10 years of Cycle-to-Work in Bangalore

It's 10 years since I started cycling to work in Bangalore. I bought a Hero Octane 26T on Jan 8, 2008. Covered a distance of 10 KM between home and office in 50 minutes, on the following day. Never considered any other way as the default mode of commute-to-work, since then.

Despite the repeated warnings/advice that I get from friends about pollution, being vulnerable to accidents etc., the 10 years of riding has been largely event-less. I tried several pollution masks. None of them were comfortable to get the breath required while riding. So, got rid of them. Medical reports don't point out anything bad, so far [Not touching any wood]. Not sure about any internal or slow damages. There were just 4 nasty falls in 10 years, and none of them involved any other vehicle. They are due to, either skidding on a slippery patch because of rain, or some gravel laid in the middle of a road during night.

The journey stared with an entry level MTB - Hero Octane 26T. I didn't have any knowledge of cycles at that time. I just went to a shop on the way home and picked up one that's looking good, with dual suspensions. After a year, I upgraded to an excellent MTB - Merida SUB 40 MD. With disc brakes and exotic looks, it used to get quite a lot of attention, and eventually succumbed to it. I lost the Merida within a year, while sipping coffee at a Cafe Coffey Day. Replaced it with a sleek Road Bike - Trek 7.2 Fx, while visiting the US, thanks to Blue Coat. Have been riding it for the last 7+ years. 

Current Bangalore traffic is terrible, compared to the day I started riding in the city. Being a morning person, ride to work has always been fun. I have been starting my morning ride at 5:30 am, for the last 3-4 years. En route office, I spend an hour at a Cross-Fit gym. That's easily the best part of the day. Bangalore is blessed with slight and pleasant chill in the morning, almost throughout the year. A lot of bakeries would be open at that time that serve some quick coffee/tea. Even, traffic is largely irrelevant in those hours. Year over year, I see a stark difference in the quality of my evening rides, though. It's on a constant decline. Anytime after 5 pm is bad. I tried up to 9 pm. Bad roads (though same roads as in the morning, evening rides get pushed to sides of the roads), bad foot-paths (yes, I ride on them, as long as I don't block pedestrians), automobile exhausts, practically everyone on the road in a hurry to get home etc., are the culprits. Though there were days when I got irritated with all these, the irritation never lasted the night and nothing much changed.

The evening ride usually ends with some admiring looks from kids playing in the apartment, when I enter with blinkers and in flashy dry-fits. A 5-6 year old kid stopped me once to inquire the class that I am in, and the school that I go to :-)

It's almost a no-brainer in Bangalore to ask someone, why they cycle-to-work. It's the fastest way to commute in many parts of Bangalore. One-way distance of around 10 KM is manageable by any healthy adult. Most of the offices have bathrooms to fresh-up (That's been one of my requirements for accepting a job offer from a company). So, that's not an excuse.

Though a 10-12 KM ride in the morning and evening may not contribute much towards calorie burn and fitness, it's definitely liberating and fun!

Book Review: Why We Believe in God(s)

Why We Believe in God(s) - A Concise Guide to the Science of Faith
- Thomson, J. Anderson

Every atheist would have wondered many a time, why people believe in Gods! Why is it difficult to appreciate the 'fact' that we are risen apes and not fallen angels, despite indisputable scientific evidence!

The author, an American forensic psychiatrist, discusses the potential psychological reasons behind people believing in Gods. He claims that after reading the book, that arms extended worshipper not only looks foolish, but also looks infantile. And, I vouch for the veracity of his claim :-)

There is a popular quote by Douglas Adams - Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too? On a similar note, atheists might often wonder why believers are so omnipresent? The author convincingly presents several experiments that establish our bias to interpret unclear evidence as being caused by some agent, almost always a humanlike agent, and our ability for self-deception, which is crucial to religious belief. One of the strongest arguments supporting the later claim is, most of the believers live their lives as if there is no God. 

