes years and generations to take a foothold in the hearts of people -- intolerance can whisk away that feeling with one incident of insensitivity and violence. Thackeray was a low life who held people hostage by exploiting the darkest of their animal instincts. We only hope that with his departure, intelligent people will reflect on the destruction that he wreaked on one of the greatest and most diverse cities of the world, Bombay and say "never again." That thought is regrettably lost on the obsequious Mr. Bachchan.

Two articles that I stumbled into the other day:
Peace...and here's to the turkeys that gave the chopping block a slip on another Turkey Holocaust Day - November 22, 2012.