My 3rd marathon- Paris, 15 April 2012

Its been almost a month since I ran my marathon at Paris- The City of Light and have been dying to do a write up for it but just kept procrastinating it. Damn me, other jobs always took over priority. But today I decided come what may I definitely write my experience at Paris.

This was the 3rd marathon in which I have participated, the first and second being Barcelona and Berlin respectively. Let me begin how I decided to run at Paris. After the Berlin marathon in 2011 I was quite excited with my timing and was looking forward towards another exciting challenge and thats when I though about why not run at Paris. By the time I had made up my mind I was quite late for registering, all the early bird registration slots were filled up so I had to pay a whomping 95 Euro registration fee to participate in it. I had the option of registering for either Vienna or Rotterdam (which would have costed me less) but I though I must run at Paris first. So thats where the journey began, I registered myself and prepared a training plan for crack Paris under 4 hours. Let me remind you this is one of the most popular marathons in continental Europe after Berlin, the registrations were closed down 5 months prior to the D day. So just imagine how prestigious this event is. 

I started way back in November 2011 with my training. I did not use any specific training plans from the popular running website but just made my own on the Excel sheet and stuck to it.  This time I incorporated two new items in my training, one was 'Speed Training' with 3 min of fast run followed by 1 min of slow run or trot and then again 3 min of fast run with repetitions of 7 to 10 times. This gave me additional speed during my long distance runs because I slowly trained my body to run fast. Unless you tell your body and make it accustomed to running at an elevated pace it will not get used to it. The second one was I did 'swimming' for cross training as well besides biking. The reason for that is swimming provides necessary exercise for the upper part of the body and also is good exercise during winter months when biking might not be that comfortable.

Mind you its always tough training during winter. I have two good reasons for that (my personal view), first when the atmospheric temperature is below 5 degC the body is not comfortable with it and feels lazy and secondly lack of sufficient sunlight can be demotivating. But as the saying goes "where there is a will there is a way". I kept the ultimate goal in my mind and self motivated myself to train in this cold. If one has to be fit and fine during the beautiful spring season then one must train during the winter and thats what I precisely did. 

So days passed by and I looked in good shape , achieving all my training goals 90% of the time. Ofcourse there were times when I skipped a run because I was too tired. Always remember 'Listen to your body first' never over work it. Another motivating factor was the weekly emails from the organizers giving valuable tips and advice and also the  some of the great achievements made by my fellow runners back in my city- Chennai. I am silent reader of the Chennai Runners group and have taken valuable tips from the greats like Ram Vishwanathan, Navin, Shankar and Bala.

I booked my tickets for Paris two months in advance and ofcourse by bus. Eurolines offers the cheapest means to reach Paris, the to & fro ticket costing me just 25 Euros. The accommodation was a problem though. All good hostels were very expensive for a single person, rates starting from 25 Euros a night and going till even 50 Euros a night but thats when my good Dutch friend Eva suggested that I stay at "Ausberg Internatinal des Junes", a nice and cozy hostel with cheap rates (just 19 Euros a night). 

So I left for Paris on 13 April, my birthday with well wishes from my mom and brother. My dad never cared that I was running a marathon, he was more interested in me finding a job or something as quickly as possible. But my mom always supported me for my runs and I wanted to dedicate this marathon to her as  mark of gratitude for all that she has done for me through these years and being there for me whenever I am feeling low. THIS ONE WAS FOR YOU MOM :)

I reached Paris at 21:00 hrs the same day and reached my hostel safe and sound. The bus was two hours late in reaching Paris. I checked into the hostel, a 3 bedroom hall which I found empty when I checked in. I was quite thrilled at that and thought I can relax at peace until someone else knocked on the door at 24:00 hrs.I thought OMG but anyways I didn't care much. There were 3 beds in total, out of which two were on top of each other like the dorms and the other one was single. Since I came first to the room I chose the single one but found it quite uncomfortable and later switched to the upper bed the next day. Thank God the third person had not come that night.

The next morning I left for Port de Versailles, thats where the marathon expo was being held and I collected the formalities of collecting my running number. I was keen on buying new shoes so I also did a feet scan at the ASICS stall and purchased new running shoes, The GEL NIMBUS series. Trust me they are amazing quite light, 300 grams and superb. Aaah I almost forgot, one tip for all your runners may be you already know it. Always try to make it to the marathon expo as early as possible for eg if they open at 9 be there at 9:15 or maximum by 10. Thats when it will be least crowded and you can get easy access to all the free stuff and do not have to wait in long queues. There was a serpentine queue at 13:00 hrs when I left the expo.

