I am at home today. Leave. I have cold and feel a bit weak and sick. I was feeling a bit under the weather yesterday as well. But I totally loved yesterday's run. Because I was running after a long time. It was a run chat with a friend and I think that's good use of time!
I saw this pepper haired lady who was cycling on campus. She had a helmet and a headlamp mounted on it. It certainly grabbed our attention.
After a good 4.8km run and some ballet stretches, I headed back home. This cheerful lady parked her cycle on the side of the road near ED Dept. I went and said "Hi" and began chatting with her. She told me she is an alumni. Chemical Engineer, class of 83! Wow. I have always wanted to meet female alumni and here I was, with her. She told me about some women's cycling group when I told her that I just started my cycling journey. She had so much positive energy! I just couldn't stop smiling. I asked her to run with us and we joked about body parts that hurt when cycling/running.
On the way back, met a junior and it's just the second time that I am meeting him. We quickly made plans about our Sunday run. I also told him about this encounter with Sujatha, the alumni.
I came home. Same levels of excitement. I told my flatmates. I open facebook to search her profile. Google helped me out and there, I found her. What I also found about her was that she is the mother of Akash Dube, the kid who started the Chennai Chapter for Terry Fox run. Akash was diagnosed with cancer in 2009. They started the Terry Fox chapter that year. The annual run was held in my campus, IIT Madras. It was phenomenal. They raised ~50 lakhs. This has been a tradition now. Akash passed away few years back..
This incident, somehow had a deep impact. It was a reminder to forget about all the petty things that bother us. It was a reminder to look at life from a big picture view. To ease off and explore.
Terry Fox has been a special run for me as it kind of marked the beginning of my running journey. It was then my longest continuous solo run with probably 10000 others running, cycling, skating on the same road. I had also dedicated this run to a very dear friend of mine, who was diagnosed with symptoms similar to cancer.
To me, this is the essence of running.. And well, cycling. Rather, being out there on the roads. With people. Sometimes all by myself. To be a part of this planet and to know different stories. Stories that help us in exploring the plethora of emotions within us.
I saw this pepper haired lady who was cycling on campus. She had a helmet and a headlamp mounted on it. It certainly grabbed our attention.
After a good 4.8km run and some ballet stretches, I headed back home. This cheerful lady parked her cycle on the side of the road near ED Dept. I went and said "Hi" and began chatting with her. She told me she is an alumni. Chemical Engineer, class of 83! Wow. I have always wanted to meet female alumni and here I was, with her. She told me about some women's cycling group when I told her that I just started my cycling journey. She had so much positive energy! I just couldn't stop smiling. I asked her to run with us and we joked about body parts that hurt when cycling/running.
On the way back, met a junior and it's just the second time that I am meeting him. We quickly made plans about our Sunday run. I also told him about this encounter with Sujatha, the alumni.
I came home. Same levels of excitement. I told my flatmates. I open facebook to search her profile. Google helped me out and there, I found her. What I also found about her was that she is the mother of Akash Dube, the kid who started the Chennai Chapter for Terry Fox run. Akash was diagnosed with cancer in 2009. They started the Terry Fox chapter that year. The annual run was held in my campus, IIT Madras. It was phenomenal. They raised ~50 lakhs. This has been a tradition now. Akash passed away few years back..
This incident, somehow had a deep impact. It was a reminder to forget about all the petty things that bother us. It was a reminder to look at life from a big picture view. To ease off and explore.
Terry Fox has been a special run for me as it kind of marked the beginning of my running journey. It was then my longest continuous solo run with probably 10000 others running, cycling, skating on the same road. I had also dedicated this run to a very dear friend of mine, who was diagnosed with symptoms similar to cancer.
To me, this is the essence of running.. And well, cycling. Rather, being out there on the roads. With people. Sometimes all by myself. To be a part of this planet and to know different stories. Stories that help us in exploring the plethora of emotions within us.
i read this beautiful quote in the mountains, related to the freedom movement by the local people. Like you summarised so well, stories, that is the essence.
ReplyDelete"Who are we without our stories?"
Awesome is the word.
ReplyDelete