He establishes psychological similarity among the belief in super-nature, craving for sweets and fast-foods, having sex, our groupish nature and the sense of security that it brings, which is so inherent to us etc., Most of these are life-sustaining adaptations by our ancestors that are passed on over and over, for generations. As the survived reproduce, the tribe of the adapted flourished. A few generations later, those who subscribe to these ended up being the majority. These adaptations have something to do with our brain cells. It's experimentally proven that these cells explode with delight causing intense pleasure, when one pursues such adaptations.  Besides, there are 'do-it-again' centres in our brain, which made us do these things, that give us intense pleasure, again and again. Chanting, dancing, praying, singing, music fall in this category, which are so intertwined with several major religions. He also argues that our bias to over-read purpose is another major reason behind our gullibility, which helped religions flourish.

Apparently, without any knowledge of neurochemistry, our ancestors managed to come up with a combination of activities that stimulate and boost neurotransmitters like serotonin, dopamine etc., which induce brain activity. And, they tied these activities with religion. 

There is a popular argument put forth by some of my believer friends, when I wonder, why some of the chiefs of ISRO follow this ritual of visiting Tirupti to seek divine intervention with a model of the rocket that they are about to launch - it's the psychological benefits that such rituals bring. Now we have a scientific explanation for that - Our brains have some precautionary vigilance systems that get triggered to take actions to allay our anxiety. Religions use precisely these mechanisms that allay anxiety due to the harsh world around us. Our ancestors lived through much harsher world. We inherited their mechanisms.

A quick read that gives a good insight into the scientific reasons behind some of the madness that we see around us, in the name of God, religion and super-nature.

Book Review: The Religion War

The Religion War
- Scott Adams (The Dilbert guy)

Thanks to Facebook memories (on-this-day feature), one of my 4 year old book review popped up a few weeks back - God's Debris by Scott Adams. A comment for that review made me pick the sequel of that - The Religion War.

Author takes us to an imaginary time in future, where just 2 large religions are left in the world. All the countries are aligned with one of these 2 religions. Supreme leaders of these religions virtually control military power of all the countries that subscribe to their respective religions. Avatar, the protagonist of the story, firmly believes that the universe is nothing but probability(as portrayed in the previous book). As he has reasons to believe that these 2 leaders are extremely smart with their moves, he plays the game of probability to know their war moves against each other. Loaded with this knowledge, he gets access to these leaders and also manages to bring them to a table to discuss the situation and avoid the imminent extermination and annihilation. As the probability of his failure to convince them that there is a better option than extermination and annihilation is significant, he works on a plan B in parallel. 

He engages one of the best brains in the world, who also has access to all the information, to find one person who has the power to influence every single person in the world. He figures out that finding that person is the single most important task, based on the following rationale. Everyone has at least one influencer in his life, someone who can change their mind simply by expressing an opinion that is different from their own. We may not be consciously aware of the influencer always, as we rationalise some of our arguments/opinions so much that we often make them our own. He fails to find that person. But, in the process of failing, the best brain he engaged opens up all kinds of communication channels among people across all countries. These channels were hitherto monitored and completely controlled by the supreme leaders. The free, always open and easy to use channels make people of both the faiths communicate freely and understand that irrespective of the religion, when it comes to basic questions about life, they are all same. This realisation kills the irrational animosity between people of different faiths, which is a basic ingredient for these supreme leaders to reign. They soon lose their ground and the world becomes liveable again.

The conversations between Avatar and the supreme leaders make great reads. Avatar rips into age old irrational beliefs like, Certain places can be holy - In a universe in which nothing is fixed, how can a place be holy? If it's about the dirt and rocks at that particular place, they can always be transported and make another place holy; Rational arguments about faith often hurt believers - That's the problem with clarity, it often hurts; People often scream that they are not delusional - Unless one is like Dr. Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory (who claims to be so smart that if he were ever wrong, he would know it), a delusional person may not be aware that he is delusional; Finally, the very irrational Faith - Seeing some results from prayers is not faith. Faith by definition is believing in something without any evidence whatsoever. If someone argues that they have faith, because they see faith working, it's just a very bad way of doing science.

