The year started with a good long
walk of 10 Km. To me walking long distance is one of the best ways to indulge
in oneself. It’s almost like a meditation!
A few years back I was
transferred to Mumbai and my company had given me a lovely accommodation at
Malabar Hill – arguably one of the most premium places to stay in the country!
Well, my excitement was not so much about the hype around the place but it was
more about the proximity to Marine Drive – popularly known as “Queen’s necklace”.
It is a long stretch of road curving along the seashore. It starts from Mumbai’s
famous beach – Chowpati and ends with Mumbai’s Manhattan – Nariman Point.
Marine Drive was always special for all of us who grew up in Mumbai.
While staying at Malabar Hill, I
used to park my car at Chowpati and then walk all along Marine Drive to Nariman
Point. With old Mumbai buildings on one side and huge expanse of Arabian Sea on
other side, it was a lovely route for morning walk. They had also calibrated
the road with clear markings at every 100M, so one could always measure the
distance covered. I used to enjoy my walk with salty breeze caressing me. It
was a distance of about 2 ½ Km one way from Chowpati to a place called Jazz By
the Bay. I used to enjoy my 5 Km walk starting from Chowpati and back.
Now-a-days in Pune I often walk
from my house in Baner to Pune University and back. Today as I walked on that
route, I realized that the distance I cover on this route is 3 Km one-way. I
was little surprised when I realized that this route is actually longer than
Marine Drive! Well, something felt strange because I never felt the distance
covered here as I used to feel on Marine Drive. Walking on Marine Drive, I
always used to get this feeling of really walking long distance!
I wondered – what could be the
reason? May be because of the open sea on one side, you can see the entire
stretch of the curving road in front of you when you walk on Marine Drive. But
it looked a little simplistic….
May be Marine Drive has this aura
which my lovely, homely Baner Road does not have … Marine Drive has a grandeur associated with it … so even though the
distance covered on Marine Drive is less than Baner Road, it feels more!
Well, it happens to all of us
that grandeur of people / places may shroud hard facts ….. my new year’s
resolution would be to look beyond grandeur!!
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