Running in (for) one's life

 'Running' is a natural reaction built into all animals including humans. The emotions associated with this act vary whether one is running towards (fight) or away (flight) from the subject of interest or when 'running' itself becomes the subject of interest. For most average built men (physically and mentally), the reaction in case of an impending danger is one of flight ('l' included) and not fight. 

'Running away' is probably a more apt description of this 'flight' reaction. However, in modern day's society, the necessity to run away from physical danger is far less than in the era of hunter-gatherers. More of than not, one 'runs away' figuratively- a concept aptly summarised by the word - 'escapism'. 

When my wife repeatedly accused me of being an escapist and running away from taking decisions- I decided to 'run away' for a few minutes every day from home. During those minutes, I was my own boss- listening to my heart (which incidentally was thumping away while the lungs were panting and the leg muscles were complaining- roughly in the ratio of 140:25:10). These few minutes allowed my mind to roam free and explore new ideas and fantasize (by pushing the thumping of the heart/panting of the lungs/ cramping of the muscles to the sub conscious). Gradually these minutes could be extended as my body got used to the rhythm of running and my mind got used to the opportunity to fantasize.  

I run on the road/foot path of a typical Indian metropolis with its fair share of surface irregularities. In order to avoid pitfalls (fall into pits), I make pit stops (not of the racing variety but stop in front of pits). Hence I wear my glasses and stare hard at the ground to identify all irregularities in the dim light of the early morning. On an especially tricky strip of road, I missed noticing a reasonably freshly laid cow dung and for a brief period skied before returning to running. I was about to look adversely at this experience but quickly corrected my mental process. After all, what I stamped on is the output of what is considered a sacred animal by many and if one were to go to a village, the same material is used to paint walls of huts and also used as fuel. So I accepted the event as a celestial blessing and went on with my running (running away). My mind is switched off from reality and I was fantasizing a situation where I was capturing a lot of corrupt and bad people and bringing them to justice. All of sudden, I was brought back to reality by the loud honk from a truck coming in the wrong direction with flashing lights and the driver shouting at me to mind where I am going. 

I quickly stepped out of the path of the truck and went directly into the personal (private) space of two street dogs that were having a tete-e-tete. Their exclusive space thus invaded, they started to chase me out of their unspecified territory. Darting out this territorial dispute with the street dogs, I nearly ran head on into a group of ladies running in the opposite direction. With one shout they said -' Don't worry uncle, we will take care of the dogs'. So saying they whipped out sticks and chased the dogs away. When I thanked them between my gasping for breath, they replied in unison- 'no problem uncle, call us any time. We also run on this road regularly'. I said to myself-'Damsels in case of (my) distress'. The lingering fantasy of me thrashing the corrupt people thus slowly faded away. 

Comments

  1. murliJuly 24, 2026 at 5:00 AM

    Another one from LG to tickle our bones ! How do you manage to make ordinary things sound so funny ? Keep doing it LG, we love to listen to you- sorry, read you and laugh heartlily !!

    ReplyDelete

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