
Fitness centres have no takers
The Hindu
Gym owners seek government concessions to tide over the crisis
The government’s nod to reopen gymnasiums from July 8 is yet to bring cheer to fitness trainers as health clubs have reported very low attendance on the first two days. Additional safety measures have not helped boost the confidence of fitness enthusiasts much as many are worried over the possible third wave of the pandemic. The people who earlier flocked to gyms are now opting for regular exercises at open places, parks or are joining online yoga classes to ensure physical distancing. President of the Visakha Gym Owners’ Welfare Association K. Ganesh who runs a health club near Rama Talkies says that in the first two days, the attendance was in single digits. Following apprehension over an early outbreak of the third COVID-19 wave and the news of various variants of the virus surfacing in several States, people are afraid of coming to gyms.
The municipal bus stand auditorium in Malappuram was packed. But nobody quite knew what to expect. After all, a new event was making its debut at the State School Arts Festival. The moment V.G. Harikrishnan started his rendition of Pyar bhare do sharmile nain..., everyone was convinced that Ghazal was here to stay. The student from GVHSS, Atholi (Kozhikode), was applauded loudly for his rendering of the timeless ghazal sung originally by Mehdi Hassan.

For the last few weeks, several wards in Madurai city have been getting piped drinking water through a new drinking water scheme. The sweetness of the generously supplied water has led to loss of business to several suppliers of canned drinking water in the city. But, not many know that the water supplied to the houses in Madurai is directly drawn from Lower Dam of Mullaperiyar Dam in Idukki district of Kerala.











