Bombay was central, had been so from the moment of its creation. The bastard child of a Portuguese – English wedding, and yet the most Indian of Indian cities. In Bombay, all Indias met and merged. In Bombay, too, all India met what-was-not-India, what came across black water to flow into our veins. Everything north of Bombay was North India, everything south of it was the South. To the east lay, India’s east to the west, the world’s West. Bombay was central; all rivers flowed into its human sea. It was an ocean of stories; we were all its narrators and everybody talks at once.”
The Moor’s Last Sigh, Salman Rushdie
I wish I had the lyrical prose of Rushdie to describe Bombay (has a better ring to it than Mumbai). I love Bombay. Among other things, I have discovered running here. I love NY too. NY is the other place where I have run marathons. In my life, running connects NY and Bombay. There is a lot that is common between New York and Bombay. Both cities run, managed and controlled by immigrants. Both cities buzz with palpable energy. Both cities are full of skyscrapers and are densely populated. Both cities are seeped with immigrant angst and energy. And, in a strange coincidence of history, both cities share their historical lineage to the Anglo-Portuguese couple, Catherine of Braganza and King Charles II.
In the seventeenth century of trade diplomacy, to secure much needed military support from Britain, Portuguese handed Bombay (along with Tangerine; two strong sea-route for British trade) as a dowry to Charles II for a short, dark, ugly Catherine. A few years later, British wrestled NY from Dutch and two boroughs were named Kings and Queens in the honor of Catherine (borough is still known as ‘Queen’) and Charles II (now known as ‘Brooklyn’). Similarities continue when you look at Manhattan and South Bombay. Physically, they are of the same size. They house their respective Central Bank and Stock Exchange. If rats (some eight million of them on the last count) are the scavengers for NY then crows are doing their bit in Bombay.
Coming back to running, New York City Marathon probably ranks as the number one marathon in the world. It is a showpiece marathon event with more than fifty thousand runners, some six-hundred bands playing on the course, two million spectators and millions of TV viewers. In NY marathon, you encounter Queensboro bridge and rolling hills of central park at the fag end. Here in Bombay, you will have Peddar Road climb and then running in the sun at Marine Drive for last 5 kilometers. Bombay Marathon is not in the same league but it’s a home event for many of us. It’s in my backyard. It’s where I discovered the joy of running.
Marathon running has become a common man’s sport. There is no other sport where amateur enthusiast needs to engage with the sport for a long, sustained level like this. Four plus hours of endurance activity is a new endorphin high that we seek from the mundane humdrum of life. And in an ever-crowded calendar that we juggle, it is not a small achievement.
“… many of us spend the vast majority of our lives in a comfortable equilibrium. We’re rarely famished, or freezing, or physically exhausted. We wonder when to upgrade our smartphones, contemplate a second helping of dessert, and ask ourselves if we should run four or five miles tomorrow morning. Faced with a string of superficial decisions, many people become introspective. They begin to question whether their lives are meaningful. At the same time, they sense that meaningfulness comes from the margins of human experiences – that it flowers during the times of great joy, pain, frustration or hardship. For this reason, even those who are privileged feel compelled to court new challenges. Some of us decide on a month without alcohol, or undertake an act of charity, or set out for a ten-kilometer run.”
Adam Alter, The New Yorker
I have always wondered what goes in a runners’ mind? As runners, we go thru myriad emotions. Somewhere I read, there are largely three narratives that are at play. Runners are constantly checking distance, time and speed. At some stage, we start noticing pain (my hip flexor is gone, my stomach churns violently after fourth GU gel, my calf can burst any moment, my knee wobbles uncontrollably). And thru our periphery vision, we notice the crowd, weather, upcoming hill.
I have tried to analyze my own mind during long runs and cycling sessions. There are long stretches where I have zoned out. I have an idea of space, time around me. I can see fellow runners thru my periphery vision but there is a world of my own where I get lost. I have been blank in most of the sessions. Murakami describes it beautifully:
“I ran in a void. Or maybe I should put it the other way: I run in order to acquire a void.”
I have come across another beautiful book on runners. Thomas Gardner came with a very short book of sixty-six pages that had fifty-two entries, one for each week. Gardner has a better voice on emotions that runners feel.
“At some point, in almost every race, you get lost. You open your eyes and realize you’re in trouble. Your heart rate rises, your concentration buckles, and you’re suddenly flailing around inside, with no landmark save for a familiar hatred of yourself and the ego that made you line up and race. You slow down and turn on yourself.”
By Thomas Gardner in Poverty Creek Journal
Psychologists believe there are two kinds of motivations – extrinsic (fame, money) and intrinsic (discipline, spiritualism) and two kinds of well-being – happiness (emotional, momentary) and meaningfulness (life has broad value and purpose). Running is like meditation. It’s a long, tedious, linear motion that you have to carry out for more than four hours. There is an element of spiritual well-being in that long, linear motion. It is about training your mind. It is about not getting bored. It is akin to meditation. Meditation demands that we are present in here and now. Most of our life, we are ruminating about our past success and failures. We are anxious about future. All sports require you to be totally present in the moment. That’s what all training gets reduced to. You try to be alive at every step.
As a human, we follow a basic tenet of avoiding pain. With a simple exercise like running, we go out and embrace pain. Runners indulge in small self-talk. We remind ourselves that pain is good. We try to train our mind to direct our tired body to stay focused and complete the task at hand. We aim for an impossible goal of leaving the pain behind and achieving a fleeting sense of elation. We push thru pain so that we might become a better person.
Yes, it is true that runners also walk around like some fanatic zombies and never tired of talking about their running accomplishment. There is a missionary zeal in trying to recruit non-runners to superior Art of Living – Running.
I have seen runners becoming better humans. Maybe, you can sweat your anger, frustration out on a long run. It has surely happened to me. Over the years, just like other runners, I have become quieter and more disciplined in other parts of life.
Taylor Swift is right about NY. Similar sentiment can be expressed about running too...
Like any great love
It keeps you guessing
Like any real love
It's ever changing
Like any true love
It drives you crazy
But you know you wouldn't change anything, anything, anything
Welcome to NY (Welcome to Running)
Hope to be back in NY in 2017! Insha-Allah!
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