Light

I have never seen as many pigs in my life.

And there is no scarcity of smoke and dust. Enjoying nature and the scenery cannot be your motive for running here. I am wondering if the health hazard of breathing in whatever is in the air here, may not outweigh the health benefit of running itself.

My daughter, being a homeschooler, is writing her first real exam here in Gurgaon, Delhi. I am the bodyguard, which may seem a bit funnier to you if you knew my 1.7 meter, insubstantial frame. But this place is not safe for women. Sad.

So then, what can one do? Go run, of course. I am getting ready for some serious running in December. Go check this out. Please. And help if you can. At this point, it feels as if I am pretty much standing alone. (Although that is not true since my Friend is always there) Anyway,  about the serious running. Yesterday I went for a self-supported, self-navigated marathon here in Gurgaon.

It got me a bit out of the city, which was refreshing. Today, I followed it up with a 20k which took me to a pretty nice spot: Aravalli Bio Diversity Park

Hey, this place is not all bad. There is an endless choice of malls to go to and cafe’s that sell good coffee. There are friendly and kind people. There is never an Uber far away. Today is Diwali and the “war” just started outside. I think the shooting of crackers and fireworks on the scale it is being done in India is madness. And it causes even more smoke.

But I like the idea that light triumphs over darkness and good over evil. The hero in the movies saves the world and every new movie has a different eminent disaster that has to be averted. Mister Incredible said: “No matter how many times you save the world, it always manages to get back in jeopardy again. Sometimes I just want it to stay saved! You know, for a little bit?”

There is a real-life Hero who actually did a proper job of it. Because see, the evil inside us is the biggest enemy. The “dark side” that changed Anakin Skywalker into Darth Vader is always a possibility for us. Jesus, who is the Light of the World, is the one who through sacrifice broke the power of evil over us.

And being saved makes us free to fight against pollution, to forgive others who wrong us, to run marathons in the smoke, to look for beauty wherever we go, to fight for a friend’s life.

Happy Diwali!

And keep running

Stephan