Book Review: Paths To Peace – Religion, Ethics and Tolerance in a Globalizing World, by Dirk Collier

I normally don’t read books on spirituality or morality or suchlike values. However, I made an exception in the case of Dirk Collier’s Paths To Peace – Religion, Ethics and Tolerance in a Globalizing World, mainly because I have read Collier’s treatise on Akbar, The Emperor’s Writings and was deeply impressed by Collier’s knowledge of India, Indian culture, Islam and Hinduism, not to mention his simple, but elegant writing style.

I was not disappointed. Paths To Peace is a masterly exposition on various strands of religious thought, the direction(s) we are being led in on account of the various organized religions we follow and Collier’s thoughts on how we may all live harmoniously amongst so much diverse thoughts and beliefs, not to mention the prevailing distrust and hatred in today’s world.

Collier analyses and compares Pakistan and the European Union. The former was created on the basis of religion and has drifted off to become an Islamic State, something far from its founder’s ideals. Currently, Pakistan is undergoing tremendous upheaval in terms of violence against the Shias, Ahmadiyyas, Hindus and other minorities. I wish Collier had commented on Israel, another state created on the basis of religion and which faces a number of unique problems, but Collier doesn’t talk about Israel. Collier tells us that unlike in the case of Pakistan, creation of the European Union has brought peace to Europe, a continent which saw extensive warfare on account of religion for many centuries between its various nation states and with neighbouring powers such as the Ottoman Empire.

Collier deals with a number of questions and issues which I am sure have perplexed almost everyone who has considered the existence of God and the relativity of moral values. Are all values relative to something else? Is it possible to argue that Hitler’s goals could be considered acceptable by some?Are moral choices avoidable? Is interreligious dialogue possible at all? Would there be any pre-conditions to such dialogue? If yes, what are they?

Collier advocates the universal principal of reciprocity as a panacea for most ills – Do not do unto others what you do not want others to do unto you. Collier argues that even if we are sure that our point of view is right, we ought to be modest enough to admit that we might have something to learn from other people’s insights. Failure to admit others’ views leads to fanaticism, which in Collier’s view (and mine) is responsible for most of the problems faced by the world.

One of the best bits about Paths To Peace is the part (Part II) in which Collier compares three of the world’s leading religions – namely Christianity, Islam and Hinduism. Collier notes that Christianity has so many plus points, in particular, its central tenet that we should love our fellow human beings. On the flip side, Christianity has created feelings of unworthiness, ineptitude and guilt in so many people, driving them to the greatest despair. Also, despite its avowed pacifism, for ninety per cent of its history, Christianity has behaved as the most violent, most imperialist and least tolerant of all religions. Christianity propagates the view that it is the only path to salvation and unlike Judaism, Christianity has always sought to convert the rest of the world. In this context, Collier looks at Pope Francis’s attempt to reach out to people of other faiths with approval, saying that ‘doing good is more important than adherence to dogmas.’

In contrast to Christianity, Islam has a simpler ideology. Also, throughout the Middle-Ages, Islam has been more tolerant and progressive than Christianity. On the flip side, Islam has the concept of naskh, whereby certain verses of the Qur’an have been revoked by others – Collier finds this problematic. Analysing Prophet Muhammad’s life, Collier finds the Prophet to be absolutely sincere and of good faith regarding his divine mission. On the other hand, the Prophet did lead many wars and raids on rival tribes, married many wives, including underage children. In short, ‘the Prophet Muhammad was very much a seventh-century Arab, whereas Jesus of Nazareth truly comes across as a timeless, almost unreal, radically peaceful prophet, whose Kingdom, as per his own words, is not of this world.’ Collier asks a number of tough questions regarding Islam, in light of the recent actions of its proponents who have taken an extreme and fundamentalist view of its tenets. The responses to his own questions from moderate Muslims, as collated by Collier, do make for interesting reading.

Collier, the humanist, has a large, warm spot for Hinduism. Even as he takes note of issues such as the caste system and the recent phenomenon of Hindutva, Collier comments that Hinduism is remarkably inclusive and pluralistic, much more than Islam or Christianity. Hinduism’s Sanatana Dharma is much more pre-occupied with attainment of freedom or liberation, through re-unification with the Divine, than with any particular set of beliefs. Hinduism is unencumbered with thoughts of apostasy, heresy, blasphemy and other ideas which still plague Islam and Christianity.

