“Didn’t you feel weird why someone is sneaking up to you and helping you out?” — He looked at me and raised a quizzical eyebrow…
Thursday I went for my bike ride and reached Rabindra Sarobar which is an artificial lake spreaded across 73 acres and located in South Kolkata. It’s an amazing place where you will find runners, joggers and people from all walks of life coming down to the lake to kick start their morning. I visit quite often as this is one of my favorite places and it reminds me of Laalbagh(biodiversity park in Bangalore)
I reached around 6:30 am. I just glanced at the time which confirmed that I was running late. I wanted to catch up with a running group that practices around the lake and I started pedalling faster….
And then “tung”…. A sharp sound hit my ears and realised that my bike chain has come off…
I was like “Are you serious! Today we are late and now this ! Kudos to you… Your timing is spot on!” — That’s the conversation I was having with my bike..
I said to myself “ Barsha we need to cover 1km more and we are very close to our destination so let’s start walking.. We need to reach. We will figure out how to fix this!”
As I was walking I saw a red car parked in front of me and a gentleman came down and asked “Do you need help ?” I understood that he made out that the chains have come off.. I replied “Yeah Sure”.
He asked “ Where do you stay?”
I replied “ I stay near Santoshpur.” He replied “ Not that far then!”
“ Yeah. It’s six kilometers away!” — I responded back.
We took the bike at the side of the road and he started to push the chain back to the inner chainring.. After a few adjustments we got the problem fixed and the bike started moving :)
While he was fixing he asked “Are you new to cycling?”
I was wondering what made him ask that but I replied “I learnt during the lockdown period”.
Looking at him I understood he is into some form of fitness and asked “Are you into running?” He replied “ No I am a cyclist”. That got be interested..
His hands were all greasy and black. There was a kind gentleman who passed a cloth. I had my water. So we were sorted.
I was not at all expecting that someone would come down to help me fix the bike.. That was cool. I thanked him and asked “ What’s your Name?”
He replied “My name is Aditya” . He asked me “How about you? Do you come here regulary?”
I replied “ My name is Barsha and I often visit this place. Today I was supposed to meet a running group and this happened.”
He asked “Are you talking about the Jayanagar Jaguar running group?”
I smiled “Yes that’s the group that I intended to meet!”
He had friends in the running group and suggested he could get me connected to some of the people out there. I already had the contacts which he was referring so yeah I realised “The world is a small place.. And we bump into people which adds to our memories” :)
I asked “What do you do?”
He replied “ I am a founder of a startup. It’s a fitness academy”.
I was glad to hear that as in Kolkata we have very few startups as compared to Bangalore and the other prominent IT hubs.
He asked “What about you?”
I replied “I work as a consultant in a startup based out of Bangalore’
We had a quick conversation around that and I was just about to leave when he said “Why don’t you join me in the practice session. We have a group alongwith the trainer from our academy. We train here at Rabindra Sarovar regularly.”
I was curious as to what kind of fitness routine these people follow so I agreed to join.
I parked my bike near the entrance gate and started walking. He asked “Didn’t you feel weird why someone is sneaking up to you and helping you out?” I said “No! It’s not something usual but I didn’t feel weird.” He smiled and then finally we reached the ground where the group was already practicing.
There were a group of 6–7 people. A guy in blue jursey came down . He was the trainer- Josh.
Now this group trains in Calisthenics ( one uses his/her own body weight to perform strength training execises). I was looking around to see what people are doing.
Aditya came up to me and he said “Let’s start!” There were some resistance bands and we did some upper body stretches…
We completed that and did some lunges and squats and then he pointed to a bar and said “Have you ever done a pull up?” I looked at the bar and then said to myself “Oh yeah we started that. But it was more of hanging over the rod and we didn’t progress much on that!” I replied back “I will give it a try!”
There was a resistance band wrapped over the bar and Josh came up and said “Definitely you need some support to get on the resistance band”. They helped me and I was standing on the resistance band and with a little push I started my pull ups.. Josh started “ 1… Come on… 2…3…”
Now I don’t know what happened but definitely I was at the epitome of my adrenaline rush…. and guess what I completed 10 pull ups!! I felt that every cell in my body was in work to provide me with the energy to complete one and progress to the other. I pushed my limits to the core…
With each count I was literally groaning… I just got down after he said 10!
Josh came up to me and said “Lady you have some energy!”
After few minutes I had this bizzare sensation… I was like dazed… Josh and Aditya were there nearby and they were talking … I just tilted my head and looked…There was no response from my end… Aditya offered me banana.. I had that and within few seconds I was like “God is this the way one feels before dying?” I just sat on the pavement…. I just can’t explain you how I felt but I was going nuts!
I wanted to take a dump.. I could faintly see the toilet. I got up and just started walking. I started swaying towards right. I slowed down my pace and at that moment I realised I was falling. I tried to grab what I could sense and I passed out. Within few seconds I gained consciousness… Josh and Aditya were there… Josh was like “You are like falling in a slow-mo and I was just in time to get there before you hit the ground”.
I was still in a semi-conscious state… I said “ I need to go to the washroom”.
They helped me and there was a lady attendant who just helped me to get inside the toilet…
After I got out I washed my face I felt a lot better. One of the guys got me frooti… The sugar pop that I really needed!
I just laid down for some time and was just looking at them practicing… Josh came up and said “Did you had anything in the morning?”
I replied “No! I didn’t.”
I realised that empty stomach is a NO-NO! I should have grabbed some food on the way…I need to be more conscious and understand the alert mechanism of my body…
Josh said “You gave whatever you had to that 10 pull ups. That was inspiring!”
I said “Yeah…And then I passed out!” We chuckled…
This incident made me realise that strength and endurance requires a lot of effort.. And I need to be more careful and understand what works for me!
The session got over.. I regained energy and got back home with my bike…
Before departing Aditya said “Barsha you can join our practice session and come for bike rides whenever you can. Just drop a text”
I smiled and thanked him for this experience and continued with my journey!
Learning to ride has brought me memories that I will cherish forever…. Just love it and the best part is the community… Such amazing people out there…And so much of energy. They propel you to go beyond your limits :)
Friends feel free to share your thoughts :)
