Cruelty-Free , Nature Friendly and Fashionable Lifestyle

As you people already know that I love sneakers, only ones made without any leather. I hate anything made out by killing an innocent animal. I eat only vegetarian food. Then I came across adbusters somehow while looking for sneakers and across their blackspots and I have to say myself, there are people out there in this world who think like me . Do I like NIKE shoes, yes, I love them, their designs, their so much research into comfort and technical use of one pair of shoes. They have a style, they have the durability and looks. They have all the things I need in a shoe ?

I guess no. What if I can get the same, well … may be better, style, a better look, same comfort in my shoes without those 10 billions $s and without those those 100 millions liters of harmful chemicals going into sea, killing the environment. What if I can get a fashionable shoe or very decent shoe or a sports shoe which is comfortable and designed for running or another model designed for hiking and what if all of them are cruelty-free, eco-conscious and environment friendly ? What if I don’t ? . I think I will give it a shot. Its so stupid of human behavior that adjusts itself very easily to a corrupt and selfish environment and greedy goals of a corporation. If we can get the same or better things in life with an added value to the nature, to the environment why not use it. My friends in college used to hang the carry bags of different brands (Adidas, NIKE, United Colors of Benetton, Reebok, Levi’s, Lee) they get along with clothing, shoes or accessories in their rooms for months, just to show off that they are some sort of superior men because they use those brands. Were they wrong .. no… because there were hundreds of other fools who get impressed by looking at their branded material. You can’t do anything about it, selfishness and thinking others are inferior are the basic two properties the way the human species live. There are many places where you can find the attractive vegetarian shoes. Look ate UK based company noharm and their shoes. The corporate approach has always been to make the money. Money making is not a bad thing and when someone makes money at the cost of environment, at the cost of lives I am not going to hang-out with him. Look at these nice things made by bboheme or Mooshoes, vegetarian shoes and hundreds of other places you can find by just doing a Google Search . Earth is the place where we live and if we try to imbalance it, we need to be ready for the consequences too.

But I do ask myself a question many times. Why kill animals, why dump harmful chemicals and poisonous gases into the environment when we can achieve the better things by doing the opposite. Why ? Whats the point ? That is the time I decided to use vegetarian and environment friendly shoes, wallets belts and other accessories. I don’t see any Indian Company selling such kind of things but I will keep on looking and trying. I don’t want to kill nature, may be I am stupid but I am not stupid enough to destroy the place which gives me life. Here are some Vegetarian shoes I found, not only for men but even some very attractive things for women are here. What do you live for ?

 

 

Copyright © 2008, 2009 Arnuld Uttre, #331/type-2/sector-1, Naya Nangal, Distt. – Ropar, Punjab (INDIA) – 140126

Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article are permitted worldwide, without royalty, in any medium, provided this notice, and the copyright notice, are preserved.

The pictures and designs of shoes are copyrighted by their respective companies. My copyright notice does not apply to them. Please ask the respective company before you use them.

Sports Shoes Mania

I am big fan of Sneakers, known as Sports Shoes in middle-class families of India. I know that casual shoes look much better most of the time with jeans and other casual stuff but you can’t beat the comfort and mobility of a pair of sports shoes. The day I came across Sneaker-Freaker and saw how many different kinds of sports shoes were there, for different kind of activities, for different kind of foot, with different kind of features and functions, sneakers designed specifically for people with overpronate feet, underpronate (supinate), neutral feet, high arch, low arch .. oh my god… . Different kinds of sports shoes for basketball, different pair for football, different pairs designed specifically for running, others for walking, more for cross-training and so much. You can’t find such kind of features that help you and your feet and your legs in anything other than sports shoes. I was blown away and fell in love with sports shoes much more than ever before. Go ahead and give NIKE’s Shoe Finder a try, you will never regret it.

