I walk. Or at least I am currently attempting to make it a routine. There’s no set time for when I get out for “the walk” but I prefer around sunset because it isn’t as crowded and I really do not like making eye contact and stopping for chit chat. I’m there to walk. And if I can manage, to think. I pre-decide what I’m going to be thinking about and then try to think about it for the entire duration of my walk. While walking itself is easy, the thinking is hard. My brain wanders at the slightest distraction and I have to gently guide it back to the thing I’m supposed to be thinking about. If I see a good-looking specimen of the opposite sex for example, I make a face like the one below.
If I manage to tie my brain to what I’m supposed to be thinking about, my face might look something like the photo below. I stare at the gravelly road and keep walking. I do not acknowledge anyone’s presence. I do not give way. I put one foot after another and almost always, I’m hooked to what I’m supposed to be thinking about. ( I also always have ear plugs jabbed into my ears, connected to the music on my mobile phone. The level of the volume is dependent on the ambient noise. For example, if it’s a festival & the residential society is having common-celebrations, the volume on my headphones will probably be maxed out. )
The society’s boundary wall is lined with trees and sometimes there’s a giant bat that flies around. If I am able to spot it, my face might look like the photograph below. Other residents walk their dogs and the pooches almost always elicit a smile from me. The dog-walkers not so much.
I walk on the right side of the road for one circle and look like the photo below if you’re walking on the left side of the road.
If you’re walking behind me, you will soon overtake me because I walk slow, measured steps. You might also notice the tiny black spot on the center of the seam of my sweatpants. Forever21 delivers torn products and doesn’t do anything about the replacement. So I patched it together with the only thread I had laying around. It happened to be black. If you snicker about it loudly, I will hear you but I will ignore you because really…
The next circle, I turn back on my steps and now I’m walking on the left side of the road. If you are walking on the right side of the road, I might look like the photo below. ( It is good to reverse direction every alternate circle because then both sets of joints in the feet are put through equal amounts of pressure. When you walk a turn, the leg on the inner side is affected differently than the leg on the outer side of the turn. If you reverse direction, the former outer now becomes the inner. )
Since I walk after the Sun has set and since I walk against the flow of traffic as well as with the flow of traffic, I sometimes I have to shield my eyes from the glare of headlights. This is “Noida” you see and the “dipper” doesn’t exist in automotive dictionaries here. Especially after entering the society’s maximum speed limit of 20kmph zone, a rare driver will put out their main headlights. Most though continue to drive at 50kmph and with headlights aimed straight at my eyes. This is one of those times where I’d be ok if something was aimed at my crotch instead. I look like this below…
…when I’d rather be looking like this. Alas, even the middle finger is not understood in “Noida”. While I don’t use it, the one time I did – not inside the confines of the residential society but outside – the person who it was directed at responded with a bhangra gesture but with both his middle fingers sticking out.
Peace to the walkers.
Credits
Shoes : Nike
Double layer of sweat pants
Inside vest / ganji in turquoise
Red mountaineering breathable shirt with zipper closed at neck
Flower printed sweat shirt
Acrylic scarf/stole in dark turquoise : Promod
( Lots of layers in the Winters. It can get very windy. I sometimes also wear a cap or a hat. )
