Mumbai to Madurai……..what a trip!!!

It was the 1st of August, 2010……..got up @ 4 am……packed my bags, drank a liter of electral enriched water and off to Powai I went. IIT Powai organizes a 10K race (9.84 K to be exact) every year in Mumbai, Pune and US. It is conducted by few ex-IITians. This was my first Irace and 1st time entry in to a place like IIT that reminded me of only book worms. As an ardent member of the back-bencher’s association, I could only dream of being in an IIT; but here I was to compete on my strong area - Running. The registration for I-race begins very early and one can collect the bib only a day before or on the race-day. The only difference is that, you will shell out an extra Rs.50/- if you collect the bib on the race day.

However, like a typical palakkad pattar – bound by time, I reached IIT Powai at exactly 6 am in the morning with no other runners around except a few organizers. Next to arrive was Ram, another pattar. I had not prepared for this race as much as I wanted as wasn’t keeping well while slogging like a slave in the office all day long for the past week. I was not sure about my participation but on the penultimate day I just decided to run come what may. One gets to meet lot of good runners at such races and I too got lucky to meet Allen who is a speed demon. Lots of my running colleagues also were a part of the race i.e. Sundar, Ram, Bharat Oza, Milton, Kaushik, Michael, Sashi, Supriya amongst others.

I must say the IIT Powai rocks during monsoon. The route is filled with lots of twists and turns, lush greenery all around and it is even more exhilarating to run such a route as a nature lover. The patch that I truly loved was the one along the Powai lake for about 200 meters.

It started pouring cats and dogs and I thought it would be difficult for running under such conditions as some of the patches are tricky while one lands.

At the starting point

The race began exactly at 7.38 a.m. The race was flagged off by Mr. Madhur K and his colleague. Madhur is a marathoner and takes part in many marathons in India and abroad. I started off well and was running lead group till about 2 to 3 K mark and just then I started slowing down and others went way ahead. Before I crossed the half way mark I saw my guru Giles pacing along with other runner and that’s when I decided to slowly take off. I crossed the 5K and then came Bharat bhai from behind. Here I really felt that running along with someone is always better and keeps you going as compared to running alone. I slowly picked up my pace and wanted to finish off the race within 54.38. As I was nearing the last 500 mark, there were couple of runners who were ahead of me and I wanted to overtake them. Luckily to my help, I had a slope ahead of me in about 50 meters and that’s when I went full throttle. One of our senior running colleagues, Dr. T Patil had said – “You should always preserve your energy for the last 500 meters and sprint with maximum speed possible.” So did I and and overtook the targeted couple of guys ahead of me. I think his advise paid of very well at the end. I wasn’t feeling all that great after the finish and wasn’t that happy with the result though I finished the race in 55.38 mins. It was my guru’s feedback that made all the difference to me. He said, 55.38 at I-race is good since the track was not an easy one.

At I-race, once you finish the race, you could just hog on to some delicious Kanda Poha, biscuits, chai and much more. The arrangements are too good for a race of this magnitude. Must say I truly enjoyed such a start to the day. Sundar, a runner friend of mine from Colaba dropped me back on the highway and I dashed off back to Nerul.

I had to pack my bag again for 4 days trip to Madurai, leaving in the afternoon. My bro had booked my tickets on Jet Airways a week back and I didn’t bother to look at it again. My flight to Chennai was at 3.25 and from Chennai I had a connecting flight at 7.15 pm to Madurai.

I landed at Santacruz airport exactly at 2.10 p.m and went into the counter to do a check in. Next thing that happened was a big surprise for me. The executive at the counter said that my ticket to Chennai has been cancelled and I cannot go to Chennai on that flight. On questioning them as to who had cancelled the ticket, they had no answer. I was made to run between two counters - one inside and the other outside the airport. It so happened that after couple of times the security guard didn’t even bother to check my identity card and the ticket. Since this was an emergency trip, I resisted myself from saying anything for about half an hour. I had to reach Madurai on 1st August at any cost. I tried desperately to reach out to some friends for help but couldn’t get through that added more to the anxiety. After about 45 mins, I couldn’t wait more and lost my cool on the executive who was at the counter :(*)^@$%. Things started finally moving after that and I was waitlisted on a flight to Chennai at 5.30. I had to cancel my Chennai – Madurai flight.

As if this was not enough, I got a window seat in the 5.30 flight. I have travelled by flight before but this time experience was different. The noise being made by the engine was so loud, I couldn’t bear the pain in my ears. Felt as if the ear drums were going to rupture. After such a wonderful start to the day, it was like Murphy’s law was coming true at every moment of this trip to Madurai. Somehow, I landed safe and sound at the Chennai airport @ 7.30 p.m.

It was friendship day and what a delight it was to meet my ex-boss, colleague and the one who brought me into marathon - Shankar at the airport. You could hardly ever find a person of his nature in this world. We spent half an hour talking to each other. By this time my cousin arrived and was waiting to pick me up. We went off on a typical Chennai rickshaw which doesn’t run on meters and are charged as per the will of rickshaw driver….God knows when things would change here and customers are spared the turmoil of dealing with a ruthless crook at the wheel or must I say handle . My cousin had booked my bus ticket to Madurai by the 9.40pm bus. I was hungry and we dashed off to Sarvana Bhavan, a chain of hotels which is very famous in Chennai for its south Indian food. We reached Sarvana Bhavan @ 9.00 pm and waited for half an hour without any luck or service. Murphy continued to rule my day and I had to leave for the bus station without any dinner. Finally I boarded the 9.40 bus and zipped off to Madurai. The drive to Madurai was amazing while we cruised on the new highway. I reached Madurai the next morning exact @ 5.30 AM and was quite happy to see my cousin waiting for me to pick up and reach my destination…………….

Quite memorable 24 hours of my life!