Towards the end, Collier reveals his own preference in matters of divinity, one which avoids the Paradox of Evil (if God is all powerful and all-good, how can evil exist) and the Paradox of Predestination (if God is all-knowing and knows beforehand what’s going to happen and God is all powerful, how can evil occur?). Rather than reveal anymore, I’ll leave it to you to read this wonderful book and discover Collier’s prescription for avoiding much of the evil, hatred and violence that plague the modern day world.

More an essay than a book, Paths to Peace runs to just under 200 pages in large print. I finished reading the entire book in around four hours without any break. Paths to Peace has been published by Vakils, Feffer & Simons Private Limited. Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council, has written its foreword.

The Teacher From Kerala Who Became A Project Manager At NASA

Dr. Philip Varghese, an India born scientist who once taught Physics at the Fatima Mata National College in Kollam, Kerala, worked for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab for close to a quarter century, during which time he worked on no less than six deep space missions, including the prestigious Mars Odyssey Project and the Mars Reconnaissance Mission. I thought it would be interesting to quiz Dr. Varghese about his achievements at NASA and his views on India’s Mars mission, for the benefit of Winnowed’s readers. Dr. Varghese very kindly agreed to answer all my questions not because he is now retired and has some free time on his hands (he is actually busier than ever) but because he happens to be my maternal uncle.

Winnowed: Dr. Varghese, what made you move to the US in the first place?
Dr. Varghese: I was working as a Physics lecturer at the Fatima Mata National College in Kerala when I applied for and received the Fulbright Fellowship. In those days, research opportunities within India were few and far in between and my primary objective was to do cutting edge research and work with the best in the field of physics. With my scholarship, I spent 6 years at the University of Oregon doing my Ph.D. program in physics. After I got my doctorate, I started to work for a privately owned company (Telos Corporation) in the computer systems field.

Winnowed: How was life at Telos? What exactly did you do there?
Dr. Varghese: At Telos, I was involved in developing software-intensive computer systems for earth-orbiting satellite systems, mainly for communications satellites. I managed the development of ground systems and then moved onto becoming business acquisition manager. In 1989, when the Division of the company I worked for moved to Washington D.C., I transferred to another Division within Telos that was supporting the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). JPL is a Federally Funded Research & Development Center (FFRDC) of NASA and is managed by California Institute of Technology (Caltech). It is the world leader in developing and conducting deep space missions. So this became a great opportunity for me to work in deep space exploration.

Winnowed: So Telos was your stepping stone to NASA? When exactly did you join NASA?
Dr. Varghese: In January 1989, . I started my career at JPL as a contract employee working on the Mars Observer mission, the first of the Observer series of planetary missions, designed to study the geoscience and climate of Mars. I started my association with the Mars Observer project as a systems engineer for the development of its missions operations system. Mars Observer spacecraft was launched on 25 September 1992. Just before the launch, in August 1992, I joined JPL as a full time employee and was assigned to the Mars Observer project as the Assistant Flight Engineering Office Manager. Unfortunately, the Mars Observer mission ended abruptly when contact with the spacecraft was lost on 21 August 1993, three days before the scheduled insertion into the Mars orbit. It was a very big disappointment to me personally, since this was my first deep space mission. JPL had to reassign a large number of personnel from the project to other jobs and I became a Group Supervisor in the Engineering & Science Directorate, a position I continued for 2 years. After a few other assignments, I joined the 2001 Mars Odyssey Project as its Project Manager. Odyssey is a Mars orbiting mission. In June 2010, I took over as Project Manager of the Mars Reconnaissance Mission, another Mars orbiting mission. During my tenure as the Project Manager for these two Mars missions, I also supported the on-going twin Mars Exploration Rover missions and the Mars Curiosity Rovermission which has been roaming Mars for more than a year now. I retired from JPL in February 2013 and ended a career that spanned 24 years and working on at least half a dozen deep space missions.