I actually loved Chucks and High-Tops a lot but because of the way I used them I felt much pain in wearing those, hence I have to drop the idea of using or even buying them at all, no matter how much I loved them. The point lies in technical use and then in what you feel or how do they look. So right now what you will see are either trainers or running shoes and nothing else. Here is a list of other shoes that I like, call it a Sports Shoe Mania

 

 

Copyright © 2008, 2009 Arnuld Uttre, #331/type-2/sector-1, Naya Nangal, Distt. – Ropar, Punjab (INDIA) – 140126

Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article are permitted worldwide, without royalty, in any medium, provided this notice, and the copyright notice, are preserved.

The pictures and designs of shoes are copyrighted by their respective companies. My copyright notice does not apply to them. Please ask the respective company before you use them.

Jeans

I always write serious things. So this time I decided to write something casual , like something about Jeans. Yes, you read right, I am looking for a new pair of Jeans, I am checking into all those Lee, Levi, Numero Uno and Flying Machine things. Before I do, I Googled a little and got 2 very informative and genuine articles on how to choose Jeans, one is at askmen and other excellent article I found written by Isabella Snow . Many thanks to both of them. Now since I am going to buy Jeans I have to buy casual shoes too. First I was thinking of buying high-top shoes as my first and foremost requirement is whether I can move and run freely by wearing them or if I can fight with a bunch of guys with full speed, if it ever happens. Woodland’s completely casual shoes are, first, made of leather which I don’t like as a material, who wants to kill animals for shoes, I don’t. 2nd, they are too heavy, I tried some of theirs, they look very good and comfortable but their weight and shape restricts the movement of my legs and feet. So I thought sports shoes are a way to go, I even fond a large collection which I can’t buy since I am in India, hence 50% of the models are not available and 2nd they are very expansive (you know NIKE, Reebok and adidas, all of them). Then I came across a very impressive work of footwear. Unfortunately, these blackspot shoes are also not available in India. Quite of a bad-luck. Of all the stores and showrooms I have visited, I found boots or casual shoes look much better than the sneakers but the ones I liked were made of leather and I don’t like killing innocent animals for the fashion. I will better use some sports-shoes rather than leather. I found these good Shoe FAQs. Hope you will find them useful.

I will definitely wear Jeans with non-leather shoes. I will be shopping for coming weeks, lets see what I will find. If you have some advice, please put it here. And here are some of the sneakers or sports shoes for those people who think sports shoes are not better than boots or casuals:

 

 

Though these shoes are very attractive and durable, the Multi-National Corporations that manufacture these do not care about either nature or the humans. They put millions of liters of harmful chemicals into the rivers, underpay workers, take advantage of places where human rights are last thing for all powerful men in administration. Thats why I like the Earth-friendly, Cruelty-free shoes you will see next. Preserving the nature can look quite beautiful and smart. Just have a look at them yourself:

 

 

Copyright © 2008 Arnuld Uttre, #331/type-2/sector-1, Naya Nangal, Distt. – Ropar, Punjab (INDIA) – 140126

Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article are permitted worldwide, without royalty, in any medium, provided this notice, and the copyright notice, are preserved.

The pictures and designs of shoes are copyrighted by their respective companies. My copyright notice does not apply to them. Please ask the respective company before you use them.

The biggest regrets of my life

My very first job was as a steward at some newly opened restaurant in New Delhi. I was given 3500/- of salary for that. I did not feel satisfied with that kind of work. So I left that job and started working as a salesman for Chandigarh branch of Standard Chartered Bank. My salary was 2500/-. Again I was not satisfied. So I left that for the new job as an Insurance Salesman for ICICI Prudential. Again I wasn’t satisfied , so I left ICICI Prudential and joined a Call Center. Time and again, I always missed something , there was something I deeply felt being missed, what was that. After I watched movie Hackers on HBO in January of 2005, I decided to become programmer (or Hacker as they call it in the movie). Now I am working as a System Programmer for Phonologies India (Pvt.) Ltd and I get 8 times I what I used to earn earlier. The list of my jobs is just half yet. I have joined and left a lot of companies because all I wanted from my work was peace of my heart, a satisfaction in my heart while doing my work and I still have not gotten it today.

