Ok...I have thought a lot about it...and have decided to change my blog name...it really needs a make-over...Well, the weekend has passed by...rather uneventfully though..spent entire Saturday morning cooking..(made some bendekaayi palya and thambooly)...and 2 of my firends came over to have lunch and we spent the entire afternoon reading "I have read that somewhere"..a novel written by our classmate Aswath aka Kodhi. It is simply hilarious mostly because it is only a select few who can identify the characters in this book. So after the reading session, which KP admitted- time-he hadnt spent even brushing up for his engg exams, Ajay and KP pushed off for him and I was on my way to my kick boxing lessons. I am so glad I finally took this up..it had always been a dream of mine to learn this form of martial art..because the co-ordination betweeen your hand and legs..and curiosity to see why street fighting was considered a "tough" art was driving me towards it. We had a Ninjutsu demonstration on Friday, by a 5th generation blackbelt holder, Nikolai...the techniques he showed us were so simple, yet effective..that it simply blew my mind away! Ninjutsu, I believe has 9 archived schools and around 105 unarchived schools. Kick boxing, btw is just 1 !!! So, I cant imagine how many techniques one can learn in a lifetime in Ninjutsu. All these art forms are more defensive rather than being offensive. They are based on the principle that one should resort to such physical harm only when faced by physical danger- makes sense- though not for the trigger happy youth we see oflate. Saturday's class was very interesting as well. My trainer showed different techniques to save ourselves when attacked with knives...and my goodness..there were SO many of them..he even showed us how one could judge whether an attacker is familiar with the weapon's usage by the way he weilds the knife. Some amazing tips give there....too good...I simply cannot wait for the next class!!
But this class has made me think about certain developments that have happened in my life as well. I recently read this book called "We need to talk about Kevin" by Lionel Shriver (a columnist in The Guardian), whose story line revolves around a kid involved in a school shootout. I dont know why ...but it made me think that no matter how well prepared is, in life, when confronted by an unknown enemy, all this training seems pointless. Sometimes the enemy can be oneself or a really close freind/relative. Saturday's shooting of Pramod Mahajan is also a point in case. He would have never-in his wildest dreams-conceive that his very own brother would shoot him in poin blank range. Such pre meditated, well planned and calculated actions really cannot be met with calisthenics of any sort...mental or otherwise! We are always trying to fight against the enemy we see...but what if we ourselves are our own enemies? Masochistic trends are somethings that can run amock in my life..and I am petrified with that thought. Soemtimes I wonder if I am trying to test my own threshold of pain...it is gory and unholy..but sometimes, true!
Ugh..ok...too much serious stuff happening today...I am stuck at work..with no end in sight..and it is rather boring....hmm..anyway...will have to get back...and try to make sense of all the gibberish I am reading!