Walking with morning walkers

                                                        Walking with morning walkers

There has been sudden awareness towards health among urban Indians. Reasons can be many- faulty life style, rich food, more hours of work with little physical exertion, mental tensions and so on. Cumulative effect of all these results into lot of physical stress, obesity, neck related problems etc. One common exercise which majority of urban Indians do is morning walk. Regular physical exercise under trainer in gym is common with younger lot that is more interested in showing biceps than anything else. The typical early middle aged, and older generation can be seen taking morning walk seriously. In some cases, this is done on doctor’s advice and in other cases motivation comes after observing needle of weighing machine or in exceptional cases from caustic comments made by friends. Number increases in summer due to holidays and drops down in rainy season. Few smart marketers take advantage of this macro level change and offer wide variety of products and services related to health.

An effort is made here to understand walk of various categories of walkers and their motives behind morning exercise which give interesting insight.

1-      Gangs of retiredpur:- They can be found in major cities and towns. This group of people normally walk at a leisurely pace. Physical exertion is not very important. They take frequent stops and wait for member who has not turned up. If retired from government service, most common topic for discussion is  D A and its impact on pension. The group also discusses issues related to world/nation and have quick solutions. They consume tea or coffee at roadside vendor because they are not likely to get the same so early at their respective homes. Few of them also perform routine task such as buying of milk pouches or newspaper on way back home.

2-      Dog escorts :- This set of walkers is normally from upper class. The dog itself calls the shots. This results into a comic situation – either they drag the dog or the dog drags them. They stop when the dog stops, and run when the dog is attracted to  another dog. They are happy to  meet other walker accompanied by his pet and discuss issues related to the grooming of pets, their food, doctor and so on. These walkers hate the stray dogs and have special affection to those pets with a belt around neck on. It is also observed that barking of dog is inversely proportional to its size.

3-      Cardiac patient:- This category is serious as far as physical exercise is concerned. Few of them can be seen doing breathing exercises on roadside also. They follow instructions given by dietician apart from  physician and walk at  brisk pace for 35 minutes. In case they have missed morning routine; they can be seen in evening on same route. Few also consume  juice cocktail available with road side vendor.

4-      Diabetic regular:- Normally, this walker can be seen in isolation. The main reason being his daily route and calculation of calories to be burnt is fixed. He or she can be seen throughout year on same route at same time. In case, more sweets are consumed on earlier evening, this category of walker shall extend route by at least half a mile to burn extra sugar.  In rainy season, they carry an umbrella and in summer they can be seen with  county cap on.

5-      Music lovers:- They normally are from young age group and in some cases are seasonal walkers. The music they listen ranges from Gayatri Manta to rock music depending upon  age of  walker. If not careful, they are subject to road accidents also.

6-      Duranto walker:- He is from category who walks at speed, does not stop even others try to stop him. His route is fixed and main purpose is to keep himself fit. He normally carries a small Turkish towel to wipe out sweat. He is happy when others praise his speed and regularity and his reduced tummy. He is of opinion that those who cannot complete a kilometer in 11 minutes are lazy walkers.

7-      Guest artist:- He can be seen walking once in a while or for a few days on regular basis. He chooses the road or route very carefully (with least vehicle pollution). He may actually go to the spot in his own car to the starting point and come back in his own vehicle after the walk. He can be quickly identified by his new sport shoes or branded sweat shirt.

8-      Bird watchers:-  The agenda of this category is crystal clear. If true nature lovers, they will watch birds with binocular. Else they can be seen watching other morning walkers. They (later category) also keep changing routes based on information received from their friends. They strongly believe that turn out should be good. Hence, they normally are well dressed. Some can be seen wearing a T-shirt of an American University (which they never have visited) or of a football club from U K.

9-      Walkie talkie couple:- They are regulars and normally wife does  talking and husband does  listening part while walking. The issues discussed range from very trivial to sensitive in nature not discussed at home. The speed of couple increases with the intensity of complaint of wife to husband.

10-  Flower pickers:- Main purpose of this segment is not physical exertion but to pick up flowers for their Gods. Like a trained hunter; they have already identified their target houses from where to collect flowers stealthily. They avoid those houses which have dogs. Once they identify their competitor pickers; the race starts for who wakes up early and picks up ahead of the competitor. They can be seen with  small poly bag in hand to keep  flowers in good condition till they reach home.

11-  Fatso:- Few boys and girls who are overweight are forced by their parents to go for morning walk. The speed at which this category walks speaks out loudly- they are not very serious and are doing job unwillingly. Some marriageable candidates also fall in this category and  walk continues till marriage function is over.

12-  First gear super- seniors:- They normally are above seventy years and both men and women walk very slowly, avoid main roads, carry a stick and a torch in winter. Their journey is like a passenger train. They stop and talk to others of same age . They can be seen taking extra precaution to protect themselves particularly in winter.

In case you can identify few more categories, please let me know.