passing the torch

I  run two rounds on a village road every morning. The villagers used to stare at me, but they gave up after a few months. There were always three old men sitting on the culvert and drinking tea and gossiping.

After  a few months they started asking me questions.

“Why do you run?”

“Where were you last week? You didn’t come for three days”.

I did not answer. I just waved at them, smiled and ran on. Any way I  decided that there was no point in trying to keep my goings and comings a secret (to prevent theft and break -ins). The whole village was watching my every move!

One day I found three children standing near the culvert, two boys and a girl. They must have been around ten years old.

“Why are you running?” asked the boy.

“I am training,” I said.

“For what ? “ he asked. The other two stood shyly behind him.

“I am training for a half marathon.”

“You run half? How much is that?”

“Twenty one kilometers”, I replied awkwardly, wishing  that I looked more like Usain Bolt and less like a samosa.

“Do you win?”

“Sometimes”, I said, “when they have a category for older people.”

“You don’t mind if you don’t win?”

“I do mind,” I said,” but only for a few days. The important thing is to try harder and train better for the next time.”

They were gone by the time I came around the second time.

Two days later they were back. They were dressed in track pants and canvas shoes. The spokesman stepped forward, “ we want to run too. Please teach us.”

“Well,” I said, “you need to sprint,  not jog marathons.”

“What is that?”

“Run really fast,” I said. “You run slowly like me only when you get really old.”

“How old are you? “He asked.

“Going to be 62 next month” I said.

The charmer smiled and said “You don’t look so old, and you are  pretty---“

My heart was totally won over. He was obviously going places when he grew up!

I spent  fifteen minutes training them in the mornings. They faithfully stretched, did squats ,sprinted  up and down and  stretched again. They were disciplined and dedicated. They kept at it as long as I did, which was  about an hour). I found an old stopwatch and presented I to them.

“This is to help you train ,” I said.

Two months later , when I jogged in the morning, they were lined up by the side of the road. They had a small box of ladoos and each of them had a medal.

“What is this?” I asked.

The spokesman stepped forward.

“We went for the district school athletics. We won!!! We are selected for the training camp.”

They were wearing their medals. Two boys had silver , and, you guessed it, the girl had the gold.

Dr. Gita Mathai

The writer is a paediatrician with a family practice at Vellore.

If you have any questions on health issues please write to

yourhealthgm@yahoo.co.in