hyderabad marathon 2013

Mask of Zorro (Hyderabad Marathon 2013)

The full marathon veterans were flagged off at 5 am. Soon after we were treated to an energy exploding electrifying agile performance by the Twists and Turns, and then the half marathoners, all 1800 of us we were flagged  off by the chief guest. 1800 made for a jam packed and slow start.

The ambience at the race was electrifying. There was  a sea of blue T shirts interspersed with the bright Hyderabad runners yellow, loud rock music and the crowd to encourage us.. I saw a few familiar faces  at the start, veteran runners who were there for every marathon. We greeted each other with enthusiasm. I always saw them at the start but  never the finish, because by the time I dragged  my weary bones there, they would have had breakfast and left!

I had been preparing for the Hyderabad half –marathon for 2 months, irregularly (it would rain, I had to travel, my grandson had holidays---). I never managed the weekly long run. I considered myself lucky if I managed 6-8 kilometres 4 times a week.  Still at 60 I was the oldest woman participant and determined to complete it.

It was heart rending to see the blade runners, one must salute their spirit , energy and determination. They have logged so many kilometres with grit and loneliness.

That aside, one of the highlights was the appearance of masked Zorro or was it batman? I’m not too well versed with the costumes. He had a mask covering the upper half of his face, a long cape, a couple of rubber daggers and an elegant flourish with which he encouraged us to “come on come on!”

There was an elderly couple, with a placard encouraging us en route  and a lithe PYT who shouted cheered and danced on the road,.

A whole family was awaiting for a first time runner with more and more disappointment showing on their faces as the bibbed  runners  sped by and their candidate was not to be seen.

The police got tired of blocking traffic and at three crucial crossings we had to helped across by a few enthusiastic volunteers. It was a bit frightening but worked out okay.

As I ran I kept looking for a person ahead of  me whom I could catch up with or overtake. It was a daunting task as some walkers overtook me and then a man with a  waddling gait ( fasted waddler I have ever seen)!

I ran 3-4 km with a man who had run 67 km the previous week. All that exertion made his knees pack up and he limped along. Took him 6 hours but he made it to the finish line!

I could eventually see the finish, but I thought I wouldn’t make it and started to walk, when a good Samaritan (not Zorro) offered and accompanied me across the finish line! No word scan describe the joy of receiving that beautiful medal.

aliens and ghosts

Tackling an Alien

I was really happy when we were finally allotted an independent house on campus, after living for years in hospital quarters and flats. Our house was one of the first to be constructed there. It was at one end of the 400 acre campus, isolated, surrounded by trees and very quiet. Conservative estimates put its age at a hundred. The founder’s Ida Scudder’s niece had lived there.

It was made of mud and plaster with an airy veranda in front. We led an idyllic existence, until one day my domestic, (a sensible woman who had worked with me for 20 years) announced, “I cannot clean the upstairs on Fridays. “

“Why?” I asked. I wondered if this was a prelude to what was to follow,  and she was soon going to make other demands like, “I will mop only once a week “ or “I will not put away the clothes.”

She whispered, “ There is a ghost here. It wears anklets and goes up and down the stairs on Fridays.”

“What nonsense” I said, “it is the wind blowing through the trees.”

She did not say anything, but then I noticed the upstairs was not cleaned on Fridays. The ghost apparently appeared during the daytime, unseen by her but with sound effects  and wandered up and down the staircase. I decided to ignore the matter. After all reliable domestics were hard to find. She made up on Saturdays by cleaning thoroughly.

After  a few months, there was a political bandh on Friday. This meant no buses ran, and though I could have driven through empty roads to work it was dangerous.  I could not go in to work, and the domestic help could not come.

 I sat at the dining table and worked on my lap top, I heard the anklets too. It was a regular tinkle like footsteps. It grew faint as it reached upstairs and louder as it came down.

I had a dog at that time,  a ferocious Lhasa Apso. He had a formidable reputation and had bitten several visitors, electricians, plumbers and relatives. He  went to the foot of the steps, stared fixedly at something  and howled with his  hair standing up on end and his  tail between his  legs. I tried to climb up the staircase, but something pushed me. The dog went berserk.

My  husband was travelling, and there was no one else in the house, I decided to sleep downstairs on the living room sofa. (I wasn’t going to climb up those stairs).

