Bonus Post 5

I chose a few things which I wanted to implement a week before, and what a week it has been :O

So, I am reviewing the progress , just to make myself more happy

• In diet
  • NO adding sugar √
  • NO coffee √
  • NO non veg √
  • NO junk food √
  • NO carbonated drinks √
  • NO booze √
  • MORE fruits √
  • MORE raw veggies Χ
• In life
  • EVERYDAY exercise √
  • EVERYDAY waking up early √
  • EVERYDAY meditation Χ
  • EVERYDAY journal √
  • EVERYDAY reading a book √

No adding sugar was easy since I add sugar in only two circumstances, once when I am having milk during breakfast and secondly when I am having coffee at the fresh ‘n’ honest kiosk. Since I have not had milk nor had I bought coffee I could easily manage it. Though in first couple of days I had to specify not to add sugar to the attendant of the kiosk when I was having a ginger tea there.

No coffee was also 100% success, I was really drifting into the caffeine addiction since coffee had stopped making difference to me anymore. I did not feel any withdrawal symptoms though, or maybe I did not classify what I was feeling into any such symptom. I drink ( used to drink) coffee by adding it in the morning milk and at kiosk. The breakfast coffee was easy to forgo, but the habit of hitting kiosk before and/or after lectures was really ingrained in me. So, it was really difficult to stay away from the coffee especially when I was seeing others carrying the cup. Sometimes when a friend was sitting next to me with a cuppa coffee, the impulse to have a quick sip, at least to smell the aroma was strong, but I was conscious the whole time and strictly avoided the onset of lapse. The slop can be really slippery and I had been down that path many times now. NO more though.

Junk food was also difficult , because I get hungry (again: used to ) during the evenings. I do realize that it must be psychological hunger, but I had to have the steaming food like samosa there. Now,  am hardly hungry even after eating almot 60-80% of the original amount of food. In the end (or till tonight) I am free!

No problems with carbonated drinks, once before I had successfully avoided them for years, and so it was not so difficult compared to others.

Booze is easy to avoid, if u can avoid being at wrong place at wrong time. Now, I am really sure I can say no if someone hands me a glass, I am done with it forever.

Since fruits are available during lunch, it was just a matter of grabbing some more and storing them at room. similarly, since raw  vegetables are not to be found anywhere so I am just avoiding paneer and aloo as much as I can. I am also avoiding eating bread during breakfast.

Transformation : day 7

Well…. I did wake up at 6, but it was so bloody freezing out there ( which means out of the blanket!) that I drifted back, and woke up at 7. Went to gym shivering and enjoyed it as always!! So, technically I have to count it as a miss, but it is REALLY freezing out there, and the situation will be same for another two weeks. So…. plan something to get myself out!

Today, I have to complete BFBV project. So, today seems to be a free day, out of those 5 that I had scheduled earlier. Ofcourse, by tonight that may not turn out to be the case, but looking at the time I have with me,it certainly seems I will be cutting the whole submission thing very closely.

Today, in the International Business class, we had to discuss the Nike Sweatshop case. Its a case pertaining to the cheap labour in some countries and how its been used by western manufacturers to cut costs. The discussion turned to India , then to MDI and Delhi. We tried to understand who is to blame for this situation and how to rectify it. How to part wasnt really reached though, but this was one of the rare moments where I did lose track of time,and I did see all the people really invloved since the topic was so close to everyones life style. As a matter of fact, many people woke up due to intensity of the case.

Now a days I am seeing that people are more opening up while discussing the cases, disputing the points made even by the professor. This might be helped by the fact that we have got such understanding professors who does not make such a behavior as a petty ego issue, but also the fact that something which was holding the peers back is no longer there, and they are feeling internal freedom to experss things as they think about them. Having an opinion and voicing it is not longer a stigma, at least in some cases. Maybe the need to maintain cordial relations with profs for marks and with friends for sake of it is no longer there. We know each other so well that a difference in opinion is no longer going to spoil the excellent rapport that we all share as individuals. Also the people have matured a lot which helps overall scheme of things since it becomes a new and elevated plateform to build the behavior and personality on.

Another new thing that I had observead these days, is the use of audio visual element in presentations. Movie clips, Speeches, you tube videos, ads are incresingly being used in the presentations which in my opinion is a great thing to do. The whole point of making presentation is to get the point across to the audience out there, and not to bore them to sleep. So, a good communicator must understand the nerve of the audience and play with it to get the requisite response. Also, I am glad to see that the faculty here is not opposing such influx on new experiments. Generally it is indeed difficult to dentune from old habits to retune oneself to new, changed order of things. Atleast the benefit out of this experiment is that people will listen to what the ppt is trying to convey to them.

The rest of the days was spent on BFBV project, though I was getting bored. My efficiency must have reached rock bottom because when I did work properly on it, I almost completed the document within a couple of hours, even the excel accompanying the report is under construction.So, I noticed that I need to construct time bound goals with at least slight amount of pressure involved to make me work on it. I also noticed again how cool the schedule looks to me, when the same would create anxiety till I started this change routine.

I was thinking about how I am yet to notice any substantial gain due to my gym pilgrimage, but then I realised everything works in a “plateau-jump” way. Everything seems to stabilize at a certain point no matter what the efforts are put, and suddenly it jumps up a lot. Take earthquakes, stocks or golf count, the changes are sudden, massive and flanked from both sides by a long period of calm and saturation. So, Just have to put in efforts while nothing seems to happen, and suddenly it will!

Well, the BFBV project is over now, and although I tool slightly more time than I should have, I am quite happy with my work given the time I had put in. Also, in all other groups there were 8 members where I did my project alone , and given the marks I have got, I am sure I will not get a poor grade even if I get a low score on this project. Anyways, some things are more important than just marks.

A week into the transformation process, and I can already feel the change. I hope this persists as long I exist.