My experience with "Becoming a morning person"

 16 August 2021

Today is exactly one and half month since I started this new routine called “Become a morning person. I understand this name might be a trademark of Habit Strong who run this program and I took their subscription for one month only. But still, I relate to this new routine with this name only. Hence, I will use BMP program in this post for sake of relevance. 

I enrolled in this program in August (last month). I had the option of extending the subscription further at the end of the month, but I choose not to go for it. My rational behind the decision was that I don’t want to be dependant on the program for ever. I had a experience with some amazing programs that its very hard to shake your dependence on these program later. I had to test if I had the discipline and will-power to continue this new routine and to actually make it a habit. Midway in the month without this subscription. I found this to be an apt time for some reflection.

First about waking up on 4.45am which is one the criteria. When I joined this program, they have two morning modules starting at 5.00 and 6.00 am respectively. I went ahead with 5.00am option as I thought that I can wake up at 6.00am without much effort. My normal waking time hovers around that mark only. If I’m trying to inculcate a new more productive daily routine, then better to take some stretch and go for 5.00 am routine. Plus, during my Covid illness in May-June. I was waking up sometimes at 3.00am also more due to insomnia but that is a discussion for another time.

So, I selected 5.00am option. I faced problem right away in my first month only as I can’t set my evening routine to ensure that I sleep by 9.00pm as my family watches tv as late as 11.00 to 11.30 pm which is in our bedroom only. Only because of my new routine, it was not possible to shut-down the tv before 9.00 pm. So, I need to figure some other way out which frankly I am not able to do even now. Sleeping in other room is not a possibility for some reasons. A natural consequence of sleeping late is the tiredness that you feel immediately on waking up. The first activity on waking up as per new routine is mediation session. I could not get maximum results out of mediation as very seldom I was not feeling sleepy. I kept on pushing with the hope that my body will get adjusted to this routine. I have some partial success in the sense that now my biological clock is almost set to 4 to 4.45. But my quality of sleep is far from perfect. I still keep on tossing and turning in the bed and as a result I am not totally refreshed when I wake up.

There have been very rate instances when I feel really sleepy in the night before I hit the bed. But when it happened, I wake up more refreshed and had a much better mediation session. I am still not being able to decode the exact activity I did differently on those days. One major area to focus on is the last one hour before sleeping time. Fortunately, I had dinner well one hour before the sleeping time. I had tried both the approaches regarding how I should spend this hour. Approach one was to immerse myself into Lecture on Robotics (completing introductory course on Robotic is one the target that I have chosen to track daily), The course content was so over the top and immediately I felt sleepy, but unfortunately it happened only once and did not repeat when I tried second time. I also tried to utilize this hour in other important activities / tasks that I had earmarked for the day. But nothing seems to work. Secondly approach is trying to relax in this last hour, preparing yourself mentally for sleeping, this is actually what Habit strongly recommends too, I was not able to implement it as regularly as I want as there are so many things circulating in your mind at the end of a long days that I’m not able to relax, when on rare occasions when I could do it. I felt relaxed. You could say that my evening routine is still a work in process. The only progress that I had made is that now the fact that television is on when I’m trying to sleep does not bother me that much. Earlier I used to have the pang of guilt if I’m not in bed by 11 o’clock as ideally, I should be asleep by 10 itself. But this guilt only used to make this worse. Gradually but surely, now I am not really bothered by this fact as much. 

PS: When I started tracking tasks daily to form a habit. My emphasis was more on ensuring that I complete all the task / activities listed for that day. Ticking all the boxes on daily basis was giving me a sense of accomplishment. However later I realize that this tracking sheet cannot ensure if I’m spending quality time on any activity listed or just going through the motions as a formality. I can indicate one activity as complement even if I spend barely 5 minutes on the same. Second problem was that this program mainly focusses on mindfulness which for me is being in present and focussed on your current task in hand. In my case, I was so focussed on completing all the tasks listed for the day that I was doing one task and my mind was drifting on the other task that I also must achieve on the same day. Whole purpose of this exercise was getting lost. Hence, I decided to change my approach and focus more on the current task in hand. As a result, I’m slipping on some of the activities lately, But I’m consciously ignoring it and putting all my focus on the current activity. Its not easy as my mind is used to working on the multi-tasking mode, most of the time I’m distracted and overwhelmed by the mountain of urgent works which are pending. This was one of major reason why my daily meditation sessions are not as effective as they should be as apart for apparent tiredness and lack of sleep, most of the time I’m making the list of urgent activities pending since last day. I’m working on the concept of mindfulness and being in the present to improve my mediation session.

