We Need To Stop Running
  • Blog
  • Archive
  • Des Photos
  • Contact
  • Mjoezik
  • Eating In / Eating Out
  • Be Kind

Look Who's Running Now?

11/23/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
Chowpatty Beach, 7:08 am
For someone whose blog is called “We Need To Stop Running” I’ve been doing a lot of running  lately. I always have, at work or at play, running from one end of the city or the world to the other, from one self - invented crisis or activity to the other. Off late though it’s been the actual physical kind of running that’s got me leaving the house at an early hour.
Apparently the “We Need To Stop Running” doesn’t apply to the “I”.

Running in Bombay is by and large a pastime for the well heeled, our feet cushioned by our Airs. We run up Marine Drive, past Chowpatty Beach, right onto Babulnath Temple Road and then left onto Hughes Road. The BMC’s city sweepers clear the debris of the night before, the last of the party goers heading home at 5.30 as the first runners hit the streets. As a city Bombay never sleeps.

The homeless poor lie covered under thin sheets and blankets, sleeping on the dividers that separate Marine Drive from the sea. They’re in no rush to wake up, if anything keen to keep the day’s light out for as long as they can.

On the turn back from Kemp’s Corner I pass an elderly chowkidar, a security guard, doing his surya namaskars in the 6m2 courtyard of his Master’s home. No fancy branded yoga mat or pants for him, just the hard tiles, his working pants and trousers and a basic human desire to be fit or to take care of himself.

A wannabe prophet or Messiah crosses the road towards Chowpatty, dressed in a long white flowing gown, long black beard and a tall round cap on his head, a maniacal look trying to pass for a beatific smile on his face. He shouts out something, to no one in particular. The onlookers give him a tired “not now, not even in Bombay” look, it’s 7 am on a Sunday morning and Heaven and salvation will have to wait.
As Marine Drive approaches again the sun is out and the crowds are thicker. Mothers and daughters walking and talking together, husbands and wives walking in silence and groups of men in their sixties ambling along, gossiping and back slapping each other, school boys at heart. A homeless youngster finally gets up, throws off his sheet, buttons his shirt and goes in search of a place to wash.

I approach home and stop running. My parents, visiting from Bangalore, are up ahead, walking towards me, my father shuffling more than walking. He ran around this city once, in what he calls ‘his city’, as a young doctor. Those days of running are over now.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    About

    This blog documents our arrival in Mumbai from Chicago and our attempts to make this city home, our experience with finding housing, the kids’ first days at school, shopping, 30 year - old taxis, inundation by monsoon rains, street side shopping and boutiques, slums and $3 million apartments owned by rich playboys.

    Categories

    All
    All In A Day In Bombay
    Business
    Foooood!
    My School
    State Of India
    The State Of Us.
    Vacation

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    May 2021
    July 2020
    April 2020
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    June 2018
    April 2018
    August 2017
    May 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    September 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    November 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    April 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    March 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010

    Btw, the banner photo was taken from our holiday home outside of San Gimignano at 6.20 am. What light! It lasted all of five minutes.
  • Blog
  • Archive
  • Des Photos
  • Contact
  • Mjoezik
  • Eating In / Eating Out
  • Be Kind