Pictures of India: Delhi street scenes, Taj Mahal, Jantar Mantar, Hawa Mahal, Kerala boat tour.

I am on day seven in India. Four in Delhi, two in Agra, and we are now in Jaipur.  

My brother Harris is our travel guide. He scheduled the whole trip and suggested what sites we should visit. He has been an excellent guide, we are all enjoying our time here. He got the Hindustani discounts at the attractions although his Hindi is lacking (he was learning at home with audio lessons). He had been to India ten years ago, and he reports that there are a cot of improvements to the infrastructure and living standards. My reply to that is "I'd have hated to see what it was like before." My mother and aunt are here too, it is a fun family trip (National Lampoon's Indian vacation!). Aside from Harris, none of us had been to India before, so it is quite exciting to be in such a large, dynamic country with a rich history.

Everything can be overwhelming. Lots of people everywhere; streets are dirty and the air is dusty; near the tourist sites, we are accosted by beggars (including children and mothers carrying babies); all the honking is noisy. The poverty is stunning -- shantytowns by the side of the road, men bathing by faucets in the street, the beggars, garbage everywhere.  When my grandfather visited forty years ago, in his diary he wrote that the "hygiene is appalling." That is still true today unfortunately.

Few vehicles obey traffic lanes, they are merely suggestions. Not uncommon to see a car, lorry, tuktuk,motorcycle, pedestrian, dog, and cow on the road at the same time.  Even saw some camels.  No driver uses a turn signal, instead they use the horn. Even when passing another vehicle, the driver will honk just to alert the other driver.  

The food is ok. Most of us are a little tired of Indian food, but there aren't many options.  The best meal was at Claridge's Hotel -- a high end English hotel in Delhi, where the restaurant specialized in Indian roadside fare. The lunch buffets at the Imperial Hotel and Radisson Hotel were also good -- wide selection of Indian and other food (pasta, some Chinese and Thai dishes, the Imperial even had beef), along with a tasty dessert selection.  Those fancy hotels are also a good break from e chaos outside  I'm not eating many vegetables, which is a big change since I am used to eating salad every day. We are avoiding raw vegetables, so we are only getting cooked ones, and they aren't very good (lots of eggplant and cauliflower). The lamb and chicken are very good. I'm eating lots of rice and occasionally bread (the horror!).  

We visited with Harris's college roommate Amol Sharma, who is now a reporter for the WSJ based in Delhi. Amol recently wrote an article about the caste system and government quotas. As we rode around and saw India's "silent majority" I wondered how and if these advancement programs would work. Amol and his wife, Sum, also gave us a tour of their apartment -- it was good to see what their home looked like. They also described the trials and tribulations of living in Delhi We later dined with Amol's uncle, Arvind, who treated us at the Claridge's. He and I both drank two Taliskers which, while tasty, didn't really match well with the Indian food. Arvind also helped us book our hotels and driver, it was a great benefit to get local travel expertise. Apparently the author Arundhati Roy was at the restaurant, Harris has read some of her books about growing up in India. Amol's article is here. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204903804577080700006684514.html

We've visited a bunch of sites, but the Taj Mahal is by far the most impressive, and exceeded all our expectations. In fact, I think we were all exhausted, but seeing the Taj Mahal was invigorating. I couldn't help being struck by the contrast between the magnificence of the Taj and the shantytowns nearby.  We aren't doing much at night, after dinner we don't have much energy to go out, plus we need a break from the chaos.  

Random observations:

-- cricket is by far the most popular sport here, the parks are filled with kids playing it.

-- the only evidence of Christmas is the music being played in the English hotels, although I also saw a couple vendors selling Santa hats.

-- the smog is terrible, it was so bad that train service was delayed so we took a car from Delhi to Agra instead.  

-- we drove past a couple golf courses, but I couldn't imagine being outside in the smog for four hours

-- bottled water is available widely. We brush our teeth with it. 

-- the Gandhi museum was enjoyable too. 

-- it's hard to find a car taxi. Tuktuks are available

-- open air three-wheeled taxis, but the ride can be chilly and the smog on the street makes the rude unpleasant. 

-- from my vantage, it's hard to see signs of any upper or even upper-middle class. Very few Luxury cars, no fancy shopping malls, no upscale houses or residential developments.  I contrast that with Beijing, where these signs of wealth were everywhere.

-- I bought a Kindle for the trip, it's been great, I just finished a book about Tiger Woods ("His Father's Son"). Tomorrow we are going to a nature preserve so we might see tiger (update: tigering has been cancelled in favor of shopping).

