Somebody once compared the street kids of Bombay to me to its pariah dogs. They did not mean this in a derogatory way, in fact the exact opposite. If you take a pariah dog and a domestic dog down the road and a car comes along, the pariah dog knows to get out of the way and will do so at the last possible moment. The domestic dog however, will not have a clue, it is soft and only responds to orders and food, it doesn’t realise the danger. It becomes a piece of road kill – another statistic if statistics were kept for dogs killed on the road.
This highlights the problem that faces a child when they run away from home to live on the streets of Bombay. They have run away from poverty or abuse, or are forced to be leave – they are seeking a life of their own.
I found myself sitting with a bunch of street kids watching the pariah dogs. One of them pointed to the dogs and said “That’s the clown, the comedian amongst them, and that one is in charge, he rules this street and the one over there is weak, he will not live long,” I looked around my friends, and as if as a direct reflection there was the clown, the one in charge and the one that could not move from the gutter because he was high on glue.
Mumbai though is cleaning up its act, it has reduced the number of pariah dogs down from 700,000 to 70,000 through a cull. However, an order has been passed that this is against animal rights. A bit of a debate rages. The dogs are calm during the day, but can be vicious and deadly packs at night. There is now a no smoking ban in public areas inside and out, posters have been put up stating fines for spitting, urinating and shitting in the streets, you can’t even wash your car without being busted.
The Marathon is on too, in which I am competing in the half marathon at the slowest possible pace, a 13 mile walk. My excuse being that my training did not really go as planned, to which I am sticking to. The reality, I am a lazy sort. They have cleared the streets of beggars and the Marathonplanners have ensured that the route does not go by any slums. They want the world to see Mumbai as this lovely metropolis and want no dirty washing out there.
I finished the half marathon in a record 4 hours, quite an achievement, but what I am most impressed about is that I am not last, infact far from it. I am surprised that there are thousands of people doing exactly the same as me – walking it. I don’t know if this is really in the spirit of marathons as we know it, but heh this is India and things do work a little differently. Things that really got me are the number of people that go out and run, not for a charity, but for their company. Corporate branding proliferates like an allergic rash. I bet there are bosses out there forcing their staff to do it with the threat of the sack or worse promotion and responsibility if they don’t. Also some of these groups only do a bit of it, the bit in front of the cameras, cross the road and head back again. That so isn’t cricket.
We have taken a group of 28 children to do the 7km run, which they completed with great fervor. It gave them something to look forward to, an ambition, a goal in life. What is more they were given a goodies bag of stuff by the marathon sponsors. Soaps, shampoo, that sort of thing. It did amuse me though that there was Nivea face whitening cream in the bag (Oh how our cultures differ), something I did not really need. So for a while the street kids of Mumbai will be smelling good and whiter than white.
After we had completed our respective runs/walks I did a photo shoot at VT station, home to bullet holes courtesy of our fundamentalist friends. At first the boys were a little suspicious of me, probably thinking this is another white guy taking photos of poor people, poverty porn at this time of recession. But, after they realised I had done the half marathon too I was welcomed into the pack, I was allowed in, I was the domestic dog gone wild with his street brethren.
Proof of my monumental walk can be found here:
Anybody need some skin whitening cream.
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February 1, 2009 at 10:18 pm
Posts about Live Cricket as of February 1, 2009
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February 6, 2009 at 3:23 pm
Andy
HI Col
What does it make it when I’m sat here smiling at the failure of your fitness? I don’t know, but it’s reassuring in some strange way that you’re not as super humanly fit as photographs and lifestyle would have me believe.
When you mentioned you were running a marathon I think Bowlcut & I had just finished our 100 mile ‘South Downs Way’ walk. I was nearly crying at the end of day 3 after covering the the stupendous distance of 30 miles. I recall sharing a room in a hotel next to a busy main road because neither of us could be bothered to drive the car we had walked to, to a ‘holiday’ location. Both of us were aching and limping everytime one of us got up to go to the bathroom and we spent the late afternoon watching day time cheese on our 4 channel TV because it was easier than being fit!
I know there are millions of Greek Adonous types out there who have reached the same age as us, still eat nuts & berries whilst cycling to work, who pop off and run marathons every other week. Even so, I’m glad you’re a knackered out, old git like one of us! Still 4 hours for 13 miles is good but as bowlcut would agree, do it the next day as well & the day after.
You were asked if you would like to join us on one of our summer national trail walks only a little over two years ago. You were sat down over a beer at the highly entertaining ‘Shipton Bellinger Working Mens Club’at Christmas time. We tried a vain to convince you the spirit of social mixing with friends old & new was an envigoring experience that would uplift your soul. You thought about it….smiled…and said you would rather boil your eyes.
Now you have found yourself in India, with the railway children and timmy the dog, its perfectly acceptable to go for long walks! Ummm….I remind you Aurther C Clarke had to retire to his Sri Lankan retreat because he enjoyed long walks with children.
February 8, 2009 at 11:36 am
colinlaidlaw
Stilll rather boil my eyes than go on social walking holidays……..
February 23, 2009 at 5:25 pm
Jez
I’m sure when you started the marathon, you didn’t have a beard!!
March 2, 2009 at 7:52 pm
Chris Billett
“Anybody need some skin whitening cream.”
Once again Col, I am glad to see nary a question mark in sight on your esteemed blog! Hope you are well. Never change (in particular the sans-eroteme writing style – I’m sure it’ll catch on) and come back soon. I need more people to get inappropriately pissed with. No one else is honest enough!