One day I watched The Protector of Tony Jaa and I was blown and immediately I said to myself, I never saw anyone fighting like this. The only man who ever fought so real like this was Bruce Lee and this is what I want to become. An actor……. geee… no. Everyone wants to be an actor. I want to become a Martial Artist. Hardcore practitioner of Kung-Fu, a fitness fanatic, a Martial-Artist maniac whose punches tear the bones apart, the man with 15 hour of workout schedule. I found the aim of my life, I found my love, I found the peace of my brain and complete satisfaction of my heart. But is this another post about my love .? .. No.. I will end it right here. Its about the deepest regrets of my life. This is the place where I spent 3 years:

Unbelievable….. isn’t it ? Just on the lower right corner of that photo is my bed (which you can’t see because I have not photographed it but it does exist on the lower right corner of this photo ) where I slept after my work and I used to get up and then work on the computer. I used to take my breakfast and lunch and dinner on my computer. Years from Feb of 2005 to March of 2008. I learned a lot in this, one of the best learning I got from the School of Hard Knocks, and I learned that all from my bed to my computer, the distance between them was hardly 2 feet. I have lived 3 years of my youth (younghood, as I call it) from my computer to my bed, without talking to anyone, without making any new friends, without any love for anything. I had nothing. These were the most painful years of my life. What do you expect a 25 years old son to do when his Father is on the edge of last days of his job and that lower middle class family have to wait for 10 years before they can buy a new fridge. Do you expect that son to be happy ? Do I regret that those were painful years or that I was sad ? of course not, the sadness, that pain had taught me a lot of things and developed the common-sense of my brain which I can never forget, no one ever can. What do I regret that I wasted a heck lot of time. I had 24 hours to myself and I wasted a lot. I learned a lot, I used Linux a lot, I played with BSDs hell of a lot, I searched the Usenet newsgroups a lot, I post and read GNU, Linux and Open Source mailing lists a lot but even after that I still wasted a lot of time. I could have enjoyed it but I did not, I could have listed to my favorite songs but I did not, I could have learned to do one hand push-ups but I did not, I did waste a lot of time. Now sitting my office working from 9:30 AM to 7 PM at the age of 28 I can not get that time back. I can no longer appreciate the greenery of my home place. I can not get back those green grounds and dark green fresh leaves with rains drops failing on them, I can no longer get back the spellbound sound of rain falling at my house when I was 25, I watched it, I loved it but I wasted so much of it. Now even today, I waste a lot of time and I see it is such a common habit of all the people. And majority of people do not want to talk about it, they get mentally disturbed and sad when I talk about why did they waste time and how do they feel about it now. Do they not want to change this habit ? Do they not want to use as much time as possible ? Do you think you can get the age of 25 back ?

Here is what these people, the general public likes:

• Hey.. NOKIA has launched a new mobile. Lets have a look. I heard it has mp3 player, a faster Internet connection and a video player, you know you can watch a video in a quality higher than today’s mobiles.
• Shahrukh Khan’s beard in Chak De India looks great. I will grow that kind of beard, just like Shahrukh Khan.
• wow.. what a hot chick that is. And then they keep looking at her for a good amount of time. Most probably they will follow her for another good amount of time.
• Your bike looks nice. Do one thing, remove the mudguard from the real wheel and put on a tire with a broader wheel base, not for a good grip but to show other people. When mudguard is no longer there, people can see you have a big tire. Then everyone in that groups of nomral people says.. now bike looks great (because they say I am abnormal, hence they must be normal because they are opposite of me).
• I will buy chocolate Horlicks , not the one Arnuld drinks. Arnuld buys foods with no flavor, no preservatives and no colors. He always jumps to ingredients when we advise him some food. Its stupid and its wastage of time, why will you eat a food without taste. What they don’t see is I am eating for my health, not for my tongue.
• Arnuld, why don’t you talk about good things in life ? See how much Coca-Cola tastes better with a Pizza. Look at that funny advertisement where Dhoni kicks ass.

