Swim Camp

While there are a bunch of crazy online competitions going on to keep folks motivated over the winter, I decided to start my year with an advantage and an attitude. The advantage I created was using the whole month of December to contribute towards my 2012 season. All of 2011 was spent travelling a lot (50 flights in less than 100 days(!)) for work, teaching at two huge Indian colleges (IIT and IIM), two kinds of students (engineering geeks and management geeks) and making slow but steady progress on business – ah the joys of the exchange rate! The attitude I took on was to work on whatever intimidated me the most, first. Post April 2011, I found it hard to swim as pools in India are usually manned by pigeons, crows and other wildlife and the water quality is dubious and “ladies swim times” are often in the order of 30 minutes with lane lines being drawn width wise making the pool resemble a Turkish bath. My five week camp kicked off in December and within the first week, I set my sights on a “hard” goal, which for me was to swim 100K in 5 weeks, in the smallest number of days possible.

I remember the kind of fitness I had when I had my PBs on the swim and the reason I was intimidated by the swim bit was mostly mental – it’s the hardest facility to come by in India. I cannot recount the number of days I’ve had arguments with coaches and custodians to remove lane-line madness and give us our 60 minutes that we pay for (both in cash and in skin-rashes). The first week into the camp, I swam 17k, which for me was an achievement. I even threw myself a pity party on the Monday that followed by swimming a 1K, as if my arms would fall off if I swam any more than the prescribed minutes of swimming. The second week, I managed to swim 20.5Ks with not too much toil and two days off. The third week was Christmas/NewYear-coma week #1 and I managed to swim 21.5 on short rest sessions with reduced pool hours. Week 4 was Christmas/NewYear-coma week #2 and overall my motivation was low owing to bad attitude. I was busy hero-worshipping the folks that swim 1:10 or less for a 100 and forgot about my swimming, and managed only 14.5K with three days of rest. The last week started with a 3K set done as 3*1000 for time with various contraptions but, my times were starting to come back from the PB days. That evening was a 2.5 hard session with many, many short bursts of effort. On Tuesday I swam 2.5K and managed to scare off the Canadian Fashion Police (who then refused to grant me audience as they took one look at my swimsuits from the 1920s, floral prints and frills and all and hid in their alpine cabins instead of the various caffeinated treats I had on offer, in exchange for information on How to be a faster swimmer?!). I also think my flip turns were the deal-clincher as on every attempt to flip turn I looked like I was trying to change a shirt, arms flailing everywhere and nearly jog/walking at the wall in the pool, with a depth of 4 feet that I managed to call my home for these 5 weeks. Wednesday was one of 4-5 triple swim sessions totaling a whopping 5.5K, I couldn’t make the intervals with one single long session so, I took the rest was to make sure the effort didn’t suffer. It worked. After the last session that day, I was the last one in the changing room hoping that the pool staff would accidentally lock me in so that I could finish the rest of the swimming that night and never set foot in the pool again! My husband couldn’t stop laughing for a few hours after I told him what I was wishing for. I couldn’t understand what was so funny… 25 days of swimming hard can drive one over the edge. Thursday was pity party galore with a 2K continuous swim and a huge CTI (Can’t Take It) moment where I couldn’t get myself to swim again as I couldn’t bear to set foot in the pool. Friday was 6.5K in 2 sessions and Saturday (day #28) was a 5K with a big grin on my face and a very, very sore set of shoulders. I took Saturday evening off on dry land with the last week’s total being 27+K in 6 days. I can now say I have a small glimpse into what the really good swimmers in our sport are doing and I am really amazed. While for three weeks I managed to keep my bike/run volume up, it really hit me in week #4. Additionally, I am loving this new crowd whose articles Ive enjoyed reading including coach Joel Filliol whose articles on swim fitness make a lot of sense to me. I have had no formal swim training, ever. I managed to complete the Ultraman swim after a year or two of consistent swimming (12-20km per week) focusing on miles. This camp was mostly to make a dent in my fitness and a substantial one. The technique and times came on their own, once I was fit enough to stay in the water for 90 minutes without thinking twice. Last year, I took the advice of someone who screwed up my intuitive breathing pattern Id set for myself (breathe on either side and three-stroke breathing). I really paid for it with an extremely sore left shoulder and general misery in being unable to decipher how something so enjoyable had become such a pain in just a short time. This year, I asked another coach who had watched me swim for 4 weeks up-and-down, over and over and she told me, very kindly that I was thinking straight – breathing on both sides is important for balance, some “work” in every session is a must (speed, paddles, pulling) and fitness is more important than fancy 2k swim sessions with “variety”. I don’t need variety! For me, battling the gatekeepers to the pools here is “variety” enough. That being said, I’m psyched that I managed to complete this camp with a big grin on my face. On Sunday, I went on a 3 hour run in the hot sun, just to enjoy the fresh air and my favorite songs. I love running! Maybe, Ill do a little run camp next! The wisdom is the same across sports, quality in every session, understanding our thresholds and sustaining them better over time and finally, frequency. More is always better!

