Exercising in the monsoons

I know of people who love to go on night runs in the rains during the monsoons. I tried this a few years ago, but somehow the combination of sweat, rain water and mosquito bites was not to my liking.

I usually either shift my workout to a purely indoor one or just not exercise at all during the monsoons. Walking outside with my heavy rubber fisherman's boots does help me burn more calories though.

This year, however, i have decided to be a bit smarter and adjust my workouts around the weather. We've had a beautiful July with ample rains and sunshine mixed with heavy and cool winds. When the conditions permit I go down and play wall tennis with intermittent rope jumping sessions. The latter sucks my energy, but is a great exercise.  When I do play wall tennis, there are occasional passing showers but I am OK with that.  It's the feel of the fresh and clean breeze that energises me to play longer.

Every workout is followed with yoga and meditation. I am not sure how long I can keep this up, but I don't pressure myself at all. This is the greatest advantage of living in the present moment. Take things a day at a time...

As long as this lockdown continues, we can keep breathing fresh air. There's no substitute for that at all. 

Frogs herald the arrival of the monsoons

I have witnessed twenty monsoons in Bombay and until this week I felt there wasn't thing about the season or its arrival that I would have missed. So when I woke up around 4 am a couple of days ago, along with the sound of crickets there was something that was unfamiliar at least for Bombay. It was the sound of croaking frogs! 

At 4 in the morning their melody had no competition with the birds, and so I heard this concert as male frogs sang away to attract mates! These amphibians were well aware that the monsoons and heavy showers were on their way. And how right they were! Within a few hours, the Hindmata junction in Dadar was flooded! 

So the blue skies and relatively mild sun of June has given way to grey and cloudy skies and the kind of showers that no major city on earth witnesses the way Bombay does. 

July is a wet, rainy and romantic month in this city  (in case you choose to stay indoors). I love turning on my yellow lighting in the apartment and lighting a couple of candles near the windows, which are sprayed by rain drops that slowly move downwards and take down the dust of the summer. Thanks to the lockdown, my florist shut shop. I hope he returns soon. Red and yellow roses look beautiful between my candle sticks by the window.