30-Aug-2021

As we are near to end of this second month after BMP program from Habit-Strong. I think one quick review of what happened in last two weeks is in order as I had some good learnings out of it. On 19th and 20th of this month I had to travel to Pune for some office related work, we had a sales review and objective setting session. Hence, I had to leave one day before and come back one day after. Immediately on my return I had to go to Delhi on Raksha Bandhan. In the nutshell I was away from home for almost one full week. And specially in Pune, the daily routine was like a typical sales conference which essentially means cocktail dinner till 12.00 or 1.00am in late night. Combined that with the food available in the particular resort. I had issues with digestion combined with lack of sleep. After coming back from Pune, I had to spend around four days in Delhi. As a result of this, there was a good break of more than a week from my daily routine. For these 7-8 days, there was no waking up early morning and mediation, workout sessions. And I was not eating right either. I felt weak. But since my whole momentum was gone. I had to again start from scratch. As I had mentioned earlier, I had enrolled into one month course called BMP from Habit-strong and decided to continue the momentum built into the course. But now I don’t have the option of guided BMP course to fall back into the routine. I always believed that physical and mental fitness goes hand in hand. The fact that my physical fitness has gone down a notch also played a role and I had difficulty in going back to my old regime for one and a half month. Last full week was spent in gradually coming back to track. And today on Monday I has again some resemblance of sanity after chaos filled two weeks.

So, what did I learned from this episode? Let us see.

First forming any new Habit is a long and slow process and you need patience and perseverance. Its like your new year resolutions. You start full of energy for a few days. The main test comes when there is a break for a few days (or a week as in my case). Once you loose momentum and had to start from scratch again. Its very easy to feel down without any motivation to continue. Its imperative to come out of this zone as soon as possible. Personally, what really works in my case if to focus on small – small actionable. To be in the moment and let go of lofty long-term goals for some time. Ultimately one of the major objectives of all these activities is to practice mindfulness. Keep your ultimate objective in back of mind. But focus and concentrate on your current activity, one task at a time. Else its very easy to be bogged down. I have managed to start the daily routine again and I’m hopeful to be back on track, gradually but surely.

My experiment with Robotics course

 I don’t like indecisiveness. One of the qualities that I really admire and try to inculcate in myself is decisiveness. Taking any decision is only the first part towards achieving any goals and if we dither right at the first part; Then achieving the goals is almost impossible. I have been very big into setting big lofty goals for myself during new year. I followed this practice for some years, but the end results were not as per my expectation. One major problem with this process is that once you lose momentum or there is break in continuity; it’s very difficult to start again as New year is gone and more often than not, you wait for next new year to again start the process. However, I had this realization off late not to link my goals or objective with new year. But to strive continuously towards my goals. Be prepared that I may not achieve it in first time. There will be breaks and gaps, but I need to pull myself together, learn from last experience and start afresh.

 One of the objectives that I have set for myself is to learn Robotics right from the basics and earn some sort of accreditation for the same. I decided to act on this plan in first lockdown that happened last year. I enrolled into one online course covering basics of Robotic offered by IIT. Part of the temptation was the brand value of IIT. Unfortunately, I started on the wrong foot as I missed the starting date of course and when I checked the deadline for first submission was already upon me. It was a quiz that I need to answer, I had no other option but to search for the answers on google without going into basics. Immediately once I enrolled in this course, I realized that I am out of my depth here. Plus, the professor teaching style was also not very conducive. It felt like they are just parroting their lines like a Robot in a Robotics course. I tried very hard to keep up with the course and managed to probably finish it too. The last and final stage was a examination to get the certificate. I choose not to appear for the exam as it was clear that I was not able to grasp the course completely. I still believe that professor teaching that course was also equally responsible for my decision as his communication was not very clear.

