Sunfeast 10K

So I ran the first running event that was held in Bangalore after our move back to India. It was a 10 K (6.25 Mile) run organized by Sunfeast. The last time I had run in an event was the half Marathon in AnnArbor exactly 1 year ago. I finished the 10K in 66 mins - felt that its high time that I improve my timing. Over 12 people from GM ran the open 10 K.

I started from my home in Brookefield at 615AM, and caught the bus to the Kantheerava stadium at 630. I was there by 7 AM. Saw the elite runners start off. By the time I met Ashok (my research group's manager at GM, who also ran trained for and ran the race very enthusiastically), wandered here and there, drank some water and kept my bag in the lockers, the elite runners were back and finished! - in 28 minutes. It was simply amazing to see them run - if I run that fast, I will not run even 1/2 a kilometer. Our open 10 K event started at 810AM. The crowd was very enthusiastic. Sowmya, Pranav and Ramesh (Sowmya's brother) came to see and congratulate me at the end of my run around 930 AM. There was a 'Majaa run' of 5.7 km after an hour of the 10 K start. I missed its starting fun, but Sowmya said it was pretty funny, with people in all costumes running together - there was a 'tree' which took 1 ft steps, there were people dressed up as squirrels, peacock etc - I think you can see this only in India. While the open 10 K had 8000 participants, the Majaa run had 13000 people.

I had heard of so many stories of running events in India being conducted in a silly fashion - dogs chasing runners, water available to only elite athletes etc. Since I saw and participated in this event myself - let me say - this event was organized in a flawless manner, with all facilities provided to the runners. Sure, the toilets in the stadium were messy - but one should give considerations in India, and when 8000 people use toilets at once, you can not expect it to be shining spotless. But apart from that, the organization of the whole event made sure that all the runners got bottles of water and glucose when they ran, and after the run , every one got a bottle of water, a bun, fruit and biscuits - very very impressive indeed, considering that the entry fee was just 200 Rs!

All along the way there were people to cheer us. It was a blast.

Why the name ?

Balikukki - my son coined this word. Just one a few cute words that he uttered before he spoke of words similar to the ones in 'our' languages. This one was very popular for about 2 months after he turned one and a half years old. It has no meaning at all, but reminds me of his liffle face with big smile with big eyes.

Feelings of moving back

Did I become less socially aware and less pro-active towards our community/country after I returned back to India compared to when I was outside the country? I find myself thinking less about things that I pondered freqently over, during my stay outside as an NRI. Especially so over thoughts that brewed in my mind when I made a firm(er) decision to get back to India for good. Such thoughts were over
Helping people in India in general - social service or "giving back" - Helping our old schools, communities, and elders who we interacted with long time ago.
Travel plans (there is an intense urge, but practically I have not done too much due to lack of time, and excuses of lack of roads, traffic conditions, facilities etc)
Hobbies - of running, Yoga, painting, trekking camping etc .
Alternate work - farming, teaching, etc.
Welfare and well being of our family (this is mostly unchanged) and contact frequency with friends.

Possible reasons:

Initial chores of settling down - renting, looking for a place to live, setting up of basic amenities.
Additional, increasing responsibilities - of family.
True travel obstacles - traffic/roads mostly. (lately I have learnt that if you take an initiative and 'let go of things out of control', travel is not that difficult in here, at least locally, during off-peak traffic times)
Quips from relatives (quite high, frustrates a lot - the "petty" things)
Beauracracy (experienced a little till now - banking, obtaining voter's id, ration card etc)
Continuous bombardment of bad news in our society from news papers and other channels, and the Big Rat Race.

In the long run I do not want to get so much into the rat race here in Bangalore that I forget the reason I moved back and more importantly forget the basic force and goal that drives me.
Two weeks ago on a Friday it took me 80 min to travel 8 km in flooded rain and stand-still traffic. Everyone around me was angry and frustrated, competing with one another to move a few of centimeters ahead of the other person. I never grew up among such competition (over space, time and over "My and Mine" stuff) when I was younger. In our towns and villages people were (still are) more friendly than here in Bangalore. The rat race makes you so frustrated and angry that you tend to forget the better things of life in this side of the world.

The only way to fight of this feeling of apathy and comfortable forgetfulness is to keep reminding myself about:
1. The things I intended to do when I get back home, and more importantly - execute the plans.
2. Appreciate the advantages of the move - closeness to family, friends (in a positve way), freedom to pursue any work anywhere, culture, music, availability of any daily, mundane "service", little things that we all loved from our childhood, the opportunity and closeness to explore our own country, and the opportunity to directly serve our society.