Destination Unknown

This article originally appeared on The HinduBusinessLine’s Life Supplement on Dec 31st, 2011 at http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/features/life/article2757784.ece?homepage=true&ref=wl_home

I am at the airport and its 2am. As with all Indians, I seem to suffer the genetic predisposition to travel light. With most airlines these days ripping off passengers in a very big way by charging more for the Asian sectors than the Americas, making the engineer in me quickly compute an alternate world where that would be equitable, I have ended up carrying more hand-baggage than check in. Yes, in an athlete’s world, excess baggage fees are the bane of our existence. In fact, flying around the world with your bike has severe financial repercussions with the total cost of travel increasing by up to twenty percent. This, added to airline staff being incredibly challenging to deal with, occasionally, during check in (when one almost has to remind them that they don’t own the airline, just the two hours when we have to make the flight) makes for a dangerous combination sometimes in terms of keeping one’s morale high. All of the above mentioned hazards of travel aside, I am glad to be waiting to board this plane tonight. I have a specific goal for the coming month and I hope I achieve that goal. 2011 has been an incredibly challenging year.

On Tuesday, February 22nd, my husband and I were at our rented premises in Christchurch, New Zealand, on what was supposed to be our honeymoon. It was about lunchtime, I was finishing a report and nibbling at some pasta, he was heating up his food. At first, we felt what seemed like an aftershock but when the rumbling continued and my food fell on the carpet, we ran out of the first-floor apartment, helter-skelter. Within minutes of coming outside the house, we felt what was a series of aftershocks. On further inspection, we found the whole neighborhood was ravaged but nothing sank in on the first day. We hardly slept that night and woke up at least a dozen times to more aftershocks. Sadly, we were stuck with an unethical house-owner who was more interested in getting rent than in ensuring our safety. The power went off immediately after the first quake hit and we expected that it would be back in 24 hours or so. What followed was a bizarre nightmare of outlandish proportions including having to pay the landlord for time we had not stayed there, severe post-traumatic stress disorder, insomnia and several visits to several doctors before settling on an all-natural Ayurvedic route to cure our minds and bodies. We came home in April and I took up a Visiting Faculty position at IIM Ahmedabad to be able to join my husband in his one-year pursuit of an Executive MBA there, I taught a class for the two-year MBA students (the rules stipulated that my husband could not take my class, which was fair enough.. what if he ended up not doing his dishes and I gave him a “D”.. that would be a tough call). In any case, we were the only household on campus that could boast of a student to faculty ratio of 1:1. Both my husband and I under-estimated the stress of an MBA, let alone a one-year MBA. This, added to our health woes and my organic business and sport was a sure shot recipe to long-term disaster. I competed from January to April under some extenuating circumstances, often toeing the start-line of races with more than slight trepidation.