Winnowed: Wow! And has JPL been a good employer? Do you feel your efforts and hard work have been recognized?
Dr. Varghese: JPL is a great place to work and grow your talents. It is quick to recognize good work and leadership capabilities. I received promotions rapidly and received much recognition for meritorious performance. This year, JPL selected me for the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal for my leadership of the Mars Reconnaissance Mission. This is the second time I was bestowed with this very prestigious award. The previous Outstanding Leadership Medal was for my work on the Deep Space One mission as its Mission Operations Manager.


Winnowed: Could you describe a typical day for me, say when you worked on the Mars Odyssey Project or the Mars Reconnaissance Mission?
Dr. Varghese: Interplanetary mission operations require round-the-clock attention and, although my workday started at 6:30 AM and ended at 4:00 PM, (that is being in the office) I was, for all practical purposes 24/7 all the time. . But we found ways to reduce the load on each individual, by sharing responsibilities and trusting the people who were in charge while I was not physically present at the Lab. My job required a lot of coordination among various support organizations at JPL (e.g., the Deep Space Network, our telemetry & tracking stations) as well as within the MRO team. There were a lot of meetings everyday, discussing various aspects of the mission and deciding courses of action. We plan our operations on a 2-week cycle and design and implement the spacecraft & science instrument activities to accomplish that plan. It requires very intensive work involving several dozen engineers and scientists, and careful integration of the activities to not violate any spacecraft & instrument operational restrictions. A serious error could lead to potential harm to the flight system and even to end of mission. It is pretty stressful!

Winnowed: What was your happiest day at JPL?
Dr. Varghese: There are several: The day we launched the Mars Observer spacecraft. The day we successfully started the Ion Propulsion System on the Deep Space 1 mission. The day we recovered the Odyssey mission from a mission-ending catastrophe. The day the Odyssey mission received signals from the twin Mars Exploration Rovers indicating they landed on Mars successfully and the Mars Reconnaissance Mission received signals from the Mars Curiosity Rover indicating it landed on Mars successfully.

Winnowed: And your saddest?
Dr. Varghese: It was the day we lost the Mars Observer spacecraft. It happened all of a sudden. The spacecraft was about to begin pressurizing its fuel tanks in preparation for the Mars orbit-insertion maneuver when contact with the spacecraft was lost. We never heard from it again and we never found out definitively why we lost contact with the spacecraft. A lot of us put a lot of effort (Herculean, you may say!) to do that mission. It would have been the finest mission if it hadn’t failed.

Winnowed: Tell me Dr. Varghese, why do Mars missions? Do you think it’s worth it for the taxpayer, considering the expenses involved?
Dr. Varghese: Mars has been the object of human fascination for a very long time. With the invention and development of the telescope during the 1600s, increasingly detailed views of Mars from Earth became possible. These early observations revealed color changes on the surface of Mars that were erroneously attributed to seasonal vegetation.These observations also indicated some apparent linear surface features and these were attributed to intelligent design, leading to the belief, right or wrong, that there must be life on Mars.Further telescopic observations led to the discovery of the two moons of Mars, Phobos and Deimos, the polar ice caps, and the feature now known as Olympus Mons, the solar system's tallest mountain.

Recent interest to explore Mars is rooted in human curiosity to understand what happened to Mars over the years.We now know that Mars is a rocky planet, like Earth. It was formed around the same time, yet with only half the diameter of Earth.It has a far thinner atmosphere and it has a cold and desert-like surface. It is believed that a few billions of years ago, Mars probably looked more like Earth does now. The present-day atmosphere of Mars, composed mostly of carbon dioxide, is extremely thin, with atmospheric pressure at the surface just 0.6% of the Earth's surface pressure.Today, Mars is quiescent geologically, but its atmosphere breathes and changes from year to year, interacting in complex ways with the water sequestered in Mars' ice caps and permafrost. One of the goals of current Mars exploration missions is to learn how the modern Mars works– how the geological processes of Mars created its unique composition. Comparing the same geological processes of Mars and Earth should help us to understand how Mars’ history has influenced its present state, leading us topredict what to expect on Earth in the future.

