Pop goes the weasel

hey!

Does this happen to you? Just when you are in the midst of an outstanding workout routine, feeling as if you are just freeing yourself from the clutches of the great sugar craving and actually finding that it is being possible to lose weight, pop goes the weasel?

That's exactly what happened to me. I was in a great positive swing and had found my momentum, just when news that the Scientist's grandfather passed away reached us. We had to rush to Chennai, for the final rites and even though I ate responsibly on Friday, saturday evening saw pizza and ice cream and Sunday, I was eating chocolate and feeling sick, I ate an oily samosa in the train and yes did not do any exercise.

Surprisingly the scale this morning said 78 after seeing almost 80 on Friday morning ( I think my body has its own water retention schedules which I am yet to figure out). I will try to resume exercise ASAP, but woke up only at 7.30 this morning! This is the last week I am going to be in Bangalore. I am expecting some unexpected travel for the weekend (Sorry Prachi :( ) and will spend most of the next week soaking up in some great carnatic music and bharatanatyam dance performances. It's december and I love Chennai in december :)

I plan to hit the gym this evening, and there will be body pump tomorrow. But we all know this right:

Get fit in the gym

Lose weight in the kitchen

 

So the calorie war begins again :)



Home- Bangalore or Chennai and a medley of thoughts!

As my flight touched down at Bangalore Airport last night, I felt my heart swell with that feeling you have when you return home. For a very long time, may be even now I wonder whether I belong to Madras ( now Chennai) or Bangalore. Being tamilian and having most relatives in Madras makes me have familial allegiance to the humid, coastal city which is now literally tattered under the metro construction. The december month shows Madras in resplendent beauty with every sabha and temple sporting kutcheris (musical performances), dance programmes and upanyasams ( spiritual discourses). The weather is at its quintessential best too, with the early mornings showing a relieving dip in the Mercury. The language is mother tongue for me and even though my ears twinge when I hear the school going kids talk in a seemingly harsh dialect, I cannot help but get lost the beautiful verses of Tamil slokams such as the Shiva Puranam, Thiruppavai and Kamakshi Viruttham. I have come of that age when I know that the dance and music education education I got back in my school going days is priceless because it opens up a whole new world of joy to me.

 

But then there is Bangalore, a city with pleasant weather almost round the year. A city where you can lace up and take a run in the open parks. The city with quite a good number of lakes within. A city which is relaxed. The city where I went to school and tasted academic success. The city where I wore my first chalangai (  dancing ghunguroos), the city I became a young woman in my first legal internship, the city I came to just married to my husband, the city where late night movies became so much more meaningful because I had a hand to hold while I watched, the city where I bought my own home in and the city where my baby is growing up. Really, I cannot decide which is home to me, whether I prefer the molagai bajji ( tamil -chilli bajji) or maddur vade (kannada-with no english translation).

 

But then again Madras reminds me of my thatha's old house with a couple of mango trees, neem trees, jackfruit tree and a flower garden that yielded red, yellow and white hibiscus flowers, the orange kanakambaram (that I came to dislike as an adult), the pink arali, the white thumba poo that is Ganesha's favourite and the violet shanku poo ( butterfly pea flower). Oh and the sacred Tulasi plant? I can live in that old, cracked and vast house within my mind. My memories of those are crystal clear.

 

How can I decide the city to which I belong? My heart is divided.

 

But coming back to why I started this post - last night when my plane touched down at Bangalore, it was the surety that I was going to my home. It was pouring and the chillness in the air was welcome from the uncanny Madras heat. I was travelling alone and bought myself a subway sandwich. There was no hurry. I could go home at my ease. Nobody was waiting. I ate my sandwich slowly, told myself that chocolate chip cookie was not exactly what my body needed and patted myself for having stayed away from the inviting aromas of the Cookie Man counter at the Chennai airport.

 

This morning, I woke up in an empty home. I went for my run and came back and stretched ( a luxury - because i usually have to come back and prepare for rush hour :). Yesterday, there was a battle raging in my mind on some personal issues. I guess the 7k-run let out all the negative energy. My mind is relatively peaceful, and I guess that is where is home!

 

Friday post - body pain, upcoming long runs & the great Indian wedding!!

Friday again? Ah! My body was begging to give a break from working out this morning. I am seriously considering taking a massage once a month as a reward to all that I put my body through. Ever since I started combining my runs with body pump classes, I find that my legs hurt A LOT. Especially when I have just got into bed at night, I feel as if I have some creepy crawlies creeping through my feet (soles)- calves- thighs. There have been many many nights that I  have been unable to fall asleep because of this extreme discomfort in my legs. The Scientist says its lactic acid build up. Whatever!! I guess this is how muscles will react when they have been awoken from a life long slumber :) But I try to use some Ayurvedic oils which quickly give me relief. Otherwise, the kindly Scientist helps by pressing my legs! I told you I am lucky in that department.

 

So I stayed away from exercise today, but am now considering doing the evening power yoga class, before I hop on to the train for the weekend in Chennai. There is a family wedding next week, and some related rituals this weekend. There will be no exercise per se fro the next two days, because the mornings are going to get taken in rituals and in Chennai, and its kind of hard to exercise during any other time of the day. Yes I'd love to run along the beach, but that's another story!As a precursor, I will be doing this 10k run in early December in Chennai.

 

This weekend will therefore be family time and I plan to make a come back long run on Monday morning, because, I am pretty serious about the 12.5k I am scheduled to run at the Bangalore Ultra. I will be going back to Chennai again on Tuesday for the main wedding and reception. My sarees are lined up and so is my jewelry, and I have discovered that other thing I can look forward to in the wedding other than food! I will consciously try to stay away from indulging in every meal, and will save my calories for something I find totally exotic. I am an expert at making plans, you see and even better at non-adherence. I will leave it at that.

I guess thats all for now. All I can think of is the wedding and the fresh romance of the newly weds. It brings back many a sweet memory to me, although there is a great sorrowful story that shrouds my own wedding. That's a different story though and I cannot share it here! But life goes on, and an optimist will stay happy. Don't you think?





 

Chennai in December

A quick peek to say we are taking off to Chennai today to enjoy the music season. Since Chittu has displayed a keen ear for carnatic music, we are expecting to give him the taste of a live concert. I will back to work on Tuesday, while the Scientist and Chittu will continue to soak in beautiful Chennai in December. So I get four days next week all to myself without baby, Scientist or Maami.

I hope to watch my eating. A little nasty voice in the back of my head expects that a holiday will mean bad food choices. I hope that will not happen.

On that note, happy hols dear readers!! What are your holiday plans?