Judgement Day

In no time they are as tall as you!

It’s tough being mommy to a teen aged boy. Today is a sort of judgement day for my boy.At least that’s how he feels.He gets his results and graduates to IXth grade today. He did not really burn the midnight oil in preparation for his year ending examination. But yes , he did prepare sincerely and put in the hours -mugging,learning,reading the prescribed syllabus. I gave him the time he wanted from me. He has  gone to school kind of tensed today. “How long will you be angry with me if my marks aren’t upto YOUR expectations (ouch)?”I tell him I’ll TRY not to be angry for too long because obviously it will make me happy to see him doing well!

After seeing him off to school today , I thought about all the pressure I inadvertently put on him to fit into the world and prepare for the onslaught of the rat race.

 Introvert fella that my son is, he only opens up to a few and speaks what’s on his mind to the chosen few in his life. He has few friends he wants to be in touch with, he has a very high emotional quotient (no,I’m not bragging or being biased because I’m his mom) and is very sensitive to the feelings of his immediate family. I am lucky to be the one person in his life with whom he speaks his mind, spells out his fears (or so I think!) and asks the most basic questions which leave me wondering whether I should give him the answers I should be giving him or the answers I WANT to give him. I want to tell him I don’t really care what marks you get today, that’s not what will make or  break you in life. I want to tell him life is about more than that medal or score in your class test. I want to tell him to follow his heart and do as he wishes. But , I know I can’t provide for him throughout his life. Some years down the line, he will have to earn a living even to maintain status quo on the  comfortable life he is living today.He has to get into the big bad adult world  and understand that it is survival of the fittest out there.

So without mincing my words, I tell him he has to go through the works-mug , practice and read the things he may have no interest in, decide what he wants to do in life and gear up for  the life  outside his sheltered cocoon  !! I tell him money talks and he has  to be earning a decent amount of it to live happy and comfortable.

One day ,very recently-he was talking about his life’s wish---how he wants to grow up to live in a small town in a small house,albeit with all modern amenities,earn just enough money to sustain himself, make a few friends (read 'get to know his neighbors'), own a small mode of transport to go to the nearby shopping centre to buy his daily needs(that is, if the place is not  at walking distance; otherwise he is good without one), read his books ,play his online games , exercise to stay fit and healthy and basically just chill out in life. I hugged him tight and told him that’s exactly what I want to do even today. But maybe, just maybe, life won’t be that easy!

He has started running a little with me of late! We run 5ks together every now and then.I never cajoled him into running. It is his own teenaged decision, because he figures he’s gotta do something to stay fit. Even yesterday, after having fixed a run date for the evening with me himself, he casually remarked before we started our run that he doesn’t really like running!!! He is doing it because he thinks he should. Well hello, life’s like that I tell him. But I can figure he quite likes running.

He is quite a sorted fella, my boy. I know it.You meet him and he may not even make eye contact with you.That’s how he is . I am at the receiving end of all and sundry asking me “Is he in a bad mood? Why is he grumpy? What’s wrong with him?”.I want to tell all these insensitive folks “He’s fine.NOTHING is wrong with him” He just doesn’t smile and laugh as much as his mom and doesn’t really care about his social status or what you think about him so much yet. Once he has  said his curt hello to you , he wants no further contact with you right now. Maybe he warms up to you someday if either of you care enough about each other but this is it for today. Thank you! And yeah, even if I’m smiling -I don’t like to be subjected to these insensitive queries either. He’s my baby!

If he likes you, he'll smile :)

When he asked me about this ‘problem’ he often faces , during one of our chatty post dinner walks, I told him I know he’s fine but maybe its best he just pretends like he’s really excited to see whoever he is meeting, be it for the first time. I had to tell him that even the most well meaning ,mature adults lack the sensitivity and just say what comes to their mind,without thinking twice . That’s life!

And he smiles! I know he appreciates me better when he knows I am being absolutely honest with him.

