WALKING IN THE MORNING..INTRODUCTION

1. WALKING IN THE MORNING: INTRODUCTION

I am ready for my morning walk at 6.00 a. m. every day of the week, month and year. Only chilling cold, heavy fog or heavy rains may force me to stay indoors but such mornings are not many in the calendar. I was not a regular morning walker some 20 years back. There were so many excuses for not getting up early in the morning and go for a walk. There were late nights. There were early work schedules. There were official tours to different cities. In fact there were all possible alibis.

The morning routine changed more by force than by choice. A MI and doctors’ advise to change the life style put me onto the roads in the mornings. I say roads because at some places on my touring days I had no choice but to complete this daily ritual on the roads close to the hotel I was staying with, as there was no Park nearby. Sometimes the ritual was completed in the room itself. Fortunately close to the place of our residence there were Parks around. I am an avid morning walker now. I get up at 5.30 in the morning and after freshening up ready to breathe in fresh air.

With the passage of time this ritual became a habit and then nature. Today I can say this habit has done me a lot of good. Not only have I survived the post MRI trauma but also it has given me confidence which is most important. I would not say that only morning walk has done it, as there have been regular medical check ups, medicines, healthy foods, family support and cooperation of office colleagues. Nor would I say that I am perfect embodiment of a changed man because I still indulge in some forbidden foods and drinks. I would say I am more disciplined now then some 20 years back. At 69 today, I am entitled to some liberties and I enjoy them. I try to ensure is that no one is inconvenienced by me or my morning walks.

During the course of my morning walks, there are some observations worth sharing and recording lest I forget them or may be I will love to go through them some times in future and amuse myself on my literary skills ?

Here we go.