Mumbai Musings

One truly whirlwind trip that was! Everything went great, except that I coudn’t catch a wink of sleep, and feel like a zombie today. 😀 Su completed the marathon in lesser time that what he aimed at, and maintained good pace too! More importantly, the injury that he had acquired during the Hyderabad marathon in 2018, and aggravated in the Mumbai Marathon last January, did not show up it’s hood. He ran to the finish line, collected his medals, and came back to meet us at the cheering line, to welcome other members of his running group, and cheer all the runners. I do think Marathons teach us so many lessons, the most important being persistence, sustaining our efforts, being the ‘lambe race ke ghode!’. 

The marathon is such a wonderful event, which I do feel everyone has to attend (even as onlookers) atleast once in their lifetime. 🙂 You can see how much people love being there, let alone their dear ones, but for every single runner. It’s amazing to cheer people on, when a thumbs-up makes a person who is completely worn out acknowlege back and start runnign to the finish line, when the elderly youth show you what living life to the fullest means, and so on. It leaves you so energised! I love the feeling of waiting to catch a loved one at the finish line, smiling, feeling accomplished (and relieved), and even it’s just a few moments, it’s exactly why I accompany Su to every marathon he runs, even if many deem it crazy. 🙂

When Su left for Mumbai on Friday night so as not to got get caught up in unforeseen circumstances like flight delays etc…, and also because they have to collect their bib on Saturday, he asked me what my plans in Mumbai were post the run … I told him that my only plan was to be there at the marathon to catch up at the finish line, and I would then see how the day goes, or just go wait in the airport with a book, until my midnight flight brings me back home. I truly meant it, but Mumbai had other plans in store for me. This time, I decided to spent Saturday night at my littlest brother’s place, and not in the hotel where Su and his runner mates stayed (very close to the starting point to keep all their energy concentrated only on the run, and not getting somewhere far). This youngest cousin brother of mine, moved to Mumbai a couple of months ago, to pursue his passion for composing music. I couldn’t wait to get done with my 10th exams to go and meet him when he was born, and it just feels like yesterday!

One of the youngest to join AR Rahman’s academy in Chennai right after his 10th, a little one who flew the nest pretty soon, I got to see how much my baby bro has grown up, from such close quarters. He has his own little nest, his passion for pure music and sticking to his values wrt what projects he takes up, I was amazed to see we have so much more in common. 🙂 We are a very close-knit family and meet very often, but mostly in a crowded set-up with the entire family being there. This time, it was only the two of us, and I saw our OCD (for cleanliness!), our love for ancient history, and cooking, bound us as siblings. The very fact that my little baby prepared dinner for me amidst all his work meant a lot. I was amazed at how well he has maintained that little place of his, and how organized he is with all the routine chores. It was pretty late when I reached his place from the airport, and while having dinner, we just made an impromptu plan to watch ‘Tanhaji’ and thankully found a show running a theatre close by, in the next 25 minutes. 😀 We dashed out  immediately, in the middle of a booking transaction on my mobile, since the signal was very poor, and I wasn’t able to get an OTP. 😀 Thankfully, we soon did, and could reserve two good seats too. The movie was amazing!

While our plan was to get up at 5am to get ready and leave for the finishing line well in time, we talked about all the things in the world (our’s and the bigger one) until 5 am, after which I just couldn’t sleep even if my eyes were drooping. The run was about to being in the next 15 minutes, and thanks to the TMM App, we could track any participant live, and I couldn’t wait for it. I got ready and sat glued to the phone, while my little bro had fallen asleep. 🙂 I wasn’t sure of waking him up, but he was very excited about joining me and I had to. We left for the venue, and thanks to the Mumbai locals, reached CST in no time, from where we started walking, with him taking pictures of the old world charm around …. god!, I hadn’t realized we were so alike, all these years.

We had fun, first the two of us, and then the three of us, until we cheered till the end of time after which the finishing time threshold was up! We then had lunch at a place nearby, and while Su had to get his recovery massage done, just wandered around the streets nearby. I then managed to meet a good old friend, one of the most like-minded ones I have, in a happy coincidence that he was in Mumbai too. Su and I then had this trip’s quota of some street food at Nariman point, and realized all we could think of was sleep, and not even the yummiest of our favourite foods. 😀 I had to be back in Bengaluru for work today, while Su had to stay back since travel after all that running is not really recommended.  While I could only get a late return flight, I thought it better to wait at the airport with a book, than go around anywhere else. The only other place I visited was Ramakrishna Math, my energy centre, without which my trip to any place doesn’t seem complete.

All in all, it was a great trip, an experience that even a delayed flight couldn’t hamper. 😀 I have so many pictures, but am too tired to even look and sort them out today, so may be I will do that tomorrow. Thanks to regular blogging, I am now recording these memories, before I lose the subtle details. Hope you all had a great weekend too! Ciao!