Prathima's Miles & Milestones

It was a Saturday morning after a long day at work on Friday. Yet, my alarm rings at 4:50 AM so that I can slack for 10 mins by scrolling my Instagram feeds and to read my list of motivational quotes. Sounds crazy? Yes, I am. I am extremely organised. That’s my morning dose of motivation to jump out of my cosy bed. If there were a shorter version of TED talks, I might have watched them as well 🙂 But its too cliche, everyone I know has a TED talk these days. From my neighbour Varun Aggarwal (INK talks) to the milkman across the lane!

Bang on, it’s 5:00 AM! I ping my friends’ on the Whats App group to convey that I am up and getting ready leaving a “Good Morning” text. Ain’t I a sweet friend? I heard you say ‘Yes’ (-_-*)

It was a drizzling Saturday morning in Namma Bengaluru. A went to the terrace of the building to enjoy the fresh breeze and pick up my laundry. I presumed it’s going to be the start of an amazing day when you begin to work on yourself. I love the pin drop silence in the morning while I sip my green tea. I quickly freshen up and wore my workout wear, tied my ponytail high, grabbed some pre-workout dates, peeled the skin of soaked almonds to munch on and elaichi bananas of course — my favourite fruit 🙂 This is pretty much my version of customised Granola bar. I know not so fancy, but I love being old school at times.

As I get ready, my phone vibrates and dang — One of my friends was assigned a task to pick me and hence as he says he has started from his place and shares the live location of Google Maps on my Whats App so that I am downstairs based on the blue dot which shows his current location. I quickly wore my ankle sock, shoes and grabbed my bag with a hankey cloth, water bottle, workout jacket and locked my cupboard. I silently open the door making sure that my roomie doesn’t wake up!

I greet with a broad smile and a morning hug to test if he has a good balance of both the worlds — My hug and the inertia of the bike! That’s how I test him to make sure he isn’t sleep-riding (I coined the term based on his sleep-walking symptoms 😉)and drives me safely to the destination. On a side note, I am blessed with good friends who have excellent driving skills. Be it a ghat section on a trip or a hairpin curve, they ride smooth and sharp. Yet, sadly I suffer from Vehophobia.

We started towards Cubbon park and so did the rest of my friends. The roads were not brightly light up yet we made it through the cold breeze brushing against our face. We met the rest of the squad, waved at each other, parked our vehicle, drank a sip of water, dropped the bags in the car and started with the jog. We split ourselves at various diversions from the State Central Library and took a pledge to catch up at the same point in an hour.

We have our individual pace at running. Hence, we usually don’t converse much during the run. We speed up, slow down, walk or crawl but we make sure till we cover the kilometres we aimed at the previous night we are not allowed to sit 🙂 We have a pact and all of us stick to it like we respect the bible.

The very sight of Cubbon park brings back to endless memories — swinging on those circular gates, the toy trains, the guy who sold soap bubbles, helium balloons, the rose flavoured cotton candies, the roller skates, bicycles, frizbee, hop and catch marathons, the fire-in-the-mountain — Run, run, run game, the reciting of ring-a-ring-a roses rhyme with my big circle of childhood friends, the pigeons flocking their feathers, the peanuts and roasted rice flakes, the Badam milk at the Nandhini parlour, the fresh fruit and vegetable shopping, the visit to government aquarium, the magic shows at the Townhall, my first visit to museum when dad used to be my guide, mom bargaining for the seeds with the shopkeeper with her gardening skills and the most importantly — my first horse ride! All of these flash in front of eyes! My weekends were full of surprises back then! Back then I did not know to appreciate the feelings of walking barefoot in the grass, now I feel am in Cloud 9 when I took a stroll on the grass. The drizzle in the early morning had added a moisture to the ground. I love my city in the 90’s when I was a kid. Now its just the traffic I complain about yet am a proud endorser of my city. No luxury shopping mall ever can give me such good vibes!

After running for a certain distance, I slow down to catch my breath. The body gives up yet the mind doesn’t hence I back up with. I see the aged people running and count as live inspiration to speed-up. I see the kids skateboarding and feel guilty that I did not continue! I see people performing yoga and feel so happy for them. I believe in training the mind first and then the body. Hence, I see most of the yoga practitioners starting with breathing exercises followed up meditation and then the flow of asanas. I like the discipline. I love watching people laugh during their “Laughing Clubs”. Group of people laughing has to be the best sign for anybody. There were people amongst the greenery, the lake and the lanes covered by bamboos. I encountered my buddies here and there when we exchange paths during our run and we give a hi-five 🙂

When am tired, I tell myself — Prathima, don’t give up. You can do it. Self-love and self-motivation work miracles. We were pretty much done with the run and were sweating like pigs. We met at the same point and went for a stroll in the grass. We practised a few stretching exercises like lunges, middle splits, crunches and so on. We love handstands and front rolls, hence we did it 🙂 
We were damn hungry and rushes to the authentic MTR nearby for our idli sambar and sip of coffee. We had a few incidents to share, a few decisions to be validated, a few workplace incidents, quick mentoring on a serious note, a dash of gossip from the series or Comicstaan, followed by a loud laughter and we giggled. We paid the bills by splitting the bills by the Dutch way as a tradition. Meanwhile, we gulped a lot of water as we reached our vehicles in the parking.

We agreed on the next day’s schedule plus the month goals for the upcoming marathon preps and resources. We made sure we track our progress. We swore to eat clean, sleep well and hydrate well. We left for the day to accomplish with the rest of our individual goals of the weekend.

My ideal weekend hence begins 🙂 We felt like a million bucks. My brain silently screamed — Bring it on, I can conquer anything now. I could feel the mad rush of endorphins entering the bloodstream! Jokes apart — What more could I ask for?

Moral: That’s the power of hanging out with friends who have similar goals as yours. Stay inspired!

#blessed #thankful #priceless #focussed.