“Lift one overhead and run”- Shivali – 6:42pm, 9th
August : A Dramatical start: Little did one know that these 5 words would
end up becoming and scaling me to a challenge, that I think was very much
needed, for me. Na, it wasn’t lifting 4 Pints of beer on a Sunday evening, but
this Log of wood, which seemed easy to carry when one would see it at first,
but, as I approached to just move it, I was like what have I got myself into.
Cut back to, me wrapping up work on the excels and words of
the world, having decided on Saturday, that Sunday would be a Rest day from my
workout, as the last 6 days had scaled up as per plan. As Mumbai had just
witnessed it’s worst rainfall and wind
nightmare, causing a lot of destruction across the city especially towards
town, one would have to actually stop counting the number of trees that had
fallen literally on every second street here. The weather on Sunday just was
the perfect Runner’s weather or maybe I just felt like going for a short 7km
run on the drive, like on any given Sunday.
Being an Impromptu plan and while getting myself groomed by
getting myself a haircut for the first time since March ( this time I really
thought I would manage to grow my hair back like it was back in 2009, but I
guess, I was running out of patience and of wearing that black band
everyday), I just put a message on the
GX group of our members, if anyone wanted to join me for a run, knowing that it
was pretty last minute, I knew the chances of anyone joining in were less.
The Real Reason- Running has always been my best
friend, as for the best of reasons, it always helps me clear my mind, given me
the confidence to jump into endless possibilities, is like the best form of
meditation for me. Like everyone, no matter whatever said and done, the impact
of functioning in these times has been unusual and somewhere it has left me in
a zone of not knowing what should be done, not negative, but in a confused
state of mind.
Staying in Delhi for the first 2.5 months, getting pampered
and more importantly, taking care of things at home for Mom, Dad, Babloo Uncle
and getting to spend time with everyone there, not like the other times that
I’ve been to Delhi was a welcoming change and at the same time the uncertainty
of work here, ( touchwood things are really good, and are getting better with
time), at easyhuman was also happening with Shivali, Rohit, Ritesh and Pankaj,
putting in all their hours here while I was working remotely to the best of my
ability, and once the flights opened up, it was actually time to get back, well
if it was in my mom’s hand, I would have still been in Delhi. Getting back to
the Bay , I was shit scared on how will I get to Colaba or Bandra and those
48-72 hours were quite a nightmare, till a few days later, the wine and beers opened
and the mind got relaxed thanks to Fantastic 4 above. While the new normal has
been awesome now for past 10 weeks for me, there has still been a lot of
confusion, maybe because am missing being in Delhi, only from the aspect of
taking care of things there or missing hanging out with my friends or maybe
because am still single, or maybe because the challenges just don’t coming up (
I love challenges ), but here we are living with something new cropping up
every 4th hour. You plan one thing, then re-plan, and re-plan, while
the process has been challenging, there have been amazing learnings which are
and will help us with time. In short, these short transitions of Yo-Yoing have
just been amazingly crazy.
Over the past few days, prior to this Impromptu Run, I have
4 of my friends who have lost their
Parent, and it has just been so hard for them, and all these happenings play
around with your thoughts. This was real trigger for me to go for this Sunday
Run
At it- Starting at about 6:15pm, I headed for Marine
drive which is 1.9 km’s away from the café, I was running with my music and
mask, and as I got to the marine drive turn, one could see a LOT of people
venturing out and I was it’s not a good idea, the same happened on the
preceding Sunday too, where I ran till Jazz by the Bay, and went on to the
Route of Fort, Asiatic Library and Kalaghoda, finally heading back to Colaba
from the Oval Maidan route- Ok, only the ones who know Mumbai, would know what
I’m talking about, and this route is still one hell of a beauty to Run on in
the evenings.
So, Now while listening to Armin and the Music, I reach one
signal before fort and see this tree which had fallen on Wednesday, now cut
nicely and placed on the corner of the road, which was surely going to be
cleared with a day or so, I just messaged Shivali, that the pieces of wood were
very good and easily liftable too. And I just typed this and headed to the
signal ahead to go towards Asiatic, and then, and then those 5 words Pop up on
the Screen - “Lift one overhead and run”. I, immediately stopped, turned
around, looked at the pieces again, and I knew which one I wanted to lift, then
this got me thinking, why didn’t this idea cross my mind? Well, the answer I
got was, because you are not Shivali. Hahahaha.
