BNP GR Panvel – Nere Run ( 12 th June , Sunday 2016 )

( Borivli National Park Green Runners’ group )

 

Photographs courtesy : Nitin Kale , Meeta Meher

Valuable Inputs by : Sree S and Varun Singh Thakur

 

 

“Be the change you want to see in the world “

(Mohandas Karam Chand Gandhi )

With above words a new chapter was added to BNP Gr ‘s journey.

On 28^th May 2016,Nitin Kale posted something which had potential to be a game changer.

“BNP GR Panvel-Nere run “

Nitin and Meenakshi Kale, Pradeep and Deepa Katrodia, Vinod and Priya Nalumakkal (oh the couple must have spent many minutes of their life explaining  the pronunciation and or meaning of their surname to many )had worked very hard to plan and organise “ fun and run “ event for their BNPGR friends outside Borivli national park in equally green and scenic surroundings.

 

Logistics and management

Any event takes a lot of planning & logistics.

Our wonderful friends had their own rounds of the locations. They themselves ran on the route.

Worked out the run detail with minute considerations. Assured the temple caretaker family that as a responsible group they will not disturb or spoil the temple premises (temple surrounding being the hold up area cum start and end point of the race )

Four amongst them are elite runners of our group and have great exposure to many races,  in turn could put in more efforts.

It is obvious that when you know which is a good run/race and which is not, you walk an extra mile to make your organised event more rooted. ( even if it is meant for friends who will not mind minor faux pas ).

 

The interim period

What is started is a great initiative. Now the event can become successful and memorable provided BNPGR’s  friends  show whole hearted enthusiasm and participate .

During the interim period not much is known . Only core team and few friends know the response of BNP janta.

BNPGR  family has gone through it’s own ups and downs.

A lot of new members have joined and are joining at regular intervals. This kind of event can bring them together and inculcate sense of belonging and friendship.

Mode of transport

To keep the cost down ,car pooling is  proposed from day one . As we move towards the event day the idea to have a common bus so that the gang can have picnic kind of atmosphere gets vocal support. People try to help with logistics of bus hiring.

Finally the organising team decides to stick to the original plan and we all are ready for car pool.

12 th June 2016

4.00 Am ( or before ) is the reporting time.

I am up by 2.50 am  and I am not the only one. Whatsapp has many good morning messages. It is obvious that for few  it was clear   “ is subaha ki raat nahin” (The morning  of today did not have night ….night just came and got extended to day .)

 

( Vinod had to wake up the idli “anna”  at 2.45 a.m. in the night, so that idlis are made in time so as to get collected before 4.00 am. He even reaches the idliwala’s residence which is located right in the middle of a tabela by 3.30 am along with Varun & even before the milkmen could possibly start milking their cows and buffaloes, these guys are out of there with garma garam idlis, sambhar and ice cold chutney.)

Sree is supposed to help me with auto rick ride at 3.45 am.

She calls me on my cell phone  at 3.30 am declares “ hey I am in auto , be there “

I just don’t now how to react but some how request her to carry on.

She is at Borivli National park at 3.40 am.

BNP janta , surprisingly is very punctual . We all arrive in time, pay individual contribution for the day, somehow decide the car pooling arrangement and by 4.15 are all set to go.

 

I am in Maheshbhai’s car. Dr Sunil Rai’ car has space. ( only Siddhi is sitting in that car)Punit suggests me to move there so that Anant sir can be picked up from Andheri.

The journey till McDonald at Panvel and with a small review check till the starting point is interesting.

We have some great music ( a car without a good music system is an  incomplete moving machine : old urban saying !! )and lively discussions.

Dr Sunil Rai explains in detail about aerobic, anaerobic running ( including  Greek origin of words ), the team work of lungs and heart, generation of lactic acid  and toxins as we go into endurance journey.

He explains more in layman’s language (for a doctor it is a challenging task )

Running with   heart rate under control is the key to injury free running.

The hold up area:

We park our vehicles near a temple premises.

The temple area is   small but well maintained.

The road outside is taken over by our group .