Since 1996, Mars exploration has undergone a Renaissance, with data from multiple Mars orbiters and landed missions providing a revolutionary new view of Mars as an Earth-like planet with a complex geologic history. We now know Mars better than any planet in the solar system other than our own, yet we have more questions than ever.

Evidence suggests that Mars once had a much denser atmosphere.The Martian landscape retains channels that were evidently cut by abundant, flowing water - proof that the planet had a much denser atmosphere in the past.The planet was likely shrouded in a thick blanket of gases that supported the presence of liquid water at its surface. Today, the air pressure is so low that free water would instantly boil away. The most likely explanation for the loss in Mars atmosphere is that the solar wind - the great outflow of energetic particles from the Sun - has simply eroded it through time. This has been possible because, unlike Earth, Mars lacks a protective global magnetic field, which is capable of deflecting the energetic particles from the Sun.

We know that water does not flow on Mars today, but it evidently has in the past. So one of the most important questions behind Mars exploration is: has there ever been the right combination of liquid water, available energy, and time to permit life to begin on Mars?

Winnowed: And for a country like India, which faces a number of other challenges, such as the need to uplift a large percentage of its population from poverty, do you think it makes sense to invest in a Mars mission?
Dr. Varghese: Of course it does. Any scientific and engineering endeavor like the Mars mission adds not only to the prestige of the country, but also to the development of technologies for progress.

Winnowed: What are the main challenges in doing Mars missions?
Dr. Varghese: In general, engineering interplanetary missions is very difficult and complicated.Mars has historically been unfriendly to human attempts to explore it. Although more missions have been attempted to Mars than to any other place in the Solar System except the Moon, nearly two-thirds of all Marsexploration attempts have failed before completing their missions.Phrases like "Mars Curse" or "Martian Curse" were introduced to explain away the high failure rate. Fictitious space monsters, such as "Galactic Ghoul" or "Great Galactic Ghoul", that eat away Mars probes, were invented to "explain" the recurring difficulties.

Winnowed: What advice would you give a youngster who wants to become a rocket scientist? What’s the best way to go about it?
Dr. Varghese: Do good school work. Have a great ambition and aspiration. Concentrate on engineering and science studies. Have a great attitude to conquer new areas of human development.

Winnowed: Would you have any advice for Indian policy makers?
Dr. Varghese: India has done exceedingly well in developing a smart space program. It must continue to invest in this endeavor. There has been a greater emphasis, it appears, on the military aspects of its space program. Civilian space applications should be given equal priority. Policy makers should do all they can do to retain the talent in India and they should channel enough resources into R&D. India should do more to strengthen fundamental scientific research at the grassroots level, I mean in colleges across the country.

Book Review: The Escape Artist: A Gibraltarian Novel, by M. G. Sanchez

M. G. Sanchez’s writing harks back to an era when writers (I am reminded of Thomas Hardy) wrote stories about real people who could have existed, for people who had the time, patience and leisure to read lengthy tales and the good taste to not expect a thrilling end. If you have read Sanchez before, you would know that he attaches no small measure of importance to his (and his characters) Gibraltarian identity, the “Britishness” of Gibraltarians and how a Gibraltarian is not, by any stretch of imagination, a Spaniard.

However, The Escape Artist: A Gibraltarian Novel, is not really about Gibraltar even though approximately half of it is set on the Rock. Rather, it is the story of a unique relationship between two young men from disparate backgrounds. Brian Manrique is a home-sick, working class Gibraltarian, plodding his way through Cambridge on a scholarship when he espies a fellow Gibraltarian, Henry Portas, amongst those hallowed portals. Henry Portas is very rich and very savvy, as different from Brian as chalk is from cheese. The resulting friendship between the two young men is one that’s meant for analysis by behavioural scientists. Even though The Escape Artist is a “realistic” novel, Sanchez does stretch his writer’s licence to the outer limits as he spins a yarn about the growing friendship between Henry and Brian and their various escapades.