The ghost decided that it had a free run of the house.  On full moon and new moon nights it moved from room to room followed by an alternatively whimpering howling dog with its tail between its legs.

Things were getting out of hand. Something had to be done.

I discretely asked around. “Does anyone know an exorcist?” I decided to make it sound less weird by saying “I am doing an article on demonic possession---“

I finally discovered a priest ( he had his own Pentecostal church) who was willing to come and do the needful. I waited till my husband was travelling again and tried to fix an appointment.

“ Can you come in the evening after 7 pm? Can you not tell anyone why you have come?”

He was beginning to give me funny looks.

“Will anyone else be home?”

“No----“

He said “Can I not come when your husband is home?”

I wanted the appointment when my husband and servant were not at home. I was afraid she would quit the job if  her fears about a ghost were confirmed. My husband had never heard the noise or seen the dog’s bizarre behaviour so it would be impossible to convince him that anything was amiss..

“Okay , come at 7 pm. “ I fixed a date when I knew my husband would be in Delhi. “My husband will be home” I lied.

Come Friday, my husband cancelled his trip. I tried to contact the exorcist to cancel, but he was not picking up his phone. I started to get a desperate feeling. The  exorcist arrived with another man in tow. “Who is this?” I asked.

“My assistant” he replied. “Where is your husband?”

I think he was as wary of me as I was of him. As we eyed each other suspiciously, I heard my husband’s car pull into the garage.

“My trip was postponed” he announced. “Who are these people.”

Before I could say a word the exorcist announced, “I am father XYZ I have come to chase away the ghost.”

My husband’s jaw dropped. “Never heard such nonsense! Who said there are ghosts in this house?”

The exorcist glared at me.

I had confined the dog to the front veranda. He started to go berserk when he saw the strangers and my husband. At that precise minute the dog escaped from the veranda through a grilled window! He looked like a holy terror as he went straight for the exorcist’s thigh.

“Stop it” said my husband. The dog only obeys two commands “stop” and “sit” and that too intermittently. “Stop it” sounded alien. The dog paused for a minute and then attacked the exorcist’s assistant. He drew blood from his arm. Just then the ghost decided to climb the stairs. The dog lost interest in the exorcist and proceeded to howl at the staircase.

“This bloody dog is possessed, its not a ghost  “ said my husband. “Shut up you stupid thing.” The dog turned around and bit the exorcist. I attempted to get his leash on. He bit me.

The exorcist and assistant seized the  opportunity to flee.

I ran behind them, but forgot that I now had the dog with me on a leash.

“Please don’t  set the dog on us , God please save me,” shouted the exorcist. He and his assistant managed to open their car and  climb in.

I leant in through the window. He flinched and leant as far away from me as he could..

“Please”, I said “I am sorry about what happened. Can you come again?”

“Madam,” he replied ,”Do I look like a lunatic? You need exorcizing. And your dog!”

He sort of did look like a lunatic, with his hair awry and blood dripping on his clothes.

“Can you at least tell me how to chase away the ghost?”

The man’s face puffed up in anger and fear. “I feel sorry for the ghost. Why don’t you set the dog on it? Personally, I think your husband is right. Your dog is a devil.”

He revved up the car, the wheels spun around in the mud and he  finally left.

My husband was waiting at the kitchen entrance, “What on earth are you doing? Exorcist indeed! You are supposed to be educated and rational.”

I did not want to hear any more. As I headed up the stairs, I whispered to the ghost, “Now see what you have done. Why can’t you just stay on the staircase and stop harassing my dog?”

I heard a whoosh sound.

We had a saprophytic existence after that. The ghost left the dog alone. The upstairs was not cleaned on Fridays. If I was alone in the house I slept in front of the television on full moon days.

Then I researched ghosts and discovered they are not really spirits they are aliens, beings from another dimension trapped in limbo unable to return to their planet of origin. I stopped being afraid.

I expounded this theory to my husband. After listening for some time he said,” Don’t say this to other people. Lets just keep the alien our  secret---“

After fifteen years my husband retired and we moved away into our own house. I was a little afraid that  the alien would get into the luggage and move with us. He didn’t, but occasionally as I walk past our old house he flickers the front light to say hello.