Scott Adams presents these arguments in his inimitable style, making it a worthy read in every way.

Free Will - Sam Harris

Free will is the ability to choose between different possible courses of action. It is closely linked to the concepts of responsibility, praise, guilt, sin, and other judgments which apply only to actions that are freely chosen. It is also connected with the concepts of advice, persuasion, deliberation, and prohibition. Traditionally, only actions that are freely willed are seen as deserving credit or blame (Source: Wikipedia)

All the above virtues and vices are attached to a person, with an assumption that one has Free Will. But, does one really have Free Will? Is one totally responsible for one's actions? Is a person responsible for every decision taken and every action that resulted out of those decisions? Are we the authors of our thoughts? Or, are we the victims of circumstances?

Will two individuals, who had gone through different kinds of upbringing and exposed to different kinds of societies, think/react similarly in a similar situation, though they don't have any different external influences whatsoever at that particular point of time to influence their reaction one way or the other? They usually don't. That implies, they are the sum total of their experiences. Does that imply existence of any Free Will?

These are some of the questions that Sam Harris, an American author, philosopher and neuroscientist, discusses in this book. He concludes that Free Will is an illusion. 

We don't have control on our thought process. Unconscious events determine our thoughts and actions, which themselves are determined by prior events, which we are not consciously aware of. Martin Heisenberg (Son of Werner Heisenberg - Uncertainty Principle), a neurobiologist, observed a different kind of uncertainty in brain - Certain processes in brain occur at random with no external influence. Though this implies that the resultant thoughts are generated without any external influence, this can't be called Free Will as this doesn't mean someone has control on it.

Some of the criminal justice systems in the world seems to divest criminals of their crime, if they found to be victims of their biology. For example, if a brain tumour or abnormal secretion of Serotonin (a neurotransmitter) in brain is proven to have caused a person to behave in a certain way (which is criminal), the person can't be held totally responsible for his malicious actions. Victims of their biology are exonerated of their wrongdoings, considering that they don't have Free Will while committing the crimes. What about victims of circumstances? Do they have control on circumstances and Free Will, while acting in a certain way? That's a pretty deep question.

When we break the origins of a thought into two simple parts, genetic and environmental, one doesn't seem to have control on either. One doesn't choose place of birth, parents, religion, society (at least not until adulthood), neighbourhood while growing up etc., As they are the foundations of one's thought process, one hardly has any Free Will.

I would summarise the takeaways from the book as follows: It's hard to digest the proposition that a person doesn't have any control on his/her thoughts, and one just acts as per the result of some unknown algorithm working on some unknown data. But, trying to appreciate the fact that people are, more often, victims of circumstances that are not in their control, helps us treat each other better.

Will appreciating lack of Free Will cleanses one of any guilt for one's wrongdoings and leads to a chaotic, immoral, unpredictable and dangerous society? That's a philosophical question that overlaps with questions like, whether the world would become unlivable if majority of people stop believing in Gods and super-nature!  

The Road to 42

The journey that started innocuously in 2009 in Hyderabad is about to cross an interesting milestone. It would be my 42nd Marathon, if I cross the finish line tomorrow in Bengaluru Marathon within the time set by the organisers.

Why is 42nd significant? Isn't it just a random number? Apparently, it's not so random for distance runners. 42 KM is roughly the distance between Marathónas and Athens in Greece. The legend has it that, it's the distance run by Pheidippides in 490 BC to convey the news of Greek victory over Persians at the Battle of Marathon.  And, after a few corrections over a period of time, 42.195 KM has become the official Marathon distance.

I have come across a few runners with some grand plans around 42. One runner is running 42 KM every weekend for 42 consecutive weekends to celebrate his 42nd birthday and also to spread a message about safe and healthy living.  Another runner has plans to bring down his 10 KM run time to 42 minutes, when he turns 42.

