I do not know the connection
between my being on facebook and my blogging. My literary juices seem to have
dried up starved of the vitamin ‘Likes’. Two things happened over this weekend
to force me to wield the keyboard again. The first was a father and daughter
duo emerging out of the morning darkness on my Saturday run over the Napier Bridge
on the river Couum, the father shouting out to me as he passed me that I was missed
on the facebook. It felt nothing less than what famed creator of Sherlock
Holmes would have felt after he had to bow to public pressure to resurrect the
character after having dumped him in the Reichenbach
Falls.
The
second event was much more shattering, Biscuit’s cousin and my brother’s pet ‘Tutu’
breathed his last around midnight this last Sunday. I woke to this
heartbreaking message from my brother and the last line made me feel my heart
would burst, he had written that he would wake up alone at 3 AM without Tutu’s
company. I could fully relate to this. When people ask me about my regularity
in running, I invariably credit it to the unsung hero, Biscuit, who is next to
me as soon as the alarm goes irrespective of the time. I did not have the
courage to speak to my brother, I left him a message knowing fully well that
empty words cannot be any good for the loss he and his family have had.
I
messaged him to not to run alone for a few days till he recovers a little. I
for myself was sure to pay homage to the good soul in the only way I know,
running a full marathon! I had considered a day of fasting, spinning and prayer,
but, rejected the fasting part knowing how much he loved hogging. I am sure he
would not have liked his family to punish themselves by abstaining from food. I
still cannot forget the way he used to gobble up chewstix while Biscuit when
confronted with the same treat used to lick and soften it for hours. I hope he
gets his fill of chewstix wherever Dogs go after spending their allotted time
on earth (My brother later told me that he was buried with enough stock of his
favorite chewstix, a.k.a. Tutenkhamem, his namesake!
I
have been thinking about why such loss affects us so deeply, my guess is that
we try to imagine the same loss for ourselves and the enormity of it does the
rest. Biscuit is still surprised why we all are being so nice to him, I am sure
he is not complaining! Every dog I encountered during the run and Labradors in
particular sent fresh bouts of pain through my heart. I saw an attendant shepherding
three Labs on a leash, instantly, I imagined Tutu on an imaginary fourth leash
making up the quartet! I just hope the family gets over this if it is at all
possible. As for Tutu, I am sure he must be spreading happiness as is their
wont at a place which could only be heaven (I cannot imagine a heaven without
Dogs and no Dog does anything to go anywhere other than heaven), or, if they do
not go to heaven, I hope I go to where Dogs go after dying as one anonymous
writer has famously said!
I
had the company of a barefoot runner for the last loop and he loved the
billiard top surface around the Island ground loop. To a regular passerby who
made a face on crossing me commenting to his partner that I run barefoot
everyday (to the tone of ‘What do you do to a problem like Maria’!). I told him
I am a little mad which seemed to satisfy him. I told my runner friend that I was
not wrong, I was trying to take my passion of running to the limits of madness,
Isn’t there a very fine line between madness and passion! The run even at a
leisurely pace got me home in 4h:35m.
Today
morning when I lined up for my run, a group of workers, who are engaged in
putting up a steel median on the road outside the colony, were relaxing after
their graveyard shift. One of them asked me why I do not wear shoes. Generally,
the tone of such queries is one of pity and awe. I disabused him that the act was
deliberate as it helped me recover from my runs quicker. One of them asked if
Drivers of trains stayed in the colony I was coming out from, I quipped the
colony has drivers of such drivers. He correctly guessed that we must be
officers. My leg even if a little painful at the start has been getting better
and today’s weekday quota of 32K was downed in 3h:31m!
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