The Run on Sunday!

It was a wonderful trip in total - got to hang out with friends, be part of the Mumbai marathon party atmosphere, walk and view other participants (NGO central for that morning!), see the Trident and watch its staff stand with dignity to cheer on the participants (it was very touching to see some staff stand right below the parts where there has been damage boarded up from the terrorist attack....salute that spirit and dignity), hang out with my roomies from college after 7 - 8 years, see their kids (!!! can't believe we are all grown ups with kids!) and then be part of another adventure....the Indian Railways for 24 hours, non-AC.

I am ashamed to say that I could not recall a time after my childhood when I 'trabelled' (in Siddhu's words) non-A/C on the train. It was pretty good - with the team, the time passed quickly. The last couple of hours dragged since everyone was ready to get a hot bath and hit their beds at home....eager to get back to kids and family.

The romance of train travel exists in the second class - with open windows. Will put some pictures up soon....there was ginger tea, elaichi tea, 'special tea - best tea' marketed by the vendors, goodness for Rs.5! Reading by the open window with that ginger tea was pretty awesome. Wish I had had the sense to charge the cell phone before leaving - most people's phones died and with a long line for charging it up in another compartment, used a colleague's phone for a couple of minutes to call home. Thanks, Bobby.

The run was an eye-opener. I have raised close to 80% of my goal of Rs. 50,000. And hope to see some more come trickling in by end Jan. I plan on the half-marathon next year....the Bangalore 10k in May can be one of the starters.

Now it is time to buckle down and work/organize/get back to schedule. For the finance geeks, this is crunch time with planning/year end et al.

To my donors, thanks a lot. Will be sending individual emails with a triumphant picture at the finish line soon. The official receipt will follow by snail mail.

Byelamos!