I never thought I would ever
recite this nursery rhyme, not after knowing the joys of running in the rain.
The morning assembly sounds from the neighbourhood school in the morning was
welcome sound after the city’s schools were shut down due to the incessant
pounding the hapless city took in the hands of the weather gods in these past
weeks. Nature has in its own polite way reminded us that the way of bribing
officials to break regulations does not work and that nature cannot be bribed.
The pity is that like any other ill effect of the greed of the rich the poor
pay a disproportionately heavy price.
Biscuit, my seven year old
Labrador pet, was the face of what collateral damage the rain caused. We were
like two padded up batsmen waiting to go out and play watching the rain
pounding relentlessly. Even the stolen moments of walk were hurried and reduced
to the bare essentials. His canine friends were nowhere to be seen. We worried
for their safety and hoped they were able to feed themselves. Most of them have
returned and look not too worse for their spat with the rains.
For all the light and sound, I
could only get a few days of the joy of running in the rain. The media and my
wife ganged up in overplaying the dangers of going out on the inundated roads.
I have, however, been running whenever I could get away. People at the Marina
beach road have been surprisingly regular and we greeted each other much like
the government employees did on rainy days. We wanted to be rewarded just for
being able to reach office. The resilience and the patience of the common
people was touching.
I have been watching the serial
Newsroom the last few days and it has been riveting. The viewing time sometimes
late into night (by my standards!) or early in the morning have come at the
expense of the Charkha spinning time (I hope Gandhiji understands!) or by
wholly boycotting the run!
There has been a gradual shift
in the questions asked when people find me running. They now seem to ask ‘How
long I run daily’ and not how far or how far! That coming from common people is
refreshing as even I have realized after chasing speed and distance that the
moot issue is the time spent and not the distance run!
There is this lady I find
staying at the bus shelter who looks like she is mentally unsound. I mostly
find her cursing the passersby. I running on the other side of the divider like
to imagine, that she is the CM’s canary posted at that place to check the
safety and security of women. I have been missing her since the heavy rains
started, hope she is well!
M S Amma has been even more
irregular in her morning prayers than my coming out to run. Her voice shaking
(or was I imagining!) when reeling off the thousand names of the Lord Vishnu!
The aged clock atop the 175 year old Presidency college remained stuck for many
days showing a time of ‘Ten past Ten’, reminding me of the old HMT
advertisement, ‘If you have the inclination, we have the time’. Whale of a time
it was when i got to run in the rain!
The canine faithful were regular
in their vigil and more importantly their friend did come with food for them
through rain and shine. On days I found some others taking to feeding them
biscuits again. I did not have the heart to comment on their dietary choice
lest I get dragged into the intolerance debate!
The people manning the Beach
road, earning their living begging or offering to weigh the walkers for a
price, continued to brave the rains. Our shared smiles exhorting ourselves the happy
thought that the human spirit overcame the nature’s onslaught.
The Chennai
runners and cyclists have been dogged in their morning outings sending a
message to the weather gods that they wouldn’t be the first to blink. For the
sake of the people marooned by rains I want to officially announce that Rains
do go away and come back after things get normal and we runners could play
without disrupting lives!