I purchased my new shoes and also a running short, typical Paris marathon merchandise and left the expo happily. 

I went back to the hostel, took some rest and then went out in the evening to have some snacks and then check how long does it take to reach the starting point from my place. It took me exactly 30 min and then another 10 min to walk down to the area where I had to deposit my bags. That set I headed back to my room and got pasts packed up on the way for my dinner. I hit the sack early enough so that I could get sufficient sleep but there was a twist in that. As the room has only one key I had to endure the disturbance of the second guy knocking on the door and later at 1:00 am a third guy spoiled my sleep. That was the most frustrating part of the accommodation. Anyways I managed some good quality sleep and got up at 6:30 in the morning and got myself into my running gear. Everything in my running gear was pre-set the previous night itself.

I reached the starting point Champs Elysee and deposited my bag at Foch Avenue and then joined the crowd to the starting point. The sight of so many amazing people around me inspired me. OMG there was a sea of runners around you and may be thats why Paris is one of the biggest in Europe. The mood, the atmosphere, the crowd, the cheering everything was excellent. My block started off 30 min later after the professionals made their start. This is generally done to ensure smooth flow of runners else there will definitely be a stampede and someone  might get seriously injured and thats the last thing the marathon organizers will ever want. 

I started off with my run quite well, keeping the pace that would take to the finish line under 4 hours. Mind you there was constant cheering all around but I wish I had some of my friends or family out there shouting "Go Viku" you can do it, but never mind I always self motivate myself. The first half of the route was quite amazing and the second half even better. The second half took us through the banks of river Sienne, and Eiffel tower and finally to the finish as Foch Avenue. I was on track for a sub 4 finish until 32 Kms but after that tiredness started kicking in. I kept pushing myself but could not be on track for a sub 4 finish after 35 Kms. Then I resorted to alternate walk and run to finish the whole distance.

It took me 4:10:34 according to my watch but the official time was 4:13:08 hrs. Never mind that I still bettered myself by 21 minutes from my previous best at Berlin so I was happy but the sub 4 finish still eludes me.

I got my finishers medal and finishers T'shirt and collected my bag and left back for my room on the wonderful Paris metro. Paris was a great place to run and I am extremely happy that I did and completed it successfully.

PS: I most often keep some runner as my tracker who is faster than me so that I can follow them till the finish and most often I choose a girl coz I feel I get motivated even more and get more energy pumping in.

Thermodynamic Aspects of Energy Conversion- My first exam that I failed

I have never failed any exams so far in my academic life so far, always striving to be on top and vying to get the highest marks every time. But there was a twist in that story and it all began in quarter 1 of my second year of my masters here in TU Delft.

I had opted for 'Thermodynamic Aspects of Energy Conversion' as one of my elective courses because this was delivered by my supervisor and it makes sense to take courses given by one's supervisor. So I happily attended all the classes and was confident that I can get past the exam. I also knew that this being an open book exam there was not much to memorize and just brushing the concepts and learning the lecture material would suffice. Now thats a weird thing here in TU Delft, even though certain exams are open book they are way more tougher than closed book exams. 

So here I was preparing for the exam, practicing previous years' question papers and asking my class-mate Anand all my doubts. I had no solid background in Thermodynamics as I have a bachelor degree in Electrical Engineering ( but I wish to point out that I had one course in my bachelor that introduced us to basic thermodynamics) and that was the main problem for me- quickly grasping the concepts and thinking of  solutions like a person who had sufficient background was coming naturally to me. But I studied all the lecture notes, practiced problems and even did extra studies from the internet because I knew that if I don't put in sufficient effort then I would definitely fail. I made my registration for the exam, which was scheduled on 11 Nov 2011.

Finally the D day came and I went to the exam hall, located in the Fellowship building of the Aerospace Engineering faculty. The question paper this time was changed a little bit to include theory or subjective questions as well besides objective and numerical problems. At the end of three hours I was quite confident that the exam had gone well and I should be able to get atleast a 6 out 10, 6 being the pass mark here in TU Delft. 

