Close encounters of the furry kind

Having not been able to complete my run mileage the previous week, I was very determined to get it done by hook or crook. And the events of the week further gave this run a whole different meaning.

So you find yourself in the early morn, quickly doing your warm up while others (with the exception of runners) are fast asleep tucked in their bed, enjoying their Sunday sleep. 

You patiently wait for the gates to open , and when it does you scurry through it and into the dark park.

Darkness immediately engulfs you. Ok, it’s not that dark. There are those few street lamps (can you even call it that, or should it be park lights) that try their best to keep the darkness at bay. Luckily you have your headlamp, which would help you navigate through the darkness till dawn lights up your way.

You start off cautiously not wanting to trip on potholes or speed breakers (cause falling in the park is what your burgers and fires does best, and you don’t want to add to the craters in the park).

Your headlamp does its best to light up your way through the light drizzle and mist. You squint to see what’s ahead of you.

As you slowly make your way through the darkness you note a couple of dots that light up as you look at them, glowing in the dark.

You know what they are and are not perturbed by their presence. Well they too don’t seem perturbed by your presence. They just glance your way wondering what type of strange creature is this who’s running at such an odd hour when they should have in fact be in bed (you could the same thing about them too). But then they are used to seeing such crazy fools in the early hours. So they just glance and return to what they were doing before the light shone on them. There was no way you disturb or distract them from what they were doing in the dark, which was eating grass (what did you think they were doing in the dark!!!).

You continue on your run and come up to Gandhi Tekadi. Wanting to cover it at least once in the morning so you don’t have to slog through it in the heat of day, you take the turn up the Tekadi.

So up you go, running slowly up the slope cause hills and slope have never been kind to you. Somehow you have this feeling that  you struggle with them, but then this is not always true. You try your best to avoid being smacked in the face by the branches of the overgrown shrubbery which have thrived in the rains.

Then suddenly out of nowhere you see another pair of glowing eyes that quickly scurries away across the path ahead and into the shrubbery, making you wonder what exactly was it.

It wasn’t a deer cause it didn’t feel like it or moved like one. It couldn’t be a cat cause it was bit bigger than the usual stray feline that you have notice in the park.

And then it comes to you causing your heart to skip a thousand beats. Could it be the furry one? But you didn’t hear any calls to indicate its presence, and then there were the deer that were grazing at the base of the Tekadi. They wouldn’t be there if they knew it was this close.

So you look in the direction that it went , your head lamp lighting up the area. And then you see a silhouette of it, on top of the ridge. You can make out a shape that’s a little bigger than a common cat, and those glowing eyes staring at you, watching you from high ground, almost as if it was stalking you.

And in the moment you wonder if you should be brave and continue running up that hill, or do the wise thing and slowly turnaround, without showing any signs of fear (which in the moment is the most difficult thing you could do), and go back down to the safety of the road below.

You choose to do the later, slowly trying to make your way down, but  your insides are all terrified of what you’ve seen and what could happen. But then considering the week you had this wouldn’t be the worst thing that could happen to you.  

As you slowly make your way back (cause your trying hard not to go into full panic mode and burst into a sprint) you see this elderly gentleman on his morning walk without a flashlight with just a stick in hand, unperturbed by the darkness.

You stop and try to warn him about what lies ahead (or you think lies ahead). However, he seems agitated by you and screams at you. Thats when you realise that you’re actually blinding him with your headlamp. You quickly switch off your headlamp but he doesn’t seem to heed your warning and continues with his walk.

You wonder should you continue doing what you were doing which was getting the hell out there as fast as you could, or do the so called gentlemanly thing and follow him to ensure he’s safe.

You being you, you decide to do the later and follow him a little behind as he waddled his way to the top.

As go past the place of your sighting of those glowing eyes stalking you from its perch, you nervously look around and then look ahead for any sign of what lay hiding in the darkness. You are anxious and in full alert mode, trying hard not to panic. Somehow the presence of this elderly gentleman ahead of you gives you reassurance and calms you down to a good extent.

You realise though you were trying to do the noble thing and ensuring that this person was safe, but in reality it was the other way around. It was his presence that reassured you and made you feel safe.

So you quietly walk behind as he continues without showing any sign of anything.

Suddenly you see this other gentleman coming down the slopes, probably doing hill repeats in the dark. 

He gets scolded by our gentleman as he had squeezed through the gates even before time and the security was whistling for him to stop.

After this brief conversation your knight in shinning armour continues on his walks while the other gentleman continues with his runs while you continue to walk silently behind your knight.

