The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : City Corporation paves the way to good health

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 01, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

City Corporation paves the way to good health

Swahilya

The projects gift fresh air for walkers in the respective areas

HEALTHY STROLL: The Haddows Road park is a serene spot for locals to get some fresh air and exercise. — Photo: K.V. Srinivasan

CHENNAI: If the residents and those who work in the numerous offices in Nungambakkam are thankful to the Chennai Corporation, it is for the gift of space: for the renovated Independence Day park near Valluvar Kottam, for transforming a sewage canal into a beautiful Canal Park on Haddows Road and for the Corporation's open space opposite Women's Christian College on College Road, which is maintained by Scope International as a small walking garden. All these projects have given lots of fresh air and lung space for walkers in the area, who have not seen anything beyond dusty roads, pollution and traffic hold-ups.

Sreelakshmi, helping her little girl Keerthana down the sliding board at Independence Day park is delighted that her child has so much space to play. "This is one of the best things that could have happened to this area and we want more such spaces for walking and recreation," she says.

The park, once a zone people avoided, has become a rendezvous point for a number of people, as the long row of two-wheelers parked at the entrance testify. Visit the park and you can see walkers using the stone-paved path for a quiet stroll. A few others prefer to hold a quiet conversation with their friends sitting in the chairs around.

Under the bright lamps of the park sit two boys studying from a standard XII physics book. Families enjoy a picnic in the inner walking ring of the park, while in the central cemented portion around an ornamental pillar, babies in walkers and prams have their share of fun.

Students of Women's Christian College, employees of banks and corporate houses nearby or passers-by spend a while walking around the circular garden adjacent to Scope International on College Road. Surrounded by stone benches and chairs, a small water spot with soft lights falling on the thick grass gives walkers some quiet moments between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. when the park is open.

The pride of place among the walking spaces in Nungambakkam goes to the Canal Park on Haddows Road, further down Shastri Bhavan.

Rahamathunnissa walks three times around the stone path skirting lush grass lawns on what was once a sewage canal, rolling her prayer beads all the while. "Three times because they said it adds up to one km and I come here twice a day," she says. The park is open from 5 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.

D. Banumathi, president of the Banumathi Karate and Welfare Association, and her student-associate J. Sridhar discuss the benefits of taking regular walks while breathing in and out deeply.

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