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                Am I thankful that Biscuit cannot read English? What provokes what is to follow is a friend’s comment that Biscuit has become an essential and integral part of my blogs and must get his own brand. Life in general and running in particular is in many ways like a serious Bollywood movie, to break the monotony what is an Item Number in the movie is Biscuit’s role in my blog. He would like to believe that it is like the Aishwarya’s ‘Kajraare..’ rather than a Rakhi Sawant one! Unmindful of all that is being said of him, he continues his strike from morning walks and expects to be given one on his own terms when he declares it is morning (today it was at 9 AM!).

                It was a still and humid morning that welcomed me at the gates of the colony at 4:26 AM. The number of people who call out from the shadows when I take my daily run forms an essential part of connecting with my constituency for me. Increasingly, people when they cross me on their vehicle instead of talking to me talk to their passenger/pillion rider, telling me that I have been acknowledged. Today when I was running with Kakinada express on the Sivananda salai, a driver of MTC bus number, 21G, leaned out of the window and greeted me loudly and left only after he was acknowledged. They say, the City transport bus drivers are the last to respond to Gandhigiri and this exchange today felt good as this means at least one driver who would not dangerously honk behind you while I am running!

                The entire flag staff house road and the road leading to Napier bridge from the War memorial is being relaid. I had to do a Basantiesque ‘Jab tak hai jaan’ to negotiate it. That made me take the second loop of Napier to Light house instead of the usual loop around Island ground, which would have meant the treacherous section to be traversed twice.

                I find all the Municipal Sanitary Workers doing a back breaking job assiduously during my entire period of my run. While the nature’s discards of leaves are but a small portion, the real load is from the irresponsible public. While the incidence of spitting is much less in this city as compared to good old Hubli, I was agitated to find a well dressed walker going in front of me spitting. Luckily for me he was walking barefoot. I told him politely that as one barefooter to another at least he should understand the nuisance spitting causes to people who walk barefoot. He was suitably chastised and apologized for his act, my contribution to the ‘Swatch Bharat’ campaign!

                I found a bunch of boys standing with their two wheelers outside the Girls College near Gemini circle. They stopped their star gazing and switched to taunting me. Fresh from yesterday’s realization of trying to be accommodative of all criticism, I gave them a big smile (did not even growl!). My logic was if they get to taunting me instead of teasing girls it is a heroic act of mine, the possibility of their ultimately getting addicted to running is always there! The pity is the entrance to college has a police booth bang next to it, hope the police crackdown on these guys instead of the people sleeping on the pavement!

                Finished the run at 7:56 AM, a full 3:30 hrs 32K! An official engagement in the evening threatens to disrupt tomorrow’s run, hope I can manage to squeeze in one even if later than the usual time!