Hundreds join India’s Unity Run near Washington

Washington, Oct 4 (SocialNews.XYZ) A large number of Indian Americans gathered at Gravelly Point Park in Virginia for a Viksit Bharat Unity Run organised by the Indian Embassy, combining running, yoga and meditation with a message of fitness and community participation.

The event, held just outside Washington and close to the Potomac River, brought together members of the Indian diaspora and friends of India as part of an initiative highlighting fitness and unity.

“What a joyful morning at Gravelly Point Park!” the Indian Embassy said in a social media post.

“Hundreds of friends came together for the #ViksitBharat Unity Run organized by Embassy, celebrating fitness, unity and the wonderful spirit of our community,” it said.

“The yoga and meditation sessions made it even more special. Thank you to everyone who joined us!” the Embassy added.

Participants at the event spoke about the growing focus on fitness in India and the impact of government initiatives encouraging people to make physical activity part of everyday life.

“The Fit India Movement by the government of India is a great initiative to encourage and motivate the fitness culture in India,” one participant said.

“It just makes sure, like, we just make sure that we stay motivated and make fitness a daily part of our lives,” the participant said.

The participant also linked physical activity with mental health and general well-being.

“It just helps you stimulate your mental and physical wellbeing, and making fitness a daily part of your life is very essential in today's life, in today's day and age,” the participant said.

“To be healthy, to keep yourself healthy physically and mentally, and just to stay fit and active,” the participant added.

Another participant pointed to what he described as a wider fitness surge in India.

“I think there's a huge fitness surge in India currently. There are new fitness events that keep coming up, and everything is sold out,” he said.

“That's something new for us, and everyone's chasing their limits and trying to get beyond them,” he added.

The participant said yoga had also helped take India's fitness message to a wider global audience.

“And as far as yoga goes, I think we have started a new initiative all over the world,” he said.

“I remember back in the COVID days, I used to record videos and put them up for the International Yoga Day event. That's something that got me also into yoga. Thanks to all of those initiatives. Fitness is the matter of talking point in India right now, which is a change I feel.”

He also pointed to increased investment in sports facilities in India.

“I think there's a huge boost in investment in the sports infrastructure in India. Everywhere you go, you see new complexes built for sports,” he said.

The participant said better facilities were also becoming visible to people pursuing sport recreationally.

“I also feel that as a non-professional athlete as well, if I have to go run somewhere, the proper running tracks to run on, so that's a focus in that angle,” he said.

He also cited India's performance in international sporting competitions.

“Apart from that, I also feel, now as far as our performances in international sports go, we are also performing in field. We're also excelling in fields which we are not considered to work in at one point of time,” he said.

“So that's really good news in terms of the whole Fit India initiative.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Fit India Movement in 2019 as a national campaign aimed at encouraging Indians to make physical activity and sport part of their daily lives.

India has also promoted yoga internationally for more than a decade. The United Nations proclaimed June 21 as the International Day of Yoga in 2014, and Indian diplomatic missions around the world have since regularly organised public yoga and wellness events.

Source: IANS