I can not take back my younger years. I can not go back in time and live that part of my life again, I can not even get that amount of time I wasted. Whatever I have is the present day, the hours I am putting in now, they matter. People talk about actor’s beard, or big bikes or tasty but nutritiously empty food. They eat junk and call themselves normal people. I don’t understand how is it abnormal to read ingredients and eat food rich in nutrients. I found that Scooby does the same, is he abnormal like me ?

Whatever time I have wasted, there is no point in repenting it. The only thing anyone can do is not to waste present day, the hours and minutes he has. When I live with the kind of people who talk of these things I feel I wasting my precious time. They are the people who just want to have big bikes or cars, then have a wife and a kid and then they will go to an expansive shopping mall, where an executive (whose financial condition is same as me) will smile for them and say “Hello Sir, how can I help you”. Then they will shop around with the their small kid and meet some of friends and laugh and come back home, run over a smoke after dinner and then screw each other and finally sleep. Is there anything wrong with that kind of lifestyle ? Of course not, what is wrong that they will never spend any single minute of their life on solving a problem like how a man can get rid of his old habits. or How to build a better government or How come Scooby
created such a great body structure without any professional degree or training from someone ? or Why their kids reading the books from the education system which was founded before 1947, in times of slavery ? or Why he richer is getting richer and poorer is getting poorer in this Monetary Based Economy or Why government opened so many engineering colleges in India, so many that every year thousands of engineers don’t get any kind of work but there are only tiny amount of medical colleges and that make people perish in diseases because there are not many doctors available in India.

They don’t think like this and the ones who do are either abnormal, stupid or mad or need a psychological analysis. The time I waste today with these kind of people is what hurts me most, so I have stopped talking to the people unless they are intellectual. This world does not have Poverty and Slavery problems, this world does not have economic crisis or war crisis, what this world has is an intellectual crisis and I regret the time I have wasted by adopting some of their habits. I will not waste no more time.

 

 

Copyright © 2008 Arnuld Uttre, #331/type-2/sector-1, Naya Nangal, Distt. – Ropar, Punjab (INDIA) – 140126

Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article are permitted worldwide, without royalty, in any medium, provided this notice, and the copyright notice, are preserved.

Way of the Men

Ancient Chinese fighting spirits, Eagle Claw, Tiger Claw, Cat Claw, Cat Stance, Crane Style, Snake Style, Praying Mantis, Mizong Luohan. These all styles of fighting were born when someone observed the Nature, observed the living species in the Nature. Someone in ancient China watched closely the movements of snake and crane and then absorbed those natural, inborn styles of those birds and animals into human hands and legs. It took years of practice for him to do so but he was successful because human (unlike those species) can think and outgrow beyond what is given to them at birth. There are legends about the men who mastered those styles over decades of hard practice and experience and because the legends are very old, it makes it difficult to separate the fiction from truth.

In 1960s there was a man who observed the way of the man as one species of nature, rather than the nature itself or the other species of the nature. His name was Bruce Lee. He observed the way men fight with each other rather than observing 2 snakes fighting with each other. He observed so called sports, absorbed what could be used in fighting a man over a man and also borrowed the ideas from those ancient traditional arts and created a new style or better a new way of thinking called Way of the Intercepting Fist or JKD(Jeet Kune Do). I wonder why he did not call it The Way of the Man. Way of the Intercepting Fist was designed on the basis of the Man’s thinking, behavior and attack or defensive strategies during fighting, the way Men fight to win over each other. Rather than observing two leopards or an eagle fighting with a snake to eat him up. Rather than observing their styles (which are in fact constant and fixed movements), Bruce Lee observed the man himself in a combat and deduced his philosophy and thinking and ways to win over the opponent. Tigers or any of the animals don’t do body building but man can do it to strengthen himself. A leopard never fights in a way the snake fights but opposite it true for the man, he can use his hands and legs in any way he wishes. He can think anything and he can speak anything he wants. Bruce Lee emphasized the fact that unlike animals where they have predicted and fixed ways of attacks/defense, unpredictability is the essence of way the Men fight and that is why he called it The Way of the Intercepting Fist . This is what primarily distinguishes JKD from other Martial-Arts.

