Recovery Run

I woke up with a start around one AM and when I finally dragged myself out of bed around four, it felt like I hadn’t slept much at all.

But onwards to Nehru Park we went – my sister Roshini and I. We both had time on feet. The sky seemed still and a resistant indigo reluctant just yet to change colours to the dawn morning.

An Indian black ibis perched on a light pole at Shanti Path. Embassies and high commissions on its left and right, high above politics and borders, in no man’s land, neutral and free in the midst of the Indian summer.

When I began, I felt the weariness of yesterday’s tempo, but after a round or so, as it happens with running, I felt better and shifted gears.

Dozens of young kids on roller blades practised in the same loop. Other than them, the city seemed strangely quiet.

Of course, school is out for the summer, I thought later.

The summer, hot as it is, has its advantages, not least of all, the traffic eases noticeably.