After a brief hiatus, I found another course on same topic and again enrolled in the same. The starting was much better than previous course, but I got stuck in some urgencies. Got disillusioned as the course was again increasingly becoming tough for me for follow and I left it midway too. I admit that professor teaching this course was a big improvement over the previous one. In both the courses, one major topic that I struggled to grasp was advance mathematic and abstract concept related with the same. Even though I had studies mathematics in school. I was never any good at it. Plus its good 20 years since I had left school and most of the things are forgotten now.

Then around one month back, armed with my new motivation post COVID recovery, I again enrolled in one more robotics course. One immediate realization is that Professor teaching this course is again like the first one in the sense that his communication is not very clear and easy to understand. I had almost made my mind to leave this course but then the big question is how to achieve my ultimate objective.

Finally, after some reflection on this topic, I reached two conclusions.

1)     There is a serial lack of quality in our educational institutes and I’m kind of disillusioned with brand IIT now. As a diploma holder, I always carried this impression that IIT is the cream of educational institutions where engineering is concerned. But after personally experiencing the teaching method of some of the professors in IIT. I am forced to change my opinion. I can give some benefit of doubt for the point that online teaching mode is new for them also and its very much different than old physical mode of teaching. But the other points regarding how easy they made the concept to grasp for their student is equally valid. Perhaps their thinking is that the students they get is already cream of the creams who can grasp these complex concepts. But this online course is designed for anyone who is interested to learn robotics and not everyone will be really sharp or bright. If these teachers can only work with exceptional student. Then I would rate them lower that the teachers in tier II institute where professor can make even average student grasp the basic of engineering aspects. Other important aspect is regarding basic communication skills where I find the teachers severely lacking. If you are not able to form simple coherent sentences that the listener could understand than your communication skills are really poor, and you need to work on it.

 

2)     Whether I like it or not. The quality of teaches that I am going to encounter will be just like these only. If I still want to achieve my objective than I need to look beyond them to understand and grasp the concept. With the wealth of information available at hand courtesy YouTube and google and other means at my disposal (Books recommended by these teachers). It is possible to understand the basics of this subject even without the help of these professors too. And it looks like that this is only way forward. I need to temper my expectation that these teachers will actually makes me understand the concept. The onus is on me and frankly I have been guilty of not devoting enough time on this topic. The key to mastering any subject is investing sustained effort and time.

 

Hence, I have decided to give this course one more tries. This time give my best efforts and if still the results are not up to my expectation. Then I will start looking for options outside India other than IIT. I already have one options available with me in form of CourseEra but I find it much more expensive compared to NPTEL that I am currently using which is free for the course and charges only for the exams and hence the certification. Perhaps that is the reason I’m so casual about it as it does not cost any money to enrol and then to leave the course. Maybe I need to invest my own money to reach level of seriousness required for achieving my target.

 

Before I opt for option of CourseEra. I will give one final try to my current course to the best of my abilities.

 

 

My experiment with mobile Detox

I would like to start with an honest disclosure, even though I had the realization that I am spending too much time on my mobile phone with all warning signs like itchy eyes, disturbed sleep pattern and headache; I have not taken any conscious step towards reducing my time on mobile. I had convinced myself that the problem has not reached alarming status yet. It is purely due to certain circumstances that I was away from my mobile phone for a few days.

So, what happened!

I accidently dropped my phone and the murphy's law took care of the rest. Even with protective cover around it, I broke my screen and the phone stopped working (so did my heart for a few moments!). As replacing it with original Samsung screen was damm expensive (almost 50% of phone cost itself), I got it repaired with a local screen with some apprehensions and as luck would have it. That screen also stopped working after two days, I just lied down a bed my mobile in my pocket and apparently the local screen could not withstand this pressure. Ultimately, I made peace with the fact that I need to shell out some bucks and get myself a brand-new phone. However, I was in another town plus I need to wait for my salary to credit before I could buy new phone. With the new phone, I got the sermon from home minister that I need to buy protection case with flip cover for increased protection. Hence, I had to wait again for few more day before I could use the phone again.

