On a hash trail in Bangalore

A new form of non-competitive running that ends with beer and a party

Sailaja Kamatham, 43-year-old software quality assurance executive in Bangalore, describes herself as someone from "an inert background". Yet, every other Sunday she goes for a run, usually somewhere on the outskirts of the city. This is no ordinary run, though - it's usually with at least 50 people and ends with beer and at times, a party. Kamatham's part of the Bangalore Hash House Harriers - the local chapter of the international social club that refers to itself as "the drinking club with the running problem". "I was the kind of person who would last have exercised during PT in school but what attracted me to hashing was the element of fun. You meet all kinds of people and you end up feeling like part of this big family," says Kamatham who has been part of the Hash House Harriers since 2009.

Hash running or "hashing" is non-competitive running with an emphasis on socialising. This is how it works: a trail is laid beforehand by a designated few who are "hares", with shredded paper or chalk, and the hounds, or those who are following, have to try and follow that trail. No prizes for coming first here, the only goal is to finish the trail. At the end, everybody gathers for a drink and food and some boisterous socialising.

Hash running is reported to have its origins in Kuala Lumpur in 1938, when some expatriate British wanted to emulate the old "hare and hounds" game. There are over 2,000 hash house harriers all over the world, according to the homepage of the World Hash House Harriers, including several in India, but Kuala Lumpur remains the unofficial "headquarters" of the movement.

The Bangalore Hash House Harriers was set up in 1990, by the then MD of Cargill Foods, an expatriate, says current "Grand Master" KS Govindaraju aka Govind "flamethrower" (all members have monikers of this kind), who holds the post jointly with Rajesh Hinduja. "Those were the days when there were hardly any avenues for entertainment, so this was a great way to socialise," says Govindaraju, who was introduced to it by a friend of the founder and has been running since. Runs in those days even included one through the old UB brewery on Vittal Mallya Road (now replaced by the glitzy UB City) which ended with freshly brewed beer. Another was on the runways of the new international airport before it was thrown open to the public! Govindaraju's favourite, though, remains an international hash in Goa which had 7,000 hashers from across the globe running.

There are two trails, a 6-km trail for those who prefer to walk and a longer one of 9-km for the serious runners. Everybody starts off together and the paths diverge at one point. Usually, around 70 per cent of those who turn up opt for the walking trail. The age group of those running in Bangalore ranges from teenagers to those over 60. Govindaraju, a real estate developer, says he met his business partner through hash running. The trails are usually outside the city, and of the 25 runs in a year, two would be held in other places and some eight would be "party runs".

Though in theory, anybody who is interested can contact them through the website and turn up for a hash run, if they are found to be misbehaving they will not be informed about the venue for the next run, he says. But this doesn't happen very often, he adds. Usually, those who come have been invited by someone who has already been hashing. For the normal runs, you have to pay a nominal Rs 100.

The structure of the run depends on the grandmaster, says Govindaraju. "Some might prefer to focus more on the fitness aspect. But we would give equal importance to the partying," he says with a smile.