So now, I have got the Log of book out from the sack, there
was lifting required as I just needed to slide it out, sideways. Now, I have
this log of wood in front of me, am cracking my knuckles, while the cars on the
signal are wondering what the hell is this guy upto?.. Well this guy was going
to lift this Log and walk back to Colaba which is about 2.3 km’s away,
mentally, this guy has calculated that he will reach in 45-50 minutes. Then
this guy went into a squat, applied all his learning of fitness, and lifted the
log, oops, it was heavy and how, walked 20 steps and throws the log ahead. Oh
man, how that dream of 45-50 mts just came down crashing, but what happened in
those 20 steps, is that this Guy got a Challenge that he was longing for and
got it in the most unexpected way. All I could see, were the reactions of
people who were crossing by and giving a thumbs up in appreciation. All pumped
up, lifted again, the log seemed heavier, but this time, I walked 40 steps, and
my heart rate shot up in the Yellow Zone ( only the myzone users know this
language), eventually after 4 lifts, I reached the Churchgate signal, Shivali
messaging this is army training sandy, a few kids coming up and just looking in
amazement as to yeh uncle kar kya rahe hain.
The beauty of these barely 200 meters, along with the self-talk
that I was having with myself, you know it’s like once you have given a
commitment to yourself, you just want to even think about giving up. Thinking
of the log as a gift for Shivali, always took over that self-talk. Everytime, I
would put the log down, I would need a minute or two to get ready before the
next lift. I would have Shivali message me, I hope you are wearing myzone, this
would be an amazing workout and I hope someone can make a video of you. Now
again she did it, why didn’t I think of this idea of a Video being made. Well,
the answer I got again was, because you are not Shivali.
Now I have entered the Oval Maidan road, where the first pit
stop was below Starters and More, and just to distract myself from all the self-talk
of Why are you doing this, I simply transported myself to my SCB days, where I
think we were at Starters and More for the happy hours, Monday to Friday
without fail. The second Pit stop was
Vinod Uncle’s house, where we used to go for Satsang, so all these pit stops
got marked down and kept pushing me.
The Log by this time was only being supported by my Right shoulder and I was getting exhausted without any water, happily enjoying the salt off my sweat. I see one guy who was running, and I stopped him and asked him whether he would like to Log Run till the end of the Oval Maidan Signal ( atleast 500 meters ahead, if not more). Well this guy got pumped and eventually after fixing our lifting spot we started a little jog. We must have just gone about 80-100 meters ahead, where I get the reaction from him, that bro that’s it for me haan. Well, I thanked him and I was like damn, atleast signal tak to chalta saath mein.
Cut to the most interesting part of the lift, I finally see
this kiddo on his phone, I go close to him, politely say Excuse me and ask him,
if he make a video of me. He asks, Video doing what. Well, I told him I will
lift that log so he needs to shoot it for 30 seconds at best till time I drop
it. His reaction was, Ya right, Ok whatever ( I am telling you I could read his
face), he shot the video on his phone. Well, I caught my breathe, prepared
myself and lifted the log and started going ahead ( Talking about Ahead, not
even once I ever let the Log roll back or I threw it back if I got tired), I
kept on going and going and going and I think I was about to walk more than 150
meters, if not more, I knew what was happening. Just roll the camera and the
best performance had to come out. That shot last close to 90 seconds and it was
the longest stretch that I walked in this entire Log Lift. I thanked the kido
and I gave him my number, he promised me
that he would send it me right away and gave a virtual High 5 ( I received that
video after 5 days- am so happy that I got this one).
The Next Pit stop has been my favorite one, KJ’s old house
Oval View on Oval Maidan, which has been my crash out place whenever I have
stayed in town, whenever I needed a place to stay before the SCB Marathon, my
always go to place whenever I stay in town. KJ, I was like why did you guys
ever shift out from that place. From
Oval View, the Signal must not be more than 150 meters away and with me 40
minutes into the walk, that signal seemed like a km away. At this point, I
clearly remember me wanting to call one of my best friend Vasant, who lost his
dad just 2 days back, to just tell him that everything is going to be ok.
