Book Review: Everything That Remains

Everything That Remains - A Memoir by the Minimalists

- Joshua Fields Millburn & Ryan Nicodemus

A couple of youngsters (in their late 20s), while successfully chasing their American Dream, come across this philosophy called Minimalism. Minimalism, on the face of it, may sound like being ascetic and getting rid of all material things and living life of monks. But, for these guys, it's slightly different. They have their own elevator pitch about their minimalism, which goes as follows:

"Minimalism is a lifestyle that helps people question what things add value to their lives. By clearing the clutter from life’s path, we can all make room for the most important aspects of life: health, relationships, passion, growth, and contribution."

While exploring minimalism more, they discover that the clutter of their material possessions is blindfolding them from seeing the world around them. To the extent that, they really don't know which of those possessions they really love to have, and which of them they can get rid of. That's when they consider organizing their possessions and unclutter their surroundings, and soon realize that organizing is nothing more than well-planned hoarding, but, hoarding nevertheless. This realization makes them get rid of most of their possessions.

Merely getting rid of things didn't make them contended. With the weight off their shoulders, they started asking fundamental questions. What's truly important in life? Why am i discontented? Who is the person that I want to become? etc., That led them to the next phase of minimalism. The Why behind de-cluttering. They find travel & writing as answers to their Why.

They start traveling and blogging their explorations. They currently have a couple of million readers. They also published 4 books and speak at events while traveling. All of that can be found at: http://www.theminimalists.com

Auroville Marathon - 2014

Auroville: Auroville wants to be a universal town where men and women of all countries are able to live in peace and progressive harmony above all creeds, all politics and all nationalities. The purpose of Auroville is to realise human unity.

Auroville Vision: Humanity is not the last rung of the terrestrial creation. Evolution continues and man will be surpassed.

Auroville Marathon is organized in Auroville, Pondicherry, on 2nd Sunday of Feb. I did fall in love with the rustic surroundings inside Auroville, a 659 acre self-sustainable township, during a half-marathon that I attempted in 2010. The not-so-even course is entirely on dirt roads through narrow pathways, so narrow at some places that runners have to run in a single file, at times. By that description, it should be evident that the course would be a put-off to finish-time conscious runners and automatically a turn-on for me :-) And, here I am, just back from my 5th consecutive Auroville Marathon (2 half and 3 full) over the weekend.

This has turned out to be a special one on many counts. Traveled from Bangalore to Pondicherry and back with our Runners For Ever gang and a few others. These guys kept me so engaged for a full 60 hours, that I couldn't take out my brand new Kindle-PaperWhite and read even a single page of a very interesting book that I started reading about minimalism.

Having just run Mumbai Marathon 3 weeks back and nothing left to prove, even the craziest finish-time conscious runners will not care much about their timing in Auroville Marathon. I decided not to carry my Garmin, phone and not even a watch. I just wanted to run and reach the finish line, while enjoying the serene rustic beauty of Auroville. Started the run along with a non-regular and out-of-form friend of mine, whom I advised to follow my 9:1 (9 minute run + 1 minute walk) routine, so that he can touch the finish line strong. I wanted to do a random run as I did have no way to keep track of time. My friend soon pulled out his mobile and started keeping track of time :-) We reached 32 KM in that mode and he hit the wall (Marathon parlance), where he gave up and was in no mood to do even 1:1. With walking as the only option left, we walked the rest (10 KM) and touched the finish line in 6 hours. My longest finish-time in 3 years. But, one of the most enjoyable runs.

Thanks to another runner friend who has club-mahindra membership, we all could enjoy the beautiful resort with a beach-front for 2 days. Unlike other marathons, we were not picky about food (again, as nothing was left to prove so soon after Mumbai Marathon) and just hogged on lavish buffet, before and after the marathon.

A routine weekend trip to run a Marathon couldn't have been more satiating. And, my friends couldn't have made yours truly hate his erstwhile antisocial self more! :-)