We have these mommy lecture sessions too when I tell him he has to learn not to give up on things.He has to learn to lose AND enjoy winning.He has to work on his weaknesses and make them his strengths. He has to try and stay away from envy and learn to enjoy his own company. He must know that failing is a far better option than cheating.He has to fight for his rights. He has to become a really kind hearted tough guy!!!He understands what I'm trying to say-I can tell from the way he hears me out!

While I took this rambling trip today, sonny boy’s back home with his results. He called a while back. He’s scored an 86.7%  aggregate in his final exams.We are officially in Class IX now!

I am more than happy. I didn't intend to be angry with him today,come what may!
I  know he’s a good kid. He’s such a nice son!

We have to celebrate his graduation tonight!

My boy!

Running for the love of it!

“We run not because we think it is doing us good, but because we enjoy it and cannot help ourselves.The more restricted our society and work become,the more necessary it will be to find some outlet for this craving for freedom.No one can say you must not run faster,or jump higher than that .The human spirit is indomitable”.Words of wisdom spoken by Sir Roger Bannister,the first runner to have run a sub 4 mins mile.He was born in 1929 and he set this record with minimum training while practicing as a junior doctor. His record lasted merely 46 days and though he pursued his running,he also went on to become a distinguished neurologist and Master of Pembroke College, Oxford before retiring in 1993. 

Why and how does running satiate that craving for freedom in our minds? Science says its all about the dopamines and serotonins and adrenaline. But being a sucker for things from the heart , I like to romanticise the whole idea of running!!

For me, running puts things so much more into perspective and so helps me experience the emotion of giving my all to myself! When you run hard and give it your all ,you can clearly see what you are made of and how, when given a chance ,you can work miracles!

Thanks to my own running ,the huge running community and how running has become like a fitness religion,I now have this huge number of facebook friends,our only common threads being humanity and running, I guess. I know few of them personally ,just a few!! But their stories keep coming up on my timeline and I see each one of them so deliriously happy about their running and running achievements . These are people very very well accomplished  in their professions, educated from the most premier of institutes, globetrotters-living the good life one would say! 

But it is obvious to see that the finishers’ medal ,the chip time and the fitness resulting from running are not the only things driving them to run. The feel good factor and the way it transcends positively into all other aspects of life play a major big role I’m sure. One just becomes more confident ,independent and disciplined. So many positive side effects!

When you are running a marathon or a half ,your worry shifts from ‘how to get out of this rat race?’ to ‘how can I finish this race in this much time?’ . From a life full of worries and long to do lists, here you have a chance to set yourself free from the unbearable formalities of society. Here you are learning the meaning of tough love and practicing tough self love!!!Fancy that! Enticing surely!!!

Running is such a big teacher.Its like personal development in action and who are you accountable to? Only yourself!! No one bossing over you ,yet you are pushing yourself out of your comfort zone to better yourself. And then the joy of true accomplishment, like quantum leap steps at a time.Can you imagine a better deal than that? I’m sure and I hope you are running those long distances for some of the same reasons as me.

If you are a reasonably fit person and go for your executive health check up  , no doctor is going to prescribe marathon running to you. They will only advise you 30 mins, 3-4 days a week of exercise(you could just walk that much !)and maintaining a healthy and balanced diet. But we run much more than that, don’t we ? Even though we are recreational and amateur runners? We want that PB ,we want to run more and more!!And then we want to win too-and why not? What’s wrong with aiming high?

Come to think of it, marathon running listed under your hobbies should impress any potential boss too I guess. Afterall,it’s the epitome of determination and endurance!!! For folks not getting any younger like me, apparently long distance running improves with age unlike 99.99% other sports merely because of increase of base mileage. I like that! So if you LOVE to run and it’s not something you are forcing yourself to do ,it’s all win win!!!

If some of us are running merely for bragging rights, to look fit or to lose weight, I hope and pray you fall in love with the sport someday, like I have. It’s a love for keeps! Running has set me free. A few miles on the run and I am free of all unhealthy emotions. It’s a no fail recipe for me!!