The Ultra

When I flew back to India after a trip to Redwood City, California on Nov 18th, Jaya had introduced me to RFL (Runners for Life – a group of hardcore runners in Bangalore) and pointed out the upcoming Ultra Marathon on December 16th. Ultra Marathon has runs in 3 categories – 26k, 52k & 78k. Having never run more than 5k (although in a respectable 30 minute pace), I decided to plunge in and take the challenge – for Jaya had also pointed out Mitra Jyothi (http://www.mitrajyothi.com/) to me and her desire to do a fund raiser for them, I decided not only to run but also raise funds for Mitra Jyothi with the run.

Before enrolling, I wanted to do at least 10k in 60 minutes – I comfortably got past that point on Sunday, Nov 25th. I registered & set about raising 1 lakh for Mitra Jyothi – I quickly got to Rs. 30k in a week and on Saturday Dec 1st, did a 12k run in 75 minutes. Everything was looking rosy except for some mild knee pain after runs. Optimistic, I went for a run in Bellandur organized by RFL on 2nd and wanted to do 13k in 85 minutes. Disaster! Within minutes of starting the run, my knee gave way and I ended up almost walking all way in 2:36 – the only saving grace was that I did 16.8 kms (6.46 km/hr or 4 miles/hour). I nursed the injury and started “tapering off” the aggressive 4 week training instead of the time tested 12 week program for such runs.

In the meantime, the fund raiser was coming along nicely. It was a challenge to make people open up their heart and wallet, especially in a timely manner, but by December 15th, I had far exceeded my goal, having raised 1.5 lakhs. My sincere thanks to my friends in India, US and UK who made this seemingly impossible task possible. My fund raiser page http://www.mitrajyothi.org/Suresh-pledgepage.htm will be active in Mitra Jyothi's website for some time.

16th December! I barely managed restful sleep on 15th night – and woke up well before the alarm was set to go off at 3:30 am. I had to catch a bus at 4:30 am to reach the “Our Native Village” or ONV, where the run was organized, about 2 hours away from Bangalore. We reached ONV just after 6 am, in time to cheer the 52k and 78k runners whose race was flagged off at 6 am sharp. The 26k run was flagged off at 7 am sharp with Queen’s “We will rock you” playing in the background to get us going. I quickly fell in step with Noel, a fellow runner who had intended to follow the 4:1 strategy – 4 minutes of running and 1 minute of walking. It was a scenic run, almost fully in dirt track with ample greenery all around. Even the 40m incline we had to negotiate on the way out did not seem difficult. The run was set up 6.5kms out and back making one loop 13kms. I’d covered 6.5kms in little over 40 minutes and completed the return in about the same time to make my 1st 13kms in 85 minutes.

Mentally, I was feeling good, but both my knees were beginning to bother me. I had a brace around my left knee, but not the right. I slowed down in my 2nd lap and felt that I had to run more than do the 4:1. For, every time I started after a walk break, it was getting progressively difficult to get into a running rhythm. The next 6.5kms took 55 minutes. I knew my 180 minute goal was shot by now and the best I could achieve given my knee condition was 195 minutes. I took up the offer for medical help in the aid station located at the 6.5km turn around. I will never know if it was the best decision or the worst! The aid looked at my knees, both of which were having issues, and sprayed a pain killer and massaged them slightly. I was supposed to feel better. When I placed my feet on the ground, my left leg which I’d already protected with a tight knee brace did not protest as much as the right leg where the pain was excruciating. The final lap started with me limping and I knew running was simply out. I had spent 7 minutes at the aid station and had to hit a rhythm in walking fast. My left leg was the stronger now and using that as the anchor, I found a nice swing to the right leg with less impact. I had to shut the pain out of my mind and started figuring out mentally what could be my best time to complete the race under the circumstances. 1st 13 kms in 85, next 6.5 in 55 and 7 minutes lost in the aid station meant that if I did a brisk walk at 3.5 miles/hour (5.6 kms/hr) I could complete the remaining 6.5 in about 70 minutes to make an overall time of 217 minutes (3:37).

Shutting the pain out, I went about doing this, passing on any medical help or avoiding stops at any aid stations. Earlier during the run, I was cheering runners racing faster than me and encouraging others who were slower. It was nice to have so many folks who had a word of appreciation on my last lap when they saw me walking with a weird limp: anchor left leg, swing right forward; anchor left, swing right.

3:37 it was when I pulled past the finish line!

Run Statistics

Lap(kms)	Lap time(minutes)	Lap Speed(kms/hr)	∑distance(kms)	∑time(minutes)	Speed(kms/hr)
6.5	42	9.28	6.5	42	9.28
6.5	43	9.07	13.0	85	9.18
6.5	55	7.09	19.5	140	8.36
6.5	77 (7+70)	5.06	26.0	217	7.20

Chole Bhatura

[Written November 2006]

Coming to Delhi after 19 years, I was reasonably excited – especially as I might get the opportunity to visit some of the old haunts. I was expecting to be picked up by Bhupinder Singh whose cell phone I called as I was exiting the departure lounge. Right then I saw a name board that was inviting Mr. Suresh traveling by IT 204 from Mumbai, held by a Sardarji. I said to myself, if I discount the error on where I was traveling from, there is a 75% match – my name is correct, the flight number matches and the Sardarji could very well be Bhupinder Singh. As soon as I came to this realization (which was in a fraction of a second), I disconnected my call to Bhupinder. My Sardarji driver vigorously nodded in affirmative to the tentative question I had for him – "Bhupinder Singh from Akbar travels…?" picked up my bag and we started walking towards the car. It was then I got a call from"Bhupinder" (thanks to missed call technology), which wasn't from the quiet Sardarji leading me to the car! I told the person on the phone that I'd been picked up by "him" already. When I accosted my Sardarji driver with the new found information, he grinned sheepishly and said that his name is not Bhupinder, but Kulvinder Singh and that Bhupinder had been dispatched on a different driving assignment.

