Quirks and Colours

Bling it on
Captain Suresh Rajani put Bappi Lahiri to shame by donning many pins and badges signifying his relationship with the armed forces. Waiting for his wife and daughter at the finish line, Rajani shone in his tri-colour tie, silver baton and pink sunglasses. "We repair warships for the navy and this (running) is my passion. I love dressing up like this and participate in all the marathons that I can. Next time dna should allow men to run too. I'd be more than happy to join," he said.

Krishna and Gopis
Nitisha Trivedi ran her fourth 21 km dna ican marathon, and this time she donned Krishna's avatar. The 30-year-old had dressed up as Lord Hanuman, Lord Shiva and Lord Ayyappa in the previous marathons. "The marathon is in the morning and no woman has the time to wake up so early and get dressed. Only male gods can look beautiful at this time. I am in need of a sponsor because I don't know if I can afford my costume next year," she said.

Flying Domestic
45-year-old anaesthetist Dr Bindu Shah has run six half marathons in the city; this time, she decided to run the 5 km fun run because her domestic help Anjali Patel was participating for the first time. "While registering online I just asked her if she wanted to participate, and she said yes. We then bought her shoes but she ran the whole stretch without having any practice," Shah said. Anjali, 18, is from Nogama in Gujarat and has been working in the city for two and a half years. "I used to run races back in school and had won a 100 m race in the seventh grade. It felt good to be asked to run (the dna ican marathon) but I haven't thought if I'll take it forward,"she said.