Amongst the tussle between two diverse personalities of the same age, Sanchez’s angst about Gibraltar, its place in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and its relations with Spain, constantly shines through. The border between Spain and Gibraltar, a little longer than a kilometre, is open for crossings these days, but it wasn’t so in the 1970s, the period in which The Escape Artist is set. When, towards the end of the novel, Brian needs to make a trip to Spain, he is forced to take a ferry to Tangiers in Morocco to get to Algeciras in Spain, a journey of many hours, which could have been accomplished in minutes if the border weren’t closed. Incidentally, the Spanish-Gibraltarian border crossing is in the news these days.

One of the best things about The Escape Artist is Sanchez’s portrayal of life in the 1970s in the UK in general and Gibraltar in particular. Brian Manrique might have acquired a Cambridge degree (in Modern Languages), but has very few career options at the end of it all, largely on account of his working class, Gibraltarian background. He returns to Gibraltar, to live with his mother and sister in their council flat, and embarks on a job-hunt which appears to be hopeless until he is interviewed for an assistant’s position in a library and the chief interviewer turns out to be a distant relative. Brian’s teenage sister does something which I assume was not very uncommon in Gibraltar in those days – to the consternation of her mother and brother, she dates a British soldier posted on the Rock and gets pregnant. Since we are in the 1970s, she does eventually marry her man and follow him around the world on his postings. On the other hand, the rich folks, even in Gibraltar, seem to lead very comfortable lives.

Sanchez’s writing is more functional and simple than flowery or ornate. At times I did wish that it was a little bit more of the latter – a literary work of this magnitude would not be badly served with a few dollops of literary flourishes, but on the whole, The Escape Artist reads well and gets you to the meat of the story in a direct fashion. The ending, when you get there, is unexpected, but realistic to the core. Sanchez does not pander to the galleys when he drops the curtains on yet another excellent book from his writing desk.

The Escape Artist: A Gibraltarian Novel is available on Kindle.

A Conversation With Sayed Ahmed Raza, My Friend From Bangladesh

My friend Sayed Ahmed Raza is a founding partner at Ahmed & Farooq LP, a leading law firm in Bangladesh. Raza, as we called him at the National Law School of India University, was a couple of years my junior and graduated from NLSIU in the year 2000. I haven’t seen Raza since 1998, the year I graduated, but we’ve always managed to keep in touch, thanks to emails, facebook and skype. Recently Raza conveyed some sound bytes to be posted on Winnowed.

Winnowed: Career-wise, what have you done since your graduation from NLSIU in 2000?

Raza: Immediately after I came back, I worked as the co-ordinator for a project run by the Bangladesh Bar Council called “Human Rights Lawyering for Young Lawyers.” It involved coordinating the activities of 78 local Bar Associations and travelling to all parts of my country. I thoroughly enjoyed the job, which lasted for a year. I then started practising in Dakha and did a mix of criminal and civil litigation. More of the former than the latter. In 2002, I went to Khartoum in Sudan to work for the United Nations Development Programme for Refugees. I was there for two and a half years, helping Ethiopian and Eritrean refugees who had escaped to Sudan to escape the turmoil in their own countries. On my return, I resumed my litigation practice. I co-founded Ahmed & Farooq LP in the year 2007. These days, I do some non-litigation work – drafting agreements etc., but my mainstay is still litigation and arbitration.

Winnowed: Can you please cite an interesting case you have been involved in?

Raza: Recently our Supreme Court awarded the death sentence to one Abdul Quader Molla for his role in the 1971 genocide. Prior to his conviction, Molla had filed a defamation claim against certain politicians for the statements they made against him. I defended two of those politicians, namely Ms. Syeda Sajeda Choudhury, the Deputy Leader of Parliament and Ms. Motia Chowdhury, a Minister, against those defamation claims.

Winnowed: What made you choose NLSIU?

Raza: I come from a family of lawyers. Both my grandfathers were lawyers and my father is a leading Senior Counsel in Dhaka as well as President of the Bongabandhu Angibi Parishad. NLSIU is rather well-known among the legal fraternity in Bangladesh – even in 1995 when it was relatively new and the only National Law School in India. Students from Bangladesh have traditionally gone to the UK for their legal studies. I decided to give NLSIU a shot, just to do something different.

Winnowed: Did you consider taking up a job in India after graduation?

Raza: No. I was always clear that I wanted to return to Dhaka and practice law here.