The exam results are usually published within 20 working days and I was anxiously waiting for my result. Finally on the 21st day the results were out and I checked mine. I couldn't believe my eyes, my heart sank, I felt a big blob like thing stuck in my throat and my mind had gone haywire. I FAILED, yes I had FAILED, my first exam in my life I had failed. I only got a 4. I immediately scheduled an appointment with the instructor to check my paper and was hoping against hope that there must be a totaling mistake or some question hadn't been valuated. I checked my answer sheet the very next day and the instructor went though all the questions one by one and I had no chance of getting extra marks (I managed to convince him to give me 0.5 extra but that didn't change things). A silly mistake in the numerical problem had cost me dearly and I was kicking myself as to why I did such a silly mistake.

Generally speaking Indian kids are not used to failure, right from schooling days everyone is taught that if you fail you are doomed. May be that was also another reason for me to digest the fact that I had failed. Nevertheless I pulled myself again and forgot the past and started to prepare again for the exam. There was a resit in Jan 2012.

This time I carefully jotted down crucial points, practiced a lot of problems, did the same question papers atleast twice and familiarized myself with the concepts. Studying the second time was a lot easier and many of the concepts became much more clearer. Once concepts got clearer studying was no hassle. I was confident that this time I would definitely make it through.

I went for the exam again on 24 Jan 2012 and my heart sank again seeing at one of the numerical problems, which carried the most weightage. I thought I would fail this time as well. I tackled that problem only at last and gave my best shot by referring to the books and notes that I had (Remember this was an open book exam so we could refer whatever we wanted). After the exam got over I was convinced that I would definitely fail this time as well and never bothered to think about it.

Days went by and when the result came out I was astonished. I got an 8 OMG an 8 out of 10 and was the best 4 persons who took the exam. That was awesome news and my joy knew no bounds. I had actually performed extraordinarily well and was extremely excited with the result.

So this is what I learned from this "Never give up in life, strive harder and success will come to you"

My second marathon- Berlin 2011

25 Sept 2011- date of Berlin marathon

Well its quite late that I am writing about my second marathon but as the saying goes "better late than never". Well it all started with Anand Teke informing me about the Berlin marathon last year in October and suggested that we do the run together. I was quite thrilled at the idea and quickly jumped into it, registering as soon as I can, paying the early bid registration fee of 66 euros. So I had actually planned for my second marathon almost a year in advance.

I started training for Berlin in April, combining cross training (mainly cycling and football) with my weekly runs. My aim was to finish Berlin in 4:30 hrs, at least thats what I had indicated when I registered for it last November (in 2010). So I started training hard, not loading myself with much coursework during my 4th quarter.

In July I went back to Chennai for my summer vacation (for those who are reading it, I am pursuing my masters at TU Delft, The Netherlands) and had a good time there. But the thing is the roads are so not pedestrian friendly that one has to be on the constant lookout for any vehicle, for not getting hit. I booked my bus tickets quite early and got a cheap deal for 42 euros to & fro from Den Hague. Then I also booked my accommodation, a hostel quite close to the starting point. At this moment Anand said that he would not be joining me as he had stopped training for it. I was disappointed because the fun and excitement of running with someone else, together in a big event like this is quite special. Anyways I carried forward.

So on the 23rd of September, the Friday I left for Berlin from Den Hague, boarding the bus at 19:00 hrs. The journey was quite comfortable and as soon as the bus crossed the German border we were held up for passport checks by the German Police. I guess this is a routine check by the police. Anyways didn't matter. The bus dropped me at the central bus station near Kaiserdam subway at 6:00 am on 24th Sept. I had already informed the hostel guys that I would be arriving at 8:00 in the morning and the directions provided by 'Hostel world.com' to reach that hostel were perfect. I have always received excellent service from hostelworld.com. So I arrived, checked in my baggages, had a shower, ate breakfast and set out for the marathon expo. I did the routine of collecting the bib number, pins to attach the bib number to my running shirt. I also purchased a new running jacket to help me out for the cold Dutch winter and also a pair of full length dry fit running slacks. The best part was I was clicking photos in front of a apparel stall and the guy called me in and gave me a 25 euro t-shirt absolutely free. I was thrilled, thanked him from the bottom of my heart and thought 'that was one lucky moment'. I loaded myself with a cheese pineapple sandwich and a veggie pizza for lunch.

Then I got back to the hostel, took some rest and went out in the evening to check how far is the starting point, how should I get there etc etc. The starting point was quite close, just one station away from the place where I was staying. When I got there in the evening I saw many runners like me exploring the area, taking in the marathon atmosphere. I walked around Tiergarten and also Brandenburg gate, had a couple of strawberry waffles then proceeded to a pure vegetarian Chinese restaurant named 'Samadhi' to have my dinner. I must admit vegetarian Chinese food is excellent I really loved it.