Temple has a huge peepal tree with low sitting arrangement and it becomes our serving area.

Varun starts the warm up session in his characteristic style .He is a good singer and has good voice modulation. More and more join him .

The organising committee is fully occupied.

Something about temple and caretaker family

 

The start

We all start our run together  but some are going to do 10 km and some will going for  21 .1 km.

At 5 km Maheshbhai and Priya are handling the first water station.

At 10 km Vinod is  managing water station.

Deepa and Meenakshi are busy arranging things at the    0 Km mark or Finish Line to ensure everything (the whole long list of sumptuous eatables which I will elaborate on later) is in place before the first finisher reaches.

Soon different runners find different positions based on their natural pace and/or their targeted pace for today.

Chirag,

Vinod J, Sonal ,

Anant sir ,

Sanjay Raut,

Hitesh ,Siddhi

,are ahead followed by Rajesh, Kamalji,Tushar,

Dr Sunil Rai ,Punit , Pavan, Falguni, Rekha , Vaibhavji, Varun , Manishji, Roshan, Sanjay P, Sunail A ,Meeta, Milind, Shailesh A,Ninad….for some time many of us  are running together.

 

Sree and Sheela are enjoying the 10 km run at slow pace and so are the mom n son duo of Komal & Dhaiwat, as they have ample time as compared to 21.1 km runners.

 

Everyone is in relax mood and we all are talking . There are one liners and one has to wait to find the pause in between  the conversations to get the joke registered without any overlap.

Nitin  is on motorcycle with Pradeep. He keeps clicking photos of all the runners at different places as they keep moving on motorcycle.

He tries different angles including one where in he lies on the road.

We soon start running in line towards him to jump over him as he is trying to click photos.

The road has a lot farm houses on both the sides.

One family has number of farms within greater…..family members.

Everywhere there are boards.“ beware of dogs “

Luckily throughout the road the street dogs as well as farm dogs do not trouble us ( except at one or two farms some barking is heard  as if some dogs want to justify the board “beware of dogs as we do exist “

By 2^nd walk break ( at 4 km mark ) I realise that we are running at average pace which is within 7.3 ka pace and decide to slow down . (In 2016 I am more inclined towards regular running at slower pace as my Plantar fasciitis is slowly allowing me to come back into regular running phase . 2015 has been really bad and after so many rounds to physios  and money invested , I have evolved my own method to deal with my own injury .the deal with my plantar is simple:

1. a) not to chase very long distance
2. b) not to increase pace.

Apart from  running ,cycling and swimming also demand  time( 2015 there were the activities which kept my mornings happy )

Gymming is intermittent as I do not enjoy the closed environment of gymnasium. Post injury I am fully aware of the importance of regular gymming.)

My six kilometre walk breaks gets merged with my nature call. Earlier during the whatsapp discussion a nice pun ( combination of Marathi word with English word) was shared

The whole vhavar is our.

As we are having  multiple options from the whole of vhavar  it takes some time to decide which part of vhavar can be utilised. Once you decide to go for it ,friends join you as if it is a group exercise /activity

Now  I am running with Manishji, Varun and Roshan.

At 5 km many want to return to complete 10 km .

I have no intentions of doing 21km . Last Sunday me and sheila had done 21 km and I will not risk of fooling with my plantar. BNP Sunday runs have changed our habit. On Sunday it has to be minimum one loop . It can be return from 5.5 km or from kanheri base ( which gives more satisfaction )

Today at Panvel Nere I want to do minimum12.5 km ( equivalent to BNP one loop )but I want to see the complete route.

I have already decided to run till 10 km turning point so I can see the last point and return . As I have the required gadget I can always stop at my chosen kilometre. Post my target, return can be with the help of organising committee or even better if I can manage myself without disturbing any one.

I try to share my plan with quite a few and indirectly request them to run till 10 km mark and return by bus, six seater , lift or in one of our cars.

Soon I am running with Kamalji and Tushar and I remain with them till 15 km.