Why was Bruce Lee the first one who observed the way the men fight rather then looking upon the nature itself. I am not sure if he was the first one who observed and emphasized this fact because Verse 76 of Tao Te Ching says same thing about being flexible that Bruce Lee kept on mentioning wherever he went, though they express this idea in very different words. Learning JKD does not mean that traditional arts are no longer important. JKD has its roots in Wing-Chun, traditional Chinese art and moreover look at the way Shaolin arts build your strength (which is not present in JKD) , Horse stance for example, it makes your legs stronger which is necessary if you want your kick to be stronger. While arts like Judo and Karate put emphasis on techniques, Shaolin arts focus on observing the nature, JKD focuses on preparing the individual, the man, for combat by using weights, Jogging, running as first course of action. If I forget about every art and just think about what I have experienced is first focus needs to be on building strength ans stamina, without which your punch will have little or effect. 2nd one is speed and 3rd one is accuracy. This is purely my experiences and observation, you can disagree with that order.

One other thing I have learned in my life is the importance of strong foundation. Building a good fundamental thought process and practicing very basic exercises is what one needs, no matter what he wants. In life, you can never do anything fruitful by speaking or following big things, like I will make 10 million dollars, I will buy a big house and will have a BMW and another Ferrari, I will run a big business. Life starts from small and basic things, today I am doing jogging, can I push myself beyond the 30 minute limit ? Should I go for an action movie and enjoy myself or should I sit and read a Kung-Fu book or watch a training video. These small things, though look trivial are the very fundamentals from where the change (for good) occurs. These fundamental things day by day, in trivial amounts, over the months and years manufacture you, create a personality known as “I”. Being what you really are, being what you want to be, building the strength takes years to develop, a Martial-Artist is after all a man and a man is just another species in this universe and all species are nothing but slaves of their habits. A long time ago I used to believe that reasoning was the strongest force in human beings but today after so much experience I came to know that its not the reasoning but habit is the strongest force in human beings. Humans live and run by these habits and they form the very fundamental nature of the humanity, so unless you control and direct the very fundamentals, you are on the mercy of being run by habits gained automatically. This is what ancient Tao Te Ching focuses on, this is what Shaolin Kung-Fu teaches and this is what Bruce Lee stressed: to be good Martial-Artist , you have to acknowledge, accept, understand, control and direct your habits and this is long process.

 

 

Copyright © 2008 Arnuld Uttre, #331/type-2/sector-1, Naya Nangal, Distt. – Ropar, Punjab (INDIA) – 140126

Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article are permitted worldwide, without royalty, in any medium, provided this notice, and the copyright notice, are preserved.

Wing-Chun concepts

I get this quote form here :

It’s not possible to pass knowledge from one generation to the next, then to the next, then the next, without losing something along the way. Documents can be used to preserve teachings but contradictory documents will always appear. It’s not even possible to retain knowledge pristinely within one person’s mind without decay.

It may therefore be necessary for people to think for themselves – to feel the truth – to see it for themselves without needing to be told of it. Great knowledge has no origin – it’s not one person’s invention nor another’s – it’s simply observed by anyone with a clear enough mind – a mind free from unnecessary knowledge – a mind that appreciates the value of memory loss. Those who know, know you can too without needing to hear their words. Those who know don’t profess. That’s a good guess.