However, as the adage goes, the older you get, the more you seem to have to lose. I love teaching and I love research even more. Being an academic is not something I am very proud of (in sporting circles) but, I love books, libraries and words as much as I do running, cycling and swimming. On one race early this year, after the earthquake, my mind went on a trip of sorts and I dug up some old memories. An endearing memory from an early visiting to San Diego for a conference had me running around town one night when the question on everyone’s mind was either “Where is the Wonderbread factory?” or “are you going to the Wonderbread factory?”. A huge set of baseball fans had just checked out of Petco park and were making their way in the general direction, as well. I personally was on the lookout for my Canadian friend Pierre .. to bid adieu to him and his partner. And tell them that though their cars did not start in the Ottowan winter, that they were inspiring in their verbose love for someplace called “home” – what does that mean, exactly? Sadly, I didn’t find them that night and jumped into a cab to get to my hotel. The cab driver answered “no automatic” to the question “Where are you from?” making me giggle like a three-year old. Whether it was the sadness of possibly not seeing Pierre till next year, at Toronto, the warm summer night, the uphill turns to Ash Avenue or the murky dark sky that seemed to make “lasting” friendships (composed of Wednesday night scrabble and 
green tea) impossible, I couldn’t tell. He kept sighing and placing his chin on his free hand every stop light we hit. I wondered if he secretly was like Marvin from the Hitchhikers Guide.



After I was done visiting memory lane in San Diego, I decided to run 50km up some high alpine country. However, one of the best ways NOT to run an Ultramarathon would be to to NOT run one when your longest run has been weeks prior to the race itself and then you have moved, and wheezed and whiffled your way through subsequent workouts, have been unable to sleep and are generally tired. But, speaking of stubborn-ness, this came into play that morning and I decided to run anyway. I wanted to run. I wanted to be alone, for one long stretch and really see what 4200ft of climbing would feel like. Although the outing ended disastrously, I was inspired once more to stay on track with sport, on that cold, blue day in April. Similarly, in the past seven months, Ive constantly kept my inspiration in sight, while taking the time to heal. Teaching has been a huge gift to me and it succeeded in making me keep things in perspective. Detours, I have decided, are the ultimate answer to finding one’s true path or calling. For myself, I have found that unless I am focused for 18 hours a day, I get restless. While I am tempted to say that choosing sport for the forseeable future has made me opt out of the unglamorous and unenviable life of a CEO or a teacher, I don’t think that is true. Irrespective of the paths Ive taken, my work-ethic has taken over the destination thereby making the journey vastly more enjoyable. The destination (known or unknown) is only one milestone. Here is looking forward to 2012, filled with great perspective and fortitude.

Anu Vaidyanathan (PhD) is a long-course triathlete and the first Asian (male or female) to compete in and place 6th at Ultraman Canada (a three day endurance event comprising a 10K swim, 420K bike ride and 84.4K run). In her copious free time she also consults and teaches Engineering and Management students. Her website is at www.anuvaidyanathan.com.

Facebooked

I heard a really funny piece of news on the radio today — one that said that there were twice as many British teenagers registered on Facebook when compared to those that were registered to vote. In being asked about this, one teenager retorted “Well.. at least on Facebook, people listen to what you have to say!” I burst out laughing when I heard this. Often when training long hours or just putting up with cranky people, I turn to facebook to vent. Not all of it is a good idea and most often I wonder if I am talking to myself, in public In any case, I agree with this teenager – at least on Facebook, people ARE willing to listen. Who else would even remotely care about pimples, bad weather, good weather, long runs, short runs, crazy swims, bad life situations etc. other than the long list of people that are on the facebook friends list? It makes me wonder about friendships though – a fan page being my cop out for being anti-social – I have very very few and select friends.