The next day was the D day. I got up by 7 in the morning, did my daily business, had a good breakfast, muesli, bread with peanut butter and also milk. I had already set aside my running dress, my running belt, loaded with isotonic drink, chocolates and biscuits. I then proceeded to the starting point, taking the morning subway train, accompanying many of the runners. I was little confused as to where to leave my bag but the organization was good and eventually I found the stall to leave my bag. I then proceeded to the starting point, excitement kicking in, the thrill of running my first of the BIG FIVE marathons in the world. Before the start there were hot girls on top of erected stages doing warm ups, urging the sea of runners to get into the rhythm with them. That was definitely a motivation INDEED.

I was in starting block H and started after a gap of 20 min or so after the elite runners started. I had previously done two long distances during my training sessions so I exactly knew how much time I would be crossing each kilometer. I comfortable crossed the 10K mark in 58:43, the half way mark in 2:04 hrs. I even crossed the 35 K in 3:38:52, three minutes ahead of what I had done in my training. So I thought I was definitely in for a 4:10 finish, quite ambitious. But then fatigue kicked in and then I crossed the finish line in 4:34:40 hrs.

I was skeptical if I had stepped on the mat kept at 40 K distance was was worried if I would be qualified as a finisher but eventually I had stepped and that got confirmed when I received my finish time and position via SMS late that evening. I had also subscribed for the SMS service that would send my running details to my parents back home so that they don't worry if I had completed successfully or not.

After the race I was still feeling fresh, legs okay unlike my first marathon where my quads and hamstrings were completely fatigued. I got back to the hostel took complete rest till about 5 in the evening and then proceeded to the Marathon Party at a Hotel, whose name I forgot but it was situated in the area where most of the embassies were located. I took another guy who was staying with me in the same hostel, his name was Joshua and he had come to Berlin to do his internship at the American Embassy. Guess what at the marathon party we actually got to see the first three elite runners in both the mens and the womens category. I got to see Paula Radcliffe the elite British runner and the current marathon world record holder Patrick Makau. Unfortunately I was standing quite far away from them and could get my Berlin medla signed by them by nonetheless it was indeed once in a life time opportunity and I was grateful to GOD for giving me the strength to complete my own run, achieving my personal best and shaving a nest 30 minutes from my first marathon and also to be a part of Berlin where the current record for the marathon in the mens category is set.

It was an unforgettable experience and a wonderful one too.   

Recipe for 'Pesarit Dosa'

Here is a quick recipe for making 'Pesarit Dosa'

Ingredients needed:

1. Moong dal -4 cups
2. Rice - 1 cup
3. Green chillies
4. Coriander leaves
5. Finely chopped onions
6. Ginger pieces

Procedure:

• Soak the mixture of moong dal and rice in water for  about 4-5 hours.
• Then grind the above mixture nicely into a thick paste.
• Grind coriander leaves, ginger pieces and green chillies together and mix it with the above mixture
• Add the chopped onoins to the above mixture/batter and nicely stir.
• Add salt to one's taste

Your 'Pesarit Dosa' batter is ready to, spread one laddle of the batter at a time on a hot flat pan (greased with oil) and make them as pancakes.

Amazing lecture by Walter Lewin

A rare chance that I got to watch LIVE teaching by Walter Lewin

Last wednesday, the 26th of Oct 2011 was one of the special days here at TU Delft. Why? Because the famous Walter Lewin was coming down to the small town of Delft and his own university (from where he received his Phd) to give a lecture on "Rainbows & skies". I did get a message on my university portal about the event, asking students to pre-register beforehand but I just ignored it, thinking that there will be sufficient space to accommodate all. Let me tell you I was wrong, very wrong.

So on that day I went to the lecture hall in aerospace building @ 13:30 hrs, only to find that people were not allowed inside unless they had a badge, which they receive only if they have pre-registered. I was disappointed but the girl at the welcoming desk gave me a slight hope that if by 14:00 hrs the badges left on the table are not taken then I could just pick up one of them and get into the hall. Along with me there were 30 others who had not registered and were waiting anxiously. I could have easily picked someone else's badge and just walked into the lecture hall but I have my own principles and my inner conscience did not allow me to do so. So I just waited, hoping against hope that I would get a chance to watch Walter Lewin LIVE.

