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Walk and be Happy@Suhas Kumar

"The sum of the whole is this: walk and be happy; walk and be healthy.The best way to lengthen out our days is to walk steadily and with apurpose."

Charles Dickens

My morning walk is never insipid as I always enjoy every moment of it - absorbing the

scenery, the flowers, the birds, the multi coloured and multi natured street dogs and dogs

on leashes whose masters always look away when they see me coming - for their dogs,most of them, engage themselves in some earthy act embarrassing their masters. Besides,

I also meet those various people of different sizes and built and idiosyncrasies who either

walk along the same path on which I tread or those whom I meet at cross roads.

Very few people find morning walk pleasant, most people abhor it - the thought of

bidding farewell to sleep early in the morning is repulsive and seem a retrograde measurefor progressive creatures like us humans. I also belonged to that class till eight years ago

and then my life changed for better. How it started is an interesting tale which you will

soon find.

Year 2001, I was at the Academy of Administration, Hyderabad attending a compulsory

training programme that the central government wants us to suffer every year. After a

Spartan opening ceremony, the presenter of the first lecture embarked on a topic that Ihad detested till that day it was about "Walking". As I often do when caught in a boring

lecture, pulled out my notebook to begin drawing cartoons, but I couldnt do that for the

presenter, with his earnestness, touched a cord within me he began talking about thehuman body, what happens to the food we eat and why sedentary white collared people

soon succumb to diseases like diabetes, hypertension, clogging of arteries with obnoxious

cholesterol which finally puts the heart to eternal sleep. He went on to tell us howwalking briskly for twenty minutes a day could keep one's heart, circulatory system and

pancreas healthy and fit for life, and how after a good walk the 'well-being hormones

endorphins' are produced that make you feel calm and relaxed and helps your body

repair the damaged tissues and manufacture good cholesterol. I was impressed yet notenough to begin walking the next day. Yet, it did happen.

With me, undergoing this training was my dear friend Ramakant Ojha from Tamilnaducadre. Next morning around seven, when I was coming out of my room only half awake,

I saw Ojha ji entering the hostel, I was surprised and amused for I knew Ojha ji to be

laidback person who loved his sleep. I asked him what made him go out so early in themorning; I got a laconic reply - 'morning walk'. And then he went on to explain that this

was his doctor's prescription to keep his blood sugar in check that he had developed six

months back. I had no such ailment but I always worried about the extra fat that gave my

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tall frame the shape of a champagne bottle. The talk on walk yesterday and Ojha ji's

morning walk were two potent motivations to ask him to take me along on his walk the

next day. He began laughing for he knew I too was a inveterate sleeper. But when Iinsisted on, he agreed. I assured him that I would be up and ready 5.30 sharp and if I

didn't he must chuck me out of the bed to wakefulness.

Next day I began my maiden walk and from that day till today it is a ritual, a hobby and

a habit that I cannot miss .I have trained myself to go for a walk anywhere be it the tar

road in Char imli or the platform of Bhopal junction ( whenever the trains whenever thetrain got delayed) the old bridge at Mandla, or the gardens or by lanes in greater Kailash

and Lodi estate, the cow dung and bull infested market of Hazrat Nizammundin or the

verdant campus of Pusa where flocks of glossy ibis trumpet from tree tops or the jungle

trails in Pench, Kanha, Panna or Satpura - where I gingerly walk on the tracks of tigersand leopards, or the heavily potholed road in front of Tala rest house in Bandhavgarh,

which hasn't been repaired for 3 years now as there is an injunction by the court for the

road passes through the national park. And if it is raining I open all inner doors of my

house and begin walking on the tiles bare foot. If for some reason I miss the morningwalk I make sure to find time for one in the evening.

I always remember the gentleman who talked me into walking as a healthy hobby but

after 8 years into walking I have found another dimension to it - which he didn't mention

then the life enriching character of walk it not only tones up your body but invigorate

your mind making you a perfect healthy whole. As David Thoreau said 'An earlymorning walk is a blessing for the whole day", Get ready to walk; there is notime to lose.

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