VodaRun

It was 6 in the morning. I gave out a wide yawn and stretched myself. Nature called vehemently and I had to give in. I relieved myself and then walked to the wash basin. I switched on the light and stared into the mirror. With the toothbrush gently massaging my teeth, thoughts started racing in my mind. Very shortly I was gonna be like my thoughts. RACING! Well, it was Dec 02 2007 and the Pune International Marathon was to be flagged off at 8.30 AM IST. I was participating in the 4.5 km charity run.

My bro-in-law had agreed to drop me at the race venue. As we set off on his motorbike at 7.30 AM, I could notice glints in the eyes of my mom, sister and niece. I am sure they were thinking about my plight in the near future. They waved us goodbye but my nephew was stoic. But then, 1 year old babies won’t really understand the perils of a software engineer aiming to finish a 4500 meter "running race". The term Marathon would be an overstatement.

We reached the venue at 8.10 AM. There was a sea of red. Thousands of enthusiasts had gathered wearing the red colored T-shirts sponsored by Vodafone. I tried to look for a friend who was also participating. But that search would be comparable to looking for a pin in a haystack. What are cell-phones for, you might ask. Well, my friend supposedly wanted to run light, so left the cell phone at home.

Nonetheless, I squeezed myself into the starting point. I looked up and turned my head to the left. A podium was set up for celebrities. Sunil Gavaskar waved the flag and we were off. Salman Khan, Suresh Kalmadi and a few other well known faces were cheering the runners.

The first km was a piece of cake. The weather was nice and cool. Trust me; people in Pune are extremely zestful. School children, collegians, middle aged men and women, senior citizens et al had come in large numbers. It felt wonderful to see so many people running for a cause. A Race Against AIDS.

So as I was saying, the first km went off smoothly. Then reality dawned. The software engineer’s legs started to complain. Gosh, we guys need to exercise, if we haven’t already started. Now then, the sprint turned to a jog, which gradually turned to a walk, and then to a standstill. Hey! I wasn’t gonna stop. It was just one of my shoe-laces. I had to tie it back and in the process, got a much needed minute to get my breath back. Then, as I looked up, a pretty girl whizzed past me. That kind of stirred me up. I could hear myself say, "Look at that chick go! Now don’t you chicken out". Alrighty then, I was up and running and in fact ran so fast that I overtook her. I slowed and turned back to find her, but it was in vain. She was nowhere to be seen. May be she too was a software engineer.

Anyway, I still had a race to finish so I kept running. About 3 km had passed, when I heard a male voice asking me directions. He turned out to be a software engineer too. We talked as we ran along and that indeed was helpful. I was thrilled to see the entry gate to the Nehru Stadium which was our finish. All it took was 30 minutes and I gave a high 5 to this new friend of mine. We both were aware of our achievement, and needless to say, were overjoyed.

I then bid him farewell, and went to sit on the pavilion. I watched a procession stream in and very soon there were thousands scattered across this cricket ground. I sat there taking some photographs with my cell-phone’s camera. I messaged my friends and got some congrats back. After spending an hour there, I trudged back outside the stadium, caught an autorickshaw, reached Pune railway station, took a train, got down at Dehu Road and walked back home.