This was the day before the Republic Day, when Gandhi gets
appropriated from the Public by the Great Indian Republic! I was greeted by two
suited booted employees of Hotel Taj, I felt like Gandhi must have felt
confronted by the King of England when he went to meet him over tea. There was
no condescension here, the youngsters knew the Hubli passenger by sight, but, I
could not resist the jibe that ‘they had enough for the both of us’.
Gandhi was hiding behind a big tent, it looked like he was
uncomfortable and wanted to disassociate from all the fanfare. A policeman of
ample proportions, his lathi carelessly laid under the chair, asked me about my
missing shirt! Though, I could not claim any higher motive like Gandhi about
going topless till all the Indians are clothed (his bare top was to befit the
occasion was suitably covered with a thick garland!), told him that a bare top
helped me in efficient heat exchange, the physics was obviously lost on the
gentleman of the constabulary. A safari clad (must be a higher official from
North of Vindhyas!) took offence to my tone (he couldn’t understand our
conversation conducted in Singara Tamil). I explained to him in chaste Hindi
that it is unbecoming of them to object to Gandhian attire right under his
nose! All ended with a good laugh when a traffic policeman who knew me from my
daily runs interjected on my behalf and lightened the atmosphere by asking me
my day’s quota of run.
Republic day meant that the pavement dwellers had to make way for
the elite, it was heartening to see my friend ‘Val-vil-ram’holding fort at the
base of Kannagi statue and carrying on an animated discussion with the traffic
policeman on duty. I felt a sense of belonging at being urged on by his ‘Tumhi
Gold medal, first position!’.
Talking of policemen, my friend traffic policeman at the busy
Nungambakkam station crossing informed me yesterday of his transfer to
Triplicane along with his inspector. Alas, the morning crossings at the busy
junction would not be the same anymore. Love the way he eggs on the people and
carries on his daily chit-chat amongst the chaos. I told him that I would miss
his VIP treatment of mine, but, the saving grace is he relocates to what was my
in-laws place of residence and where I have a lot of happy memories attached
with. Turns out that he also grew up thereabouts! I am used to the make and
break of transferable service, having been in one last close to three decades
and having been born into and grown up in an Air force family.
My friendly street dog of the Mariamman temple opposite Loyola
crossing, whose skin tenor I used to envy, was bleeding from a wound around his
ear. I have seen him being brought up on tea and biscuits and living on a busy
crossing and wonder how it is that Biscuit with all his pampering never matches
his ruggedness or skin tenor! I have similarly wondered at the healthy babies
in the arms of nomads and beggars gorging merrily on plain boiled rice while
our well bred kids have all the nuanced infections!
Chennai marathon came and went and I am happy to report that I could
abstain even from my normal run on the D-day without tinge of jealousy. The
runners must be having a hangover after the event and the usual crowd of
runners is yet to pick up.
School children have slowly warmed to my running and I now have my
own cheering squad of squealing kids near the finish point (Sangeeta hotel) on
most days. The traffic policeman at Sterling road crossing engages in a
chit-chat giving my tired soles and lungs an excuse to break my run. Two days
of abstention due to a pain in the right foot has me grumpy and here’s praying I
get my fix tomorrow.
get well soon, sir!
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