Run for your life

Everyone seems to be on the run these days

Run for your life

CHEATED: Dinesh Kumar Vohra, a shareholder of Satyam Computer Services Ltd, gestures as security personnel stop him from entering the office of the company, in Hyderabad. AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A

I don't really know how much the marathon helped the city. But at least, for once Bangaloreans jammed the roads at twelve at night. And not with carbon monoxide-spouting vehicles.

Of course, nobody even vaguely Bangalorean came close to winning. The Ethiopians and the Kenyans outraced, outpaced and outhuffed the rest of us benne dosa-stuffed types. But nevertheless, as thousands of fellow city citizens jogged, walked, sprinted or simply dragged themselves through the route, it bound everyone together like nothing else can not even a cricket match.

The same weekend in our neighbouring state capital, a certain CEO was wishing he had run faster in his loafers. An impassioned letter confessing 'all' his sins to the SEBI chief didn't help the (then famous and) now infamous Raju and his brother from cooling their heels in a common jail.

Their mansions and limousines were gone. And an entire weekend spent in a barrack, sleeping with rapists, murderers and other such unmentionables, must have helped the Raju brothers realise that cooking the books wasn't exactly the same as steaming the pessarattus.u00a0
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So, 53,000 people had shaky futures in the space of one weekend. (oh sorry, make that 27,000 employees. The figures on the rolls were purportedly as fudged as the bottomlines.) While the Rajus surveyed the endless horizons from vantage points on the 6000 acres they had casually picked up over the years, their employees were rushing to the banks to ensure they had enough for their next two square meals.

It is rumoured the Raju name is all set to enter the English dictionary now. As in "My God! You really Raju-ed her!" (not to be confused with rogering someone, but used when a guy falsely inflates and boasts about his assets u00e2u0080u0093u00a0 material or otherwise u00e2u0080u0093u00a0 to a girl.) Or "You bloody Raju-er!" when someone has been caught out concocting a tall story.

And to think, all the Rajus wanted to do was enter the business annals. Well, I guess they still will u00e2u0080u0093u00a0 but for all the wrong reasons.

Meanwhile, Slumdog Millionaire, was doing the bull run on all the award shows. It sure doesn't help dispel foreigner perceptions of India being a land of slums and sluggers. But even then, it's one marathon epic that touches, repels, and lends you hope, all at the same time.

Meanwhile, I seem to be the only person not on the run. My New Year resolution of hitting the treadmill every morning seems to have been derailed faster than that crawling auto.

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