Sprinkles of Happiness on the ring road….

I've been running for nearly over a month now. Daily 2 hour run from the University gate to wherever my run takes me. Just recently, I've discovered a route that expands into a huge 100 meters wide road. Part of this road contains small rings to approach closer parts of the city while larger rings take commuters to the outskirts of the city.

My daily run takes me about 2 hours, I run about 12-15 km at a stretch. I had never run on the ring road, especially this Hingna ring road. It's one of the arterial roads of Nagpur. But this 33 km stretch of road, out of which I ran 15 km, was a seemingly drab road to run on. But I had judged too soon.

Whilst I was running, I happened to see two young girls, maybe about 15-16 years of age happily conversing. From a distance I sensed that the two were using a lot of hand gestures, but as I drew near I observed that both the girls were verbally-challenged.

I slowed down, partly because I was tired of the arduous run & partly because I couldn't comprehend what I was seeing. They two seemed to be enjoying conversing to each other in their sign language and were totally oblivious to an ogling passerby like me. How beautiful it was to see them embrace what God had given them instead of cribbing on what God took away from them. It was a sheer delight and it put an immediate smile on my face. The smile was only going to become wider.

A little ahead I saw a man with three dogs. I must admit that I'm an ardent lover of dogs. One of the dogs was a Dalmatian breed; the other two were a Labrador & a Golden Retriever. Unable to contain my curiosity, I approached the man who happened to be their caretaker. His name was Pradeep. He told me that the dogs belonged to a local doctor who lived nearby & was a lover of dogs. I walked with Pradeep the remainder of the distance up to the owner’s house. I also took the liberty of playing with Oscar (Dalmatian), spirit (Retriever) and joey (Labrador). It was a pleasure to walk with these three amazing animals. And oh yeah, they didn’t even have a leash on, just a doggie-collar. Yep the smile was wider now.

A little ahead I saw a man, walking with a strange gait. As I crossed him he suddenly tipped to the left & fell, his head nearly missing some concrete blocks kept nearby for some construction. I uneasily helped the man out, who seemed about 55 years or so to me. The reason why I was apprehensive about helping him was because he was too tipsy to recognize the road from a garden. But I did guide him to a safer area where he fell asleep. Thank god for that.

All this happened on a stretch of just 1 km on the Hingna ring road.

A little ahead, I got to see a brightly decorated horse, prancing along the side of the road with its keeper. I spoke to the keeper and he told me that a white decorated horse is always used to carry the bridegroom to the bride’s house in Hindu customs. The horse was superbly tall & brightly decked. I wish I had my camera along with me.

The remainder of the run was very pleasant.

If you, as a reader of this blog do get a chance to visit India, please do make it top priority to walk on these roads. These dirt roads have many a story unfold in front of your eyes. There is never a dull moment here.