-- we bargained at the outdoor shopping mall in Jaipur, it was lots of fun.  My mom is very good at it.  My rule of thumb is to set the first bid at slightly less than the 50% of the vendor's offer.  We bought wool scarves each for $15, leather sandals for $6.

We're off to Kerala tomorrow -- it should be relaxing, it will be more tropical, we'll explore nature and eat some coconuts.

I attended the OWS protest on Saturday.  I can understand why people are frustrated -- many of them are either unemployed or underemployed.  They are voicing their anger, but I think their target is misplaced.  Wall Street is not the reason that there are so few jobs available.  At any rate, it was good to see people getting together peacefully and making their opinions known -- hopefully this event will cause politicians to de-emphasize their partisanship and work together to help the economy.  I recommend that everyone get involved at some level!

I played the semi-finals of our club championship on Saturday.  I had to face the defending champion, Hamilton – he was a massive favorite (not sure what the line in Vegas was).  .  7:30am tee-off, I was up at 5:45, had breakfast with Hamilton, we chatted, he is a very nice guy.  I was on the range before the maintenance staff had set it up.  I warmed up well, drained some nice putts on the practice green.  I had played Hamilton two years ago in the first round and lost, so I was looking forward to our rematch.

1^st hole – since it was so early, it was cold, so the ball wasn’t going far.  I hit one down the middle, Hamilton skanked it right and had to lay-up to about 170.  I laced a 3-wood but it only went about 190, so I was still 60 yards short.  Hamilton left his 3^rd short and then chili-dipped.  I drilled a LW to six feet, he gave me the putt (which I then made, for practice).  I was feeling nice, always good to start with a 4, especially since 1 was playing so long.

2 – I hit 3w to the right collar, decent shot.  Hamilton took it right at the pin, over the trap, very aggressive play, good shot.  I putted to about 8 feet below the hole, it was a tricky putt (although I had practiced that shot the day before, thanks to my caddy, DJ).  Hamilton was about 8 feet above the hole, very fast putt, he hit it too hard, left himself just under 8 feet, on my line.  I flared my putt out to the right, never had a chance, he made his putt.  Back to even.

3 – He hit his drive down the middle, I flared mine in the right rough.  I had to lay up with an 8, but it hooked and I ended up in the left rough about 85 out.  Hamilton hit his in the right bunker.  We drove it about the same distance, even though I hit mine poorly – that was encouraging, since when we last played, he was outdriving me by 20-30 yards.  I probably gained a little, and he lost a little.  From the left rough I thought I hit a good shot, but ended up a little short of the green in the rough.  He hit a good bunker shot to about 8 feet.  I chipped over the green to the collar, made six.  He made 5, so I’m one down.

4 – I drove it into the right rough.  Hit a solid 7 but pulled it, jumped into the fescue left of the green.  Hamilton was on in two.  I hit a very nice chip to 7’.  Again flared the putt right so made 5, down two.

5 – we both made par.

6 – we both made par.  I was happy to hit it over the lake from the blues – I had practiced this drive the day before with DJ.

7 – both hit it in the fairway, I was 145 out.  Pulled an 8, it went long and left – such a bad miss.  I hit a provo to the middle of the green.  Hamilton was 140 out, skanked it into the front right bunker, which was a huge surprise, I thought for sure he was going to hit it on.  I found my first ball, lobbed it onto the green about 12 feet away.  Hamilton hits a poor bunker shot, goes on to make 5.  I hit a crisp putt for a nasty up and down to win the hole.

8 – I laced a 3w to the front of the green.  Hamilton hits his a little right, duffs a chip, I cozy a putt up, he gives me my three.  We’re back to even, I’m feeling good.

9 – both in the fairway, I lay up to 140.  He goes for the green in two – I actually thought he hit his 3w into the fairway bunker, DJ tells me he carried it, but I didn’t believe him.  Turns out he carried the bunker by less than 10’, then it kicked forward, ran about 80 yards, through the green, over the back.  He has an easy chip, makes birdie.  I make 5, my birdie putt scared the hole – gotta tip my hat to him, he played aggressively, got a good kick, and capitalized.

10 – I flare my drive into the right bunker, had about 135 to a front pin but came up short.  I actually hit a nice LW to 12’, missed the putt to make 5, he made an easy 4.  Now I’m 2 down.

11 – I flare 5 iron down into the woods on the right, horrible shot.  I find it, get to take a drop from the cart path, but have to punch under a tree.  He’s on the lower tier of the green.  After I chop it up, he drains his putt from the lower tier to the hole on the upper tier – nasty.  DJ says that the only other person who made that is Martin Kaymer.  Again, I have to hand it to him, nice birdie.

