vivek sekar

my friend Sriram finished the New York City half marathon and had sent a mail out about it. out of no where, i found inspiration to do the same even though his previous chat conversation about this plan never got me to think of taking up the half marathon.

the last 2 days, i have been walking/jogging close to 1 hour in the morning and evening as a start towards preparing for the Helsinki city marathon.

the search for ‘half marathon Helsinki’ in google after Sriram’s mail returned links about the Helsinki city marathon to be held on 16th august, 2008. in the site i noticed the registration fee was 75 euro’s - little on the higher side for a person trying the marathon just out of impulse and intuition - so i decided to mail them about my interest to be part of it without having to register, the mail was returned back due to some server problems in the receiving side.

a few enquiry’s later, it was confirmed that non registered participants cannot run the marathon.

what a bummer! i feel a little deflated.

the walking/jogging has been great, since i am able to get some physical exercise and the early morning and evening blood flow going. i will not be stopping this, the now so called preparation, just because i am not planning to participate (never know, may be i might pay up just to give it a try - tomorrow is the last day for registration) in the Helsinki city marathon.

its been nice, inspired, excited and feeling good - feeling bad - feeling deflated and yet feeling good. a waveform of sort i guess.

a recent sketch of the bay near to where i stay - very amateurish attempt, just to find my bearings.

some time to spare + some inspiration = “straight through the heart”

Japanese magna + time

stencil art + inspiration

from my past

the main reason for this post,
Chidu + photoshop and ‘World of warcraft’ ? = pugna (the oblivion)

 … . find out if this is needed ?

oh k, walk around … reach . right person …. ask the question …. make  decision. that’s one job done

.. …  need to critically fix … issue and make sure … not stay like this for too long, … .. find out how long it will take ?

ohh k, open window…. put question up .. wait for reply … discuss with given reply in mind … make  decision. next job done

. . ..  this needs to get in, but .. don’t want step on any toes to get this done, .. ..  find out what’s next in process ?

ohhh k, open window also walk around … put  question up and reach . right person ….. get . answers ….. get job done …. job done

striking.. .. ..similarities to a job a clerk would be doing . . . just coincidental. . . . . getting perspective into the head . helps

.. not meant to be the one that saves the human race from extinction.. nor the one that finds the radically new . . . to change life altogether…just another puny human…roaming around aimlessly in life

still addicted from childhood to .. .. food (indian) and its likes all learnt .. comfort of home …

curiosity … travel .. passion .. adventure .. getting clobbered to the ground on each attempt .. getting back on the feet….

All this helps !!!

out of curiosity i google’d my name/nick name/call tags and the results looked impressive.

vivek sekar : in the first page, only 3 links are not related to “vivek sekar” i.e. me

viveksekar : everything in the first page is me “viveksekar”, with my development work also listed. my plans to takeover the world are slowly falling into place :P.

pragnyan : well my social side on the net came to view, and expect for one link, the rest are all mine.

as for vivek : i have a long way to go up the ladder i think, never checked where the links related to mine get listed.

i am atleast not a nobody w.r.t google, but so much for my cloak of invisibilty that i needed to takeover the world :P.

at least my blog template tweaks, some reordering of links and some “favour bank” compensations has helped the cause.

the tempo of the beats pick up as the music is blaring out from the system playlist (something unlike most clubs which would have a dj controlling the songs)

but i am not able to get into the rhythm of the music, something i find very important to get me moving/dancing. a section is intoxicated enough to just shake along to which ever music is being played and a section just as eager as me to find the rhythm and get that to their feet.

i am moving along to the music but yet to dance - not the technically perfect steps for music but the let your hair down move to the music kind of dance - i am still glancing around to see the people and give myself a certain kind of boost that i am not alone it moving awkwardly. then a guy pretty much completely drunk enters the dance floor and joins his friends, his friends were part of the section of people like me searching for the comfort zone. but his presence and naturalness of the movement, i think instilled some kind of confidence into the steps of his friends and they started to move in sync to the music.

what am i in doing in the dance floor, not even making an attempt to dance? so i let go of the inhibition and just let my feelings towards the music being played out, changing each time to a simple zombie like movement to show my disapproval of the music and then onto some steps from my limited repository to show my interest in the song being played.

a glance at that one fleeting moment, reiterated that i should not be too self conscious of what i am doing and what the people around me would be thinking of. cause in the end i am in the dance floor just to enjoy my time i am outside.

these moments come by and just reassure you, what you are doing is headed in the intended direction and you have nothing to worry about.

we pull over next to a cruise ship and head to the info center. outside i eye the window for the various activities and i find a poster with a puffin, i am confused and bewildered by seeing it. Gjesvaer a port village 21 kms deviation on the way to Nordkapp, had a ferry running to a near by island housing the puffin’s and other sea bird colonies. After a quick dash lunch, we head towards Gjesvaer. driving on i am a little apprehensive of the gravel littered road and take it slow and easy, thanks to a car that over took us on the way, i gain some confidence and slowly push my comfort boundaries. some distance into the drive the turns are handled with typical ease but then the back gives away, i correct it and the realize that the tires are not meant for this road.

the light of god is shining over the fjords across the sea, a short trip towards the island and we get the first glimpse of the sea birds. a dull cloudy day does not help my and camera’s cause - set to full ISO and armed with a 300mm zoom lense, i get only blurred out images of the birds as they fly past. the ferry encircles the island as we head into the open seas, we are caught up in a swell between the calm and violent waters and the ferry goes on a roller coaster ride. we spotted puffins, cormorants, seals, white tailed eagle, black razorbills, kittiwakes, storm petrels and head back to shore.

on the way after some time in the arctic tundra, we head to Nordkapp. the road gets wider, but the side railing vanishes and the gap between road and the edge reduce. a small detour before Nordkapp by foot we head to the top of a mountain adjoining Nordkapp and get a view without much of the crowd and then get into Nordkapp, a nice touristic and consumer friendly spot. the whole of Europe is behind my ass at the supposedly northern most point of Europe. standing at the northern most point does not make an impact as much as the cliffs and the sea make an impact on me.

to help get my perspective right, i over hear a guy talking in Italian (thanks to the Italian movies and some long ago learning my brother had in Italian ) . the tone makes it clear for me, he is talking to his loved ones (his wife i am guessing).

I am in Nordkapp! we have reached the northern most point! i love you!

then one by one each biker takes a photo of himself standing in front of the globe, drinking scotch and a victory cigar. barely able to conceal their excitement of having successfully made a trip. Arun offers to help out with taking the photos but they decline and then as the talk continues. ‘They’ are from Florence (if i remember it right) and have driven on their bike’s all the.

i am all but a inconsequential spec, holding onto my dreams to guide me thourgh all things present and unpresent.

seeing the mid night sun seemed very unrealistic and so we headed out back.

a short refreshing nap at Porsangermoen in the early hours, its destination Rovaniemi. a slow and gradual transistion from the undualting plains to the flat plains, from the snaking roads to straight roads. witnessing the natural beauty by the lake sides as we are way ahead of schedule in reaching Rovaniemi, we make forceful stops just to appreciate and photogrpah.

another journey comes to an end, another addition to one of the innumerable journeys spent inside a little metal shell.