Our run becomes interesting as one Dog ( whom I name NereBai as we are in village Nere ) runs along with us for quite a few kilometres. She has a peculiar pattern. She runs initially on left side of the  road , soon crosses  over on the right side of road and  slows down to lag behind…..so as to again  repeat the cycle. (Before we get used to her and claim her as  our loyal running partner she decides to leave us and join Anant sir and team which is coming back from 10km mark and going back.( see dog also wants  to be with fast pace runners !!  Later I find her relaxing  at our temple premises. She must have done at least 12km )

The route chosen is quite nice and has a lot of curvy or up and down inclines. Beyond 6.5 km we have a long half circle incline which takes us on periphery of lake. It’s beautiful.

Initial traffic was very less but as day opens up we have State transport buses ( Panvel to and fro ) , six seater tempos and speed crazy dumpers ( trucks ferrying construction material )

We also see some kids returning on bikes with some trophy It seems there is some sports event in some school ahead.

Houses on our routes are scattered. Most of the houses have wood as fuel which is  stacked outside.

Many also have open from top but covered from all four side : square shape bathroom kind of arrangement.

Beyond 8.5 / 9km we have Kenyans of our group coming back .Chirag is the first one to pass by . Soon Anant sir , Hitesh, Vinod J , Sonal , Siddhi,Sanjay Raut are seen.

Vinod has parked the car at 10 km point  which is located at height . One has to run upwards to reach there.

We have our water break as well as photo break. Return is easier as initially it has more downward inclines, including the long curvy one around the lake .

Vinod is now a “moving support water station”. Once the last man of 21 km has crossed the midpoint, Vinod has come to 12.5 km mark which is at the end of the incline.

Now the vehicular movement has picked up . There are six seaters , State Transport buses to Panvel .

The road is narrow at some stretches. We politely get down from tar road and try to run on kuchha sideways whenever a Bus or speed dumpers want to claim the road.

At 15.3 km as per the garmin I decide to stop running. The 5 km mark ( the first water station when we all started running ) is yet to come .

I have already told  Pradeep about my intention to stop at 15 km .

Pradeep is busy in his multi task role of a volunteer. “ why should I burden them to transport me back to start point ? “ is the question I start asking myself.

“ oh there are six seaters, even ST bus “

When I see a solo motorcycle rider I request him to give me lift. (Poor guy) Mr Bharat on motorcycle has to apply brakes as I run towards his point of stoppage. He willingly gives me lift till the temple.

On the way I cross all the 21.1 km runners.

“ Oh this is cheating ! “ is expression of some of the runners.

Mr Bharat talks about the recent trends of Mumbaikars . They are buying  farm houses in the area as there are number of farm houses on both the sides of road. As a local he is not very comfortable with the ideas of villagers easily selling their lands to outsiders .

I thank bharatbhai as I greet all my friends at temple premises. Oh there is picnic type of atmosphere. Komal is full of energy and enthusiasm .She has started various games. Obviously she has faced initial inertia of many as we all become” less child like” as we grow older.

She has cajoled many to leave their internal resistance and play Kho Kho, Langdi kind of games.

Post stretching I also join the fun. We try to bring in more friends into all these outdoor games.

Intermittently we all are cheering the 21.1 runners who are marching towards finish line.

Every one is running in relax atmosphere and there is no competition kind of pressures so all are looking very happy.

There is a good spell of rain for a short time.

As more members come back we have more rounds of games.

Soon it is break fast time . Our hosts take extra ordinary care in serving idlis( with sambhar and chatni ), samosas , jalebi and rounds of tea.

I indirectly inspire Anant sir to take open air “bath” as we both use 20 litre water empty container ( with tap water refilling )to have our individual “har har gange “ in open fields.

Post bath we are super fresh. Ours Nere run is special as many friends have brought their kids along.

Komal is with her son Dhaivat who enjoys all the games along with running.

Meeta and Milind Meher are with their cute little princess Tanya.