I was wondering what else this Sardarji of small build (which itself is a rare occurrence, as the readers would agree) had in store for me. Sure enough, Kulvinder, undeterred by his small build, showed enough chutzpa to wade through Delhi traffic. In any round about (and Delhi is littered with millions of those traffic contraptions) he was promptly enforcing his right of way when he was in the inside (and hence to the right of other drivers); but more importantly, he was coolly demanding the right of way even when he was entering a round about, thus being on the left of other drivers to whom he ought to have yielded the right of way. In another instance he proved to me categorically that he is not be considered small in any way; confronted with a bus blocking his way, he resorted to the sound horn technique and didn't stop for about 60 seconds which was when the bus got out of his way. 60 seconds might seem small; but it could be indefinitely long when some one is continuously sounding the car horn.Clearly, any situation has a silver lining; in this instance, the other car drivers who were also blocked by the bus decided to let Kulvinder take matter in his hands and waited for an amicable settlement rather than each resorting to sounding the horn.

Traveling through Shanti Path, Jan Path, Teen Murti Marg and crossing Aurangazeb Road, Akbar Road and a host of other roads named after freedom fighters and Muslim invaders, I reached my hotel. Shanti Path was littered with embassies. Uniformly, each embassy, had multiple large iron gates, each promptly shut and guarded by several security personnel. Funny how the world has become a smaller place yet unwelcoming to each other. Delhi roads were in great condition, most of them 4 lanes wide with large dividers and lane markings. Kulvinder and most drivers, however, wanted to enjoy seeing the lane markings devoured by their car as they drove their vehicles with the wheels straddling the markings. I saw several types of dividers in the roads;some with trees interspersed every few meters; others with 3 feet iron railings; still others with 3+ feet concrete dividers. However, none of them were successful in deterring jay walkers trying to get to the other side of the road. It was amusing to see people run across to the concrete dividers (with suitcases and bags), propel themselves on top and sit while waiting for a lull in the traffic to scoot across. I guess we need 6 ft high concrete dividers to stop most jay walkers (we will then only have to deal with jay walking pole vaulters)

I had to be satisfied with a solitary walk down Barakhamba Road to Connaught Place (CP) instead of a real walk down the memory lane. I set out on a mission to find a good chole bhature (CB) joint in CP, having already downed a drink of Cragganmore in the hotel bar. Ignoring the call of Dosai from the authentic south Indian vegetarian restaurant "The Banana Leaf" (people who know me would understand the self discipline I had to exercise here) and making several inquiries as to where one could find authentic and good CB, I went to Kwality Restaurant. Couple of bites into the dish, I realized the chef knows how to make good, oily Channa. It was almost as good as the lunch time roadside CB I remembered eating in 1987 in CP. After shamelessly repeating the order, I started walking back to the hotel. When I chanced upon the Barakhamba Road Delhi Metro Station, I decided to check it out. I'm glad I did, for it was top class – clean, neat, and spacious rivaling the underground transportation of Europe. I was surprised by the lack of crowd, but that could have been because of waning hours of the day (or should it be night?)

You must've noticed I didn't bother to tell the name of the hotel where I stayed. Hans Plaza was a decent 4* property where my secretary secured a reservation after much effort while most of the popular 5* hotels had been fully booked for Nov 2nd. I had been wondering what in the world had come to Delhi. Today's TOI reported that there were more than 10,000 "shaadis" performed yesterday in Delhi. I know you have all attended weddings, Tam Brahm style. But North Indian Shaadis are a whole different ball game –with Mehendi parties, shopping parties and receptions, these events choreographed by Shaadi Planners can easily make our weddings look archaic. As it turned out, after Nov 2, the next suitable day to get hitched happens to be Jan 23rd – I am sure along wait for the impatient. On top of it, Nov 2nd was an extra special auspicious day – according to the pundits, the devas were going to remove any "reservations" on whom they will bless if people tied the knot on Nov 2nd! Yes sir… your horoscopes needn't match, your stars needn't be aligned, but you could still get the divine blessings had you tied the knot on Nov 2nd 2006! Wouldn't it be cool if our politicians took a leaf from the pages of the devas and do away with college "reservations" for one year? That would be something, wouldn't it? Wonder if the Tam Brahms did a "wedding run" on Nov 2nd… No matter, with 10,000+ shaadis, there was a run on the hotel bookings in Delhi and I was relegated to Hans Plaza whose saving grace was the availability of Double Matured Special Edition Single Malt Cragganmore in the bar.

Feeling sorry for the rest of the country who have to fork out almost Rs. 10 more for a liter of petrol, I reached the airport on Nov 3rd morning in time to catch my flight back to Bengalooru (or should I spell Bengaluru?). Kulvinder was prompt and had lost none of his assertive driving capabilities over the night. Talking of changing city names, I wonder how long before we will consider changing the last bastion of the metros to Indraprastha… that would be capital! Maybe, we ought to change the country's name to Hindustan as well. Hmm…can a secular country afford to do that?