Vasant and I Ran the Half-Police Marathon, just 2 weeks prior to the lockdown
from the Sea-Link to Gateway of India. Cheers always to that Buddy.
The Sun was on its way to set now completely and I was still
a few steps away from the Oval Maidan Signal. The Self Talk kept increasing,
that ho gaya bhai, It’s good what you have done till now, but then, The good
sandy emerged and just whispered, Oh so you want to Fail Again- The Failure
referring to me not completing the Half Ironman, while I knew that mentally, I
would have completed it, but again, in reality and on paper, it was unfinished.
And that’s it, that thought, kept me on my toes, no matter how the shoulder
felt. Finally, after reaching the Oval Maidan Signal, I had to make a quick
call, on whether I should go straight or take a right and then the immediate
left. I decided in a Jiffy, let’s carry on in the same direction but I knew
that I cant lift the log from one side of the signal to the other, so instead
of lifting, I started rolling the log, with my hands and in one shot on
calculating which signal would be on red, just managed to roll it a little
difficulty as the log would suddenly change direction, but once I found the equilibrium,
it became a little easier. I think the time now was 7:35pm and the road which
would take 1 minute by Cab ( from the oval signal to the Wodehouse gymkhana
signal), seemed like Colaba to Andheri to me.
This stretch was the emptiest one, hardly had any set of
eyes on me, which was honestly adding on to as a key factor for me to complete
this task. The Lifts and the Rolls continued, sharing the snaps journey with
Shivali continued and as the clock was striking 7:55pm, I realized that I was
atleast 45 minutes away and damn I don’t want to miss taking an Uber, as I
didn’t have a pair of extra clothes and I just didn’t want that happening. So
that thought helped me push faster and by 8:02pm ( I checked my phone now for
this one hence the precision of time), and I sent a photo to Shivali, by that
time SS has told the Fantastic 4 about this.
Well, again my focus came back to, I cant miss the Uber, so
Sandy fasten up, and then as the end was nearing, the self-talks were getting
more kickass, the music suddenly changing to sings with lyrics from the regular
trancey music I love on my runs, to me singing along, resting along, and now
people also appearing who again gave these looks. Well, my focus was only 1,
Uber, so I tried to recover quickly and eventually got to this fork shape
signal, one going to Wodehouse road and the other to Taj president. While the
Log lay down, one guy, 1/4th my size, is telling me with actions
that lift the log and do not roll it. Little did he know about my short journey
from Fort, so I just took one of the earphones and asked him to show me how
should I lift it ( I was just having a hearty laugh beneath that serious face).
Here comes this Laurel looking chap and attempts to lift the log and he just
says Sorry sorry, ye to bhaari hain ( This is heavy), well I just told him on
how it is done and he walked for the next 40 steps with me. The guy nearly
hugged me in all that excitement and with this Fear of Covid, we just did a
Fist Bump.
It just started to Pour and just 10 minutes away from the
café, one person who saw me lifting the Log, offered to just drop me a little
ahead till the café, when he knew where the final destination was. With the
rain coming down, and with trees falling just 72 hours back, I took up that
offer and got back to the café by 8:40pm.
The Video of lifting the log has been the best thing that
has happened for me over the last few months. It is something that I needed, I
needed a New Challenge and am glad I took this up. Impromptu works and no
matter how much you plan, plans will change. Living in the Now, is the most
amazing and Beautiful aspect of living and we all need moments of triumph and
sometimes we do not need them to realize this very simple point.
2 Major Fitness Learnings- Had I managed to lift the log on
the left shoulder, that balance creation on an alternate basis would have cut
down my time by atleast 40 minutes. And the second one again, when it came to
rolling the log with my legs, after finding the midpoint of the log to keep the
Log going straight, the Right leg would always make the first move. Time to
work on the Left side.
Last but not the least, it took me more than 2 weeks to Pen
this experience down. And it happened thanks to this message by Fab- https://www.grazia.co.in/lifestyle/happy-foods-that-will-fuel-your-productivity-at-home-5629.html
. My reply to this message went at 6:43pm
Specially dedicated to the Famous 4, and all Fitness enthusiasts, right from our members at easyhuman, to my workout group in Delhi and to my online Workout group in Mumbai....
“Lift one overhead and run”- Shivali – 6:42pm, 9th August
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