WALKING EVERYDAY IS A GOOD EXERCISE.....

Benefits of walking everyday, from health point of view, are highlighted everywhere. There are numerous sites enlisting the advantages of walking and the major benefits are said to be the following-

1. While walking, the functional parts of our body such as head, eyes, ears, nostrils, lungs, heart, kidney and limbs are physically set in motion. More we walk, more these parts get activated. On a regular walk, our body parts get rhythmically vibrated.

2. We sweat on walking; that is a sign of biological burning of stored excess calories in the body, fat or carbohydrate.

3. On walking, not only one becomes physically fit and active but also mentally pleased. Such pleasant minds form the base for good work and better attitudes.

I started regular walking (everyday) since my school days.... After completing 5^th Class in 1959 in an elementary school located in the neighbourhood of our ancestral house Darbhe in Irde village, Karnataka State, I walked everyday about 6 km from our house for higher elementary and high schools. A young boy, commuting a distance of 12-14 km everyday was not an issue those days. I had no other options either. In the fifties and sixties, there were no higher-level schools nearby. Neither there were motorable roads nor descent walkable tracks in our villages.  The walking trails to high schools traversed through numerous ups and downs, narrow valleys, undulating hilly terrains, bunds of paddy fields, areca and cashew plantations and seasonal and perennial running streams some of them with shaky hanging bridges. From 6^th to standard 10, I walked the distance everyday barefoot. Those were the days; time spent and exertions due to walking were not issues pondered at all...

For Higher education, I moved out of our village and shifted to Mangalore and Chennai cities. Later, on employment and scientific researches, I even went abroad several times. Yet, I didn't stop walking. Rain or sun, within or outside India, I walked everyday morning, about 4-5 km, which I continued all along in Goa.... Essentially, I walked all through......   

Ever-changing life-styles and habits have continuously impinged on our daily routines. In such demanding times, regular walking not only will keep us physically fit but also mentally positive. Positive minds will lead to good work done always...

D. Jayarama Bhat