CHENNAI: Chennai’s vehicle owners may want to steer clear of the 8, considering it unlucky, but for the city’s walkers, it’s the perfect number It explains why the 8s are popping up all over the city — from parks to colony streets, community halls to private terraces.Why wait, chant the morning walkers of Srinagar Colony in Saidapet . Improve your gait by walking on an 8. In fact, the virtues of 8-walking are reverberating through the streets of this colony, so much so that there is a traffic jam every morning on the 16 ft by 8ft painted yellow 8.“We are going to make another 8,” says N Sivaramakrishnan of the walkers’ club. The first 8 was painted on two months ago by 'eight-vocate' Gunasekharan S, ex-councillor of the area.At the Metrozone gated community in Mogappair, walkers troop along an imaginary eight-shaped figure every morning, while fitness enthusiasts at a city park walk around two bushes in an 8 shape.The Madras Club too recently announced that it was giving its members an 8-shaped walking track facility.Arulappa Srichandra, chief physiotherapist at SIMS Hospital Chennai, has been recommending the walk to his patients.“Walking is beneficial to everyone. But the 8-shape adds a little more to a walk,” he says. Although he admits he does not know the origins of the walk — now popular overseas as well as infinite walking — he does vouch for its benefits.He suggests that people practice the 8-walk in the morning, evening or any time but always on an empty stomach.“The key is to focus on the walk, so that means no mobile phones, no chatter, just mindful walking. It is not as easy as one thinks. It is good for coordination, concentration, and balance,” he says.Proud grandma and champion of the 8 movement 62-year-old A Amala, says she has a chalk-outlined 8 on her terrace, which she drew after she attended a one-day course on the health walk a few months ago.“It’s good to cool down after your fast morning walk with a slow walk in this shape,” she says. “It is meditative and normalizes your breathing,” she says.Meanwhile, the internet has begun bursting with advertisements for 8-shaped mats and stickers from prices that range from a few hundreds to several thousands. But Amala says all you need is a little chalk and a lot of motivation.

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