Finally @ 14:00 there were sufficient badges left which were not picked up by people who had pre-registered so the rest of us waiting for a chance to barge into the hall picked one each and got into the hall by the back entrance. The lecture hall was jam packed with audience, young and old and all waiting to hear this great man talk.

Walter Lewin, the professor at MIT is known world wide for his amazing lectures on principles of physics and the way he teaches them to his students. Today he was going to teach us the physics behind rainbows & skies. before beginning the lecture he posed a few questions to the audience which are:

1) Whats the radius of the rainbow?

2) Whats the colour sequence of the rainbow?

3) Is the sky darker or lighter on the inside of the bow?

4) Do we get to see a second bow or perhaps even a third bow?

5) Is the light in the rainbow polarized?

To my amazement even though I had looked at rainbows before I had no clue to the answer to these questions except for the second one and this too I just knew the colour sequence but not which colour on the inside and which on the outside. Walter Lewin quoted "Anyone can look at art but it takes education to see art" and this amazing quality of his which infuses the knowledge into his students is what makes him unique.

The lecture began and in due course he went step by step starting from incidence angle from the sun to the refracted angle to the principle behind diffraction and other terms in physics to make his audience understand the concept. The lecture was well delivered and bang on target. The audience were awestruck and listened with the greatest of interest, I must admit I have never seen such a large crowd being totally glued to a lecture for the full 120 minutes. This is truly great of Walter Lewin.

At the end of the lecture the audience were able to answer all of the questions above and that too not with just figures and numbers but with the scientific principles behind getting those numbers. As Prof Lewin said before the start this lecture would change your life for ever and indeed it did change my life about the understanding of the principles behind rainbows and skies.

For those who missed this live lecture there is always 'youtube' and 'collegerama' (TU Delft's own lecture video portal)

My Tourist visa for USA granted

13 July 2011: My visa interview date

I wanted to run one of my marathons in the United States and hence I made an application for a tourist visa in the month of May. The procedure was quite simple I must say. All instructions were clearly laid out on the US Chennai consulate webpage. This is the procedure I followed:

1. Filled out the D160 online application form. This is the new form implemented recently. Previously it was the D156 form.
2. Then I asked my mom to pay the visa fee at the HDFC bank.
3. Next I had to schedule for an appointment at the Chennai consulate via the VFS website. 

I had completed the first two formalities in the month of May and thought that dates in July will be available right away. However I could see interview dates available only for the next three weeks. Hence I had to wait for almost a month to book my interview date. And finally I made an appointment for my visa interview for 13 July 2011.

I gathered the necessary documents required for the visa interview. Someone had told me it will be very tough to get the visa if one doesn't have a sponsor in the States. Hence I asked my close friend Praveen to send me the required documents. He was very kind to send me whatever I needed. I also bugged my brother for getting all the printouts from his office. Then I borrowed a folder from my friend Alex to keep those documents.

On the day of the interview I dressed up in neat formals and asked my mom to drop me at the consulate. I reached the consulate @ 9:45 hrs for my 10:15 appointment. The procedure at the consulate is something like this:

1. Wait in the queue outside the consulate for your turn. Then handover the appointment letter and your passport at the counter. You will then be given a coupon with a number on it.
2. The guard will then check you before letting you inside the heavy door, which is operated by another security officer sitting inside the counter.
3. Once inside the first door your file will be screened through an X-Ray machine and you will be checked once again by the security. The security will again ask you if you have any pen drives, CD's or any other prohibited items.
4. After that you may proceed through the door and get into the waiting hall and wait until your coupon number flashes on the screen. Then you proceed to the respective counter and present your documents to the officer behind the the glass window. He will check the CEAC letter and read the barcode printed on it and then put the HDFC barcode on your passport. This happened at counter no.8. While waiting for my turn suddenly there was a power cut and all fans and other equipments shut down (except computers).
5. Next I was asked to proceed to counter 12 where I was given a file to keep my CEAC letter and passport. My thumbs and all my other fingers were scanned too.
6. Next I was asked to proceed to the visa interview hall where I had to wait patiently with many others for my turn. Then my number was displayed on the screen and it was on counter 19.
7. The visa officer asked me the following questions:
• Have you been to the States before?
• Why are you going to the States?
• What do you study in the Netherlands?
• How long will you stay in the States?
• Are you married?
• Will you be travelling alone?
• Do you own any property?
• And lastly he asked me if I was going to run the marathon to win some prize money for which I replied that I was an amateur and stood no chance. He said that he was just checking and that one should not earn money in the Sates with the B2 visa.