Meenakshi and Nitin Kale are with the little genius Siddharth

WE ARE BNPGR FAMILY

We request today’s stars Vinod and Priya Nalumakkal , Pradeep and Deepa Katrodia , Nitin , Meenakshi ( along with Siddharth ) Kale  to brief us about the whole initiative to bring BNPGR friends  out of BNP ( borivli national park ) for picnic cum run. Group cheering is followed by group photos.

Every one is requested to return with the same travel arrangement.

Dr Sunil Rai entertains with very interesting stories about “driving holidays” as we return home.

American west coast to New Zealand , interesting stories make our return journey faster as we lose track of time .We are home by 11.30 am which is quite good from overall time management point of view.

………………………………………………………………………end

Post script : As in relay race where baton passes from one runner to the other so as to complete the chain, today’s initiative by our super six is hopefully just the beginning and baton is symbolically passed to next bunch of  enthusiasts .

So where and when is the next BNP party/picnic/event/run?????

 

 

A different take : the world of “ taking initiative and execution pangs “

Following is a humorous  take ( a bit of black humour )on attitude of people like us. ( we the Indians )

Whenever some one takes initiative within greater family , community ,  neighbourhood complex or friends who are having similar hobbies and passion , she /he has to face the attitude of fellow members who ironically are supposed to be friends .

Even if we have worked tirelessly, gave lots a lots slog hours, scarified on our priorities …all just to make “that one event “ successful ; we  always find many who are not fully satisfied. Cribbing and complaining is one of our national time pass.

Following is funny ( and not so funny for genuine cribbers …..they may say ….what’s so funny we actually mean it !!!!) take on people reaction “post run event “

• Oh we were told there will be bus ( not just a bus but minimum AC Volvo type ). Here we have to get into some one’s car who is screaming and shouting “ don’t’ spoil my car . “When they are charging Rs 250 they should have arranged a proper bus.
• My run got affected as the AC in “ his” car was on full blast. Just imagine you come out of car and run…from full AC to full humidity. Organiser should think on carpooling with some common sense.
• Idlis and Samosas? What a weird combination. When they are charging Rs 250 at least they should work on menu, and did you see the shape of idlis ….I had eight of them and none was round in shape.
• Only tea with sugar was arranged. Arre baba there has to be coffee and tea ( with options of with sugar and without sugar ) and if they are genuine runners with health conscious mind …there has to be green tea with some fruits When they are charging Rs 250 at least they should be innovative….
• What ???? NO finishers medal….????? But When they are charging Rs 250 ….how much a medal cost? Arre baba when we go home our kids ask “ where is medal mummy/daddy’’
• No rains…..throughout pre event posts they were telling “ with rains you will enjoy more“

I came all the way from Borivli to run here so that I can enjoy the rains. Arree baba aisa hi karna tha to borivli nation park kya bura tha , I could have run there only….there are more chances of rain as it is a proper jungle.

• Only bananas and water? Arree there should be some chikki , some chocolates, oranges. Yes we know GU gels zara jyada ho jayega , bechare kahanse arrange karnege itna sara….but When they are charging Rs 250 they could have done it better.
• What ? you need me as volunteer ?? you are running short of helping hands??? Oh sure I would have helped , but you see I have a travelling job , many days I have to slog and sit late in office . I do not get enough time to run or practise. If it was within National Park I would have loved to be a volunteer.
• So many photos were clicked, but where are mine??

Those 20 odd photos where in I am visible are not suitable for my new DP. You should have at least given me one good photo of my run. When they are charging RS 250 ek to acchhi photo banati hai !

10 ) Oh you mean I haven’t paid for the trip ? are you

sure?? Oh u have the list….how much I have to pay ?            Rs 200? …250 is it ??? …..but I paid for petrol and toll tax ….oh car pooling is not to be considered….thik hai.bye the way did you collect money from all those who promised to come but did not turn up???

( to fellow buddy : “man , mark my words…..running is now only about money. You name it SCMM to total sports every one is here to mint money. Daudna kitna mehnga ho gaya hai hum to bus free event mein hi jaate hai…ye to doston ne kaha to aana pada”)

 

 

 

 

 

 

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..