12 – we both hit good drives. I smash a 3w but comes up about 10 yards short.  He hits a towering 3w over the tree, about 12’ left of the pin, just a perfect shot.  I leave my chip short, miss the putt, he two putts.  I’m usually happy with a 5 there, but he makes an easy 4, that’s why he’s won the tournament eight times.

13 – both hit it on the green, short.  I have a nasty putt across the lip of the bowl, I hit it way to hard, end up 3-jacking, he two putts.  Ugh, now I’m 5 down.  I tell DJ that we have to win every hole now, he says “well, at least we know what we gotta do.”

14 – We both hook our drives, I hook my second, hack out, end up missing my putt for 5.  I gave him his five, we shake hands, match is over, I wish him good luck on Sunday.  He gets in a cart to watch the other semi-final match, I play the last 4 holes with DJ half-heartedly.

 

After failing to qualify last year and playing so poorly earlier this summer (to the point where Del was asking me when I was going to play well), I was happy to qualify.  I was also happy to win my first match against Getreu, even though I didn’t play very well.  I had never made it this far – I suppose it’s a positive that I hung with Hamilton for eight holes, but it didn’t feel good to lose the next six.  I will use that stretch as inspiration and motivation to practice in order to become a better golfer.

I know the weaknesses in my game -- the weak flare right, which hurt me on 3, 4, 10, 11.  I can also improve my putting – I missed makeable ones on 2, 4, 10, 13.  I need to be more systematic in my practice – from now on, I will have a set schedule and keep track of my practice sessions.  I also need to play more competitive stroke play events.  I know that it I put in the work, the results will come.  I’m looking forward to next year’s tournament.

On Sunday August 7, I participated in the Connecticut Open Olympic weightlifting competition, in Stamford, CT.  I’ve been lifting since the beginning of this year, I took a bunch of lessons with Kevin P, spent about two months just lifting the bar to work on my technique.  Since then, I’ve been lifting three days per week – focussed on the snatch, clean+jerk, variations, and squatting.  I’d watched a couple of Olympic lifting meets, but the CT Open was my first meet as a lifter. 

The basic format of the competition is that each lifter gets three chances at the snatch, and three at the clean+jerk.  The highest lift of each counts, the two are added together, and “the total” is the final score.  It is paramount to at least make one lift in each of the snatch and clean+jerk – nobody wants to miss three in a row, that’s called “bombing out” and results in a total of zero. 

As such, it’s important to be smart in picking the weights – once you choose a weight, you can go up or keep it the same, but you can’t go down – i.e. if you miss, you can’t reduce the weight, you have to try that same weight (or more).  Meets are obviously a lot different from training: everyone wears a singlet, weights are measured in kilograms (1 kg = 2.2 lbs.), three judges enforce the rules (e.g. no pressouts), there is a clock (once you step on the platform you have 60 seconds to start the lift), and of course, everyone is watching you.

The meet was well attended: over twenty female lifters and forty males.  The women’s session was first, it started at 9am.  I weighed in at 10am, in the 62kg category (136 lbs.) – that’s the second lightest class (after 56kg), and there was only one other person in my class.  I figured that I’d start lifting around noon, so I killed some time watching the women lift before starting to warm up.  One of the challenges was avoiding warming up too early and getting tired.  Kevin and Nicole helped me plan my warm up, we went over the specific weights and rest times in between reps.  Nonetheless, I probably still warmed up too early (even though Brian D had warned me).  After doing some basic stretching, I did some sets with the bar, then singles at 40, 45, and 50.

I had planned my opening snatch at 55 (121 lbs.) – I was 90-95% confident I could do it, since it was my first meet I wanted to be conservative and get one lift in the books.  Thankfully, I made it.  My next attempt was at 60, I got that one too – I was happy since I usually only make this weight 30-40% of the time in training.  Third attempt was 63, that would have been a 1kg personal record, unfortunately I missed it.  I didn’t have much rest between the 60 and 63 (I followed myself), perhaps if I had an extra minute or two, I might have made it.

Since I was one of the early lifters, I waited for all the other men to do their snatches, before I got to my clean+jerks.  That was about an hour – I watched Kevin and Brian snatch, they both did really well, with sharp technique and blazing speed.  Mike K made heavy weights look light.  After about 45 minutes, I started warming up again.  I hit my three clean+jerks: 65, 70, 75.  Cleans were a little sloppy but I was aggressive on my jerks (with some encouragement from Kevin).