I don't have any such grand plans around it. But, I won't be as harsh as Dilbert, and would still take out some time to travel back and forth in time, to relive and cherish the journey. 

The first few years of my Marathon life, I was mostly on my own, in all my training runs and also in most of the events. Not that I didn't get a chance to socialise and network with all those amazing runners at running events, but, I was inherently antisocial. May be, I still am, though may not be in it's true sense.

While I was on one of those solo overseas ventures, I ended up meeting a couple of runners, who are at the other end of the spectrum, when it comes to being social. That led to the genesis of Runners For Ever, an amateur runners club that comprises of people in early 20s to early 50s from various walks of life, with a common thread being their love for distance running.



There was no looking back after that. Though I still was mostly on my own during overseas runs, almost all the domestic runs have become celebrations to look forward to. Some of the unforgettable things in this journey would be, One of the Auroville runs where our entire group ran together from the start to the finish; A midnight marathon when a bunch of them came to run with, otherwise solo, me for the last 10 KM at 3 AM in the morning; 100 KM Bangalore Ultra where the most knowledgeable runner in our group traveled for a couple of hours to get to the venue, while suffering from high fever, just to ensure that we, the kids, are doing well; Every single training run that led to the enviable Comrades Finish in South Africa; The run at Chiang Mai, Thailand to which my cute little niece accompanied me.

During this journey, I got to touch far west San Francisco, US and far east Mount Fuji, Japan, retraced the steps of Pheidippides between Marathonas and Athens, ran in the unspoilt border mountains between Vietnam and China, ran across US/Canada border at Niagara Falls, experienced torrential rains at Cherrapunjee, got fried in the extreme heat of Phuket, Thailand, was part of the world's largest ultra-marathon where around 20,000 people attempt to run 90 KM in 12 hours in South Africa, got to meet some friends after 20+ years who are living on the other side of the world, made some friends in just one meeting. I don't think I could ask for more!

My non-running friends often ask me, why do I run Marathons? There is always this badass answer - Because, I can! Beyond that, in retrospect, I have many more now. It took me places. It gave me some friends whom I can call at 2 AM, not just to go for a run.

In the grand scheme of things, 42 is, of course, just a random number. But, when one gets a chance to go down the memory lane, that's full of beautiful memories, why miss it! :-)

Comrades Marathon 2016 - An Unforgettable Experience!

Around 8 months back, a couple of members of Runners For Ever, an amateur running club co-founded by me, shared their plans to train for Comrades Marathon - 2016. I simply wished good luck. A couple of minutes later, they started pitching the same to me and were aggressively confident that I too could do it. Though I had 30+ Marathons to my credit and roughly half of them in diverse terrains and weather conditions, I am a cruiser than a speedster. They jumped back and said, that's exactly what Comrades needs. They were not wrong!

A 90 KM run, full of hills, with a 12 hour deadline and 6 intermediate cut-offs, needs a lot of endurance and composure, and none can afford any aggression. Training, of course, dictates the actual pace. But, composure ensures that one reaches the finish line at the planned pace, and finishes strong. We believed in that and prepared our training sheet for 5 months. We managed to finish it strong!

When I registered and started training, I didn't know the stature of Comrades Marathon among distance runners. I took it as just another run as part of My Overseas Marathon Odyssey, which started around 6 years back. Towards the event day, a couple of incidents made me realise the importance of it. One of the finest amateur runners of India mentioned my name along with a runner who holds the record of fastest Indian at Comrades, casually in a conversation about the 2016 participants from India. A marathon runner in my gym suddenly stops during a conversation and asks "what is your name?", when I mentioned that I have been training for Comrades; In the same fashion, as one asks "who the hell are you!", when they hear something incredible.

The moment we entered South Africa, we were part of the elite crowd, right from the airport. While waiting to get into a plane from Johannesburg to Durban, a couple of random guys walk to us and wish us. One of them was travelling to Durban, just to be along the Marathon course and cheer the runners. We lost count of people who approached us, the days after the Marathon, when we were walking around in TShirts with Comrades logo on it. It continued till Bangalore airport.