Is it a matter of co-incidence. I have been through up and downs in my life and this is one of the most important lessons I have learned, its is based on my experience, my ability to analyze and deduce truth of life’s facts. How come that Wing-Chun Masters already knew it thousands of years ago. I can’t remember the time or the exact experience on the basis of which I deduced this quote All I remember is, It only happened when I started to think about Why rather than how life is lived, why we get the misery, happiness or why some people remain corrupt and others remain honest, why people are different, why one has to grow old and dies. Why some Martial-Artists are better than others, Why some became monks while others evil. Why Martial-Art is so much connected with the nature, Why the kind of thing which is designed to be deadly, to break bones and kill people has so much peace inside of it. Why it is so. Its the Why that started it all and then after 8 years in 2009 a man named Lawrence Tan advises the same to me.

I was quite surprised to see the Why everywhere.

 

 

Copyright © 2008 Arnuld Uttre, #331/type-2/sector-1, Naya Nangal, Distt. – Ropar, Punjab (INDIA) – 140126

Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article are permitted worldwide, without royalty, in any medium, provided this notice, and the copyright notice, are preserved.

I am a corporate man, I am an educated and civilized man

I have spent last 7 years of my life in corporate culture, different companies I have worked with and I have these observations on so called educated people or civilized society (fake words for corporate employees with an ignorant lifestyle).

• At the age of 40 or 45, a CEO or a even a simple corporate employee gets a permanent disease like diabetes, heart-problems, kidney problems and blood-pressure. Then this disease will remains with him till he dies. This happens due to 30 years of stupid way of living, life of zero exercise. It means, man is just another species and like other species he has to use his body like an animal. Since corporate people go opposite of this natural construction, they are bound to have the result of their wrongdoing to the natural piece of matter (the body).

• In year 2005, I was working as an insurance salesman and my company handed me a data of 400 local doctors, to whom I have to sell the insurance. I took this opportunity to learn something. I got 80 appointments and out of those 80 doctors, 20 were diabetic. It kind of disturbed me: A Doctor has Diabetes ?. They take tea without sugar and in 10 cases, I got the wrong cup of tea . Every single doctor told me that Diabetes and Blood-Pressure are not diseases but lifestyles (except if some child got it from his parents, genetically).

• I, myself, was constantly falling ill and used to visit doctor 3-4 times a month, spending 2-3K of rupees every month on medication. My muscles were dead. The day I started exercises videos of TanDao.com, that illness vanished, I am practicing since April the 3rd of this year, and since then I have not seen any doctor a single time.

So this is the experience of mine, humans are just like animals, we have physically use the body, to keep the diseases away. This is the way of the nature, From my side, That is the only answer to “Why”.

Though my father used to do a lot of Yog, I never liked it. As a kid, whenever he asked me to do Padmasan, I pointed my finger at Bruce Lee’s poster and said: “I want to be a Kung-Fu Master”. Yog is very rooted in our culture, Hath Yog (a kind of difficult type of Yog) seems to protect a practitioner from some very serious diseases like Diabetes, Blood Pressure, Nerve Problems and even some types of cancer. Because of some weird timings of his job my father stopped doing Yog a decade ago. Now he has gotten both Diabetes and Blood-Pressure problems and I am sure he will soon get cholesterol problems. He started job at the age of 23 or 25 and today he is 59, 37 years of anti-nature lifestyle has killed his body. My colleagues and millions of corporate people doing the same today. I don’t want to do the mistakes they do everyday, I don’t want to repeat the mistakes my father has done. I knows it takes pain to change habits, I know its takes pain to take time out of your busy lives but that pain is much worth than having a fatal diseases, than to know that you have lived a stupid life by being ignorant of your own nature.

• I don’t take tea because everyone around me takes tea in the morning and evening. My colleagues feel less active and boring without a cup of team on their desk.

• I don’t read newspapers because almost everyone takes a sip of tea form the cup and then reads the newspaper in the morning.

• I don’t drink and smoke. Educated people drink and then talk and behave like fools after they drink. This is not the way of the nature.

• I don’t eat non-veg. I have found a vegetarian lifestyle to be natural

• For your information,I have tried all of these: drinking, smoking and non-veg. I used to do them once.