I was thrilled that i got my visa and now I can visit my friends in California too. All that remains is I have to get back my passport.

80 km cycle trip to Keukenhof (Holland)

Well for a long time I wanted to go on a long bike ride, travelling through the fields and meadows of Holland and yesterday (17 April 2011) provided me an opportunity to do so. My class mate Anand Teke is a couch surfer and he got to know via the couch surfing website that a group will be going on a bike tour to keukenhof starting from Leiden Central station. So I was very much game for it and excited, quickly agreeing to cycle all the way to Keukenhof from Delft (the place where I currently live).

So I woke up at 6:00 in the morning, had my headbath, finished my breakfast and packed my lunch and other drinks in my backpack and reached Anand's place at 7:45. From there Anand, Pavan, Kaushal and myself started at 8:15. Vignesh and Vishwesh, the twins in my university were also supposed to accompany us but they said they would be joining us at Leiden (they would bring their bikes on train). We followed the road besides the canal for 16Kms. By the way Leiden is about 25 kms from Delft. We did biking for about an hour and then took a short break to stretch our legs. We reached Leiden bang at 9:45.

At Leiden central Vishu and Viku joined us and we also met with the tour guide Roman, who was going to take us through the Tulip fields on our bikes. I had never done a bike tour before and this was all making me more and more excited.

Just a small note for the readers who do not know about Keukenhof. This is place where the tulips in Holland are grown in large numbers and exported worldwide. Its world famous and people from all over the world make a visit to Keukenhof if they tour Holland during spring time. This place is akin to the rose garden in Ooty, India or the Lalbagh at Bangalore.

We started our tour at 10:15, at snails pace and few kilometers down the trail we had three people who reported flat tyres. Hence we took an emergency stop for some time and our guide made arrangements to fix the flat tyres of the people's bikes. There were about 25 to 30 people in the whole group, from various nationalities- Iranians, Indians, German, Canadian, Dutch, Singaporeans, Chinese. So diverse was the group that it was amazing that so many people were there together. Roman, our tour guide took us through the Tulip fields and all of us were enthralled by the Tulips and the Daffodils growing in those fields. To put in simple words it was mind blowing and sooperb.

After few hours of bike riding, when we were in field we realised that one of the girls in our group was missing. I don't know who or how people contacted her. We just moved on to go to the Keukenhof park.

But to my amazement I saw that girl at the park. God only knows how she managed to get there or may be someone went in search of her.I am sure without any guiding or GPS device with you one will surely get lost in the biking lanes of Netherlands.

The entrance to the park cost us 12.5 euros each but it was worth the buck. We had our lunch inside the park and then decided to go around the park in small groups. We were asked to report by the fiets stand (fiets=bike, the Dutch word for bike) by 18:00 hrs. So our Indian group separated and we went around the whole park, enjoying the Tulips, appreciating its beauty and clicking lots of pictures. each tulip was unique and  exquisite. They were available in all colours and shades possible.

My favourite ones were the bright red Tulips growing, they were looking absolutely stunning. Pavan, Viku, Vishu and Kaushal were very busy clicking pictures and I believe their camera's memory must have been almost full.

We saw the tulip fields and the windmill, the place where 'Kumari' song of the tamil film ANNIYAN was shot. I was told that during the shoot the filmmakers got special permission to get into the fields.

After about 2 hours of roaming round the park and shooting pictures we all were tired, partly because we hadn't packed sufficient food but our moods were quite high. After quite an intense search we managed to find 'Tulip Aishwarya' and Vishu was the one who got close enough to her. There were other tulips named aftre prominent people, grown along the patch of grass termed 'Hall of Fame'

We gathered at the fiets stand at the said time but the Iranian group was missing. We departed the park at about 18:15 hrs and slowly cycled down another path. Many of them were not used to such strenuous activity and were quite exhausted. Finally we reached Leiden at 20:00 hrs.

I was always in for the whole cycle trip and so was Pavan. But Anand was a little frustrated and wanted to get back to Delft via train, partly because he was not on his bike (a really good road bike) but was on a bike that he borrowed from his friend. But finally we decided to get back to Delft by cycle. We followed the GPS all way through till Rijswik.

At 21:30 hrs we reached Delft safe and sound. Oh my God, biking for 80 kms that was too good. The only thing is that my A** hurts a little and I am getting crazy to get a new bike for myself just for going for these kind of cycle tours.

Hollland- too good a place to bike and Keukenhof hats off to that place