When you finally reach the top you go round the monument like you always do while your knight checks if anyone is there.

You realise it’s finally time to part way and continue with your run and complete your mileage.

You thank your knight for his company and to your surprise he thanks you too.

It’s finally time to go on your way, so you cautiously make your back down the hill in a nice  and slow jog, looking all around wondering what’s lurking in the dark. 

You breathe a sigh of relief on reaching the base and you continue on your run.

The rest of your run proved to be quite uneventful , if not boring as you brave the elements of the initial rains followed by the heat and humidity later in the morning.

Though you managed to complete the mileage you set out to do, the events, or if I could call it adventures, of the first hour would stick with you more than your achievement of completing 29k mostly on your own.

Oh the Adventures We Shall Have

Oh the adventures we shall have

Down the the unbeaten path 

And into the unknown

On a road not knowing where it will go

Or what lies around the bend

But down that road we shall go 

Oh the adventures we shall have

To experience life like never before

A little daunting but a whole lot exciting

A little scary of not knowing

What’s in store

But taking life one day at a time 

Breathing in air and breathing out life

Oh the adventures we shall have 

Oh the people we shall meet

While on the road we go

Not all so nice and sweet

But each teaching us a thing or two

Helping us figure out what to do

Leaving an impression in our minds

Long after they have gone by

Oh the adventures we shall have

Experiencing life the way it should

Not always rosy and nice

But always teaching us a lesson or two

Telling us and encouraging us

To be who we are 

Let others be who they were meant to be

Cause the best way to experience life

Is when everyone is what they truly are

Oh the adventures we shall have

While riding the rollercoaster of life

Through the ups and downs

Through all the joys and sorrows

Triumphs,,setbacks, joy and despair 

We shall survive

So take a deep breath 

And be grateful that we are alive

Knowing that we can make it through

When we give it our all

And take it one day a time

Oh the adventures we shall have

An Adventure in the Dark: Riding without Headlights

What do you do when you discover that your Activa’s headlight doesn’t come on, it’s past 9 and you have to make your way home through Aarey, a forest area (which our beloved government is disputing) that is not well lit, has loads of craters (read potholes), known for panther sightings and robbers.

Well firstly you take a deep breath. It’s not safe and against the rules to ride without headlights. But then what do you do when you discover the fuse and there’s no where to rectify it. You have another option but it can be painfully jammed and hard in your butt, not to forget your other parts.

So decide to risk it all, saying to yourself you can make through, just be bloody calm. The headlights that blinded you and left you fuming, is now a welcome cause thy light up the road, shinning on those pesky potholes. The air smells fresh, but then there’s a heavy feeling of fear in your heart to enjoy it.

And then comes a point where you need to take a diversion cause the bridge has weakened and traffic is being redirected. The road is not totally unfamiliar, but you just want company, to tailgate, to shine light on the way.  Few vehicles realise the situation, so there are just few taking it. 

So you have a bunch of kids riding triple seat who take a left when your instinct tells you that you need to take a right. Now you’re riding in the dark, all tensed and alert to any sound, trying to focus on the road ahead. You are familiar with the route, cause it’s your favourite running route. But then with this familiarity comes the awareness that this is the very area where panthers have been sighted.

So you have it, no headlights, in a dark forest, no much of street lights, not too good roads, inclines and declines, and panther area, total darkness, in short, balls in the mouth situation.

You try not to panic or go what the beep am I doing here, why the beep did I choose this route, why couldn’t I just come by train this morning. Today is just not your day but today is not the day I become dinner. 

Any sighting of headlights are a welcome sight, but any glowing eyes a sense of fear and dread. You keep wondering when would you see New Zealand Hostel. Familiarity of the area fills you with a sense of hyper panic. So you have to keep pep talking to yourself.

Finally when you come to New Zealand Hostel you breathe a sigh a relief, but then you realise now you have a decline to go through with very little. So once agin, breathe in and breathe out, drive slowly, you’ve got this, you’ve run on this road, so hey take it easy and you’ll make it through. 

So you go steadily down the slope, often letting gravity do it thing, trying not to panic or overshoot the road. You get that oh so familiar smell of the tabelas, which is so welcome.

Finally you make it to where there are other cars streaming from other diversions. It’s a sense of relief. You may have hated jams but not this time. You know you survived a silly risk you’ve taken. So finally you’ll be home for dinner and not as someone else’s dinner.

So there you have it, an adventure in the dark, a silly risk and panicky moments, but something you will remember for the rest of your riding life.