Cycle...chalti kaa naam gaadi

Ashish has to run in some kind of a relay run next month, his colleagues have persuaded him to join in. For a person who has had little physical exercise, no sports and a life of 9 ro 5 in front of the monitor, it is but hard work to run 5 kms in 30 minutes. He has been trying to make a run everyday, improving his stamina and helping his muscular strength to build. Hopefully, he will keep up to the spirit of his colleagues at the relay.

I am not only amazed but also appreciate the tremendous fitness consciousness in the people here in Denmark and many other western countries. It is not a very uncommon sight to find people in their jogging suits running around the city at any time of the day and also night, sometimes midnight and sometimes early morning...anytime. Cycling is almost a rage, you sometimes can find dignitaries cycling around the city, where the cyclists get as much or sometimes more priority than the motorists. Copenhagen is wonderfully planned for cyclists, with dedicated cycle paths and cycle accessories that make cycling with children possible. The city as such is very levelled excepting few slopes here and there, which make cycling almost a pleasure.

For the very short summer that people have here , they make the full use of the bright sunshine that is available. swimming, skating, running, boating and sailing in summer and iceskating, skiing, icehockey and all indoor sports in winter. We in India pride ourselves on the origin of Yoga and are always happy to flaunt that Yoga belongs to us at every smallest opportunity. How much of the Yoga do we practise in our daily lives. The Yoga teacher at my son's school is an American and can discuss and teach Yoga in the most adept way, which can put any Indian to shame. Do we also know the different types of Yogic exercises? That is the importance that we give to fitness.

My friend and I were discussing the other day about the same topic and her opinion on our lack of interest in India regarding fitness and the excessive interest here was pointed to the fact that the westerners have social security and do not have to be so dependant on working hard to make money etc etc. And I was of the opinion that the very fact that Indians do not have a social security system, should be more encouraging to keep them fit.

However, coming back to cycling, Copenhagen has a very extensively laid out cycling path, even on the motorways, which make it such a very easy mode of transport coupled with the unlevelled interest that people have in fitness, you can see the entire city on their bikes early in the morning, dropping children to school, biking to work and back, making Denmark so little polluted. Moreover the government is discouraging the usage of cars by having as high as 200% tax on cars and by having a lovely public transport system, it has given the people a chance to be environment conscious too.

When I was a young girl while in India, I have cycled quite a lot. But cycling phased out in my life as soon as i was able to ride more sophisticated vehicles. But Copenhagen has no doubt rekindled that childhood fascination and love for cycling which shall now remain for life. Cycling has again come back in life as a very enjoyable sport and hopefully will continue in every part of the world I would go.