Discover Chennai’s new strolling trails and uncover its rising health tradition

Chennai’s transient but great winter mornings are upon us and the streets are teeming with walkers, runners and cyclists, eager to start or uphold their tryst with good well being. It might be against the law to waste this time indoors. If you’re trying to ditch the fitness center and get a breath of contemporary air, listed below are 4 largely traffic-free stretches which have emerged as a paradise for walkers amidst the concrete shackles that make town. 

Velachery

A comfortable, little freeway between Perungudi MRTS and Velachery MRTS in Bhuvaneshwari Nagar transforms right into a small-scale athletic complicated each morning and night.

The 2-kilometre stretch adjoining to serpentine tracks, railway underpasses and newly-planted bushes, makes for a surprising canvas at dawn and its pretty neat roads, a monitor for runners and walkers.

The Lockdown Warriors, a 15-member crew of 50 and 60-somethings, as soon as used to stroll alongside this highway as stray people making an attempt to each kick-start a brand new behavior and get out of the home throughout the lockdown. In the present day, they put on matching T-shirts, and participate in power coaching put up stroll. The empty halls of the Perungudi MRTS are therefore put to good use.

“We find yourself chatting for a couple of minutes about day-to-day affairs. We’ve got been in a position to create a way of group,” says I Edwin, a member. Additionally they huddle across the similar location to drink tea within the evenings.

Waving hello to this group each morning are M Mathivanan and M Sumathi who go on an hour-and-a-half lengthy stroll alongside this stretch, ceaselessly checking their good watches. The goal, they are saying, is to clock 10,000 steps within the morning.

“It’s a neat straight highway that makes for a breezy stroll. A staff of volunteers from an organisation referred to as Inexperienced Velachery have additionally been planting saplings alongside this stretch so that there’s inexperienced cowl finally. It might be good if the dump alongside this stretch is cleaned,” says Sumathi.

Anil Sharma, a runner from Vibrant Velachery, a chapter of the Chennai Runners group, says that the Velachery MRTS is the nucleus of the strolling group right here however there may be additionally the 100 toes highway that runners frequent. To realize elevation, additionally they take the flyover within the wee hours of the day.

Ashok Nagar

Within the coronary heart of Chennai, 11th Avenue in Ashok Nagar unfolds as a dynamic thoroughfare. Right here, the daybreak refrain will not be confined to birdsong alone; it harmonises with the hum of fruit juice outlets wanting to hydrate spirited joggers and brisk walkers. Amidst the rhythmic footfalls, newspaper distributors unfurl the day’s headlines, stitching town’s narrative into the very cloth of the morning routine. The four-kilometre stretch of 11th Avenue transcends its concrete basis, rising as a vibrant tableau of well being, connection, and the collective heartbeat of Chennai’s early risers.

“We’ve been strolling right here for the final 10 years. It’s not very secure as a result of site visitors begins flowing, so a variety of walkers and joggers begin early,” says retired officer S Balaji as he and his spouse brisk stroll by the road of parked vans alongside the pavement, including that they like strolling on the open highway versus the quite a few parks of their space due to the liberty of motion.

“I consider that strolling on the open highway is healthier than going spherical in circles in a park. You get to watch town get up. I’ve a number of pals right here, and we stroll for about an hour after which typically go to Saravana Bhavan for a espresso.” says enterprise proprietor VR Chandran, who has been an everyday walker on 11th Avenue for the final 25 years.

The stretch which is called a paradise for walkers and joggers not solely performs host to previous walkers, but additionally welcomes new lovers donning smartwatches and operating earphones. Hema, who made a decision to get more healthy this 12 months, says, “I discover this highway straightforward to stroll as a result of there are a variety of bushes, and you may prolong your strolling route by together with the smaller streets. Plenty of joggers choose the principle roads, however walkers usually weave the smaller streets into their circuits.”

A variety of juice outlets, wholesome soups and breakfast spots appear to have changed the age-old road facet dosa, idli spots on 11th Avenue to cater to the crowds.

Marina Seashore

“You’ll be able to pay me tomorrow. Take this,” says S Mahendran, handing over a bag of spinach and spring onions to a buyer. At 6.30am on the service highway by Marina seashore, walkers are milling round him. “They’re all going to come back again anyway,” he waves my considerations away.

There’s a lot that has modified through the years there — the low hum of ongoing work on the metro building web site is consultant sufficient of the churning that the ocean continues to witness. The legion of walkers there although, are both loyalists or on their means in the direction of changing into one.

An early morning stroll down the service highway that extends from the lighthouse to the Marina swimming pool has a thriving ecosystem– greens for the week, flowers, your morning breakfast, and even fruits and coconut kernels for a mid-workout snack. There are outlets promoting lower fruit, boiled sprouts, sizzling soup alongside massive tubs of crunchy cornflakes, and even puttu with kadala curry, teeming with folks quickly after the break of day.

“Many walkers cease by to select up fruits and sprouts which they’ll pack into their kids’s lunch containers for varsity,” says N Perumal, who has been there for the final seven years.

Amidst all that’s to savour, there are resolutions to maintain. In matching T-shirts that say ‘Work it, personal it’, pals Kailash Parihar and Rajendran Kumar inform me their plans for the brand new 12 months — to stroll right here at the very least 5 days per week.

Muthulakshmi Raguraman, factors to her T-shirt that claims ‘My life, my health’ printed in massive letters and says as soon as per week, she winds up right here along with her fitness center buddies for an extended stroll, adopted by a run on the sand and a meditation session.

“After the Chennai marathon, I’m now wanting ahead to taking part within the Auroville marathon and am coaching for it,” she says, hurrying off.

T Nagar

Outdoors Geetha Cafe in Pondy Bazaar, a gaggle of walkers and cyclists sit with steaming sizzling cups of espresso simply as daybreak breaks. I’m handed a cup of Horlicks and instructed with a smile that I can select to sit down exterior as nicely — the most suitable choice given how beautiful the climate in Chennai at present is.

At common intervals, walkers in teams of threes and fours briskly cross by in color coordinated T-shirts. Mahesh Bhandari, who has been frequenting the empty morning roads of Pondy Bazaar from even earlier than the pedestrian plaza got here to be says seven T-shirts in numerous colors got to the common walkers right here. “This was a stunning gesture by Mahaveer Chand Bothra, a diamond service provider, who has been an integral a part of the strolling group right here. We’ve got a color assigned for every day,” he says, pointing to their pink T-shirts for Tuesday.

A stretch that’s bursting on the seams with stores, hawkers, and eating places that are buzzing with exercise by means of the day, the pedestrian plaza at Pondy Bazaar performs residence to a myriad of individuals as town wakes up. Early within the morning, males sit alongside the pavement checking out newspapers which might be to exit for supply and other people cease by on two wheelers to select up milk packets from the lone watchman by the sales space. The neat pavement all by means of, and the eating places that dot the stretch deliver collectively walkers and cyclists, and a number of photographers who’re filming pre-wedding shoots and modelling portfolios within the wintry early morning sunshine.

“We first meet right here for a cup of espresso, one that’s smaller than the same old serving after which start our stroll. We’re throughout 50 years of age, and this sense of group is nice motivation for all of us to come back and stroll right here,” says actor Gopi Kannadasan. It’s onerous to overlook this huge group he talks of, seated on the first desk in Shri Balaajee Bhavan chatting away.