Morning exercise

We had that regular morning jogs soon after our annual school exams were over. Early in the morning, before even sun rise, we would get ready wearing our running shoes and tracksuits and jerseys. Then we would go out. Usually the one who would wake up earlier than others would call others. In those days there had been no cell phones .  Telephones were there but in our locality they were only to be sern in banks and offices and clubs. Few who had telephones at home were considered to be aristocratic and wealthy. I remember at one of my friend's house there had been a telephone which hung from the wall of their living room. It looked beautiful specially when that friend of mine would call someone or receive a call through it, standing very artistically, one foot pressed against another, his waist bent sideways a bit, making him look like a practised dancer.
So the one who would wake up up would have to physically go to atleast one friend's house and awake him by any means. But in most cases the other family members would wake up and that particular friend would have to be woken up after a lot of effort.
However, there were enthusiastic ones who would wake up at one call and soon we would be out jogging. Our running shoes would catch the dew on the grass and till the sun would rise and fill the grounds with golden rays we would continue doing our physical exercises.
Occasionally we would go to the jetty which was nothing but a wooden pier protruded into the river. The jetty had been erected to help the loading and unloading of goods. Early in the morning it remained empty. Infact almost all day it remained vacant, only when ships came sailing ths river and goods were to be loaded into them or unloaded from them , the jetty saw a flurry of activity. That too was rare to say the least.
So we had our days at the jetty. There we would go just to sit there and watch the river more closely. Sometimes we would would a bit of pushups there, on the wooden plank of the pier.
Once as I woke up early to go out for a jog, I thought I was late. Without even looking at the watch , I got ready in a hurry and went out. I did not call my friends for I thought they might have gone out before me. At the play ground where we used to run or do our physical exercises, I found none. The sky was still dark and only there was a slight tinge of light in the eastern sky. I ran towards the jetty. It was on that narrow kachcha or non asphalt road that ran following the river on one side and the wall of a shoe factory. The road was absolutely empty as it should be. That did not deter me however, to take that road. The sky was still dark. Only the light from the road side lamp posts provided a bit of luminosity. A  few yards away from the entry point to the jetty or the pier, I suddenly stopped. I saw a lamp post trembling! There was neither storm nor an earthquake. I was completely taken aback by that strange sight. Due to darkness of the pre dawn and mist and fog, it was not possible for me to fully discern what was happening; but I ran back home at double speed, huffing and puffing all the way.

Later that day, when I narrated the incident to my father, he just simply smiled and said , ' That must be that darwan or gatekeeper of the jetty...he does his physical exercises holding the lamp posts. It might be one of those lamp posts was not firmly rooted to the ground and so it shook as it bore the heavy weight of that durwan'.

I discovered father had been right as usually fathers are.