On the swing

I reached home late tired and famished at around 7.00 PM and as I was checking my mail box for mails, I could see my neighbour Nisha waiting for me at the lift. She asked me if I could accompany her for the jog that day to the flag staff gardens. I couldn’t say a ‘no’ but I requested her some time for me to get ready for the jog. As I entered my place, it was filled with the aroma of Indian curry that Prashanth made. I ate some curry and biscuits and felt like a lazy bone. Suddenly I heard a voice shouting ‘Sunil I am ready, are you’. ‘In a moment’ I shouted back. 

We started jogging to the flag staff gardens, had some warm up. I never cared about a warm up and stretch even when I played some serious football. But I could see Nisha doing the stretches and warm ups in a more professional way. I remember her saying that she was at the Navy training camp for sometime and also being a NCC cadet in school. Then I remembered my time being a NCC cadet at school. I was always the last one to reach the morning parade sessions just in time for breakfast. After taking the gruelling punishment from the leader, I used to head straight to the breakfast queue. Idly, Vada and upma was the only thing which brought daily to the parade grounds. I had nothing to boast about my NCC career. So I kept quiet while Nisha was describing her adventures as a NCC cadet and at the Navy training camp.

We reached the park and I headed straight to the hanging bars and she to the crunches bench. I felt like a monkey hanging on the bars and admired the strength and stamina of a monkey for being able to hang on to tree branches for so long. I couldn’t resist swinging on the bars like a monkey. I dint even care what the girl along would think if she saw me swinging like a monkey. As I was still hanging, I could see an old lady walking towards me and I thought that she was talking a shortcut to her home by walking across the park. But she stopped in front of me and I felt that she was waiting for me to come down and so I jumped down and went to her. Then she said some thing that surprised me ‘its good to see you hanging on the bars’. I felt amused and told her that I told her that I often liked to finish my day by doing something that made me happy even thought it looked silly. Then suddenly she had a change of her tone and told me, ‘I am very old but still I come sometimes to this park to sit on the swing and I like doing that’. I had to agree with her that ‘age doesn’t matter to be young at heart. She was all cheerful, happy and I could see her enjoying her time on the sings. The child in her was swinging with joy. I went back to the bars, but dint hang on them but involved myself in some serious pull ups. After some time, the old lady stopped swinging and waved a bye and I waved back hoping to see that cheerful face again some day swinging at the park.