A new acquaintance

“A sound mind in a sound body” is an old adage. The adage indicates that both body and mind are to be maintained in good condition. It also suggests that the body should be maintained in good condition so as to house a good mind in it. It goes without saying that both the mind and body should be given equal importance for proper maintenance of the self.

I am a regular morning walker in the M N Krishna Rao Park in Basavanagudi area and I come across many walkers. On one such morning walk, I came across a person who kept both his mind and body active. A man was walking beside me and instinctively I started walking faster and overtook him to exhibit that I could walk faster. Within seconds, he overtook me and stared as if to indicate that he had defeated me. Suddenly I replied, “Sir, you proved, that you are a fast walker. I took a chance to overtake you but you failed in my attempt”. He answered that he was a regular morning walker in the park and a retired bank employee.

I took this occasion to bring up my retired bank employee friend from the same bank. He replied, “Raja, I knew that person very well,” and this event proved to be a moment of bonding. One day, I noticed that the fast walker was walking in the opposite direction with his walk mates. Surprisingly, he overtook me with other walk mates and then reversed his direction. The next day, he was walking with us and suddenly reversed his direction to join another walker who was walking in the opposite direction. This made me arrive at a conclusion that the fast walker walked with several walkers in different directions depending on circumstance.

Luckily, I met my old friend at the entrance of the park and after a mutual exchange of pleasantries, I learned that my new acquaintance started coming to this park only on Saturday and Sunday due to change of his residence. He also asked me if the fast walker was coming to the park daily? My friend explained that the fast walker walked for a period of more than one hour with speed and spent time in rendering assistance to the disabled in society.

A small tea meet was arranged in the park, and regular walkers were invited. I entered the park and observed the serpentine queue. All walkers were seen interacting with each other spending moments joyfully. Just as my mind drifted to the fast walker, the very person came racing towards front of the queue obliging the repeated calls from the friends at the front demonstrating the popularity of the fast walker.