All in all, I was without my phone for a continuous stretch of few days. So, I could get taste of this so-called Mobile detox for a few days.

So how did the experience of forced mobile detox worked out for me!

At first, I thought that it was no big deal. I carry this hidden superiority complex that I have managed to stay away from the lure of Instagram or mobile games like candy-crush. I do not feel this inexplicable urge of checking WhatsApp status of other people all the time, in fact I do not check WhatsApp status at all. Most of the time, I do not have any OTT subscription on my phone. I have enough constructive habits like reading etc and most of all. I have my laptop which almost feels like an extension of my body. 

I came to realize about my folly in matter of few hours only, how something which looks totally innocuous like taking out my phone to check some random question on Quora consumes so much of your time because it has become a second nature to do it once after 10 minutes. Another big-time killer are suggested videos on Facebook, it was an eye opener for me as I thought only posting random updates or stalking profiles of other person on Facebook was addictive. Once I stayed away from phone; did I realize that suggested videos are perhaps the most addictive thing on Facebook, and they have a complex AI algorithm which tracks and monitors the videos that you watch and present a heady cocktail of more such videos which are hard to resist.

Subconsciously checking the phone has become a compulsion, a habit which is very hard to shake away. As a result of this, my attention span is limited to few minutes only. Gone are the days when I could at least concentrate on task in hand for a few hours. Now no matter how urgent the work is, the maximum uninterrupted time I could devote to it are few minutes. Few months back, I had an epiphany to add some academic certifications to my resume, taking advantage of variety of online courses offered by universities. I zeroed in a course in Robotics offered by IIT. It started with great pomp and show. I even bragged about this to few of my close friends hoping that would create positive pressure on me. Heck, I even wrote one blog post on this topic (My first blog posts this year incidentally.) Few lectures down the lines and I found myself struggling. My first conclusion was that course content, and the teaching method were not up to the mark and most of the students for this course would struggle. Other excuse was that I started the course on last moment, almost missed the first assignment date and played catch up for much duration of the course. 

After some time, I enrolled into another course by second IIT. The teacher and course content were much improvement over previous course but ironically the net outcome was same that I left this course also midway. In fact, this leads me to very uncomfortable episode in the past when I left my correspondence degree in the midway at the last step as I was almost burnt-out.

 Obviously, there were any other factors responsible for this, but one primary factor was my attention span. I was really struggling to maintain concentration during the duration of one lecture of 60 min. The conspicuous social media is a big distraction which is not helping in any sense at all.

The experience of forced Mobile phone detox taught me that in todays hyper-connected age. Its very difficult to limit your exposure on unproductive application. Time management sound like a very boric archaic concept but its more relevant in these times.

I had uninstalled Facebook from my old phone but forgot to do it on my new phone and in no time, I find myself spending more and more time on Facebook. So, I uninstalled it again relying on browser-based model to check some update once or twice a day.

Though not related to phone usage, I also removed Quora password from my laptop as it was also proving to be a distraction. 

Though a great devours of books I had almost stopped reaching books for past few months. Hence, I reactivated kindle and started reading a book after long time and as luck would have it, the main protagonist also switched off her phone so that she could focus on her work.

In the nutshell I could surmise that this action is not something that can be done successfully in isolation, you must be constantly on guard as subconsciously we replace one app with another, even innocent looking, or so-called productive apps can get you hooked. The temptation of checking your phone time and again is hard to resist. It like a lifestyle change.

