Iron Man

It was a Friday (02/13/09)...

I hate earlier part of Fridays... Timesheet, offshore hours matching, status report - i hate these words... Many times i used to think what is the need for these status report... யாருயா இதெல்லாம் கண்டு பிடிச்சது? Oh we need to see where we actually stand.... Crap... At the least to get rid of this i need to go back to India.... I thought of completing all this junk work before noon so that i could do some other rubbish work afternoon... At last completed everything before noon...

Post lunch session - If you don't have any useful work after lunch, then one can experience dreamless slumber.... Even if you try to concentrate on your monitor, you will just see tortoise mosquito coil whirling inside it... Yeah I had the same feeling.... I tried to hear some heavy metal rock to make me awake.. No use... None can fool the nature... At last i decided to intake some caffeine to stimulate my brain... I hate the way people make coffee here... No milk, no sugar, just the coffee extract... Else to dense the coffee they'll add something called "Non-dairy Creamer" which contains all the chemicals needed to harm your body.... I just thought how i used to drink coffee in my home... A glass full of thick unadulterated milk... 3 teaspoon full of sugar.... 1 spoon of bru instant coffee powder.... I always wanted the coffee in a stainless steel glass... To check the quality of the coffee.... I will gently tap the glass (with coffee) against the floor... The sound should be "dhakk"... If it's "dhanngg", that tells that the milk is watery... That coffee is rejected at once....

But now.... God.... Anyways I badly needed a coffee to kill my sleep... I went to the lunch room and started brewing coffee... There came "that" man... Let me tell something about him....
He's actually one of the senior most programmers here... He's in his late 50s... He's staying in the same community where am staying... I know that he's a biker and swimmer... And so he comes to office by his cycle... His manager has given him special permission to go for swimming during the office working hours... Nice manager huh? This man is really amiable... We used to call him as "thatha"...

To kill the silence, i just started the conversation,,,

Me : Hi.. How are you?

Him: Hey Pranav... Am pretty good... How are u?

M: Fine. Thanks. So what's ur plan for the weekend?

H: Weekend... O yeah... I have a triathlon competition this Saturday...

M: Triathlon? So what's it? (this shows my interest/knowledge in sports)

H: Oh.. that's cycling, running followed by swimming....

M: Really???? So everything at a stretch??

H: Yes... First 18 miles of cycling, 10 miles of running finally 1 mile of swimming....

M: @#$^%$&^& (just dumb founded expression)

H: But the good thing is this week's weather is better... During the last competition, the weather was too bad... The outside temp was 45'F.... And it was colder inside the water.. So when i swam, my fingers became numb... i couldn't even move my fingers.... i was wearing a sweat suit and that made me to keep my body warm... But i couldn't help with my fingers as i need to use it for swimming....

M: (My god).... That's really cool... Oh not the water... But... u see... the competition, the swimming... (just a jabber talk)....

H: Yes... It's really cool...

M: But are you allowed to take any break during triathlon????

H: Oh yeah yeah.... There will be lotsa crazy crowd to cheer us.... They will be providin us Gatorade and water to keep us not to get exhausted cos of dehydration.... And we can take some pit stops if we want... But those stops are also accountable...

M: Oh that's good... So you can even take a quick nap if you want :-) ???

H: Yeah... But you know.... Am so rude and i won't even stop.... I just grab the drink from them and just vanish from that place....

M: So non-stop??? 18 + 10 + 1 = 29 miles (nearly 47 KMs)....

H: Yeah yeah...

M: So how about the track??? Is it elevated or plain?

H: Sometimes it's hilly and sometimes it's a smooth way.... We need to endure all this to complete the race...

M: Am just curious... Since when, are you into this?

H: I had my first athletic event on September 1995.... So nearly 13+ years....

M: (I just calculated his age, 13 years before... so he might be in his late 40s...) Are you an athlete during your school/college days???

H: Not like a proper athlete.. But i used to participate in sprints during my school days....

M: Cycling and swimming?

H: I used to ride bikes when i was a kid and i didn't find any difficulty in riding bikes.... And swimming... I just love it....

M: (Even i used to go to my school using a cycle... what's the use? Even now, i can't ride a cycle more than 5 miles... ) So why did you start all this???

H: I just wanted to participate in triathlon... I decided it on Apr 1995 and i took my first try on September 1995 and am continuing it till now.....

M: This is just great... So good luck for the competition....

H: Thanks.. And you know.... We still have room for another competitor... Like to join???

M: ----------------------

Well you might have easily guessed my answer.... He just left the cafeteria saying the last sentence.... I just stood there awestruck and was thinking what i would be doing at his age (if am alive).... May be with my grand kids, reading newspapers,gardening (courtesy - tamil/hindi movies - this is what all gramps are doing in the movies)....

I was not at all feeling drowsy after that.... He woke me up.... I just learnt the following lessons from him...

1) No age limit to fulfill your passion

2) You just need inner propulsion to achieve your goal

For me, he's the "Iron Man"....