Chennai’s brief yet wonderful winter mornings are upon us and the streets are teeming with walkers, runners and cyclists, keen to begin or uphold their tryst with good health. It would be a crime to waste this time indoors. If you are looking to ditch the gym and get a breath of fresh air, here are four mostly traffic-free stretches that have emerged as a paradise for walkers amidst the concrete shackles that make the city.  Velachery People walking and jogging in the early morning at Velachery. | Photo Credit: VELANKANNI RAJ_B A snug, little freeway between Perungudi MRTS and…

What is pickleball? It’s a question that K Mohit Kumar gets often. It’s a question he loves answering. Even as he skilfully chops the ball on a windy Saturday morning at the recently-held South India Pickleball Premier League at Hotfut SPR Sports in Perambur, Mohit answers questions from curious onlookers. He was introduced to the sport in 2019 through a family friend visiting from the US, where it’s a fast-growing sport, and has been playing it since. For the uninitiated, pickleball combines elements of tennis, table tennis and badminton. Played both indoors and outdoors with a paddle and a ball,…

Come mid-July, the skies in Kerala turn grey, the temperature drops and the rain falls without respite. It is the start of Karkkadakam, the last month of the Malayalam calendar. With farming coming to a halt and people forced indoors, the time is traditionally used to rejuvenate the body and mind. Many traditional customs are associated with this period, like reading the Ramayana daily and following a strict diet. But the one ritual that Asha Devi Varma, a former agriculture officer and a member of the Poonjar Royal family recalls with much nostalgia is the Karkkadaka kuli or the ceremonial…

A file photo of a gym. Gym users consume protein powders as dietary supplements to gain muscle mass. | Photo Credit: Representational photo Karnataka Government would launch a special drive to create awareness among fitness enthusiasts who frequent gyms about the side-effects of unmonitored and unsafe consumption of protein powders, Law and Parliamentary Minister J.C. Madhuswamy and Health Minister K. Sudhakar informed the Legislative Assembly. In response to a question by Sathish Reddy (BJP) during zero hour, the Minister said steps would be taken to check illegal sale of protein powders in gyms. Gym users consume powders as dietary supplements…

A collage of the authors who contributed to ‘Talking Fingers’ | Photo Credit: Special arrangement In my mind, I’m hopeful that in times to come I’ll be able to control my thoughts. I can’t control my movements always, so others may think that I don’t know things. Suppose you ask me to bring something; despite knowing exactly what is being asked, sometimes my body does not obey my command. This is 21-year-old Aratrik Dey, a non-speaking youngster in the autism spectrum expressing himself in the book Talking Fingers – Voices of Indian Non-Speaking Autistics. While Aratrik’s father Malay Kanti Dey,…

Bikers at Nandi Hills | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement Bengaluru’s ‘bicycle mayor’ Sathya Sankaran reckons the bicycling community here is no less vibrant than the ones in other cities. As a hobby, biking has been fast-growing in Bengaluru especially since the pandemic. If you recently started biking and are wondering where to ride, we got you covered. We asked Bengaluru’s expert bikers to suggest their favourite destinations in and around the city. Hessarghatta Road The Hessarghatta Road in the North-West of Bengaluru is one of my go-to routes for riding. Once or twice a month, on a Saturday or Sunday,…

Dr Raghuram | Photo Credit: Special arrangement Picture this: According to a study by Globocon 2020, In India, every four minutes a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer. With some 1,78,000 new cases being diagnosed every year, the incidence of breast cancer has overtaken cervical cancer to become the most common cancer in Indian women. What is more alarming is that it is being increasingly diagnosed at a younger age (a decade earlier) in India compared to the West. With 90,000 deaths per annum, tragically, a woman loses her life to breast cancer every eight minutes in the country. For…

Actor Ramya Subramanian | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement Mozhi actor Ramya Subramanian, who made her debut as an anchor at the age of 15, says she faced body shaming that forced her to resort to extreme measures, from cutting back drastically on food to working out constantly to hide her “flaws”. Popularly known as VJ Ramya, she is now also a health coach, and has just launched Stop Weighting, (published by Penguin), a book that pivots on her own journey to fitness. “This book is about my story, my journey, and I have put forth everything, including the mistakes I…

Padmavathi Pottabathini | Photo Credit: Special arrangement A journey that started as a search to find her feet steered her towards becoming a support to people with special needs. Set to receive the national award for the Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities for the year 2022 under the category Sarvshreshth Divyangan on December 3 from the President of India, Padmavathi, a third-time awardee, says the recognition is a reminder to stay committed to her efforts in supporting differently-abled people. As a one-year-old toddler, Padmavathi had barely started taking baby steps when she fell ill with polio and spine scoliosis that…