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Marathon ready, always

Marathon ready, always

Haruki Murakami told The Paris Review that when he's writing a novel, he wakes up at 4 o' clock , writes for five or six hours, runs ten kilometres or swims fifteen hundred metres, reads, listens to music, and is asleep by nine. Day after day, month after month, this routine doesn't change. For Murakami, repetition is a spell.
The same magic lies not in sentences but in strides for retired IPS officer K Jayanth Murali. His mornings, begin with meditation and movement. And like Murakami, his discipline has carried him far — far enough to run over 200 marathons, earn a place in the India Book of Records 2026.
Rewards of discipline
Speaking about his journey, Jayanth recalls that his first marathon was in 2012, when he was 50 years old. 'At that point of time, I was actually feeling that I had to do something in life. Life was just passing on,' he says. Though he had been running regularly on the treadmill, it was the Chennai Marathon that truly set him on a new path. 'Four months later, I ran the Auroville Marathon in February 2013,' he adds. That run became his fastest, clocking in at three hours and 47 minutes.
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IAS officer to classical Vocalist: How Kashish Mittal's rendition of a Nusrat Fateh Ali ghazal made him an internet sensation
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IAS officer to classical Vocalist: How Kashish Mittal's rendition of a Nusrat Fateh Ali ghazal made him an internet sensation

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A post shared by Kashish Mittal (@kashishmittal) A few hours after he uploaded, the clarity of his voice, with expression in place, the composition in Jaunpuri — the grand late morning raga — travelled the subcontinent, floating above the continued political tensions and cracks in geopolitics. Mittal stumbled upon the famed ghazal just about a year ago online and it stayed in memory. 'I have always been advised by my guru to listen to musicians across gharanas and genres, as that allows one to expand your horizon,' says Mittal, who has trained under the aegis of Agra gharana — one of the oldest gharanas known for blending khayal and dhrupad styles. For Mittal, imbibing Wo bhi apne na huye, dil bhi gaya haatho se/ Aise aane se toh behtar tha na aana dil ka (Neither did they become mine, Nor did my heart remain my own/ Instead of coming like this, It was better if you had not come at all) from the famed piece of poetry was a result of that tutelage. 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