I got a message today (possibly from a Facebook fan) that he wanted to grow up to be like me. This made me smile (obviously, I am flattered) but, immediately I panicked… someone like me? Little sleep, always discontent, moving around at crazy speeds, brain capable of frying eggs and potatoes when left alone for too long? Did I really want all this for this kid? (This “kid” is a 20 year old, who is 6 foot tall and a budding engineer) I am still flattered but also a bit concerned. I believe the really amazing people are all around us – every story of every runner in every big race in India is worth a listen. I remember going to the Mumbai marathon in 2009 and meeting some really cute kids in the after-race tent. They had run the dream run and were enjoying cake! I would like to grow up and be like them =) Until then, Facebook will have to listen to my endless rants and conundrums…..

Discovery

As the year winds down, I find myself introspecting about the two years that have been! Yeah – I missed the day of introspection in 2010 – it ran by so fast! Some pleasant detours included meeting my wonderful life-partner, whom I have been lucky to find. I also taught at two colleges, met two different sets of students (but pretty much the same sense of entitlement – sorry kids! I washed dishes when I was going through college… so, I could never take anything for granted), loved a majority of my time teaching and researching and also was on more than two dozen round trip flights. I discovered a partner, a new path, an old dream, a far away horizon and most of all my sense of purpose.

The thing with discoveries is that they often take a while to sink in and adapt to. Last night, I took a few photographs of the sunset and smelled the roses for a while. Life is whatever we make of it, we get out what we put in. In the coming years I hope that I take the chances that I have been waiting to take (for a long, long time). I am not one for New Years resolutions, rather every day resolution. I am hoping that I can keep my spirits up, appreciate the bounty of  the life that I am lucky to be a part of, be brave to take long leaps and appreciate the sunsets.

Eating Healthy

I get a lot of questions on healthy eating and here are my two cents! First of all, lets talk about the basics :

• Eat Fresh foods – this usually excludes crap from boxes (cereals, noodles etc… trust me, Lara Dutta does NOT get her superb figure from eating sugar-filled Kelloggs crap)
• Eat your last meal 6 hours before bed
• Drink a glass of water every 90-100 minutes in the day
• Use supplements (iron and calcium for women and antioxidants for everyone)
• Choose your main source of carbs to be as unprocessed and unrefined as possible (brown rice, cous cous, organic oats)
• Make fresh food every 2-3 days, spend money on good foods
• Avoid excessive alcohol and sugary drinks

I want to write about this list, bottoms up. Alcohol is often percieved as “cool”. Be it Imran Khan’s various characters or the latest B-Town babe’s roles, everyone seems to be high on partying and booze. Various food surveys are confusing! Red wine is good for you. Red wine is bad for you. Coffee is bad for you. Coffee is good for you. Chocolate is good for you. Chocolate is bad for you. What do we really believe? In general, alcohol and caffeine in excess are bad news and excess is really one drink a week is about the limit for a normal person. Alcohol slows down your metabolism very heavily and it a deterrant to just day to day working. Caffeine (in the limit) is great for your alertness and controlling your hunger but in excess can cause heart palpitations and general irritability. Chocolate should be reserved for 100 mile rides or 3 hour runs and once a week you can allow yourself a treat (again, in the limit).

A lot of us who work dont have time to cook every day or even every other day. We take this to mean that we are really excelling in our professional lives or whatever else we are doing. This is really a big lie we tell ourselves – the less connected with what we put in our mouth, the worse off we will be. Cooking makes one appreciate the various food groups and understand how to make nutritious meals. Yes, not all of us can cook or are good at it – at the very least, supervise the making of meals – cut the oil and salt intake. Keep the vegetables cleaned and ready for the next day. Figure out if your vegetables are organic (a HUGE challenge in India) and pesticide free. If nothing else, just figure out the nutrients in each food item you are eating. Spend time in your kitchen.

Main source of carbs need not be pizza or noodles all the time — experiment! Try oats, cous cous or even brown rice.. spend a little extra on your next grocery bill and a little less on your shopping… Its worth it!

