more-in Women are pretty aware of their wellness quotient, going by the turn out at the Walkathon. It is 5.30 am on Sunday and conversations, selfie sessions, snorts of laughter and honking of vehicles already fill the air at the start point in the grounds of Bishop Appasamy College. Muthu Ramesh, of Pink Fitness One that organised the event, and her team have good reason to be happy. Nearly a thousand women had turned up, said the organisers. But it is past 6.30 by the time the walk actually begins. Some of us pick up our special tee-shirts and rush off to change. “Stand at arms distance,” instructs a trainer from Fitness One. I am instantly transported to school where we did just that before drill. There is the same giggling and some friendly pulling and pushing. A few minutes of brisk warm-up exercises with music and we wait for the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Sujith Kumar to flag us off. Mercifully, he keeps it short and friendly and wins brownie points from us as he declares that, compared to what he has seen in his earlier postings elsewhere, Coimbatore seems a lot more aware about fitness. There is applause and, after a few more words to be mindful of our health and wellness, we are off. One can’t help thinking what a nice way this is to bring a community together. Fresh air, almost empty roads and a brisk walk is surely the best medicine for any health woes. We are to walk around Race Course twice. Still talking and walking we push off, some of us more briskly than others. I have my fitness tracker on and keep looking to see how many calories I have burned already! I am not the only one; I catch sight of others sneaking looks at their wrists too. It is not sunny, but it is muggy and we are satisfyingly sweaty. My daughter and I decide to step up the pace and we do so smugly overtaking a couple of people, discussing music, fitness apps and diets. The walkathon is ‘me time’ at its best and not once does the milkman not showing up cross my mind. At half way point we are herded together, again at arms length, and we sort of exercise-dance to a peppy, though static-filled, ‘Humma Humma’ and ‘Gangnam’ with a set of fitness trainers showing us the moves. A few minutes at best, and we are off on our last leg. My daughter enlightens me about the meaning of Gangnam. It is a wealthy neighbourhood in South Korea and the singer Psy is being gently satirical about those who hang out there. I also learn that the South Korean music bands are a huge hit with kids in our country. Five kilometres later, we return to base and, picking up our vehicle, head back home for a well-deserved coffee and a bask in a walk well done. Water woes There was just one discordant note. There are still those among us who do not think anything of littering. Many of us in the course of the walk picked up half-full and empty plastic bottles thrown by some walkers. May be next time the organisers should NOT provide plastic bottled water. A few water stations with steel glasses are perfectly fine. Or the participants should be asked to bring water from home.

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