• These are the habits that most of population posses and they feel unable to change them, leaving their lives on the mercy of general natural weaknesses, when a man is capable of achieving nearly every impossibility in this universe .

Its the way of the Martial-Arts that taught me that the greatest fight is not with an opponent but within oneself, winning over your own weaknesses and inabilities. Martial-Arts is the way of the nature, its the path I have chosen to follow and no amount pain can stop me from being a Martial-Artist.

 

 

Copyright © 2008 Arnuld Uttre, #331/type-2/sector-1, Naya Nangal, Distt. – Ropar, Punjab (INDIA) – 140126

Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article are permitted worldwide, without royalty, in any medium, provided this notice, and the copyright notice, are preserved.

The Birth of JKD

I guess, TanDao has quite an impact on my thinking by showing me the traditional way of Kung-Fu. After investing a heck lot of time in reading about history of Chinese Martial-Arts and the great Martial-Artists of times and doing lots of search and research on Kung-Fu, I came to know that Bruce Lee’s thoughts were actually rooted in traditional Chinese arts. He did learn from a genius (Yip Man) who was master of a traditional art Wing-Chun. As per my thinking, Bruce Lee could never possess the ability (both philosophical and physical) to create an art ike JKD if he could have trained under a poorer master. It was the imprint of a genuis master who created the Bruce Lee. So, in fact, Bruce Lee’s JKD, actually mirrors the masterty of ancient Chiense Kung-Fu thought. He did not invent but discovered the art which can only be discovered if one has mastered the classical way of Kung-Fu, which required a good master’s hand. Yip Man once said: It is difficult for a good master to find a good student but it is more difficult for a good student to find a good master. I think Bruce Lee really got lucky in this regard.

The people who will disagree with me should read about both Huo Yuanjia and Yip Man. Though it may look pointless (but it is not), I really doubt if Bruce Lee could ever defeat a man like Huo Yuanjia. If Huo Yuanjia can die undefeated and Bruce Lee have died undefeated, it only means, the truth of combat lies neitehr in JKD not in Mizongyi but in the the way of the Martial-Artist (The Dao, as Chinese people call it). Hence, I think JKD was not an invention in this regard, all of the Bruce Lee’s fans and lovers miss this part (even I did), Bruce Lee discovered something which was already there, ignored by general practitioners , only understood by a very few who accepted the pain (both physical and psychological) while on their path to the tower of wisodm. Hence I can say that its the path that leads to the Tower of Wisom that is important, it is that path that creates a great Martial-Artist, its not the JKD or the drunken style or the karate, its the Path, the way of the Martial-Arts that one needs to explore. Bruce Lee, Huo Yuanjia and all other great Martial-Artists share one thing in common: their belief and Martial-Arts was the expression of that belief. Was Bruce Lee a great Martial-Artist , undoubtly yes, did he invent JKD .. no, he discovered it.

 

 

Copyright © 2008 Arnuld Uttre, #331/type-2/sector-1, Naya Nangal, Distt. – Ropar, Punjab (INDIA) – 140126

Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article are permitted worldwide, without royalty, in any medium, provided this notice, and the copyright notice, are preserved.

Its the individual, not the Style

I apologize for what I have said earlier that Judo and Karate are kid’s play. I found out that they are actually not. Japanese Karate are as dangerous and deadly as Chinese Kung Fu. The only thing that I should have been more clear and explicit is, I have seen Judo-Karate Black-Belts and so called experts in India and I have not seen anything in them, anything in their eyes or in their movements or in their personality as a Martial-Artist that I can call deadly. They just look like sportsmen, better than a average man on the street when it comes to fighting and except that specific thing they not good fighters at all. From my perspective, they are a disgrace on the art of Karate.

I watched this video on YouTube and I came to know I was wrong. The ability to win or loose a fight does not lie in the style but in the individual. Its the individual who is responsible for his own fate in the combat. This post may look small but this caused a very fundamental change in my approach to Martial-Arts. Rather than blaming a style for losing or winning a fight, a man should look deeper into own soul, into his daily training routine and his practice and his dediation to Martial-Arts. If you loose, you have just shown your own inability to train yourself harder in your style, its not because your opponent was stronger, its because you did not train harder and better. So, from my perspective you are the one who is to blame, not the style. Anyone who thinks a style wins over the other needs to watch this video.