Supplements are really a huge help – 1000 mg of Calcium and an iron supplement are a must for women. If you are on a high-protein diet, taking that calcium is even more important. Other supplements include antioxidants and Vitamin E.

Drink a glass of water every two hours at most, this helps regulate your hunger and gives you an excuse to leave your desk and walk down to fetch your water glass… keep your circulation going and flush out bad things from your body. Stay hydrated! Simple enough.

Eat Fresh Foods — fruits, vegetables, fish, salads – whatever you can get your hands on or get your hands to make =) AVOID boxed cereals and sugary drinks unless you are on a long ride. I LOVE COKE on my bike rides, its the BEST however, during a normal working day, it is too many calories. McDonalds is evil – stay outta there =)

I hope this helps.. Here is is wishing all my readers a happy and healthy 2012 nutritionally!

Chammak Challo

Once upon a time, long, long ago… an OLD and (now-so-wise) man wrote me about swimmers that swam for an hour a day, sometimes two, to get better at this thing called swimming…. In the last fortnight, Ive transformed into a mermaid, the unglamorous kind that smells of chlorine all the time and has her skin peeling off at various unmentionable places owing to severe exposure to Chlorine. Im in nature’s wonderland and my mind is finally still after a yaer of ups and downs and days I dont even remember or care to revisit anymore….. Ive MOVED ON! No more looking over my shoulder, I told my husband. No more rewind and no more replay.

As far as I am concerned my 2012 season has started and how! I have broken some mental barriers I have had for a long time. The problem with being weak is that you start listening to too many unimportant people who rob you of the joys only you and your efforts can bring you. How about instead, that we focus on the things, people and places that make us happy? I revisited a small hill that gave me my first anxiety attacks and ran up and down the same hill for an hour in the hot sun. The said hill and I are friends now, we have made peace with each other. I also made friends with the local pool and now know the deep secrets of every lane line, every contraption that is on the pool deck and the people that run the place and make it bearable for me to be in there.

In my spare time, Ive been reading history books and have been hanging out with a two-year old whom I am busy convincing to become my future son-in-law =) He is the cutest and totally worth every minute of my time and effort….. grownups are frustrating compared to the shorties…….

Oh well….. its time to revisit my chammak challo – the friendly neighborhood 25meter pool!

Sunday @ Surat

On the Sunday that just passed, I had the opportunity to talk to a bunch of really bright students at SVNIT Surat. I was invited by the local ACM Chapter. I ended up giving a (somewhat looong) talk on Technology, Culture and the Soul =) I believe as a teacher, its easy to dehumanize Engineering but there are so many things besides the “next killer app”. If we could make technology truly ubiquitous, the rest will follow.

My day started at 4:45am with the shortest possible run on campus. I caught the 6:30am train to Surat and fell asleep immediately. I was travelling with a bunch of students, who gave me the lower berth. I suppose the saree made me look like a senior citizen and also warned me about the visiting cockroach in the compartment. Indian Railways is something to be experienced as much as one can. There are always a lot intesting people, both at the stations we travel through and on the train itself. More than that, I dont mind waking up early to take a train but, when it comes to planes, I feel burdened at the hours of travel before and after the actual plane ride. On getting to Surat, I recieved the warmest welcome possible and my stay was made very comfortable. The students were excellent and their faculty advisor was very forthcoming – I really was very happy to be there. The day went really well with so many great questions and retorts =) I believe the highlight of being a teacher is really the students one gets to meet, good or bad, they teach us too. I was also very impressed by the local ACM chapter’s work on Quest, the contests they had designed, their love for programming (I was intimidated by some of the questions but, I confessed to my general incompetence immediately ) and the number of kids that turned up.