Dr. Gita Mathai

The writer is a paediatrician with a family practice at Vellore

love actually

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  "Love Actually"
  
  Eternal, platonic, filial , motherly, possessive, mutual, exclusive, unrequited, there is no end to the number of adjectives that can be used to describe love. It is actually muhabath, and has always been a part of the Indian tradition. We exported the original Sanskrit word "lubh" (meaning desire and love) everywhere. The emotion is now universal, and the world appears to revolve around love in its various forms.
  
  One of the mysteries unexplained since the beginning of time is the sudden mutual attraction between two people, love "at first sight."
  
  Does it really occur?
  
  "Yes," according to 67% of the people surveyed. (Perhaps fate has just been unkind to the remaining 33%, and their views may also change when the time is right).
  
  Scientifically, the star struck attraction is just plain "lust", mediated by a surge in the primeval sex hormones testosterone and oestrogen, acting in differing proportions in both men and women. This is followed by a sudden release of the internal neurotransmitters dopamine, norepinephrine (adrenaline)and serotonin, the same chemicals involved in a cocaine high or nicotine use. Sweating , palpitations and a temporary insanity sets in. Hit by cupid's arrow, even the most logical prosaic human develops irrational behaviour. Thought processes becomes disturbed, work and efficiency suffers, waking hours are non-productively occupied by visions of the new lover, and nights become sleep deprived. If love is unrequited, the fluctuating chemical levels cause depression as well.
  
  This love is not ethereal but can be rationally demonstrated using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging. Four areas of the brain became active, and one area noticeably inactive, when the subjects are in "love." Unfortunately euphoria inducing drugs have the same effect, explaining the "madness" of love.
  
  This state cannot last forever. It is unhealthy and physically unsustainable. The body realizes this and gradually the phase of "mutual commitment and attachment" sets in with the release of the more "bonding" chemicals oxytocin and vasopressin. Either long-term commitment sets in or the relationship fails. The madness is over.
  
  Subconsciously, as men and women search for a reliable long term partner, companionship and a durable relationship, they look for different things.
  
  Women, search for good genes. Early brain imprints make them look for some one who resembles their father. Such a person would (unless the filial relationship was unsatisfactory) be viewed as a healthy, strong provider, similar enough for a tested immune system, but different enough to ensure a wide range of genes. This provides a balance between dangerous inbreeding and reckless out-breeding. They also subconsciously materialistically keep an eye on rank and status (the pecking order), when searching for a mate.
  
  Men, look for facial symmetry (less likely to have genetic abnormalities), and reproductive ability, (the hour-glass figure with a waist to hip ratio of 0.7). This applies irrespective of the woman's overall weight.
  
  Oedipus also comes into play. Men need to see their mother in the woman of their dreams. Both sexes are attracted to a mate that looks, smells and feels like their parents.
  
  The key to falling in love could lie in pheromones, chemicals originally detected by an organ in the nose which could be present in humans. Women want a man who smells like their father, a warning to alcoholic, cigarette smoking fathers! In a study involving sweaty T-shirts, they consistently picked men who smelled similar to their fathers or were from a comparable genetic background.
  
  Appearances are important too, but not traditional beauty. Using computerized morphing the subject's own face were morphed onto that of the opposite sex. They were consistently subconsciously attracted to their own morphed unrecognizable face. Our own faces are tantalizingly familiar, and personally attractive because they are a jigsaw of the faces of our parents, which we loved and saw repeatedly during our impressionable formative years.
  
  Also, the faces and figures of long standing happily married couples look similar. The size and shape of their ears, neck and wrist circumferences, middle finger lengths and metabolic rates correspond eerily.
  
  Falling in love depends on body language (55%), speech (38%) and the unknown(7%).
  
  The eyes are the windows of the soul. Eyes dilate as we stare deeply and after 4 minutes most people feel an unaccountable attraction for each other.
  
  People who sit stand and move in the same way get attracted to each other and fall in love. Or, conversely, if people live together long enough, their physical characteristics and habits become similar and then they pass into the bonding stage without the stages of lust and attraction. This is the foundation of arranged marriages.
  
  Some need a "constant fix" the adrenaline rush of frequent affairs. Others prefer the stress reducing health providing benefits of a secure long standing relationship.
  
  Whatever it is, everyone looks for love.
  
  Dr. Gita Mathai

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