65 - THE FITNESS CHALLENGE

Rajyavardhan Rathore started the fitness challenge, and it is getting linked with celebrities, who are boasting online about their fitness regimes.  But the message is so hypocritical.  These 'healthy' persons should also clarify that their fitness also depends on their diet. 

Dino Morea had installed 2 open air gymns at Marine Drive in the year 2016, which were dismantled by the BMC.  And then 'open air yoga' is sponsored by BJP?  So hypocritical!

The Prime Minister posted how he walks on the clean manicured lawns of his official residence.  Where can I walk on one?  The lawn at Nehru center at Worli is off limits for the public,  the one at Priyadarshini Park is fine,  the Governor's bungalow lawn is also off limits, as also the Tata garden lawn at Breach Candy.  It would be ideal if the public could exercise on the Chowpatty beach, but it is too polluted and dirty.  You cannot walk barefoot on the wet sand, without dodging garbage that has been washed ashore, and feces and urine. 

The main problem is that people in Mumbai waste a lot of time and energy in travelling.  I wait at a bus stop for more than an hour.  How convenient it would be if the BEST could facilitate their buses with GPS or global positioning system.  It would enable passengers to predict the exact time that they need to wait at the bus stop.  Anyway, until such a time, it is such a waste of time and energy, just waiting and waiting for the bus to show up.  So, after travelling in a crowded train or a very tardy bus,  where is the stamina for anyone to do exercise?  And where is the place?  Not in a tiny flat.  There are the wise ones who say that you must climb upto your flat by the stairs and that that would be sufficient exercise, but it is not possible to climb 20 or 30 floors when one is tired after a day's work or after returning home with a heavy bag of groceries.

Mr Rathore has a very posh carpeted office/ house, where he is demonstrating his 'fitness challenge' and Virat Kohli and Anushka, are doing their workouts in their personal, private gymn.  As are all the others who have been nominated.  I leave for work by six thirty in the morning, walking along a road that has traffic spewing out smoke and speeding along, dog potty to be dodged, and potholes and uneven footpaths.  I then return by three in the afternoon, but lose all my energy, waiting at the bus stop for more than an hour, and then standing in a crowded bus to return home by five.  It is exhausting just to follow this routine and survive, forget exercising by having to visit a gymn or a garden.  Gymns are expensive and have limited timings, as do gardens. 

But what is the most hypocritical scenario is that, all these famous sports, film and political icons, are not mentioning that good health is not only exercise but a good diet of fruit, protein, both of which are expensive, and so the public satiate their hunger with vada pau, sandwich, samosa, chai, throughout the day, and that is the main area, which affects the health of the middle class people.

So, my fitness challenge to Mr. Rathore and Mr.Modi, is that, show us what you eat and drink, and then motivate us to follow your dictats.