I believe a lot of these students are going to go and do GREAT things, I cant wait to hear how their lives unfold and here is wishing them the best! On my return journey, I was reading the book “Xanadu” by John Man but also being entertained by a 3 year old who was talking a mile a minute. She didnt like sleeping and was going to see her grammie in Jodhpur with her mom and grandpa. She initially refused to recite the poems she had learned at school (as that was only for her grandma) but eventually conceded to sharing them with us poor mortals. She also found a year-old friend and watching the two talk about world peace and all things important was really the best part of my journey back home. She even tried to convince her mom that should leave with me to Ahmedabad (as I had a lot of books at home) but changed her mind at the last minute! I am not one for sitting still for hours on end but, this kid made my day.

The Underdogs

I had an enlightening conversation today morning about the merits of celebrities running Marathons. I had to explain that running a 4.5-5 hour marathon with TV cameras following you around was not the highlight of performance. The skinny women that are off the front and no one is paying attention to, those are the stories worth hearing. Many of these Indian marathoners are women who have been a constant source of support to my own training in india, just in terms of telling me the politics of being a woman in sport. The worst part is, it is other women that give us the hardest time. I just never understood this dynamic. I started a group called iWiSE at IIT Ropar for Women in Science and Engineering. My bigger goal however was to imbibe in these kids that I taught, the spirit of teams and helping each other out.

In Ahmedabad, there is an old part of the city past “teen darwaza”, which is a melting pot of Hindu and Muslim stalls where people have co-existed for years (and will co-exist for years more to come). There is an amazing apothecary called Dhanshankar Pandit , who practises Ayurveda. In terms of modern “wisdom”, this is the last piece of “good medicine” that anyone would prescribe as allopathy (like all other modern wise-ness, celebrity runners included) is the kingpin. Additionally, the man does not charge for the first few consultations and in fact goes on to say “If you wont listen to me then dont waste your money as the medicine will not work”. He does not have an airconditioned office, a clean invoicing machine or even a carpeted waiting room. His entire office is smaller than the tea-stall we have on campus that serves sweetened coffee in ready-made proportions, much suited to the demands of our busy, mindless lives.

I am never impressed by medicine or doctors. Being in tune with my body requires using medicines VERY infrequently or only in the case of severe health issues (such as bronchitis). After the earthquake, I had a series of anxiety attacks and heart palpitations that I could not get rid of. Additionally, I had a very hard time sleeping as the stress formed a vicious cycle. I went to Dr. Pandit with some apprehension but, he didnt need a stethescope or prescribe sleeping pills. He didnt know my medical history and spoke to me in Gujrati and diagnosed all my problems without asking me a single question. He did feel my pulse, close his eyes and listen to my heart rate. The entire consultation lasted 5 minutes. I was prescribed an all natural foods list and some medicines which were herbal.

No, Ayurveda cannot fix a broken bone or get rid of a malicious virus (maybe, I dont know enough) but, for alleviating the condition called “modern day life”, there are many secrets within our own rich knowledge that we choose to ignore or simply brush aside. Ginger, for example has a lot of anti-inflammatory qualities and is very good for our system, so is Amla and anti-oxidants and eating good healthy foods. In any case, the point I am trying to make is that being the underdog sucks on mutiple levels – people disrespect you BECAUSE THEY CAN! I have heard a lot of trash talk about Ayurveda and our own women runners. Both these categories barely make enough to survive on a yearly basis. However, they dont stop practising their art because of the noise modern-day skeptics seem to specialize in or TV channels grab on to. I am sorry, I cannot tweet about my charitable activities. I dont believe charity is for public demonstration. I am also sorry that running, like religion, is a very private affair for me. My training is for my consumption alone. That being said, it makes me sad that ocassionally I lose my nerve and have to listen to some severe nonsense that would offend my common sense. I should really hang up in future, there is no point talking to people that dont get it! And if they dont get it, they are not worth being around. On a daily basis I meet a rich spectrum of people from my three lives – sport, work, teaching. I am happy with that, they are good enough for me!