We made our training plans, keeping 11 hours as our target time to finish. That gives us an hour of buffer for surprises. Being a first timer at Comrades, I had quite a few surprises, though I thought that I studied the course and elevation well. We planned to run at a pace that lets us reach each cut-off 40 to 50 minutes before the official cut-off time. I managed to do that till 3rd cut-off. After that I started using up the buffer time gradually. The course being very wide where one ends up doing a lot of lateral moves, I ended up running 94 KM, roughly 5 KM more than official 89.3 KM. This, along with a late start due to being in the last block of runners (around 7 minutes), ate away around 25 minutes of my time. So, I was left with only 35 minutes of buffer, if I ran at the pace that we planned. I used up around 20 minutes of it, after the 3rd cut-off and managed to reach the finish line in 11:46.

The support en route was something unmatchable. Except for a few KM, there were supporters through out the course. There were 47 official support stations stocked with water, electrolyte, coke, biscuits, chocolates, boiled potatoes and fruits. Knowing about coke and potatoes in advance, we did a few of our training runs with them. I had more coke that day than all the soda that I had in the last few years put together. Apart from the support stations, there were innumerable people along the course that offer something to drink, munch or just cheer the runners. 

Comrades Marathon alternates between Pietermaritzburg to Durban (Down Run) and Durban to Pietermaritzburg (Up Run) every year. It was a Down Run this year. Contrary to the popular belief, Down Run is not so Down Hill. There were several serious up-hills along the course. It's only around 10-15 KM, between 60 KM and 80 KM, that's down hill, which again is intertwined with some up hills. 

The finish was something unforgettable. The stadium had a million people cheering and making everyone who crosses the finish-line feel so special. The moments towards 11:59 were quite tense. Probably, no matter what is the cut-off, there would be someone who misses it by a few seconds. When the count-down started for 11:59:59, there were several runners who entered the stadium and could see the finish-line a few meters away. That was really heartbreaking. We could see one runner collapse a couple of meters from finish line, who had a few minutes to finish, only if he could stand. Despite the help from fellow runners, he couldn't even stand and couldn't make it. 

After finishing the run, we got out of the stadium and started walking towards our hotel, which was

less than a KM away. It was dark, though it was only 6 pm. We took a couple of wrong turns and quickly lost. There were hardly anyone on the road and almost all shops were closed, that being a Sunday. We finally found an area with a couple of shops open, and a car parked in front of it with someone in driver's seat. As we approached the car, someone started walking from across the road and asking us whether we need any help. We told that we were lost and need to go to our hotel. He offered to drop us at the hotel. We hesitated for a minute, but realised soon that all we had were stinking clothes and Comrades Medal on us and nothing else, and got into the car. Apparently, he was going home from his work, saw medals hanging around our neck, parked his car, and ran across the road to find whether we need any help. When we reached our hotel, the lobby had a few masseurs helping runners relax their tired bodies. Surprised to find that those masseurs were practically everyone who were working in the hotel (kitchen, house-keeping, including a daughter of  someone who takes care of the front desk), just helping the runners relax, free of cost.

Needless to say, we reached Bangalore to receive a heroic and heartening welcome from fellow Runners For Ever, who dared a weekday evening traffic in Bangalore and came all the way to airport to receive us.

Bad Arguments - Ali Almossawi

Argument from consequences

    Quality that's attached to an effect is not transferable to the cause

    Without the existence of an omnipotent God, world would go berserk. Hence, God exists. 

    World may or may not become unliveable, if no one believes in God. But, it still needs to be proven that God exists.

Straw Man

    Misrepresent, misquote, misconstrue - then attack

    
    Kejriwal claims that Narendra Modi lied about his degree.

   Kejriwal says that to be a good PM, one needs a degree (misconstrue).  (Then attack) PM needs vision and leadership, which Modi has, not education and degrees

    The argument should be about whether a PM lied during a constitutional process or not.

