When I went to bed yesterday night around 11 PM, I had set the alarm for 6.15 AM and 6.30 AM. I wanted to wake up early and go for a Morning Walk at Besant Nagar Beach. I am not a morning person and I am desperately trying to adjust my sleep cycle so that I can wake up early. Most days I feel not so fresh in the morning if I wake up around 6 AM. During week days I get some kind of support from my wife and daughter as my daughter has to go to school at 9 AM. Today being a Saturday (August 22, 2015), they had no urgency to wake up until 8 or 9 AM. When the alarm rang at 6.15 AM I gathered enough strength to walk till the alarm which was placed on the table about 5 feet from our bed. I reached for the alarm and put in on snooze and went back to sleep.

This, the lack of discipline and the urge to pursue something that is in my long-term interest, has been one my biggest struggles through my life. I have started on so many personal projects but lacked the discipline to pursue them day in and day out and hence have discontinued them as soon as the initial enthusiasm wanes. I have played cricket, football and volley ball at various times in school but never had the determination or discipline to pursue them seriously. My dad sent me to Tennis class, which I discontinued within a year. I went to Hindi Coaching class during my higher secondary school and discontinued it (within a month) after the teacher made an embarrassing comparison between me and a kid who was about six years younger than me. I went to math tuition during my 12^th standard but did not attend it for the full year.

After 12^th, I went to Engineering Coaching but was never serious in attending it despite going there along with a close friend. During my second year in College I went to a Computer Science Institute to learn C and C++ but discontinued it too. I had enrolled in Gym four times at various points in life but after attending for about four to six months regularly, I would drop off. I enrolled for Guitar class in Bangalore but after two months I dropped off yet again. I took Photography as a hobby and invested in an entry level different DSLR camera too; once again the result was the same. It’s as if I have embraced Inertia as my religion.

And today was no different, I was to succumb to inertia. The wake-up call from the alarm at 6.15 AM felt like a nuisance to a man who had made inertia his life-time best buddy. Yet, destiny intervened in the form of a full bladder. So I woke up reluctantly. I did not walk to the bathroom, rather I walked to the Balcony to take a look at the sky. It was very cloudy and peek at the road made it clear that it had rained through the night. ‘It’s going to rain so better get back to sleep,’ I heard a voice in my head. ‘What’s the big deal? Anyway you like going out during rainy days. Remember all those days when you used to come home from school completely drenched in rain and joy. Better get ready and go for your morning walk, you lazy moron,’ a counter voice in my head. So dragged myself to the bathroom, got ready and walked out of my flat to leave for my morning walk.

When I came outside my flat, I could see that the sky on the eastern side (near the seashore) was almost clear. Thank God, I did not get fooled by the passing clouds. After riding my bike through one of the greenest stretches of roads in Chennai for about five to seven minutes, I reached the beach. Contrary to what I had thought the beach was crowded just like any other weekend. The sun was already out but was hidden behind a blanket of clouds.  The beach looked more like a garden with bees buzzing all around. There were groups of people walking or jogging. There were groups of people sitting on the parapet wall/ pavement chatting about… all things under the sun. There were others playing volleyball, football, etc. There multiple bunches of people immersed in their sessions of laughter therapy. At various points along the beach road I could see people haggling with street vendors over the price of flower, vegetables or fruits.

Near the two wheeler parking, a street vendor was trying to entice morning walkers to buy tender coconut from him as he used to do every day. A group of people were selling hot idlies and other breakfast items from their Maruti Omni van. Around the right corner just diagonally opposite of Cozee Restaurant were different bunches of friends and acquaintances who were trading few days of their lives for few puffs of tobacco smoke. And there was crowd in the nearby tea shop too. Nothing comes close to the joy of having a hot cup of tea or coffee on a rainy or cloudy day. Not to forget romantic couples trying their luck at finding secluded spots in a crowded beach in broad day light! There were catamarans in the sea with anxious fisherman risking their lives for their daily earning. I envy all these morning people. I wish waking up early in the morning could be much easier for me.

I went for my daily routine which a couple of rounds of walk around the block of houses overlooking the beach road. The Clouds threatened to rain and play spoilsport but decided to play Good Samaritan and went on sleep mode after sending down a light drizzle. The drizzle did not dampen the spirit of the people in the beach and they were going about their routines as usual. It was as if the Sun had unlocked the Pandora’s Box with his rays but out came Life in all its glory and there was no looking back even if the sun himself was still handcuffed by a rogue clouds in the eastern sky.  As for me, today’s battle with Inertia has been won but I recognize I have to wage a life-long war with this buddy who refuses to leave me even after knowing that I badly want him to leave me alone.