My experiment with Job searching

Job searching, the ubiquitous constant in my life from last 14 years. Being unhappy from job has been my constant frame of mind now. The novelty of new job wears off as soon as few months. In fact in my case it has been as low as few days. Which happened in my current job only. I realised in two days after my joining only that I have made a mistake. In the hindsight that was around 3 years back. The situation is definitely better now. Looks like the worst has passed now. Or you can say that I have accustomed to the situation now. Have built a nice cocoon around myself
Though I'm obdurate in sticking to the same job. The realisation do creep in underlining the precariousness of my situation. Though I had my eyes and ears open for any opportunity for the whole time. The main impetus comes last year after February when I completed two years in my current job. I felt its sufficient time not to be branded as frequent job hopper. Plus when you see only stagnation in your carrier ahead and your salary is plateaued. Then its time to renew the job searching. 
In past year, there are few opportunities created by me which are pretty serious options. To my bad luck, I could not convert any of them. It was very depressing to fail having come so close to desired outcome. In fact in one of the opportunity, the discussion was going on well into this year also and very recently (few days ago) it concluded not in my favour due to target salary very low on their part. In fact my mood-swings are like an YoYo right now. Swinging between stable frame of mind and utter despair. Time and again I had to remind myself that financial growth and monetary considerations are very high on my priority list right now. All the struggles and sacrifices that I have made is just to earn more money. And hence it was very natural on my part to reject the offer letter with minuscule salary increase. 
My effort over the course of last year was a huge improvement over the low bar set by me , when it comes of job change / interview. Last year I actually actively reached out to my network to find out if they have any suitable job opportunity. There were many communications which were awkward for me to initiate but I nonetheless stuck to it. I had good exposure to telephonic and physical interview and faced my share of difficult questions. I reached out to my ex bosses, Some of them very difficult to get along-with whom I was not very keep to talk to even in my previous company. I reached out to my ex colleagues whom I have not had any discussion in years. I faced difficult , dreaded questions on my ability (since I was applying for difficult profile). And I took lot of leaves (some at very short notice) to attend the interview. Even though everything was not hunky dory. I have to request to postpone some of the interview, as it was not possible for me to take leave at such a short notice. Or something very urgent was planned on that very day. Or I was not in station on that very day. I had enough evidence to point out this has cost me on more than one occasion. I distinctly remember one job opportunity wherein I could not attend the interview on said dates due to some urgency. And the rescheduling call never came after that. Later on I came to know that one of my ex-colleagues is selected for that role.
The efforts are going on this year too to change the job. I do feel depressed and frustrated some time. But fortunately those instances of brooding are few and far in between. Most of the time I concentrate more on creating new opportunity which helps in keeping me away from depression. I still some discussion going on regarding the opportunity. 
Another alternate I"m mulling over for quite some time now is to be an entrepreneur. Which seems like a final resort to come out of the vicious circle. There have been many complication regarding the financial risk attached considered EMI stress. Plus I'm unable to draft a plan or strategy regarding how I will go about staring my own business. 
The third and most important spoke in this wheel is regarding updating yourself with new knowledge, skill or certification. This is like the elephant in the room that I don't want to acknowledge. I do try to convince myself with excuses like amount of overwork. type of profile, long commute to work leaving very little time for anything else. But the harsh truth remains that I'm not adding any appreciable value to myself. I'm not making investment of myself which is going to help me in long term. I have identified many areas for personal and professional enrichment but the progress on the goals is conspicuous by its absence.
Perhaps this (and not my current job) is the primary reason for my frequent bouts of depression. My experience with my previous job (when I had lot more time) and a brief glance over my schedule on vacations / leaves (when again I'm not so busy), tell me that its more a case of lack of willpower than lack to time. In my current job also, I have identified one area where I want to gain professional expertise (simulation). I had the tools (software) and knowledge resource (Internet). But still not able to make any real progress. 
While I'm pretty regular now on seeking for new job opportunities and the dismal result are not due to lack of trying on my part. My failure to learning new skills is more worry-some.

