Ever since I started running last year, I’ve been asked a lot of questions about it by my friends. One of the prominent questions being ‘Do you run alone?’ Heck, no!! I run with a lot of people but not more than one at the same time. All of them are peculiar in the sense that they all insist on singing rather than talking. Yep, my best running buddies are MDR, MMI, SSI, KVN et al.

M.D.Ramanathan accompanies me on most of my runs. His vilamba kala singing suits my slow pace and I can run for hours without tiring when he sings. His elaborate renditions and his varnams are the best. Those runs to the tunes of Chakkani Raja, Nannu palimpa, O Rangasayee are some of my best runs.

Madurai Mani Iyer is who I choose when I want to go for a brisk run. The problem with him is that I find myself nodding in appreciation and running side to side sometimes. Semmangudi is very good for speed training with his superfast swaras. Sanjay is a great guy to run with. I usually listen to whole concerts of his and enjoy the variety he dishes out. KVN and S.Kalyanaraman are very good for the hills though I haven’t understood why. Maybe it’s because I’m more consciously listening to them and they keep me quite busy. I sometimes take Alathur Brothers, GNB, Ariyakudi along too but they don’t make such great running buddies or probably they run at a different pace than me.

I’m open to recommendations for other running buddies though!!