Morning walk for the soul

When the blues come calling, and they do quite a bit, there’s nothing like a walk in the park to get that serotonin boost. I have always walked in the evening, when the park is full of serious, young people, in running gear and rippling muscles. Each round is done with unsmiling determination. Makes you want to go home and immediately eat six egg whites and aggressively take over a company.

One day, I walked in the morning and have stopped going in the evenings, since then. Everyone wishes me ‘Good morning, young lady’, so that should give you an idea of their age. The park reverberates with loud shouts of greetings and bellowing laughter. And not just from the laughter club, which sends out waves of infectious cheer into the world, at a designated time, in a very systematic manner. Just walking around them brings a smile to my face.

The pace is slow and most often, completely absent, as the walkers just hang around and chill. As the group of very handsome men below told me, it’s mental activity rather than physical, which is keeping them so young and handsome. Followed by peals of laughter. I couldn’t agree more.

One of the walkers does dangerous stunts every day, to get neem leaves for everyone. The leaves have few takers despite his valiant efforts at pushing the product. He ends up eating a lot of them, to show how delicious they really are – and he does seem to be glowing with good health. Though that might be because of the hilarious exchanges he has with his prospective customers.

The morning walkers, or talkers, do not clamp headphones to cut out the bird songs, nor do they feel compelled to burn a certain amount of calories per hour. They just seem very happy to be with each other and enjoy the first rays of the sun. And the ephemeral dew drops glistening on the grass.