Last evening Gokul messaged me asking if the track was open. It wasn’t. The track has been closed for the Haryana State Championships. My plans were to go to the track parking lot and run on the road with Gaju and the usual folks. Instead, I replied to Gokul asking if we should run Nehru Park together.
We met just before six AM; the morning was yet to arrive. The moon hung like a globe in the sky. Yesterday, when I was driving to the track, the day of Gurpurab, the moon was low in the horizon and a giant orange ball. It was a beautiful, awesome sight.
We looped around Shanti Path and made our way to Nyaya Marg. The light was just beginning to come up. We ran silently. I had the pollution mask on too.
In the second half, we spoke a bit, quietly, conversationally. After over three decades of knowing each other and running on many occasions together, there is an automatic comfort in silence and conversation alike. I am well aware of the privilege of the depth of this relationship.
I had remarked that he was wearing the 2019 Berlin marathon jacket. We had run the same race and stayed at an Airbnb that autumn with other friends. That was but one example of the many races, the many birthdays and celebrations, drinks, dinner and life’s milestones – the usual and the special – where the memorable easily blur these lines.
In that, another usual run finished with a five and a hug. All that friendship is about encapsulated in an hour.
Writing about Running 