It is Valentines season come
early for Biscuit’s brethren. They seem to be courting danger in the middle of
the road unmindful of the traffic. There is this brown girl who has been
stalking Biscuit unabashedly these last few days during our morning walks. Now,
though he is a confirmed bachelor, he has sometimes been tempted to make cooing
sounds (It is like Maneka tempting Vishwamitra again!). He is made of sterner
stuff, but, thanks to this love angle he has become regular in his morning
walks again!
I do not wait for the 1st
of January to make resolutions, changes have been happening to me gradually
without my having to plan for it. This year, however, I did make a few
resolutions. First being getting off facebook. I spent a week slowly weaning
myself from this latest addiction and took the plunge yesterday. I was
overwhelmed by the ‘Tussi Na Jaao’ kind of comments my post regarding quitting
facebook got. I am actually jealous of Biscuit as more than my absence my
friends seem to be worried about missing Biscuit’s adventures! I shall continue
to inflict my writings through my Blog at www.blogger.com titled ‘My
experiments on the highway’.
The last week of December has
been very productive in terms of runs. I ran the last week of previous year
without a break. That made me to resolve to run every day in this year. To keep
out statistics and competition, the distance shall not be full marathon except
on Sundays. The daily quota has been pegged at 32K. The going is good till the
time of going to press.
I have gathered a lot of
encounters in these two weeks of running which I shall unleash to the extent my
memory serves;
M S Amma has deserted her post
and she seems to be sabha hopping in this Music season. Deserting the commoners
for serenading the cognoscenti has not gone down well with the morning walkers
crowd.
Road relaying work has again
picked up pace after the rains undid the previous work. I seem to have worked
up a decent following among the workers who are doing these works on my route.
Usual introductions are the question if I was going up to the Beach road, other
times I just overhear the word ‘Daily’ as I pass by. This is their way of
telling me that I am being followed. Yesterday, one young worker ran alongside
me on the Beach road. He is from Thiruvannamalai. After enquiring about my
routine, he asked me why I run barefoot. I asked him in turn that he himself is
barefoot. He made light of his effort by saying that he is used to it. He got my name and when I returned the favour I
was surprised to know that his name was Rajiv Gandhi. I jokingly told him that
Sonia Madam would shed tears of blood finding her dear departed’s namesake
working on hot tar road bare footed! I am aware that such stories should not be
made light of. I was imagining with what expectations his parents would have
named him ‘Rajiv’. I hope he has a better future in the Shining and Digital
India.
Today a lady cyclist who
regularly crosses me on R K Salai told me that the Beach road is blocked for
road work, I just took a chance to just say Hi to Bapuji. I was pleasantly
surprised to be greeted by a smiling Rajiv Gandhi from across the barricades.
He let me in and introduced me to his co-workers, Har Ek friend Jaroori hota
hai! I felt like a VIP being taken ahead of Aam Aadmis for the Tirupati Balaji
darshan.
I think I have mentioned this
distinguished looking person who sits near the Kannagi statue and who had
broken my heart by begging. He has come back after tours to Bangalore and
Tiruchi. He always greets me with a ‘Jai Sia Ram’ as I cross him. Curiosity got
the better of me and one day I stopped to know more about him. So, here goes,
He is 81 years young and resides near Mylapore tank with his guruji. He retired
from Royal Enfield factory at Ennore more than 30 years back. His name is Val-vil-Ram.
Now he chants ‘Gold medal’, First and that his name is .. whenever I cross him.
I feel like I have won a fan like Sachin’s painted friend! Will find out more
about him and why he has been reduced to begging by and by!
I used to be reporting about the
mentally challenged lady who used to stay at the R K Salai bus shelter. Now, I have
lost her since the rains. I have tried enquiring with the Sanitation workers
who work that beat. I have settled for the reply one of the lady workers gave
that the lady may have found a shelter in some better place, hope it is true.
Meanwhile, I have been introduced to a young lady who works for an NGO which
rescues and shelters mentally challenged women. Had I reported about her
earlier, maybe, she would have found a shelter fo sure! I have been seeing a
lady with a young child begging on the Beach road. She is disabled at her hip
and drags her lower half of the body. Fresh from the tragedy of the R K salai
lady, I asked this lady if she would like to move to a home and earn her keep
if a NGO offers to take her. She has been enthusiastic and things have been set
in motion and I hope she finds a decent life instead of having to beg on the
road.
The Parle G lady is regular in
her feeding of her canine charges. She has this habit of plucking flowers
during the walk and putting them in her hair. Fully adorned she looks like the
lady in Lage Raho Munnabhai who teases Lucky with her hair full of flowers. She
seems to be always tauting me with ‘Get Well Soon’!
I am taking around 3hour 30
minutes to 3 hour 45 minutes for my quota of daily run and weather permitting
would like to make the form count while it lasts to create a record of daily
runs without a break!
