Fancy a long walk? Hop, skip, and step towards Chennai’s newly designated 8km Health Walk stretch

Chennai's Besant Avenue now has a designated Health Walk stretch, complete with sculptures, signages, and benches. Residents of the area have welcomed the initiative, hoping for more people to come and enjoy the peaceful, neat and clean stretch. There's something for everyone's health here, from a leisurely walk to a power nap.

There is a steady drizzle at 6.30am and when I look up, the skies are ominous. I am standing at the corner of Besant Avenue road, next to Dr Muthulakshmi Reddy Park. There is a new addition to that corner — a towering arch in green and orange. A well-lit sign declares — ‘Healthwalk Start’ and on either side are silhouettes of two runners.

One of Chennai’s most idyllic stretches that delights pedestrians and motorists alike with a canopy of trees — Besant Avenue Road — is now part of a designated stretch for an eight kilometre Health Walk, an initiative by the Tamil Nadu Health Department. Inspired by walking tracks he saw on a trip to Tokyo, Health Minister Ma. Subramanian, himself a regular marathon runner, had announced the creation of these designated spaces across all districts. A list on the Directorate of Public Health website of these walking corridors across the State simply mentions the starting point of the walk. I decide to go where the quiet and calm path takes me.

While I hesitate to walk in through the arch given the weather, two runners jog past me and that is all the motivation it takes. A few metres in, Girija Venkatesan, a resident of the area, is briskly walking with her friend carrying umbrellas. She pauses her smartwatch to talk. “I cover this stretch everyday from the corner of Besant Avenue Road till Arundale beach road and back, and have been walking here for years now.” The statues, a new addition to the stretch are exquisite, she says.

“A proper paved area all through this stretch would be very helpful, especially for senior citizens.” 

Even as a long-time resident, there are pockets in the city that one gets to discover, and see in a new light. S Ravichandran, a resident of the area who has been walking here for decades says he hopes more people come here to take a walk. “This stretch is peaceful, neat and clean,” he says, before hurrying off.

On a rainy morning, many walkers navigate through puddles since the stretch does not have a uniform pavement. Down Besant Avenue, as the road curves ahead towards Theosophical Society, the pavements become broader in parts, punctuated by bright pink bougainvillea. Benches are placed at regular intervals, and given how much brighter the greens are that morning in addition to the rain-washed roads, there cannot be a more perfect place to sit and decompress.

The sculptures loom into view. While one is of a man seated on a bench with the other side vacant, there is one more of a woman walking her dog. This seems befitting, given that I encounter a friendly four-legged resident of Besant Avenue not too far away.