Year: 2010

Thursday’s tidbits

Published by Anita

Rahul Verghese, founder of Running and Living has documented his experience in this video of the Comrades Marathon. Watch it here. Tanvir Kazmi has written about his experience too. Times Cycle to Work is organizing this event on Sunday. Do show your support and participate – lots of fun stuff for the kids too! And RunnerGirlsIndia and Mother Earth are organizing a 5k run on World Environment Day – be there at the Mother Earth store (opposite Dell on Inner Ring Road) at 6 am on Saturday, June 5 and show your support! The Tour of the Nilgiris enters its third edition. It’s got an overwhelming response this time around – 100 riders will be selected to go on this 1000km ride of a lifetime! Here’s some coverage of the event.

saluting an invisible population

Saluting an invisible population

Published by Anita

In Delhi, I met a lady called Anita, who had sold her car around 10 years ago and now cycles around instead. She told me that with her workplace and home not too far from each other, she manages on two wheels most of the time. And this too, in Delhi! She said something else that struck a chord: “Do you notice that a large population of any city is on cycles. You just don’t notice them.” And this is so true. When I wasn’t cycling (and didn’t know how to!), cyclists never registered in my vision – at least consciously. But there’s a huge lower and middle class population that relies totally on cycles. If you start looking, they’re everywhere. On the road, they’re a bunch of folks who come to your notice only if you happen to be behind them at a traffic signal and in your way. Otherwise, they’re a largely anonymous lot, who are either in front or behind the traffic, or on the side of the road. Sometimes, they’re also …

Hello India in Bangalore!

Published by Anita

Flickr users in Bangalore, do come by the Lalit Ashok tomorrow! The second in the series of Hello India events in India is going to be held on April 21. The event is from 7-11 pm and details are also on Upcoming. Like any Yahoo! event, this promises to be an interesting and fun evening that you shouldn’t miss. I’ve been using Flickr for years now (since 2004 when I moved to Bangalore and discovered it!) and I looked back into my archives to find the first picture I posted – here it is! How long have you been a Flickr user and what was your first picture posted?

The Namesake(s)

Published by Anita

Being in a room with around 15 women, all called “Anita”, turned out to be quite a novel experience. Like we all joked, it was one occasion when we didn’t have to remember any names! This happened in February 2010 during a trip to Delhi and Gurgaon. A rather diverse bunch, brought together by Delhi based photographer Anita Khemka who is working on a project called “Being Anita“.

Girls on the Run: Second edition

Published by Anita

The second edition of Girls on the Run (we had the first one last year) organised by Runner Girls India was held on March 28, 2010. The GOTR is a series of running events and the aim is to increase their frequency. This time around we had Decathlon, Kalenji Club, Forum Value Mall and OnMobile as our partners. The run turned out to be quite a big affair that saw nearly 150 girls participating in the 5 and 10k event. Just going to show that running is on the rise and women are taking to the sport in droves. A really encouraging sign of the times I must say. If you want to be informed of RGI events, do bookmark the webpage – www.runnergirlsindia.com. There is also an RGI group page on Facebook that you can join. If you want to join in the next event, do stay tuned! We will have more of such runs in the future… Catch more photographs here!

No cycles please; we’re a star hotel!

Published by Anita

A few days ago, a cyclist was turned away from the Leela Hotel’s main gate to a side parking lot on the road. He was there to attend a conference when his “humble” cycle did not pass the “high security standards” of the hotel. He refused, of course, (even I would!) the security guard’s suggestion to park on the side of the road. You can follow the discussion here. This was communicated to the Leela, but they couldn’t say much except that they can’t take responsibility of two wheelers and cycles parked on their premises. And that they have “security” policies that do not allow two wheeler parking. (Check out their Facebook page for their very defensive response). However, “security” is something they don’t offer cars either. The question is why they haven’t accounted for at least one parking space inside for two-wheelers and cycles – surely it can’t be a space issue considering it hardly takes any space to park 15-20 bikes (or cycles). The space offered currently to two wheelers and cyclists is …