Winnowed: Was it difficult to qualify in Bangladesh with an Indian law degree?

Raza: Not for me. In Bangladesh, just as in India, only Bangladeshi citizens can become advocates. One needs to take an enrolment exam for this purpose. Actually two exams, one to qualify to practice in the lower courts and the second one, which can be taken only if an advocate has at least two years’ post qualification experience, to practice in the High Court and Supreme Court. Since I had an Indian degree, I applied to the Bar Council for my degree to be recognised, which it did without raising any issue, after which I could take the first enrolment exam. I did that immediately on my return.

Winnowed: Please name a few people who have a made a big difference to your life.

Raza: My father, Abdul Baset Majumdar has made the biggest difference to my life. He has been my role model ever since I can remember.

Winnowed: If you were to advice other Bangladeshi students who are considering an Indian law degree, what would you tell them?

Raza: I would say that a law degree from a leading National Law School in India would give every budding lawyer a head-start in terms of developing analytical skills and learning the fundamentals of law, which are common for all common-law countries.

Winnowed: What’s your happiest memory from your time in Bangalore?

Raza: I have very happy memories of my time in the Men’s Halls of Residence. Every day was a special day. I will never forget my mates from those wonderful days.

Winnowed: And your saddest or the most unhappy experience?

Raza: I don’t remember any.

Winnowed: Your family?

Raza: I have been blessed with two daughters, Rifah Shahana Majumder and Rameen Shahanna Majumder . My wife Shahana Rahmatullah Annie is very supportive.

Winnowed: What are your hobbies?

Raza: Music, movies and reading Bangla newspapers

Winnowed: One last question - What do you think can be done to improve Indo-Bangladeshi relations?

Raza: India has changed a lot since the time it helped us win independence. The middle-classes in India do not hate Bangladesh. The Indian judiciary believes in fair play. For example, in the case of The Chairman, Railway Board & Ors vs Mrs. Chandrima Das & Ors [January, 2000], the Indian Supreme Court awarded compensation to a Bangladeshi girl who was raped in the Howrah Railway station. However, we also have instances like the case of Felani Khatun where no action has been taken. One gets the feeling that the common man in India does not have much goodwill towards us. To some extent, it is the politicians’ job to educate the masses, but I also understand that it is not an easy task. In Bangladesh, there is a big split between moderates like me who want democracy and have good relations with India and the supporters of the fundamentalist Jamaat e Islami who want Shariah rule.

Notes from the Vasai Virar Mayor’s Marathon 2013

It’s been a little over two weeks since I ran the Vasai Virar Mayor’s Marathon 2013 (VVMM). Three of my toe nails are still bluish-black (I think I will lose them) and my hopes of running a sub-five marathon lie shattered. This was my second full-marathon – I had taken 5:24 hrs to complete the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon 2012 (SCMM) and I thought I would easily do the VVMM in under 5 hours. I had trained reasonably well and everything was fine for the first half. The crowds were lovely and lined the entire road from Virar till Vasai. There were school kids out with banners, dressed in their school uniforms, most definitely instructed to turn up by their schools, there were housewives in their night gowns, men with stubbles, rubbing off the sleep from their eyes and even a few groups of ethnically dressed performers, dancing to the beat of drums and dholaks. There were water stations every kilometre or so and at a few places they even handed out oranges and biscuits. The route was very scenic – parts of it reminded me of Kerala’s landscape. As we ran, we could hear church bells peal at a number of places as the good people of Virar and Vasai attended Sunday mass.

I crossed the half-way mark in around 2:20 hrs and then things started going downhill. Unlike the SCMM which starts at 5:45 a.m., the VVMM started at 6:45 a.m. I guess it couldn’t be helped since a large number of runners are from Mumbai and it takes a while to reach the starting point at Virar. Secondly, the SCMM is held in January, whilst the VVMM is in October, the peak of what can be called Mumbai’s second summer. It’s hot and humid and there are long stretches with no shade. The third big difference between the SCMM and the VVMM, and this is a really big one, is that for the former, the roads are closed to traffic for the entire 6 hours one is given to complete the full marathon. At the VVMM, the roads were opened to traffic barely two hours after the marathon started. By 10:30 a.m., traffic was in full flow.

