A morning walk has become an integral part of my life for the last 52 years; if I miss walking even for a day, I feel miserable–as miserable as when I don’t get my mandatory morning coffee or am unable to get rid of the garbage of the previous day from my belly!
For 50
years, I used to go for a morning walk to Elliot's Beach Road, Besant Nagar,
popularly known as Bessy, until I moved to Nana Nani in Coimbatore in Feb.
2024. Though it was just 10 minutes from my home, I would take the car up to
Beach Road, park it in an allotted space, and then go for a walk! Every
morning it was a pleasure to see the rising sun and breathe in the fresh sea
air.
An
interesting aspect of the morning walks used to be the sight of hundreds of
people who came from all strata of society, belonged to different age groups
- a melting pot of religions, regions, castes and communities.
Single
men and women, or groups of them, took brisk walks, many listening to music on
their iPods. Some of them carried their mobiles, speaking loudly with their
spouses, children, friends or business contacts, letting the whole world listen
to their problems. A few of them appeared to be talking loudly to themselves
while walking–you thought they were crazy, but then you realised that they were
operating a hands-free mobile or using Bluetooth and talking to someone!
There
were some who believed that they must stop and not only say ‘Hi’ to their
friends but also discuss the day’s politics or weather, thus defeating the very
purpose of having a brisk 30-minute walk! I had a friend who had learnt to
tackle such unwanted intruders. If anyone stopped him to say ‘Hi’, he would
continue to jump or jog on the spot until the conversation was over, and then
continued his walk! Another friend used to walk with his palms together
forming a ‘namaste’ behind his back. According to him, it was a healthy
practice which he had perfected over the years; I tried it and failed! Then,
there was this man who had a habit of walking with his left arm firmly glued to
his side and the right arm swinging up and down during his brisk walk. There
were a few who specialised in walking backwards, and others who practised yoga,
meditation, pranayamam and Surya Namaskar while sitting on the parapet wall,
bordering the walkers’ footpath.
During
the walks, you could not miss the group of senior citizens, both men and women,
sitting on the parapet wall having heated discussions. The women were
invariably talking about problems with their daughters-in-law or maidservants,
and the men were talking about politics or cricket.
It was
also funny to see some women in outlandish or ill-fitting clothes! There was an
old lady, in her eighties, who was wearing loose-fitting jeans, a T-shirt, a
‘red’ pottu on her forehead and hair in plaits like a typical South Indian
woman. Obviously, she was the mother of an NRI who had converted her from a
nine-yard saree to jeans and T-shirts! Equally funny was a fat old man walking
with a quarter (not half) pant with a T-shirt of some US University,
wearing a splash of vibhoothi and a pottu on his forehead!
The most
beautiful thing about the morning walks was that nobody cared about your
clothes or your peculiar walking habits. Most people were totally lost in their
thoughts, like I would be most of the time, not noticing some friends who were
passing by, wishing me.
As I have
repeatedly said, the only thing I miss in Nana Nani in Coimbatore is the
morning walks in Bessy followed by gup shup with two groups of friends- a fun
group and a group which met over a cup of Kumbakonam degree coffee at
Velu's coffee, where the owner served customised coffee to everyone in the
group.
Thirty
minutes of walking and 60 minutes of gup shup were enough to keep me active
for the day.