All in all, I was pleased with how the meet went.  I went 5 for 6, my total was 135kg.  For a sense of perspective, the world record is 342.5 kg (I weigh the same as Naim Suleymanoglu – he clean+jerked 418 lbs in 1988!).  I was happy to post a total and the experience will provide me with insight for the next meet and more motivation to train. 

 

 

 

I attended my second MovNat camp from June 27th to July 2nd.  The first one was on a beautiful beach in Thailand, this one was in a beautiful camp ground in West Virgina -- Summersville Lake resort.  We had a much larger group this time -- twelve people (whereas Thailand was only six).  Two of the twelve were women; two of them also came from Europe.  The gentleman from Hamburg had to spend a night in Charleston on each end of the trip just to come to MovNat; another MovNater rode his motorcyle from Toronto -- that's dedication!

For reference, here's my post about the camp in Thailand from the winter: http://adamzrashid.posterous.com/movnat-thailand-december-2010

This MovNat course was the "Expansion" course -- people had to have at least an intermediate level of fitness, whereas Thailand was open to all.  That meant that some of the attendees were quite fit.  We had an MMA fighter -- one could tell he was a professional athlete, he was very strong and coordinated, picked up all the skills very quickly.  One of the women was in the Swedish Air Force, it was her second camp, she trains people on the side -- she was also very capable, had all the skills, impressive focus and concentration.  There were also three college kids, it was good to see young people embracing MovNat, two of them eventually want to become MovNat trainers.

We slept in tents all week, the air mattress was comfortable.  By the end of the day, I was so tired that I could have slept anywhere.  It was also refreshing to breathe fresh air and be in absolute silence while sleeping -- no honking cabs or M23 buses cruising past my window.  MovNat provided us sleeping bags -- it never got too chilly at night.  The weather for the week was perfect -- it sprinkled one day, but there other four were bright and sunny, but not unbearably hot.  I probably should have brought sunscreen, as I have a pretty deep tan now.

 

 

The other major feature of the camp is that we cooked all our own food.  They had a little tent with a grill and four burners.  Clif, one of the coaches, brought in groceries everyday and supervised us in the preparation: lots of vegetable chopping, egg cracking, and meat flipping.  Of course, all the meals were Paleo.  Unfortunately, the meat wasn't grass-fed, owing to the limitations of the grocery stores there.  All the food was delicious, especially the meat marinara, ribs, and eggs+bacon.  Everyone cleaned their plates -- the last day I must have eaten 12 eggs.  Erwan joked that the secret ingredient was hunger, which we certainly had enough of after running around for >6 hours per day.  We also washed the dishes together after every meal, Henry Ford would have been proud of our rinse/wash/rinse/disinfect assembly line.

Of course I got some new MovNat tattooes.

 

We did pretty much the same activities in Thailand: walking, running, crawling, jumping, lifting, swimming, throwing, catching.  Some of them I was better at, some of them I was pretty much the same.  Our playground was similar to the one in Thailand -- logs tied to trees that we climbing, jumped, and balanced on.  This camp was an improvement in that they made the playground safer, and there was more emphasis on spotting.  One of the tasks involved walking on a log that was about six feet high -- it's easy when it's a foot off the ground, but six feet makes one nervous, it's more of a mental task than anything.  Everything was very safe: Erwan distinguished the concept of risk and danger.  For tasks that were slightly dangerous, we worked up to them in increments, so we got lots of practice.  Other members of the group served as spotters.  Nobody was pressured to do anything they weren't comfortable trying.  Remarkably, in the two camps I've been to, nobody has gotten hurt.

A couple videos from the final "skills" session:

 

The final day consisted of a two hour session where we employed all the skills, some times at breakneck pace.  For you future MovNaters, I'm not going to spoil it, but it was exhilarating.  At the beginning of it, Erwan told us that, in the past, people have cried and vomited during it, but the goal is to push your limits and fight through.  If you want a vacation where you sleep in a tent, wash your own dishes, get covered in mud, and could potentially vomit, I highly recommend MovNat!

 

Some of the movements above may look hard -- you may even be saying to yourself "I could never do that" -- that's completely wrong.  MovNat is for everyone -- these are movements natural to all human beings.  You might not be able to do some of them at first, I certainly wasn't, but Erwan, Vic, and Clif will coach you through them.  You may start with an easier version, then work up to progressively harder versions.  If you can't do the movements, they will teach how to practice at home so that you will eventually be capable.  You will probably find yourself more capable than you had thought -- MovNat will teach you how to reawaken your natural abilities.  

Written on 5/23/05:

 

I went to the GZA concert last night at BB King’s in NYC.

