(Abs)olute endurance!!!!

I met Rajesh while I was finishing one of my "lung searing" work outs. He was doing push-ups with his legs raised on a park bench after running approx. 4K. I went up to him and made intermittent conversation while trying to catch my breath. When I enquired about the condition of his knee (which he had severely injured in one of his Judo sparing bouts), he claimed that it was fine and fully recovered. Then, he told me something that amazed me. He claimed that his abdominal muscles (Abs) had developed enough that he could now do 500 crunches!!!!!!! Also, his aim was to reach 1000 crunches (he didn't say in what time period)!!!!!!!! Well...well...well, that, my dear friends is true muscle endurance. I expressed my amazement and congratulated him. I was getting late for work and so I bade him "Good Day". As I jogged home, I wondered about the crunches I was able to do which, with effort, would reach a mere 100 :-(

Bryan (Kuku Boy) grows up

On Sunday, Monsoon, Bryan and I set out for Linking Road. Mission? To buy Bryan his first pair of jeans (long pants). He told me on Saturday that the boys tease him cause he continues to wear shorts and that he wants a pair of Jeans. I explained to him that he looks good in a pair of shorts because he has good legs and that the guys probably envy him. He has well-developed well-formed hamstrings and calves (a result of playing football) and - "honest to God" - a pair of jeans shorts make his legs look enviable. However, I realized that he had grown up without my knowing it and wanted to look like a big boy.

We were at the "Pepe Jeans" store and I got him his first pair of jeans which did make him look rather nice. I was filled with a strange sense of emotion as I realized that he was now growing into a big boy and very soon he would be as tall as me. Although it was not on the plan, he found a "cool" looking shirt and was longingly holding it at arms length, appraising it. I asked him to try it on and - well - it would go well on his jeans so we ended up buying it. The glee in his eyes and the hug he gave me saying, "thank you da-da" (thats dad and not big brother as in Bengali) made everything worthwhile.

When I returned home, I mused about this and remembered "Fiddler on the roof", a movie that moved me 3 decades back. I can only today identify, with just how the father felt when he stood on the train station, seeing his daughter off as she planned to marry a russian peasant. He sang this melancholy song which matched the even more poignant whistle of a train in the far off distance as it puffed towards the station to take his daughter away;

Is this the little girl I carried?
Is this the little girl at play?
I don't remember growing older,
when did they?

When did she get to be a beauty?
when did she grow to be so tall?
wasn't it yesterday when they were small?

Sunrise, sunset, sunrise, sunset
quickly go the days,
seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers
blossoming even as we gaze.

Dilip Kamtikar

I have known Dilip since the last 3 years or so. We began talking when he stopped me once in mid-run and asked me as to what makes me "tick" :-) He was refering to my running at Aarey. Soon thereafter, he made me his "guru" and showered compliments whenever he achieved fitness milestones. In Jan 2007 he did his first 1/2 marathon. In jan 2008, he completed his first full marathon.

We usually only greet each other aloud as we pass by as we do not like to stop & disturb each other when running. Yesterday (sunday), I was stretching and Dilip came by. He pumped my hand beaming and told me that on 24th March he completed 50 years of age and that he had voluntarily resigned from the Directorship of 12 companies in the Goenka Group (one of them being "Le Meridien" Hotel). When I queried as to what he planned to do, he replied, "I have'nt decided yet". I envy him cause I would just love to do what he did. He told me that he has enough money, well settled children, an understanding wife and sound health. One of the things he surely plans to do (and I envy him for this too) is to do a trip of the Antarctica this December!. He informed me that he would have liked that I "condition" him for the physical demands of such an excursion. I would have loved to but I just don't have the time. He is hoping that I can join him and keeps reminding me that "its happening" and that preparations and plans are afoot!!

I bade him good-day and returned home jogging, deep in thought as to whether good fortune such as this would ever come my way.