Accumulating Runs

TRIPTA CHANDOLA

I STARTED RUNNING a few months ago, having dismissed both swanky gyms and personalised training as viable options. Parks, it was then. Though I have lived in Delhi for 13 years, the only park I have visited is Lodhi Gardens. This limited exploration may have something to do with a promise to my mother after one Sunday, when she packed us to Buddha Jayanti Park for a picnic. It lasted 15 minutes. Shocked by the public displays of affection, she made me swear I would never visit public parks. I kept my promise.

NEELAKASH KSHETRIMAYUM

After so many years, I wasn’t sure what to expect from the Rose Garden across IIT. It has, well, roses, but also a red sand running track.

Morning runs are a ritual. There is an unsaid code of conduct the regulars adhere to, and the initiation is anything but a cakewalk. The regulars give you scornful looks, calculating the morning(s) you will last. On your tenth day, the looks begin to soften. Some — do not take this for granted — may even smile at you. As your attendance accumulates, the regulars start clearing paths for you, and the benches on which you do your crunches are miraculously unoccupied. If you last a month, you are part of the society and, through some kind of divine intervention, you acquire the ‘look’.

Now, I am part of the secret society. I know all the regulars, especially two. One wears a green tee with white shorts and the other, red with grey. (Regulars always wear the same clothes. I am blue tee and pink shorts). Both are tall, lanky and sweaty. Red runs swiftly, swaying his swimmer’s body, Green trots, slowly, for long, controlled stretches.

If I met either in a pub — semidrunk, smelling of cigarettes — I would not hesitate to ask them out for a drink. But I still don’t know the rules of how to approach them while breathing in fresh air and burning calories. Should I, when we cross paths, breathlessly ask them if they fancy a run?

Regulars run the risk of not being able to pick up sexy, sweaty boys. Otherwise, energy and healthy lungs are yours. As is the look. •