An entertaining walk

A daily walk can do a lot of good for the body, mind and soul. But who says it cannot be entertaining?

A bit of observation can make something as mundane as a walk amusing, as I have come to realise.  Take for instance, the lady who insists on dressing up like she is all set to walk the ramp at 6 am. The bright colours may appear a little harsh to the early morning eye, but that does not seem to bother her in the least.

Giving her stiff competition is another lady who wears a strong perfume, which hits you like a rock every time she crosses your path. But the fragrance of her expensive perfume is any day better than the smoke of cigarette exhaled by men who step out of their house under the guise of going for a walk.
A young lady huffs and puffs to catch up with her athletic husband who has broken into a sprint, while an old couple walk hand-in-hand with a hint of love still visible in their eyes even after all these years.

While there are some people who exercise like there is no second day, you also have a few women who saunter around so daintily that even a drop of sweat is not visible after an hour of walking. Giving them a complex is another boisterous gang which chatters loudly, frightening away the melodiously singing bird. With the bird having flown, a young man has the volume on his ear phones so high that it can virtually wake up the entire neighbourhood. 

And then you have a bored housewife snatching a quick glance at a male walker, not to mention some men whose looks are less than honourable.

But what irritates one the most is people who cling onto their mobile phones as if they are a part of their bodies. For heaven’s sake do you have to jabber on the phone even while exercising? While some discuss business, for others the walk is just an excuse to get out of their house and catch up with the ‘other half’, like for instance a married man who sits in his car every morning, rolls up the shutters, turns on the air conditioner and talks away to glory for at least half-an-hour with God knows who.

Unmindful of the tamasha around, car drivers go about washing their vehicles with stereos blaring  Kannada and Tamil film numbers adding to the cacophony, a senior citizen with a pooja basket in hand pinches the fresh blossom ignoring the ‘Do not pluck flowers’ warning, an adult joins a game of football with kids on the manicured lawns. And life goes on...

(Picture sourced from: http://www.chichester-march.org.uk/html/walking.html)