A 'sole' stirring celebration

Prakash Wani, assistant commissioner of police (retd), Mumbai Crime Branch, celebrates his 67th birthday with runners at Cafe Desire in Chembur East. Pics/Sameer Markande

Former Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Mumbai Crime Branch, Prakash Wani, celebrated his 67th birthday with a difference on Friday morning. The top cop has fought some weighty battles in the past, stories about him watching the weighing scale needle touch 100 kg and then whittling down that weight through a strict fitness and running programme, pop up in an Internet search.

Zipper Club runners are all about miles and smiles

Meet and greet
Yesterday, Wani marked his birthday by bringing the running community together. Through social media, he sent out the news that all interested need to exercise for 67 minutes in the morning. After which, he invited them to his Chembur cafe for a poha-upma, chai-coffee breakfast. The result was a few people, running, walking, cycling and some who had swum for 67 minutes getting together at Wani's Chembur Cafe Desire.

Wani, a popular and motivating figure amongst the city's runners, said, "I wanted to inspire people to go outdoors if possible and exercise. This can be a fitness regime of your choice. Now, just look at the crowd that has gathered here. This is an atmosphere like the one we have post marathons, but with safety protocols in place. There are people from Kalyan, from the tip of South Mumbai and from Thane all coming together and talking about running and their philosophies of life. As runners, we are socially inclined. We love to meet, but Corona stalled everything. This was my effort to rekindle the old days. The meet is just like the genuine, no show pony business that I had envisioned."

Zipper boys
The groups came from different places and were mixed. There were seasoned exercisers and novice runners just finding their feet on challenging Mumbai roads and discovering themselves as they ran. A doctor from Thane was grateful for, "the Yeoor Hills close to my home, so that I can use that for my incline runs."

Prabhadevi's Surendra Dasadia, who has been extremely regular with his cardio quotient, exercising on his building terrace when the strictest of lockdowns restricted mobility, was present with his Zipper Club running group. Dasadia, who did a 67-minute walk-run combination on the way to the venue, said he saw the unique birthday invite as an inspiration and signal that runners are now raring to go full steam as the outbreak, though still there, eventually wears out. Zipper Club is a group of runners, most of whom are senior citizens, who have had a cardiac ailment in the past.

Many of them, who zipped and zoomed into the cafe belying their years, have half marathons (21 km) under their belt. They said, "Our heart surgery is a thing of the past, running has given us a new start in life, and a fresh perspective. Since the strict lockdown was lifted and runners were allowed on the roads, we have been running with all safety protocols through the pandemic. The surgery has been forgotten now. The only blood group we know is be positive!"

Winding down
Accomplished runner Satish Gujaran from Mulund, said, "The plus point is that this was one of the first small get-togethers for runners. It was good to see them." Gujaran had been conducting virtual workshops through lockdown. His videos focussed on strength training. "Now, from virtual it has become real. I have been running on the roads, for two months at least, training a few runners too," finished Gujaran. Cake cut, photos done, the banter wafted through the air even as Wani's invitees started leaving the cafe, and a morning with heart and sole (pun intended) reached the finish line.