Disclaimer! What follows is just a jumble of things. If you are just interested in the distance, please scroll down. Thnx!
I should title this little page as "running adventures in India" or specifically, "running in the sweltering heat in North India". I think it has made me a more hardcore runner. I have learnt that *nothing*, absolutely nothing will make me stop and if I thought I knew heat before now, boy was I wrong! I used to be so proud - after running in a hail storm in Melbourne, the snow in New York, and the humidity of Singapore. Nothing prepares you for the heat of North India. You know what though? I love it. I love everything about this place!
There are just too many things in my head right now, so I will just list some things about being here in the middle of May.
This tip is practical - I tie my very long dark hair twice in a pony tail and pin it up completely. Soak a scarf and freeze it for a few hours, tie it around my head and cover my mouth. Delhi is dry and some sort of moisture is always welcome.
Running outdoors at noon is not recommended unless you are very fit and your electrolyte levels are normal - salt is key. When I get done from these noon runs, I'm covered in sea salt and I dont push the pace at all. Someone today was very nice and gave me some nimbu paani half way through - must have been quite a sight!
I turn left from my house and enter a village. The first sights you see are farmers selling vegetables and fruit. Vats of hot oil frying samosas. There are 2 mithai shops. One only sells sweet boondi on Tuesday afternoons and the other one sells Bengali sweets and batura channa. Towards the right is a small Shiv temple that is made of marble. I like this one because it isnt ornate at all - just stripped down to the bare essentials. Which brings me to the next point...
Moving back to India has stripped me down to my bare essentials. It is scary, daunting and incredibly liberating. I cannot believe that someone like me can actually do this - having been here over 2 months, in the weather I hate the most (I used to cringe everytime the mercury hit 25 degrees!!), with chaos everywhere. However, there are moments every single day that my mind is still and...happy! So what if I am the percieved to be the typical firang? How many people run in an intimidating Indian village where women cover their heads in the middle of the day? All I can say is that I *need* this - I need to do this.
Running has always been a metaphor of life, now it validates my life in some way. Life is bigger than we imagine it to be. For someone who has always been in the corner, yet in the spotlight; I feel like a goldfish in a bowl. I will always run, and I guess one can call that commitment. Does one love in this way too?
There is so much in this post and no clear point that ties the whole thing in. This is why I make lists nowadays - the thoughts are down but they dont follow any neat patterns. If there is one thing I know to be true, is that being offered a drink by a stranger in the middle of the day makes me very happy. It renews my faith and I float with that feeling for quite a few hours. It doesnt take much!
10kms in the Gaon in my backyard in 50 minutes. It was 46 degrees!! 50 stair repeats.
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