Happy Street

Couple of weeks back, one of my colleagues told me about the recent event happening in Pune on every Sunday - Happy Street. At first it looked odd to me - people flocking the venue at 7 AM for no specific agenda, that too on a Sunday morning!! But then he showed me some of the photographs he had taken there and a video clip where two youngsters were showing off their football skills. I decided to take Meghana and Mrunmay to Happy Street and witness the event myself.

 For initial 3-4 weeks the event was held at Aundh and from last weekend (21-Feb) it is being held at Kalyaninagar, opposite AdLabs. The concept is very simple. An area gets demarcated as "Happy Street" and gets closed for all automobiles. Only pedestrians and cyclists are allowed in that zone. Then the organizers setup some events and are then joined by some other enthusiasts to setup activities meant to engage people.

 When we reached there on Sunday morning, people had started dropping by. Some had borrowed the cycles from organizers and had started going round the street. Some gym enthusiasts had setup a quick warm up setup and people were simply joining in for couple of rounds and moving forward. Some leg exercises, followed by hopping and jumping. As we moved forward, we visited couple of stalls - one regarding how to make compost at home, another by life saver society. Just next to that there was another group who were offering skipping rope for those who wanted to try their hands on. I couldn't resist myself! I quickly completed two sets of 50 each. Felt good. 

We had started hearing some fast songs and realized that there's a stage setup further down the road and another team was making people dance on the tune of various songs. We started walking towards the stage and realized that there were at least 200+ souls dancing to the tune of songs. A team of girls was showing the steps from the stage and the group was simply trying to follow them without any inhibition. Mrunmay and Meghana decided to join in the moves, I parked myself on the divider to catch a better view.



After a while, we walked past the stage to check out what else was there. It felt like pretty much end of the happy street. Mrunmay wanted to do the hopping and jumping once again so we decided to head back to that spot. To our surprise that patch that we had crossed few minutes back, which wasn't that crowded, was now fully crowded. There was another group who had setup one minute activity - "passing the ball". Mrunmay and I joined the game and everyone was simply amazed with the speed with which we could do that.


And then we found tug of war!!



In between, we also played frisbee. Meghana gave a try to Hula Hoop. By this time, it was close to 9:30 And we decided to break away from this event of Happy Street... Big boy carrying a big smile on his face!!


Location: Wonder Futura Phase 1, Pune, Maharashtra, India

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Subscription Services

Image
As the internet penetration increased over the last 2 decades, it also gave rise to digital subscriptions. The internet users slowly started developing trust in internet-based payments and that too on recurring payments. It probably started with the tech community using the recurring payment systems and slowly spreading that faith to non-tech-savvy users. There was also a phase when I started using the credit card for online transactions but wasn't comfortable storing the card details with the merchant. I used to enter the details every single time. (That is how I still remember the CC number that was in use at that time) In the late 2000's I was introduced to Ecom website development and since then it has been part of my professional as well as personal life. Over the years, I learned about the  PCI-DSS standard , and the extent to which the Ecom companies make an effort to protect consumer data. There have been instances of a data breach across the globe, but alon...
Read more

Movie Review: Chhota Bheem and The Throne of Bali

Image
Set in the beautiful islands of Bali, this movie is meant to entertain the kids. But unfortunately adults may not find it that interesting.  As usual, when Bheem along with his gang and King of Dholakpur reaches Bali, they find that Bali is in danger. Apparently, Bali's Queen is King of Dholakpur's sister and were invited for crowning ceremony of the prince Arjun. Upon arrival, Bheem and the team found that everything is devastated in Bali and there's no trace of Royal family including Arjun. After much of a search, Bheem finds the Rajguru (Royal Priest) who had helped the prince escape the wrath of the invader - Rangda.  The story line is pretty much predictable and there are no surprises till the end. Bheem needs to be the ONLY savior and it turns out to be that way. (This actually is a problem for children mentality, but I'll save the thoughts for some other time.) Overall animation is similar to the serial and there didn't seem to be any attempt...
Read more

Telemarketing

Last week Mobile rings .... Me: Hello --: Hello, this is XXX calling from XXX bank. Sir, you hold XXX bank credit card, right? Me: Yes. --: Sir, XXX bank is offerring you a ready cash of Rs.4,65,000/- Me: Actually this amount is too small for me. --: How much amount you are looking for, Sir? Me: Something like 4 crores.... --: (silence) --: 4 Crores ???? --: Is any bank offering you that much amount? Me: No! --: Then? Me: If you can offer me 4 lakhs just like that some other bank will give me 4 crores as well :) --: Ok Sir. (disconnect) :) Today Mobile rings ... Me: Hello --: Hello, this is XXX calling from XXX bank. Sir, you hold XXX bank credit card, right? Me: Yes. --: Sir, XXX bank is offerring you a ready cash of Rs.4,65,000/- Me: Last week only I told you folks that this is very small amount. I am looking for amount like 4 Crores... --: ccccrore ?????? (hung up) Nice entertainment right?
Read more