Novina Daari – Stage 1 (12°52'54.79"N, 77°35'46.82"E)

 

It is commonly said by those who do not know better that the first stage of the Novina Daari has got a lot easier over the years; this time around, the organisers (most probably out of spite) have started the event with a particularly tricky section. I curse myself for not checking the route markers and local weather forecast as I wait at the start line, nervously checking if my participant’s bib is stuck on properly. Finishing the entire thing is a statistical impossibility at my age, but I am determined to try.

The ND is by far the most difficult, gruelling endurance pedestrianism race on planet Earth; a three-week, 320-kilometre traversal of Bengaluru on foot. With danger at every intersection, hundreds of technically demanding sections requiring extreme caution, and held in the middle of the monsoons, the race’s completion rate is low. Last year, only half the total number of participants staggered across the finish line; an overflowing drain on day eight had wiped out over a hundred contestants in a matter of one hour, and that was one of many such incidents. This year was being predicted to be even harder.

After the ceremonial dropping of the effigy into the ditch to remember those who have fallen before, the race is flagged off. I start slowly, trying to establish a rhythm and taking quick breaths. It’s really dusty. We're all looking down to avoid the open chasms between the concrete paving slabs. Today’s stage is quite short, ending just 4.7 kilometres away at the Heart Replacement Centre due North.

Three minutes in, the rain came down with a vengeance, and holes in the ground opened up like a horde of demons, starving for food. Tip-toeing around a narrow but dangerous ravine just outside a clothes store and already soaked, I helped a fellow geriatric who had slipped, fallen onto the road and was about to be run over by a vehicle going the wrong way.

The spirit of valuing human life is an important part of the Novina Daari. It would also get me some extra points on my final score. Speaking of-

In the ND, your finishing time is not the only thing deciding your final classification. You are judged and refereed by a panel of past race winners based on five criteria:

1. Race time.

2. Race distance.

3. Sportsperson-ship (helping those in need, not jaywalking wherever possible, and so on.)

4. Soundness of mind (at the end of their race, every participant must be declared sane by a team of experts – all of whom have completed the ND at least once.)

5. Cleanliness (this is mainly to prevent people from swimming through sewage to gain an advantage.)

As I get to within a few hundred metres of today’s finish point, I cannot see ahead of me. Honking reverberates in my ears. The slush is impossible to avoid. I don’t think I’ll make it past the third day.

No, I say out loud; it is almost a declaration to the world around me, though nobody else is paying attention. I will. I’m going to do this.