My most frequent fitness activity the past few months have been walking. I have always been a walker and have found immense peace and contentment just walking. My walking got some new meaning after I read in the book Sapiens how our forager ancestors used to spend much of their roaming in the forest gathering food. Hence, our brains have evolved to store much information about topology, paths and maps.

Being in a city like Bengaluru which has great weather all year round, makes it even more pleasant to walk. I like exploring known paths, parks or sometimes wandering into totally new localities taking in all the hustle and bustle of the surroundings.

The health benefits of walking are well known but here I want to discuss walking for its own sake.

The perspective you get while walking is much different than driving through the same streets. You have to slow down to the limits of your body. You are forced to look at and navigate the space with other humans around. You get a closer view of the shops and houses that dot the streets.

Walking slows you down to human pace. Hence opening you up for conversation and human interaction. I have had multiple people ask me directions, or help cross a high step on the footpath or generally grumble about speeding vehicles!

At some level, walking is what makes us human. Obviously its not the most efficient way to get from point A to B. But once you remove the utilitarian view and stop ‘optimizing’ everything, you realize how walking for its own sake can be both enervating and exhausting.