My experiment with outdoor camping

Being one with the nature was something that I always craved since my childhood. In the hindsight, I was lucky to spend majority of my growing up years in different parts of the country which were diverse in geography but having one common pattern in the sense that all these places were more closer to natural jungle than concrete jungles.
In any case I'm not a very extrovert kind of person , therefore I always find myself more at home in secluded, calm places than let's say in crowded malls etc. I'm always game for any sort of adventure activity especially if it involves being closer to nature. I've done river rafting, trekking, para-gliding, lots of annual vacation at hill-stations. But now I wanted to take this to next level. One of crazy idea in my bucket list is to experience outdoor camping away from the hustle - bustle of the city. Actually inception of this idea was originally in my close friend's mind but like most of my goals, hobbies. I borrowed and made it my own.
For quite some time, Camping on our own has been a topic which we frequently discuss, mull over, make some crazy plans which never fructify, decide in all seriousness that we will definitely try it next week. It sort of developed a pattern which we somehow were not able to break; till last month.
This time too it started as it always do. While chatting on skype, My friend quipped that we must plan for an outdoor camping experience. Since it was starting of new year. I was all pumped up with the excitement and motivation that you feel for a few weeks after making your new year resolution. Plus as the luck would have it. I have to attend some family functions spaced over a week with some 2-3 days free in between. As I would be in my hometown during this duration with nothing else to do and keen to get away from my ever-inquisitive relatives. I find it a golden opportunity to satisfy my long standing whim. And thus begin my first experience with outdoor camping.
The family functions in question here was wedding of two of the cousin's from my wife's side. And as I said earlier, they were spaced round the week. So I landed up in Chandigarh with the family and duly attended the first set of functions. Though we have talked about the preparations for this camping trip but unfortunately we could not take out time for this. Hence it was more like in the spur of the moment kind of trip plus there was still some ambiguity about the real dates as I was not sure when I could get away from all this madness. But fortunately everything went alright and I ultimately landed up at my friends place to start this camping experiment. The situation was one down, one to go. As I was free from my last moment urgency; But my friend was still in his office and hence very much occupied. Anyways after some time both of us as relieved of urgent pending to do task and ready for this adventure of outdoor camping.
So we get into the car, took some bare essentials for this trip and decided to head towards Morni hills which is a secluded yet famous weekend getaway near Chandigarh, especially for college going crowd. To reach this spot, you actually has to pass through natural forest. The distance is not too much. Plus there is a guesthouse operated by Himachal tourism right at the bank of lake after the Morni hills, called Tikkartaal. In fact during one of my previous visits to this place, I had spotted some tents just beside this guesthouse which I understand were operated by the tourism department itself. We were also open to the idea of renting out their tents itself. The way to this lake was itself picturesque perhaps moreso because of the calm and tranquil state of mind that we were in. We stopped at the local grocery shop in a village on the way and bought some Knicks knacks, snacks plus matchbox as we were in full on mood of outdoor camping with bonfire. We made two more stops in the way; One for collecting some dried up branches of tress (We were lucky to find heap of wood, preferably collected by some nearby villager) and for having a plate of maggie. Yes we actually find one person selling noodles and other snacks very close to our destination. As we were in no hurry whatsoever and were feeling a bit hungry too. We stopped at that place. The food-stall owner actually has built a nice place for bonfire. Overall it has nice ambiance and the maggie was not bad too. After treating our taste - buds. We went ahead with our trip.
And so we reached our destination. It was twilight and the lake nested inside the mountains was looking even more beautiful. Coupled with that village like ambience with some folks songs sounding on radios, smoke rising from homes signaling the preparations of foods. Few snap of this picturesque setting below.

 Everything was perfect but for one thing, there were no tents there. Even though we had carried makeshift tent in our car, still it was a big setback for us. Anyways we were not going to abandon our program due to this reason only. So we decided to follow our initial plan of enjoying the idleness even without the tents. So we sat down on the ground just near the parked car. The place was the best combination you can get between total wilderness yet accessible and secure. Although on secure part I will cover later on.
We chit chats for some time, talking about all the irrelevant topics. The sun was setting on the horizon. We could see the shadow of the same on the surface of the lake. After a while the stars come out. The sight of star-studded sky is something that you don't get to see in our over populated city. Once the darkness descends, it was almost impossible to judge if we were sitting in a city or a totally remote area. Just like the stars above, this total darkness is again something we are not accustomed to. After a while, I could see the shadows lengthening which was driving my over creative mind into overdrive. After some time, we decided to satisfy our whim by making the bonfire. In any case darkness coupled with dogs barking (I have a long-standing phobia against dogs) was unnerving us. We took out all the dry figs collected by us and got to the task to making the bonfire. Even though we had shown the presence of mind to buy matches from the grocery shop on the way. Still, lighting the bonfire was not as easy as it sounds. Unfortunately we did not have kerosene or anything else. All that we had was some old newspapers lying the car which we promptly wrapped on the wooden sticks and try to make the fire. It does not seems like we were going to make the Bonfire till my friend come up with a indigenous innovation better known as Jugaad. He found out that polythene film wrapped on the wooden fig makes it catch fire really easily. Probably because polythene is in essence oil and it should catch fire. Anyways it was a good hack. As to the question of where to find the polythene. Well unfortunately full of India is a big dustbin. You can easily find empty water bottles and chips / snacks packets scattered more-so at so called ecologically sensitive areas. For us it was actually hitting two birds with one stone. As not only we were enjoying outdoor camping, but also helping in cleaning the environment a bit. We actually made a good Bonfire, pic below.

