Day 5

7:36 A.M.

17th Janurary

Before leaving for the field today I had thought I will have to start it on a disappointing note that I couldn't  manage to continue with this routine for 5 consecutive days, but I don't feel much disappointed now that I am back from the field. Maybe it will develop into a consistent theory of how jogging has a positive affect on me after having a history of immense disappointment with global state of social/economic/political affairs (aah, it would have been adequate to simply put it as human affairs, except for those related to the field of science and arts) perhaps subject to the time of jogging. 

I guess from now on I will mostly focus on the changes taking place both in my body and in the external environment. As before, I was able to jog for 2 full rounds without much of a pain (still with some effort, though) and actually went ahead for a short (both in terms of intensity as well as traversed length) sprint. And I did have something last night. But then, I didn't have something yesterday afternoon, so again, nothing in favor of an interesting conclusion. 

I think I was fortunate to have thought of bringing my camera on my previous visit to the field as by the time I had reached the field today it was already a daybreak. I couldn't see the sun, though, as its cloudy. If I don't manage to start off early in future then those pictures of sunrise will be only ones that I will have with me of this season. I also didn't spot the moon today. And I could hear the birds chirping, something which I didn't notice before. I also noticed that while small birds traveled in a flock, the larger ones (crows, for e.g.)

(1) didn't seem to be traveling much and (2) were mostly on their own. 

Before entering the field today all the 4 dogs at its entrance, except for the brown one, were up. It seems that the black fellow is a son/daughter (common, I didn't feel obligated to check !!) of the white one. Its also interesting that 3 adult (more or less) dogs are sharing a common territory. I don't know enough of a dogs' group dynamics but I do know that when alone they are, I suppose like other animals, very territorial. 

As for homo sapiens, for the first time I saw another guy already jogging before I had arrived and another guy just entered the field before I left. 

Right now I can hear a train's horn (there's a railway crossing at our campus' entrance gate) and it seems like a big train since I can still hear the sound vibrations of its running wheels.

It will be interesting to see how many of these observations form a recognizable pattern over the coming months assuming I am able to stick to this routine.

Day 4

7:44 A.M.

14th January

Am afraid I will have to again end this blog soon. Today I brought my camera with me to the field hoping to capture the rising sun and click some pics of the field. That consumed more time than I had expected. But the pictures have turned out good it seems. :)

Today am not really in the mood to write more about the advantages of following this routine. Its been a good start for my day and that's it. Oh, one thing I would like to mention which might be of some use to people who contemplate starting a similar thing is related to the adaptability of the human body. As I had mentioned earlier, I had stopped engaging myself in long durations of rigorous physical activities for more than 2 years now (heck, the only such activity I can remember is while traveling : Kanpur-Chandigarh and Chandigarh-Kanpur when I carry my heavy luggage !). But I used to be reasonably active before that - I was part of my institute team of Table Tennis (I know what some of you might be thinking but trust me, if you really play this game hard enough it can be as much exhausting as many outdoor sports). But ever since I stopped engaging in some rigorous physical activity I started putting on weight which I eventually found did make it more difficult to re-engage myself in such an activity independent of reasons such as limited time availability. And over time I also developed this apprehension that perhaps it will not be possible for me to again come back to my original form. I am still not sure of that but today there was some improvement in my experience of jogging. 

I was able to complete 2 full rounds of the field (well, actually not exactly the full circumference but a route which I have adopted which is about 60% of the circumference, anyway it doesn't matter for the point am trying to make) without feeling any kind of pain/contraction in my lower and side abdomen unlike the previous 3 days. The first day I was able to make barely 1.5 rounds, the other two days, with some conviction, I completed 2 rounds ending up with short durations of pain/contraction in the lower and side abdomen. However, today I felt little signs of that. I suspect if I had continued running maybe it would have again showed up. Also, I want to add that today was slightly different as I had not eaten anything after getting up last night, unlike on previous 3 occasions when I had been taking a cup of tea/coffee with a baysun ka laddoo). I am not sure whether it was because of my empty stomach that I was able to jog well or its a sign of my body beginning to adapt to the new routine. I think I am going to test it by eating something after waking up today late night and see what happens. 

So I guess I dont have conclusive results. Maybe after a couple of days I shall get some. 

For now, enjoy the pics !

The entrance of my hostel facing the football field.

The entrance as it appears from outside the hostel.

 The entrance to the field. I see them every day sleeping by the entrance. They were still asleep when I entered the field and by the time I was done it was probably their time to wake up.

The above pics were taken when I was leaving the field. These pics where taken earlier when the sun had not shown up.

The roof of the the new indoor gymnasium.

I have been spotting the moon almost vertically above the field for 4 consecutive days. 

These are a series of shots that I took when I spotted the sun rising. 

 

 

Some building construction is taking place. I managed to click a good one with the sun in the backdrop. :)

 

This was taken just before I left the field and called it a day.

Day 3

7: 38 A.M. 

13^th January

I just closed some Firefox web pages I had opened about an hour ago on Iran-Israel conflict (one of them was actually a research paper in JSTOR) without reading further. Any explanation for this has got to do with the psychological change induced in me after coming back to my room after jogging and doing bit of stretching in the campus’ football field. It may seem hard to imagine by most of the undergraduate students of IIT Kanpur who consistently don't wish a class to be held at 8 A.M.  especially during winters, for the four years of their stay (of course, assuming they give a shit about attending classes) ! Though I am not a UG student anymore, I am myself surprised by this venture which has entered its 3^rd day. You see, it has been more than 2 years now that I have done this kind of thing. I mostly owe my extended lassitude to my sleeping habit in the past which, only about a week ago, has changed and I find it awesome – I take my 6-8 hours of ‘recommended’ sleep from 6 (+/- 30 minutes) p.m. till 2 (+/- 1 hour)  a.m. I not sure how many people have tried it (or were forced to adopt it like me) but it has proved advantageous to me for a variety of reasons:

First things first – I can finally tell my parents, especially my grandmother that I have been taking my breakfast regularly without feeling guilty of lying, which used to be exasperated by thinking how much my parents are concerned about my health and how I am not living up to their expectations. I can talk with my parents on phone without feeling uncomfortable when the conversation tends to transform into an interrogation about my health and my endeavors in keeping it well.

Second, it has a positive effect on my frame of mind. Well, yes, its effects begin to wear off when I read the news (and I want to now quickly stop myself from elaborating this!) or when my thoughts begin to wander towards issues related to our malfunctioning society, but it still feels much better to have significantly more unforced moments of conscious obliviousness to homo sapiens’ crap.  

Third, I have now started going to the library after having my breakfast which, in the past, I didn’t feel like doing. Library is one of the places which, again, seems to have a soothing effect on me under appropriate conditions which I think are very much satisfied at this stage. I need to carry my laptop with me to read soft material related to my research and for searching the relevant ones on the internet but it doesn’t run on battery anymore and so I have to rely on external power. Now, there are not too many ports available in the library for my power cable and even lesser ports which are at locations I prefer to sit (I think those who are/have been frequent visitors of our library must have/have had some preferable/favorite sitting spots) and where the wireless network is strong. Going to the library at such an early time gives me the advantage of being able to locate that place every day now for the past 3 days.

... well I feel hungry now and will end it here. I had quite a few more interesting things to share which I will probably do tomorrow. I also hope to upload some pictures!