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 JOY it is to Run

Oh the joy, the joy

It is to run

With a smile on my face

And a spring in my step

To run without a care

Or just put behind you 

All your worries and cares

To never ever bother about your pace

Ok ok, to be little bothered 

About your pace 

And just enjoy the cool breeze 

On my face

Lest I trip and fall

On an untied lace

To take it all in

The fresh air

The cool breeze

The ingredient for a perfect morning

To be aware and alive

Lest I be mauled and eaten

For then I would be not alive

Oh the joy, the joy

It is to run just like a child would

No worries if form

Or even footstrike

Just pure unadulterated joy

Just the way Phoebe does

The one you feel deep within

To realise why you began to run 

In the very first place

To have some moments of fun

And yes, to stay fit and healthy too

Oh the joy, the sweet joy 

It is to run

To talk endlessly with you pals

Like gossipy old gals

Not caring of all those who stared

And then find a spot to pose 

That will go up with our social media post

Oh the joy, the joy

It is to run 

On a cold December morning in the park

Summer’s in the Park... Runner’s Diaries

When most of the city has retreated to cooler climates, exotic locales, beaches,  we fools take to the park to continue with our off-season training. And it seems like the park is happy to see us, tired from all the  cannodling couples, lukka kids with their cameras and selfies, and many morons who get their vehicles and come to the park (talk about the irony). Nature has laid down a carpet of yellow to welcome you.

The trees are In full bloom with their , yellow, orange, pinks, purples and white, the colours of summer, making the park bursting with a riot of colours. Not to forget the runners and walkers have their own colourful attire.

As you run, there’s a cool breeze in the air that lightly caresses your face, keeping you cool from the harshness of the weather outside, from the highway that passes outside the park. And further you get from the concrete jungle, and into nature, the cooler the weather, the fresher the air, except when you come to Kanheri when you once again feel the heat, not just of the weather but of the climb also. So you have some hot patches (not because of a hot runner Running there), and the challenge of the slope.

The trees in all their colourful glory, though some stripped off and standing there bare, naked and brown, lining up the road, often overarching it, promising to protect you from the harshness of the sun, keeping it nice cool, for summer. 

The cloudy skies too seem to be doing their bit, trying it’s best to dilute the harshness of the season trying its best not to heat the weather. But the great and mighty sun would have none of it, peeping through the clouds, bursting through the trees. But the Sun’s intention is not to make you cower before it, or bring you to your knees, but to show you what stuff you are made off, to make you stronger and fitter, more resilient, as you face more adverse conditions like the hot and humid condition of mumbai weather. 

So as you go, you listen to the sounds of nature, the music that it has prepared for you, the gentle rhythm, the blended harmonies, of the breeze, rustling through the leaves, the chirping of the birds and the crickets, nature’s very own music, the soundtrack for your run, so often drowning out your chatter.

So you try to keep up with the chatter and the pace, trying to weather the heat of summer, the rolling terrain, while navigating the slopes, as primates blankly stare your way, wondering what these humans are upto, torturing themselves in the summer heat. You’re glad for the light breeze on your face, as much as you are for the company, for the colours that burst through the foliage, hiding away the concrete you left behind. The only concrete you see is the one beneath your feet.

So no matter how the weather maybe outside, the weather inside will be pleasant, albeit a bit challenging as the morning wears on. But no matter the weather, the park will always the place to be, to hideaway from the summer’s heat, to escape the air that’s been polluted, from the concrete jungle, into the arms of nature and all the challenges it has to offer. So come the weekend, come summer (or any weather, or climate), you’ll find this boy, and his friends, running, chirping and chattering away, in the park.