I guess this happens in all tier two marathons. The second half of the run was pure hell. It was not just on account of the traffic, heavy enough at times to force me to walk rather than run, or even the weather. As I started to run back towards Virar from Vasai, the water stations started to disappear. Even the many balloon bunches that lined the route, which I relied on for directions, were taken down much before the 6-hour cut-off. I once lost my way a little bit and ran for around 200 metres in the wrong direction before someone corrected me and sent me back. At a few places, I had to stop and look for signs or ask for directions before running on. Towards the end, around one kilometre before the end, I saw a runner ahead of me fail to take a u-turn (because the signs weren’t clear and there was no one around to direct him) and run a hundred odd metres extra before he turned back. The sweeper van meant to pick up stragglers who wanted to drop out was in operation much before the 6 hour deadline. I was asked at least three times by enthusiastic young men if I wanted a ride to the finishing point, something I found to be very dispiriting to say the least. The first time I was asked was around the four hour mark, when I was going strong, at least so I felt. Once on a crowded pavement, a man asked me if I would like to sit down, rest and eat something. It took me a second to realise that I was talking to a shop-keeper and move on. These little things do matter. Marathons are not just for the elite runners. I feel that that the organisers ought to have considered the recreational runners who make up the bulk of the participants before shutting shop so early. On the positive side, there were pilots on motor-bikes who darted back and forth and supplied us with directions and water (which made up for the absence of water stations) till the end.

I thought of giving up many times, but ultimately I didn’t. For personal reasons, I won’t be able to take part in SCMM 2014 and I needed to complete the VVMM within the cut-off time to be eligible for SCMM 2015. I tried to motivate myself by imagining that I was a Viet Cong guerrilla running along the Ho Chi Minh trail, a Spetsnaz commando on a killer mission, a US Navy SEAL running stealthily behind enemy lines, an NSG Black Cat Commando on a mission to free hostages held by suicidal terrorists, a warrior in a Zulu impi marching towards Isandlwana. None of that really worked. Ultimately I finished just inside the cut-off time because I had posted details of my run on facebook and didn’t want to lose face in front of my facebook “friends”. I ran because I didn’t want to tell my office colleagues that I couldn’t last the course and had chickened out. I ran on, a week after my 39th birthday, fuelled by my ego and the painful awareness that it would cost me a lot to prepare for and run a full, timed marathon once again before registrations started for SCMM 2015.


I completed in 5:49:10 hrs, wearing bib number 205. My results, with splits etc., are available on this site. Please choose Vasai – Virar Marathon 2013 and enter my bib number 205 for my results.

I am unable to write about an event like this without a few words regarding the toilet facilities, in my opinion one of the best criteria to judge organisers of such events. I got to the starting point around fifteen minutes before kick-off and asked for the nearest toilet. I was directed to one inside the large building to my right. It looked dirty with what looked like a large piece of human dung inside. I gingerly prepared to pee and the large piece of dung moved, trying to jump out. It was a frog! To be fair to the organisers, that toilet was not meant for the participants. Enroute, I found a set of portable toilets around the fifteen kilometre mark. Neat, clean and easy to use, I never saw another set of such toilets till I finished and entered the resting place for the participants, which had a similar set of toilets. However, I didn’t need to use a toilet on the return leg since it was so very hot and humid. I wouldn’t have minded if I could have relieved myself much before the fifteenth kilometre, but the entire route was so lined with cheering people that I never found a spot where I was by myself with some cover.

Before I conclude, there’s one special request I have for the organisers. During the first half of the marathon, along with the crowds that lined the route, there were loud speakers belting out popular music. Even when the crowds weren’t there, especially as we neared the half-way mark, loud speakers played songs at full blast. I can’t say I am speaking on behalf of all runners, but for me, when I run, silence is a blessing and loud music is something I treat on par with air pollution from vehicle fumes. The loud music played from those speakers gave me a headache. Please note, I am not talking of the sounds made by those cheering kids or even the drummers. I am only talking of the large black loudspeakers which made such a racket for the entire 21 kilometre stretch during the first half. Please dispense with them for the next event, if you don’t mind.