Do One New Thing - Fourth Week

By Gaurav Parab



Everyone has vices. Bad things one does by design, a few habits that are picked on the way, and then there are those little demons that define you as long as you can remember.

A chance conversation while I was doing my thing for the 3rd week reintroduced me to a big vice that I had somehow picked on the way. My friend, as we walked to office that day, mentioned that the canteens in our massive campus report about 200 Kgs of wasted food everyday.

I was stunned. The magnitude of this criminal waste stayed with me as we walked on, for I knew that I contributed to it everyday, even if in small measure.

You see, I have this habit. (Let’s hope the ‘have’ has now become ‘had’)

I always leave food on the plate when I am done. And what makes this stupidity reach the next level is I have no idea why I do that. My friends have kidded me about it, but I have always joked about it – calling it my little offering to my devils or my good luck charm.

It has nothing to do with the quality of food, or the time of the day. It is just the most stupid signature move that one can have.

It is not that I have not tried to improve. When TGF cooks, one has no choice. I know I have lick the plate clean to avoid being kicked clean. But the attempts were always half hearted. I would soon relapse into my addiction, and start leaving food in the plate. (Usually it was the last bite – or a little rice)

This week, as part of my plan to do a new thing and make myself the best possible version of me – I decided to put an end to this insanity. I decided to finish each and every meal this week and then carry the momentum to the next week and possibly the rest of my life.

When I started out on Monday, I thought this would be the easy thing to do. But I realized that even a simple thing like this is full of challenges:

Day 3, Dinner: The mysterious onion appears

I am almost done with dinner; I see a full onion staring at me from behind the dal katori. As my mother screams out from the kitchen about ice cream – I am tempted to smuggle the plate out like I always do and throw the onion in the bin like I always do. Then I remember my thing for the week, and pick up the onion and start eating it. Mom comes in and sees me eating a fully juicy onion instead of ice cream – leaves the room shaking her head.

“He has finally gone to the other side” I hear her tell my father in their room. I shake my head and wipe my tears. I want to die.

Day 4 and Day 5. – I am sick

Day 4 and Day 5 I fall sick. This is the perfect recipe for throwing a tantrum, feel sorry for myself, come to office late and be Very Very Picky about food.

“Sorry Mum, the food is good but I need some caviar and champagne to wash it down”

I hear her again as she moves out of the room “He is really really sick. He finished his food. Should we call the other relatives?”

Day 6
Pretty girl walks into the restaurant. I look at my unfinished dinner, and I look at her walk out again. I am torn.

I finish my dinner. As a parting shot – I look at the last piece of sandwich and say “I hope you are happy now”

I did manage to carry the momentum with me today, and I am confident about doing it for the rest of my life. All it took to fix a little bug in me was a little resolve, focus and common sense.

I am sure that there are a million others like me, who waste food for no apparent reason. If you are reading, I hope you too start licking your plate clean – if not for the billions who are not as lucky as we are – then at least for the sake of the every onion who faces a crisis of identity every time someone leaves it half eaten.

Ask yourself, how good will you feel about yourself if a shark left you half eaten every time you went for a swim?

See my plan for doing one new thing every week

See what i did the first week

See what i did the second week

See what i did the third week

Do One New Thing - Third Week

By Gaurav Parab

I walked in with a special feeling to office today. A feeling that can be traced back to a decision I made last night to go ahead with what I had wanted to do but never got around to doing it - As part of my plan of doing something new every week,

Before I started for work today, I was secure in my knowledge that I had already done my thing for the week. (But unfortunately, some part of me did not want to share it with the world) so I quickly decided to scout for another opening.

There were many ideas floating in my head, and I was considering some fantastic suggestions given by friends. But the thing that had come back to me again and again was a personal demon that remained to be slayed since the past 7 years. Since I had already done something similar in my first week of the plan, the voice in my head (Which incidentally sounds like Bappi Lehari speaking through a megaphone) kept on suggesting that going for a walk again does not really count.

But thankfully, I realized that the voice was just another excuse for pushing back my plan of walking all the way from home to office. (A distance of around 12 Kms I think)

A plan which I had first made while in college, when I had thought about walking from home to college But as is the case usually, life happened - I discovered women in the first year, twisted my knee in the second year, got locked in a toilet during the entire third year, and nearly got kicked out of home in the last year. So I forgot all about the plan till I joined Infy.

The last couple of years, as I drove from my new home to office ( Near Chandni Chowk, Pune to Hinjewadi Pune – Distance around 12 to 13 Kms) or took the company bus I heard the kid inside beg me to get out and walk.