The problem however was that we never had enough wood to last the night. So after a few hours maximum the fire was done and we were left with some simmering amber as the last remnant of our adventure. The forest nearby start appearing more scary since our eyes were not yet adjusted to the absence of light. I could sense the hair on my arm standing due to the sound of some dogs barking nearby. Good that we had one long stick which gives us some sense of protection. However false that may be. We fooled around for some more time but then ultimately could not shy away from the big question. Should we erect the tent lying in the car. After some deliberation also considering the fact that we don't have anything to defend ourselves. We decided not to pitch the tent. Another major factor was that it was really chilly outside and we were not prepared for that either. Hence we decided to use the car as makeshift tent for the night. I agree it was a major dampener and not at all a substitute for what we have originally come for. But it was a best bet we have considering the circumstances. Anyways we were as uncomfortable as we would be in a car parked in a totally secluded and forest area. My friend obviously is used to such adventures and was quite comfortably asleep in new minutes But I was almost fully awake for the whole duration.

At around 4 in the morning I think, Our body started reminding us we did not had anything for dinner last night (Save for some snacks) and the sleepless night did nothing to assuage the hunger rather it increased it. Hence we said enough is enough and with that our first experiment was finished. Nonetheless we still had some fun which includes night drives in foothills around Chandigarh; looking for some road side dhaba which would be open at such ungodly time and having steaming hot parantha's early in the morning.

So with this we concluded our first experiment of outdoor camping.

PS : At more than 1600 words, This is the longest blog post I have ever written

My experiment with GM diet - 1

One of the goal in new year resolutions (and in past few years) has been to reduce weight.
For the past few years. The one area which has been seeing constant growth is the area around my waistline. Very conveniently I have been mistaking this FAT for bulking up or muscle unless I got a rude awakening in the form of lower back pain. In fact, one fine day the situation worsened so much that I have been unable to get up from the bed. I had to take some medical assistance. But it was like warning bell for me to better take care of my weight. Since then, reducing weight has always been on my agenda. But I'm never able to make much headway about it. That was till last year.
Then one really interesting thing happened to me. I changed jobs (again tick off one of major to do point) and was deputed to Malaysia for period of 6-7 months. My total experience in Malaysia was topic for another day.But one of the unique thing about my situation there was a shortage of good North-Indian foods. As a by-product of this I was able to reduce my weight. I managed to shed off around 5 kg from my waistline.
The problem however was that it returned with a vengeance on my return back to India. Since I feasted on all the delicacies I could lay my hands upon. Moreover now I was limited to sitting all day in front of laptop coupled with driving in car 3-4 hours daily.
But then I was really determined to reach the wait level of Malaysia and even to excel that. Hence one of the goal in my New year resolution was to reduce weight. The problem with such kind of goals is that it really take sustained and continuous efforts over a longer period of time with little or almost negligible results to show off. And if by any means you managed to give in to the your cravings for desserts or snacks. Then all the efforts go down the drain. That's why I become really interested in GM diet or General Motors Diet.
It offer almost everything (instant weight loss, cleansing of system, skin glow) just stopping short of Nirvana.
So I geared up to take this challenge right in the first month of New year itself. The basic premise of GM diet is very simple. It cut down on the carbohydrates (so no chapati or rice). Also every day is fixed for fruits or vegetables (that too boiled or raw only). It claims to reduce around 5-7 kg in a single week.
The brief synopsis of 7 day is as below
Day 1 : All fruit day except banana, grapes, litchi and mangoes
Day 2 : All vegetable day (not fried, but boiled or raw)
Day 3 : The combination fruit and vegetables
Day 4 :  Full day banana and milk only (for sodium and potassium)
Day 5 :  This day is for Tomato, sprouts and cottage cheese with some soya chunks thrown in
Day 6 :  Same as day 5, the only change being that tomatoes are replaced with soup
Day 7 : The last day is for fresh fruit juice, one cup of brown rice / single chapati and some vegetables
The more details about GM diet can be found on link below -
http://www.thefitindian.com/the-fastest-indian-vegetarian-diet-to-lose-weight/

