Keeping the body fit is a passion for some people, and they are willing to go to any extent to achieve their objective.
A few fitness groups in the city have adopted quirky exercise models of their own to keep their enthusiastic members fighting fit.
While gymnastic master A.R. Eashwar’s group troops to the Thiruvanmiyur beach on Sundays to perform gravity-defying stunts, the Oval Crew led by Yohannan John undergoes a rigorous exercise regime during the week at Oval ground in Besant Nagar.
Mr. Eashwar, a martial arts expert in taekwondo, fencing and kung fu, and his group of students practise gymnastics featuring back flips, somersaults and upshot positions on the sands to keep fit, even while enthralling spectators.
Mr. Eashwar trains people from all walks of life, from IT professionals to autorickshaw drivers.
The Oval Crew believes doing arduous physical exercises makes a person fit and independent during his/her old age. Co-founded by fitness experts Yohannan John and Sudhir Rao, the group, mostly comprising IT professionals, takes its name from the ground where they do their exercises.
The group has come out with a fitness module for three groups — junior, intermediate and senior.
*****
Good food has always attracted these youngsters. Now, they share their culinary secrets with customers.
Collegemates Sailesh Mohan, Prem Ravi and Nitesh Nagarajan, who work as engineers in different firms in the city, also run Saintwitches, a sandwich-making service for parties.
“Rather than spend our spare-time watching movies and eating out in restaurants, we wanted to do something useful. We thought we could do something with our passion for food. So we zeroed in upon sandwiches. We came up with eight combinations that we serve at parties,” say the trio, who, until recently, had a stall near the Jai Nagar park in Koyambedu.
Due to some problem with another stall at the spot, all the bunk shops were removed. They are now scouting for other locations where they can sell sandwiches in the evenings during the weekends. “We are thinking of providing complete event management services for parties. Nithesh is a very good photographer,” said Sailesh, who, along with Nithesh, does thecooking. Most times, Prem does the shopping, accounting and other back-end jobs. The group now operates from Sailesh’s kitchen at Arumbakkam.
chennaidesk@thehindu.co.in