So finally, I decided to do it. I drove to Aundh for a burger.

I got in touch with a friend and we decided to walk last week. But somehow, fate played its hand and we never went ahead. Again, the little simple dream in my head moved on like it often does for so many of us as we move on with the big things that scream for attention.

Last evening, the friend asked again – but I was dead tired after a long badminton session and I almost decided to scuttle the dream again. As I took the bus to home, and looked outside at the beautiful darkness filtering through a long line of street lights – I just wanted to get up and walk home. Simply to find out how it feels like.

So I called up the friend and we decided to leave early at around 5.30 in the dark – hoping to catch a little of that mystical darkness, the early signs of light and all the wonderful shades in between.

We took our time, and walked at a comfortable pace to make sure that we arrived at work around 8.15 (I might be crazy to do this, but not crazy enough to arrive at office early)

I will not bother you with the delightful details of the long walk.

What I will briefly mention is the feeling that surged inside me as I walked through the building 1 gate at the end of my walk.

A perfect score in a maths exam, hitting the sweet spot at the tee to see the ball sail gracefully towards the green, or the joy in writing a line which can bring a tear to someone’s eyes. It felt how it feels to be alive.

I thought that a long walk like today would leave me dead on arrival in office today, but I found myself to be surprisingly rejuvenated! (and in need of a shower)

The Plan
First Week
Second Week

Do One New Thing - Second Week

A lot of friends wrote in with suggestions about things that I could do in my second week of my plan of doing something new every week.

There were many things that caught my eye, especially the one about going on a blind date. Among the things that caught The Girl Friend’s (TGF) eye was the one about going on a blind date.

TGF: Interesting idea.

Me: Yes.

TGF: Can you outrun a bullet?

Me: Eh….No.

TGF: Would you like to eat a knife?

Me: I guess the one about the blind date is ruled out huh??

So I spent the weekend trying to figure out a different thing to do this week. I was excited, because after the first week, my love for going on long walks returned and I found myself going off on long evening walks whenever I could get a chance. I was sure the second week would rekindle an old flame again.

Genetics is a funny little scam. My parents passed on all the good looks to my sister, and some of their terrific cooking genes to me.

Good looks gene as my genetic code was being written: Should I go to the boy, or should I stay. Should I go or should I stay.

The porter gene as my code was being written: Look good looking gene, I am carrying a mirror.

Good looks gene checking itself in the mirror: Damn I look good here! I am not going anywhere. The boy does not get me.

Genetic code writer: Hey! But we are still running one gene short. If you are not going good looks gene, who do I send to the boy.

Good looks gene: How about a cooking gene?

Genetic code writer: Is there one? Ok, done. He will be a good cook.

It is not that my sister can’t cook. But for the sake of this paragraph, let us just pretend that I am a better cook.

Better or not, I am a decent cook. Which brings me to the new thing I did in my second week of the plan of doing a new thing every week. Having lived alone for the best part of the last six years, I had found cooking to be a nice little stress buster. Last year, weekends usually meant me and TGF skipping the usual movie for day long cookouts.

But ever since my parents returned about six months ago, I had left cooking. After all, children get their names cut off from the family will for lesser crimes.

Father (when writing the will): Should I leave the house to Gaurav?

Mother: Remember the day he cooked for us?

Father: Yes. The house goes to the girl.

This week my mom was not feeling well. Which gave me a good chance to unleash Chef Gaurav on a pair of unsuspecting parents. It was also a good chance to break the monotony of daily life.

So I cooked dal, sabji and rice for my parents. I think I saw a hint of a tear in my mom’s eyes when she tasted the dal. Which made me kind of nervous

But my fears were laid to rest, when mom insisted that I put the tadka in the dal the next day. She said it was one of the best cooked dals she ever had. My father just shrugged his shoulders and said that all Parab’s can cook. No big deal.

The whole plan is shaping out well, and I think my life is getting exciting again. In fact this week, I decided to take part in a marathon for the first time. So that’s two new things in the week in my life.

I guess it is not about running, or about the fact that it is for charity, for me – it is about getting up and doing a different thing on a Sunday morning instead of watching mindless television or sleeping the day off. It means one more thing done in life.

I strongly suggest that go do something new! You never know, one day you might bring a hint of a tear in your mom’s eye. That’s worth more than anything.

See why I am doing this
See what i did the first week

Do a new thing: First Week !

See - Why I am doing this

I don’t want to die wondering how a particular thing feels like because I never got down to doing it.

So I made a plan to do a different thing once every week.