Millipede Convention

When it rains in Ahmedabad, many of these little guys come out to play! While they are really cute and I an watch them for hours, they are a threat to anyone that wears sarees… I often end up playing hopscotch with them to avoid mishaps. On Tuesday, as I was walking to class, I managed to snap up a couple of my multi-legged friends here, who were also on their way to a convention. They didnt have much time for me and my neurotic questions, instead dismissing me with some age-old wisdom of “Listen to the trees, they have a lot to offer”.

Why I teach

One of the most influential books I have read is “To Sir, with love” by E R Braithwaite. I believe being a teacher is a privilege and a responsibility, not to be taken lightly. The ivory tower should be agnostic to student background and cognizant of individual and collective challenges one and all face when obtaining their education, be it basic or advanced. This does not happen all the time but, I have had some amazing students in the past, who have brought fresh perspective to my thoughts and ideals. Perhaps the earliest stint I had teaching was in high-school – there were a set of students who were not doing so well in the Sciences. I was a big nerd back then (and happen to be a bigger nerd now) and remember taking my lunches to try and help my classmates. I also remember that to be the first time the glossy TIME magazine arrived at our house and we heard about Chechnya for the first time. Some combination of advanced calculus and late-night reading of TIME saw the beginnings of activism in my own life. I believe I teach first and foremost because I get immense joy when I am doing something and doing it diligently.

In 11th and 12th standard (as we call it) I was overrun by bad health and in an alien culture (yes, I left home when I was 16 thanks to amazing parents who supported every dream I have ever had) that was too conservative for my freedom-loving soul. I didnt teach much then but remember wading through knee deep water to learn, learn from three of the toughest masters (something of a mini-jedi council) the fine points of Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics.

At college in Purdue, I was a first-generation college goer and had a lot of friends who were African American and Hispanic help me through the ups and downs of a very difficult major – Computer Engineering. There were 5 women and 145 men in my graduating class. When I finally did graduate, I had 30 extra credits, half a dozen graduate courses, some poetry courses (Milton being my favourite as our teacher made us enchiladas and had us over often) and I was out in three years… I wanted to save my dad some cash. During this time, I did tutor but not too seriously. In graduate school, I had the opportunity to teach some really beautiful and talented children from unstable homes. Through the act of teaching, I found one of my favourite stories “The very quiet cricket”. I also started running pretty well then in the forests around Umstead and between the trees rustling, long nights trying to graduate in a year with a thesis and my weekends spent reading to these children and with friends who taught me everything about grassroots activism in the USA, I would say it was the best time of my life. I started another graduate degree in a different school and had the chance to tutor high-school kids in math and science. I re-learned the basics of organic chemistry and had a blast watching some of them really grasp the concepts they were challenged with. After this, I took a 6 year hiatus from teaching and went on to learn something entirely new – sport. Soon after my PhD, I started to teach again (old habits die hard) somewhere in the heartland – rural Punjab.. where freedom and fresh air are there to take by the armfuls. Late in this year, after having an incredibly challenging start to 2011, I am teaching again and trying to find the things that make me happy, fulfill the desire to learn every day (which I do when I prepare for classes) and keep the hope alive for engaging in activities OUTSIDE of wealth-creation.

I teach because of the immense joy I get out of seeing the light click when someone really understands a concept. I teach because each and every student I have encountered has brought about a new experience and some new learning in my own life. I teach because my grampa was a teacher and I hope he will be proud of me someday! (I only saw him as a baby and dont remember him at all).. I teach because past all the busy and important degrees, the true measure of learning is in being able to disseminate that. I teach because my husband (also a teacher) is proud of me for it and perhaps my greatest strength and counsellor in my academic career. I teach because then I get to bully my dad into attending classes (and watch his doze off if I am doing a bad job). I teach because it makes me wake up with a sense of purpose and go to bed with a sense of fulfillment.