It was a Sunday with a difference. The city saw thousands gathering on school and college grounds across the city to observe International Yoga Day. From primary school students to persons in their 90s, they all came together on June 21 and performed asanas at important public places.
Mild showers in the morning did not spoil the spirit of the organisers and the participants.
Around 3,000 persons including many women participated at the event organised by The Art of Living foundation on the Scheme Road, at Race Course. The organisers carpeted the road and arranged for 150 instructors to guide the participants to uniformly perform the asanas.
The Art of Living foundation plans to conduct follow up classes free of cost for the participants, at various centres across the city.
Nearly 1,300 NCC cadets from 10 schools and three colleges in the city performed asanas at Nehru Stadium. They were among the thousands of cadets, who were trained for close to three weeks for the event on Sunday, and had gathered at four places in Coimbatore on Sunday.
They had two rehearsals before performing at the nation-wide scheduled time of 7 a.m. to 7.35 a.m. NCC officers said that 19,148 cadets are performing in 12 venues across eight districts in Coimbatore region.
The 4 (TN) Battalion NCC organised an event at P.S.G. College of Technology here in which 2,024 cadets from 32 institutions participated. Other venues in the city where cadets enthusiastically took part were Government Arts College, PSG Sarvajana Higher Secondary School, Coimbatore Institute of Technology and Mani Higher Secondary School.
There was equal enthusiasm shown by inmates of the Coimbatore Central Prison in taking part in the International Yoga Day observance. Over 1,000 inmates and 55 prison staff performed asanas following instructors from Art of Living foundation.
Students of Isha Home School performed yoga as flash mobs at Fun Republic Mall, Coimbatore Railway Junction and KG Cinemas. They replaced lyrics of the song ‘Kolaveri’ with their experiences of yoga and grabbed the attention of the audience.
Yoga exponent V. Nanammal (95) demonstrated asanas at Coimbatore International Airport and explained the benefits of yoga to officers and staff of the airport, airlines, security personnel, licensees, taxi drivers and visitors. The Central Industrial Security Force personnel at Coimbatore Airport led by its Assistant Commandant K.S. Srinivasan took part in the event organised by Isha Yoga Centre.
The Nilgiris
About 1,000 officers from Indian and International Armed Forces and ladies participated in the observance at the Defence Services Staff College, at Wellington, The Nilgiris, on Sunday. DSSC Commandant Lt. General S.K. Gadeock enumerated the benefits of yoga. The Former Police Officers Association and traffic police personnel of the city police also organised programmes at the PRS Grounds and at R.S. Puram. Instructors from Patanjali Yog Samiti conducted yoga classes for about 400 members of Rajasthani Sangh. A laughter class was part of the programme. Colleges too had programmes for the International Yoga Day. A mass yoga session was conducted at Kumaraguru College of Technology and Students of Amrita School of Business took part in the celebration on the institution premises.
CBSE Schools
The Yoga Day celebrations evoked a huge response from the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) schools as most of them conducted yoga sessions during the early hours of Sunday.
K. Navamani, president, Coimbatore Sahodaya Schools Complex and a member of a CBSE schools Association, said that most of the CBSE schools in the region celebrated the International Yoga Day by holding various events.
Experts from organisations promoting yoga were invited to conduct the sessions. At Angappa Senior Secondary School, events will be held for two days. Various contests such as elocution and posters, all focussing on yoga, were also held with the prizes to be given on Monday. In order to avoid asking students to come to school on a Sunday, some institutions such as the National Model Senior Secondary School (CBSE) had organised programmes on Friday.
Matriculation schools
Tamil Nadu Private Schools Association president R. Visalakshi said that in the matriculation schools only the students in National Cadet Corps (NCC), National Service Scheme, Scouts and Guides took part. These students of various schools gathered in one location and celebrated Yoga Day.
N. Arulmurugan, Chief Education Officer, said the department of school education did not organise any programme in the Government schools and had not sent any circular to the schools covered by the State Government to celebrate Yoga Day.
Special Children
The Yoga Day celebrations were not just for these students as special children also took part. A special session was organised on Saturday at the Molecular Diagnostics, Counselling, Care and Research Centre (MDCRC), the sole Government recognised rehabilitation centre in Tamil Nadu for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) at Kurunji Hospital here.
Its founder B.R. Lakshmi said that such activities will help not only the physical but also the mental well-being of the patients. K. Shankar, Head of Integrated Yoga Centre here, handled the sessions.
Tirupur
The International Yoga Day was celebrated with grandeur across the district on Sunday. Various organisations conducted yoga sessions at around 25 places in the district. At Sainik School, Amaravathinagar, a total of 505 cadets performed asanas.
With inputs from
R. Vimal Kumar