At-last the elusive day comes and I was all charged up for the experience. I planned to start this on Monday as it was seven day plan and what better day to start this than the first day of the week. The added advantage of it being the working day is that I will be busy in work with no distractions. So I stocked up all the fruits one day before on Sunday which is also the day for our weekly fruit and grain market. The only flip side was that there was no Melons available in this season which is highly recommended due to high water content. I was more worried about day 2 that how I will pass the full day with boiled, raw vegetables only which I'm not used to eating. Little did I know that I cant even pass Day 1 successfully.
The complete day meal-plan was divided into six mini meals. So I need to eat six servings of fruits only. As I get up early and have breakfast at 7 itself so six meal servings was not a problem. So I started with and apple and packed some fruits also for lunch and other mid day snacks.
Incidentally my office starts at 8.30 and I need to leave at 7 from my home.Hence I have breakfast pretty early. By the time I reach office already one and half hours has elapsed since I had my fruit breakfast and I was already feeling a bit hungry. At around 10am I had one guava plus some (in fact lots of) water. Everything seems to go well up-till that point. In lunch I had papaya (I'm normally not very fond of it. but since it was all fruits day I don't have much options. I think at around 3pm the things started to go wrong a bit. I was having a mild headache all day but now it started to get worse. In the hindsight perhaps not having tea or coffee the whole day was my undoing as I started experiencing what you can call cold turkey for tea / coffee. Perhaps I took the GM diet schedule too strictly which way no tea or coffee with milk. The diet recommends black  tea / coffee but the same was not available. I think I took green tea and then thought about having an orange. I have eaten just one slice of it but then did not liked it one bit. It was around 4.30 and only one hour left in office time so I thought about having some rest.
But my condition was worsening every moment. I could not even take any medication as practically my stomach was empty and it was not recommended to take any medicines. For the worse I was feeling a bit nauseated also.
Just before the closing time of office, I vomited in rest-room. The immediate problem was that I still need to drive for around 2.5 hours before I could reach home. Fortunately I carpool with me colleague and hence the duty of driving me home was on him. The long drive back home was even longer for me. I somehow control it all the way but vomited just outside my home. I had some homemade khichdi before going off to sleep.
That was the end of my experiment with GM Diet. I could not even complete first day which was supposedly easier of the lot. For next time I need to take care of few thing that I learnt in this experiment. Firstly maybe doing this on first day of week is not a good time. Perhaps its better to start this experiment on weekend. This way I will be better prepared for emergency as I will be at home only. Almost if I could reach monday then I will have headstart of two days as already two days with diet has already elapsed. The second thing I will not cut on the tea or coffee while following this diet plan. I think it will be too much implementing both the thing (cutting on cereals as well as tea) at the same time.
Even though the experiment was tough still I'm not giving it up yet. Will surely give one more try.
The last thing is regarding the results. Even though it does not really count as I had to give up on GM diet only after one day. Still the reading on weighing scale shows weigh-loss of 1.3 kg. Perhaps the major contribution in that was of vomiting. I'm all in for such one day session if I could lose around 1 kg in one day. Jokes apart. I think this is more of replacing your foods with healthy options that diet.
So I don't think there are any adverse effects to following this diet plan. Definitely worth a second try.