 

 

Copyright © 2008 Arnuld Uttre, #331/type-2/sector-1, Naya Nangal, Distt. – Ropar, Punjab (INDIA) – 140126

Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article are permitted worldwide, without royalty, in any medium, provided this notice, and the copyright notice, are preserved.

The Spirit of a Martial-Artist

I keep on looking for schools of Martial-Arts here in India and I have seen some Karate champions, some Judo experts and I found out these things (be warned that this is not a global observation of mine but only of Judo-Karate experts and black-belt holders in India):

• All of them practice some movements, some pre-formed attack strategies. When enviornmet changes (I mean when they go from their ring/school to the street), I don’t see their way of practicing Karate was much useful than 20%. Its not because Karate is bad, its because their way of thinking and practicing Karate is not good. It means their way of understading Karate is not what Karate is all about.
• These experts focus primarily on techniques like how to kick, where to punch etc. Very few do weight-training. I also observed that they don’t focus much on stamina. Like when you practice in a dojo/school , you get chance to relax, think etc and your attack movements are defined by your practice with your fellow team partners, your wear a freely-moving dress, the environment is friendly and kind and you have an instructor but when you get in a real fight on a street with thugs or people who don’t look like your fellow team-partners from any angle, and you don’t have that kind and frinedly atmosphere and your sweet instructor and you are in your shirts and jeans which don’t move freely… do you have any idea what will happen in that case ?

  You don’t get time to relax and think, you will not be able to move your leg as high as your did with your nice team partners because your jeans are tight and your shirt, tucked inside your blue jeans restrics your movements, at that point, yes, at exactly that point, you come to understand the truth of the real life fighting and how your training fits into that. You have to have that force in your punch, you have to have stamina to keep on fighting for next 30 minutes at least. I think (for stamina) doing running for 1 hour a day and practicing in front of Muk Yan Jong or like Master Tan’s spring-training or using punch-bag to train both your pucnhes and kicks for around 1 hour at a stretch is what is needed. To get the force in your fist (fist of fury ?) you need training like Punch-on-Wall or traning using punch-bang.

• All of these so called Karate experts (and they are practicing for 10-18 years) have closed-minds. I mean, when I try to ask some of them that I want to practice in my casual dress, they looked at me as if I have broken some law :-\

I have seen all these Karate experts focussing too much on techniques while less on force of punch/kick and stamina to fight for longer hours. This is what exactly Bruce Lee showed in Way of the Dragon in the final fight scene with Robert Wall (before he fights Chuck Norris). His opponent gets tired, looses more than half of his strength after he has kicked around 20-30 times in flat 3 minutes, Bruce Lee remains calm and okay only because of his hard training and his emphasis on developing power and stamina. Most people think that developing muscle mass, making big biceps will give them power and scare the shit out of the opponent but my friend real-life is different. The reality of combat is stranger than any art. When you will have a fight, you will come to know how much of your big biceps help, they will not help, they will only restrict your movement. The Fist of Fury has nothing to do with the muscle mass but with the muscle strength, if you want to joina gym then use machines of gym to increase the strength and power of your muscles and keep on practicing running for 1 hour with that. Everyone around me wants to have muscles like Amir Khan has in Ghajini and I observed how his great muscle size made him punch the bag like a kid. I am not against developing muscle mass, I am just against the way people think that muscle mass should be highest priority when joining a gym while stamina and force of hit are on the the lowest part of their priorities.

Bruce called it participation of the individual, I call it the spirit of a real-life Martial-Artist.

 

 

Copyright © 2008 Arnuld Uttre, #331/type-2/sector-1, Naya Nangal, Distt. – Ropar, Punjab (INDIA) – 140126

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