 

The undercard was Cannibal Ox and then C-Rayz Walz.  I had never heard them before, and the lyrics were a bit indecipherable over the sound system.  I might check out some records, they seemed ok.  El-P from Company Flow got onstage with C-Rayz and kicked a verse, but I didn’t recognize it.  That was pretty cool, I’m a big fan of his “Funcrusher Plus” and “Fantastic Damage” Albums.

 

Then J-Live came out and did a few songs.  He’s pretty good, his lyrics and delivery are sharp. He’s dropping an album this summer, so I’ll probably pick that up.  My brother put me onto his album “The Best Part,” I highly recommend it.

 

Then, after about a 15 minute wait, the GZA came on stage. He mostly did songs from “Liquid Swords”: “Cold World”, “Labels”, “Killah Hills”. Also a few verses from “36 Chambers”.   He also did some stuff I didn't recognize, which must have been from his second solo album or the Wu double album.  I never bought those, but maybe I'll pick them up (even though they can't be as good as the earlier Wu bangers).

 

Inspectah Deck and Masta Killa kicked verses on “Duel of the Iron Mics” (regardless of the charges, shorty is livin heartless!).  Capadonna also did a few verses – I thought he had retired from the rap game and was driving a cab, but maybe he came back for this one show.

 

Ghostface also came out and spit a verse (maybe “4^th Chamber?”). He looked pretty normal – he didn't have his mink cape or dinner-plate sized medallion. Unfortunately, he only did one verse, I would have like see more.  I was hoping that the RZA, Raekwon, or Meth would pop out, but they never showed up.  I guess Meth is out filming some more deodorant commercials.

 

The Genius also did an acapella tribute to ODB, contrasting his drug use and mental problems with his lyrical energy and devotion to his family. As expected from a GZA verse, it was very insightful and lyrically intricate. ODB's mom was also onstage for a minute and got props from the crowd.

 

He ended with “Life of a Drug Dealer,” which I though was an odd choice.  I thought he would have chosen his verse from “Protect Ya Neck” – that was the first official Wu song and probably his best verse ever.

 

Most of the crowd was goofy looking white dudes in their early 20s, even looked like there were a bunch of teenagers too.  Not too many women there.  I felt a bit out of place in my bespoke shirt/slacks/jacket. (Haha, I wore a suit to the Mobb Deep concert on 5/12/11).

 

I’m still amazed that the GZA dropped “Liquid Swords” back in 95, that’s 10 years ago, and it still sounds fresh.  I was listening to his Cold Chillin’ record this weekend, “Words from the Genius”, and that was made back in ’91.   Hopefully he’ll put out some more albums – the lyrics will always be tight, but he needs to get back with RZA to get the production right; or at least get some tracks from Premier or El-P.

 

All in all, it was a damn good show.

 

 

First Mobb concert since P got released from the bing.

Money Making Jam Boys opened -- Black Thought, Dice Raw, STS, Truck North.  Pretty good performance, Thought was clearly the best, did some of his Roots classics, then they all did some things off the mixtape, Thought closed with a ferocious accappella.

Stretch Armstrong was the DJ between sets, he played some classic NYC hip-hop, nothing really groundbreaking but it was cool to see him in person.

Next up was the Wu, specifically Rae, Ghost, and Cappadonna.  They did the classics off 36 Chambers, OB4CL, Ironman -- Criminology, Incarcerated Scarfaces, CREAM, Daytona 500, Verbal Intercourse.  Nice rendition of "I like it raw" as the ODB tribute, with the crowd singing along.  I was disappointed that they didn't do "Winter Warz", I love the Cappa verse.  Ghost looked like he was limping a little, probably his torn meniscus.

After a brief intermission, the scene shifted from Stapleton to the Bridge.  The stage set was the front of a Queensbridge projects building, address 41-15, and P and Havoc burst out the doors doing "Survival of the Fittest."  They were fully decked out in football jerseys with "Hennessy" on the front, and their names on the back. P went with HNIC on hisjersey, he looked pretty healthy, it seems he actually put on a little muscle too.  After Prodigy's verse on "Give up the Goods," Noyd blasted out the door, the R-A-double-P-ER.  Alchemist appeared later.  Only slight disappointment was that they used a band, so the beats weren't as crisp as if they had used the instrumentals.  Biggest surprise was Little Kim busting out and doing her verse from the "Quiet Storm" remix.  Rae came on and they did "An Eye for an Eye", I was hoping Nas would come out but he didn't.  I left a 11:30, so I didn't stick around for the end, I assumed they closed it off with a stirring rendition of "Shook Ones part II."

 

As Iverson said, I'm talking about practice.