Chennai Walk/Run

August 29, Chennai Beach, Marathon run in aid of Give Life Charity.

It was such a treat to be there. We weren't doing the long 21 km run for serious runners but the short 7km Fun Run. And it wasn't a Run but a longish Fun Walk. With thousands of people around us, most of them young people with corporate banners, good cheer was in abundance. There was little leeway for serious runners; they must have been out in the front.

We'd invited all the people we knew; family and friends, anyone we thought could walk the 7 km. But the urban middleclass Indian can come up with so many inventive excuses to be up and about at 6 a.m. on a Sunday morning. The more athletic types felt they hadn't trained enough; they had to be up there in front with the runners and be there at the finish line in front too, it was a question of image. Some people couldn't let go of their gym schedules which give them a big high . Some people just couldnt get up after Saturday night.

Finally, it was Sindhu , Kapu, Prashanth's friend Pratap who sportingly joined this group of females and me. I have cotton in my ears because of an ear infection. Darshini had to stay on the beach eating sundal because she is still throwing up a lot with morning sickness.

And we enjoyed it all. The hoopla with cheerleaders egging us all on, the camradiere which flowed abundantly all around, the fact of being there as a participant in morning exercise and maybe a little more, the sudden whoops from all the groups, the radio jockeys being as mad as only they can be, a little glimpse of celebrities, the rolling drum beats at the start and finish of Sivamani.. the knowledge that we were going to round it all off with a terrific breakfast which I didnt have to cook... it was a morning brilliant with promise and the sun wasnt too brilliant either, making it all more comfortable.