Appeal to Irrelevant Authority

    Appeal to an authority who is not an expert on the issue at hand

    GM foods are bad. Our ancestors always recommended natural ways for healthier lives. GM foods have artificially modified DNA

    Ancestors are no authority on effects of food with Genetically Engineered DNA

Equivocation

    Use different meanings of a word to draw desired conclusion

    Science is supposed to explain us 'why' certain things happen. Can it ever explain us 'why' do we exist? It can't. Hence, we need religion.

    The former 'why' is 'cause'. And, the later 'why' is 'purpose'

False Dilemma

    Create a dilemma, when none actually exists

    POTUS: You are with us or you are with the terrorists

    When in fact, one could have been neutral or could sympathise with both

Not a Cause for a Cause

    After this, therefore because of this

    Petrol prices have gone down in the last few quarters. New Government is doing a great job

   New Government may be doing a great job. But, that doesn't automatically mean that all good things happened are due to that. Neither are all the bad things

Appeal to Fear

    Plays on the fears of an audience by imagining a scary future that would be of their making if some proposition were accepted

    Donald Trump

Hasty Generalization

    Too small or too special sample set, to be representative of a population

    I spoke to a friend from Delhi. After Kejriwal came to power, corruption reduced. I spoke to another friend from Gujrat, Modi did a tremendous job with the infrastructure there.

    Those friends might be right/wrong. But, definitely too small a sample to add any value to an argument.

Appeal to Ignorance

    Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence

    All that we see around is a master plan made by God. Come on, how can you say No? Can you prove it wrong? No! So, it's right.

    The burden-of-proof always lies with the person making a claim

No True Scotsman

    A general claim made about a category of things

    Members of party X are communal

    But, Mr A is from that party! He is not communal

    Well, Mr A is not a True X member.

    What exactly is a True member, other than being the member of that party!

Genetic Fallacy

    An argument's origins or the origins of the person making it have no effect whatsoever on the argument's validity

    A member from opposition criticises Government's way of handling a certain issue

    Ah! Just look at him, who is preaching! His party had handled so many things wrong

    His party might have handled so many things badly. But, the current discussion is about an issue that the current Government is handling

Guilt by Association

    Discredit an argument for proposing an idea that is shared by some socially demonized individual or group

    Kejriwal demands central Government to approve a certain thing

    Do you know who else demand it? None other than Maoists

    Whether there is a merit in demand or not is not discussed

Affirming the consequent

    If A then C, C; hence A.

    Congress-men(A) don't talk about Augusta Westland case(C). Kejriwal doesn't talk about it(C). So, he is a congress-man(A)

    C doesn't imply A

Appeal to Hypocrisy

    Counter a charge with a charge

    You are corrupt.

    You too!

Slippery Slope

    Discredit a proposition by arguing that its acceptance will undoubtedly lead to a sequence of events

    We should never allow Homo-sexuality. It kills morality in the society. It creates monsters and will lead to apocalypse

    There is no proof that such sequence of events will happen. But, they apparently are assumed

Appeal to the Bandwagon

    Appeal to people, though it doesn't make any sense whatsoever

    Invite a thousand well to do people, and feed them an expensive and terribly unhealthy food at a wedding, though you can't actually afford it. Because, that's considered as a great thing to do

    It may be a win-win for all, if that's not done. But, never explored. Because, it's not appealing to others

Ad Hominem

    Attacks a person's character rather than what he or she is saying with the intention of diverting the discussion

    CBI raids Kejriwal's office. He calls Modi a coward and psychopath. 

    CBI raid could be with a malicious intention. But, talking about Modi's character won't help the case in hand

Circular Reasoning

    Because X, therefore X

 

    Subramanian Swami's recent tirade against Raghuram Rajan - The consumer price index has not declined because of high retail prices

    A consumer price index (CPI) measures changes in the price level of a market basket of consumer goods and services purchased by households. So, high CPI and high retail prices are same