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METRO WORKOUT

Photo: H. Vibhu

Onward march People on a morning walk at the stadium

Keeping fit is the mantra on everybody’s lips. There’s aerobics, there are those weights which you carry for supple muscles and a firm body. What if you are kind of fat and beginning to think about fitness regimes but don’t have the confidence to do even yoga for fear that your legs may give way or you may not be able to get back on your own two legs after a particularly trying yoga asana?

For beginners who want to stay fit, what better than using those two legs and doing a bit of walking? Walking gives obese folks that feel-good factor, the feeling that yes, you can also do it. Push harder and you might even be able to join that fitness centre. So I get up at 5.15 am, wear comfortable shoes that won’t bite, loose fitting clothes that would not get into my way and get myself driven to the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium, Kaloor. A whole community is there, busy walking round and round the stadium and I do not know which group to join, the one going clockwise or anti-clockwise. Finally, I begin clockwise, because walking anti-clockwise feels like sitting in a train which goes backwards.

I look at my watch: It’s 5.45. Taking a deep breath and with a steely resolve, I begin. With the steps even and hands swinging back and forth with some sort of uniformity, I cover slightly more than half the circled stadium, head held high, whizzing past other walkers who I thought were too slow (Actually they were there very much earlier, I soon found out) and not succumbing to distractions. The morning chill even in early May feels good. And then, just when I thought I was doing first class, I could hear my breath, my legs screamed at me, “how much longer must I carry you?” My face felt hot and flushed and the sweat fell down my face; I had not even circled the stadium once. The others who were walking in the same direction seemed like robots, moving mechanically to the finishing line that was nowhere. I mustered up all my resolve and concentrated on a scenario where I was standing on a weighing machine and the needle stopped at five kilos from my present weight (Ha..I won’t tell you what that is!). And then from somewhere some kind of energy started flowing and the stadium was circled in no time. Inspiration came from ladies and gents who were at least 10 kilos more than me, who were sweating it out… hope springs eternal.

And then I gave myself a break. Everything was pulsating, my very pores and the legs ready to drop at the nearest cement parapet at the stadium. Looking around, it was like several shoe ads come together. Every brand was there, colourful and elegantly cream or white, plus some shapes I always thought boded ill for footwear. No smiles for anybody and no returning smiles either, each an island intent on the kilos that would be no more or the cholesterol levels that would go down…down. Three rounds grudgingly over, I depart, vowing to come the morning next.

Best time to walk at the stadium is very early in the morning. Otherwise it gets crowded. Don’t couple it (walking) with driving lessons, because the authorities don’t let you learn driving around the stadium.

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