The alarm goes off at precisely 5:05 am. I swing my legs out of
bed, head downstairs to brew the morning cuppa. Sip it while flipping through
the news channels. It’s the same old story. Another horrendous rape in UP,
another Malaysian Airlines flight gone off the radar, another student caned at
school, and yet another outrageous statement from Justice Katju. Ho hum, God continues
to be in Heaven and all is well with the earth!
I reach the Sub Area ground at 6. One hour to the body, two hours
to the mind. Everyday. As Father Rebello, who taught Latin at St Vincents, used
to say `Mens Sana in Corpore Sano’ – a sound mind in a sound body. We can but
try.
The Sub Area grounds are lush green, the walking/jogging/cycling
tracks washed spotless by the rains. One round walking briskly, another 14
rounds cycling. The Nike App duly tracks the distance covered, speed attained
and calories burned. Try to cover 12 Km everyday Touched 2,870 Km yesterday.
Not bad.
The faint drizzle hits the face in a fine mist, courtsey Pune’s
famed morning breeze, the `baad-e-saba’. Rafi warbles through my Shure in-ear
earphones. The iPhone playlists have been laboriously downloaded through
Songs.Pk. I huff and I puff. Maybe retirement isn’t such a bad thing after all.
Back home, bathed and breakfasted, the `two hours for the mind’
begins. The iPad, the Mac and the iPhone are called into play. Attend an Online
class on iPhoto (know the difference between Events and Albums?) or the iTunes
(Albums versus Playlists, anyone?). I call this catching up with my ignorance,
there’s so much to learn..
An hour of watching some serials I’ve downloaded from Torrents
(God bless you, Puja Dugal!). Have 2 terabytes of stuff, including the latest
American soaps/dramas and some mind blowing documentaries, so one is always in
a state of trying to catch up!
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| Newsstand on the iPad |
The post lunch nap is a luxury the Army has got us addicted to,
something the three years at Army HQ, and ten years in the Corporate world
haven’t managed to shake off!
Come eventide, it’s me, my iPad and the terrace. The cool breeze
is an added attraction, a Pune special. God bless my dad who decided to move
here, or else it would have been me, my tractor and my kheti-baadi, accompanied
by the sweltering hot wind, inexplicably called a `loo’ of Shahkot in Punjab..
I subscribe to 4 print and 12 digital magazines, In addition, I
also read at least 6 newspapers on
the net. I just can’t keep up, hence the chase to `catch up with my ignorance’
is a losing battle. Still, one persists. Anyway.
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| Bonus Digital Content TIME |
A bit of advice. Subscribe to TIME magazine, Read it from cover
to cover. Every week. Then check out the bonus digital content on the digital
version – it is simply awesome, especially on the Retina display of the iPad!
On to my state-of-the-art home theatre once it gets too dark at
the terrace. Watch an episode of `Chasing Life’ or `Gang Related’ while sipping
the mandatory `chota peg’.
Second bit of advice. Install a home theatre, it’s such awesome
value for money! Am available as a consult, at a very modest fee of a small
single malt. Or two.
There’s a downside too. My once famous razor sharp memory is
fast losing its keen edge. While I can still recall with precise clarity each
World Cup winner since 1966, last week’s happenings are a trifle hazy.
So life goes on. Most course mates are already grand parents.
Think I’ll have to revisit my avowed policy of not flirting with grandmothers.
Or else, the fine art I’ve cultivated over the ages, like my memory, threatens
to lose its edge as well.
Phir kya hoga…??
