Random hits on the keyboard

The late-life running habit has taught me some of the greatest lessons of my life. I live a part of 'words of wisdom'. Most mornings, before Kathmandu fully wakes, I step out to run. I don’t negotiate much with myself to get out of bed. I just go out. I do not agree with my excuses of being tired, the weather being bad, or having pain in my knees. As David Goggins says, "Life isn’t always about doing the things we like to do. It’s about doing things we have to do." The first few kilometres are the hardest. Then it gets easier to the point that I start to enjoy it. The human body is way more adaptive than we believe. As I start to crush through the tightness of my legs and heavier chest, soon everything loosens up.  A very old and very simple idea sits at the centre of my running. The Stoics said it best, "Some things are within our control, and some are not." I can not control the weather, rain, cold, hot and many more, but I have definite control over my wi...

This week, my daughter stepped into one of the most profound cultural milestones of her life, her Gufa ceremony. It is a symbolic traditional transition from childhood to adolescence, and it is often described as “marriage to the Sun.” This tradition has evolved. It required twelve days of seclusion in a dark room; now, we have shortened it to two or three days. The rules have been relaxed. Yet, the essence remains intact; the condensed version is equally celebrated and vivid. We chose two days for Gufa. We dropped her off on Sunday at the Guru Ba, the custodians of the ceremony. For me, the day began with exhaustion. It was the next morning after my milestone run (54 km). I was asked to skip, but I went ahead, assuming I would complete it before dark. I didn’t. I reached home after midnight, took a shower, and managed barely three hours of sleep. In the morning, I was limping at the ceremony site. But, watching my daughter become part of a ceremony, I forgot half of my pain. The rema...

On 18 April 2026, I became an ultra-trail runner after completing a 50+ km section along the section of the Kathmandu Valley Rim. It took me 15 hours to scale the distance that has almost 4700 meters of elevation gain. The route was 'interesting'. The race began at Godawari. Before the start, I saw many familiar faces and got introduced to some unfamiliar faces. We cracked jokes about running. Some 60+ years old uncle was running with us with full enthusiasm. Someone said, "The pain of running this trail is less than staying home with your wife." We all knew that the road ahead was going to be tough.  The race began, the first leg was to go to Phulchoki, the highest hill surrounding the Kathmandu Valley, standing at an altitude of 2,762 meters. The starting run (walk) was breathtaking, breathtaking in a literal sense.  Very quickly, I realised that this day would be long. It took 2 hours, and the distance covered was only 8 kms. There were 46 kms left. Then came innum...

I participated in my local Toastmasters club. H ere is the script of the speech. During the speech,I forgot some lines, and I added some but the overall message remains the same. ------------------------ The Highest Return of Investment Good evening, dear Toastmasters and guests. Today, I’m going to show you an investment that will make you more valuable than a millionaire. Yes, you hear it right, Today, I am talking about running. There are around 80 million millionaires in the world. That’s about 1% of the global population. But only about 1 to 1.3 million people complete a marathon each year. That’s roughly 0.014% of the global population. You don’t even have to run a marathon. If you simply run 10 kilometres per week, you will still be rarer than a millionaire. Now here’s the irony. Running is the most basic and fundamental human activity. Once, it was directly linked to survival. If you could run, you could hunt. If you could run, you could escape danger. Prehistorically, runners ...

Not an extraordinary weekend, but a simple and joyful time. My morning began, as it often does, on the road. I had a nearly 20 km run. As the saying goes in Kathmandu , "All roads lead to temples", so I found myself running past many of them,  Pashupatinath Temple , Naxal Bhagwati Temple , and Aakash Bhairav Temple , among others. It was the nicest way to start the weekend. After reaching home, we discussed lunch and decided, with a two-thirds majority vote, to drive toward the hills for lunch. The path led to the Dakshinkali Temple route. Passing the winding roads, ahead of Chovar, there were a few restaurants built along the cliffs, looking down toward the Bagmati River . To the north, there was a wide view of the valley. That day, sadly, the Himalayas were shy, hiding behind the clouds. Although there was a nice resort nearby, we wanted to enjoy lunch at a small local restaurant. Choosing one among four or five was not easy, as we were unsure about the quality. My son qu...