Since I intended to keep it simple, I started by planning to walk from Phase 1 of our office to Phase 2 [ Phase 1 and Phase 2 are my company’s two office complexes separated by roughly two and a half kilometers in Pune, India]

Some may argue that is by no means a feat of endurance, or an achievement of any sort.

Exactly. That was the whole point behind the exercise.

Do things that I always wanted to do but never came to actually do because I thought they were not worth doing. Because as some of the documents that I help to design and develop say– The Return on Investment is negligible.

Well if I had a penny for all the little things that I never did in my life because I thought they were not worth doing, or were downright silly or ‘stupid’ to be done –I would be a millionaire. I would also be more happy.

So I have never got down to screaming at the setting Sun from my balcony since I was afraid that the neighbors would finally call in the cops to put the crazy kid next door away.

I have never got down to walking down a small road close to my house which has fascinated me since the past two years for I have no idea where it leads to. Every time I have tried to walk down that path surrounded by thick bushes, I have turned back because something holds me back. I know that something is simply what I have become in the past few years.

I have never apologized to a friend for a silly thing I did when I was a younger fool , simply because I assumed she has already forgiven me.

Every time I took the congested company bus between Phase 2 and Phase 1, I always wondered what it would be like to walk between the two phases. How the massive buildings will look like when viewed while walking towards them instead of being driven to them. How the Sun would reflect of the dust that has simply made the entire stretch its home. How this unremarkable, poorly constructed, and insignificant road I have been over on a million trips will feel beneath my new sports shoes.

The last time I had planned to do it had rained just as I had started with a friend from Phase 1. So we had to catch the bus. Incidentally, that day I also happened to meet a good friend for the first time in my life. So this road had to be done.

My buddy Sam bravely volunteered to join me. Now, Sam is a nice fellow who is always open to a new experience no matter how challenging it might seem to a lesser person. Yes, he is incidentally married.

You look at Sam and you notice the glow on his face and the smile which is just around the corner. And you wonder, is he still in denial?

Now, I am not the most athletic person around (My paunch slightly limits my body movements. To my lips and eyes) so I decided to ask a friend Abhishek, an avid trekker, to come join us on our arduous journey of 30 minutes over wild asphalt and a terrain inhabited by out of control buildings.

Me: I cant go on anymore. I need food… I need food….

Sam: Damn I am married. I cant go on either.

Abhishek: Hang in there. There is a restaurant every two meters. We will chance upon one soon.

It was a fun brisk walk of 35 minutes. We talked about this and that and had a good time. We also noticed a new office complex that has opened right next to our campus in Phase 1. It is amazing that a complex that can house thousands of workers right next to our office is in operation and none of us ever noticed it being built or started. Forget the little things, we have become so busy that we fail to notice a structure of steel and glass twice the size of a mountain.

As we walked I never thought about how the sun reflects off the glass, or the feel of gravel beneath my shoes. But at least I will not die wondering how a simple walk with friends between the two phases feels like.

Do One New Simple Thing Every Week !

Gaurav Parab

I am at a plateau in life. High enough to be safe from the flood of the basic challenge of daily survival yet low enough to miss the excitement which only the crisp air of the unexpected brings.

I may be doing alright as far as living the big picture is concerned, but I know that recently - I have been failing at living the moment. Freedom from the daily grind, freedom from my mundane thoughts, freedom from living life as a series of forced sighs.

Smooth sailing, a well paid job, a love anyone would die for. Things which make you feel alive and strangely dead at the same time.

Things, which due to their predictability act as a smooth comforting balm one day and as an insulting slap the next.

The truth is my life, like a billion others, has been programmed. Not by a mysterious guy with a slight detectable paunch wearing a gaudy golden robe looking down on earth, but by myself. And as I much as I would like to think otherwise, I am not much of a programmer.

Every day, I get up around the same time, go to the same place, do the same thing, and then sleep to dream the same dreams. My every moment is similar to the same before. My program is an array of moments.

Ironically, not too long ago I was not the person that I have become. I lived the moment, and made an effort to look for surprises. The best things in my life have happened whenever I have done something different.

And so I have decided to do something about my little problem with living the little moment. I am going to Do One New Thing Every Week. ( Or at least give it a shot )

The other day I saw a news report on CNN about a girl in the United States who did something similar to get the zing back in her life ( She did one new thing every day) and it really seems like a nice fun idea.

The things I intend to do are simple, and which I know will give me joy or in some cases unmentionable pain. ( I have a feeling that my new thing for this week will cause me some). Do drop in to my blog and suggest new simple things that I can do! Just remember – keep it simple and not too personal.

See what i did first week