Pune: On the occasion of International Yoga Day, several yoga events took place in the city on Thursday. Puneites participated enthusiastically in these events. Underwater yoga Khushi Poornima Parmar (16) attempted a world record by doing yoga under water for three hours at Tilak Tank, Deccan Gymkhana.
After stepping out of the pool, she spoke to the media. She said, “I am feeling great as I broke my earlier record of being underwater for two hours and one minute. Now, I have made a new record. I was practising for this for the past two months. I did two sessions of underwater yoga before doing this today. Doing yoga underwater was really good, there was no disturbance. I did 40 different types of asanas such as, ‘vakrasan’ and ‘shavasan’.”
When asked about her future plans, she said,“I want to make a record in the deepest dive.”
Kshitij Mittal, coach of Khushi told the media, “By doing this for the first time, I want Khushi to put Pune on the world map. Doing yoga underwater is tough as there is buoyancy force and it pushes you back up to the surface. Then it requires practice to hold a pose underwater and doing yoga, but Khushi is really a water baby. I did not face any problem while teaching her yoga under water. The surprising thing is that we planned two-three cylinders but she needed just one cylinder for 180 minutes. Last 30 minutes were challenging as it was becoming difficult for her to breathe but she managed to complete it.”
Yoga on Street
In another event, people on FC Road enjoyed ‘yoga on street’. Dinesh Talekar, a yoga expert, organised it for the first time. He said, “As today is Thursday and it is a working day, people have to go for work. They cannot do yoga. The purpose of doing this is to make them participate in yoga. Many people joined us. We got a good response from people. “I want people to add yoga to their lifestyle. I want more people to join us and I would like to call government officials next year to participate.”
He added, “Initially people were curious, though they were feeling little uncomfortable as we were performing on the street. So, they were giving weird looks but it all ended with laughter and enjoyment.”
One of the participants said, “It was a good initiative to do yoga on the street. I did it for 10 minutes. I think everyone should do it.”
CAs celebrate the day
The Institution of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) also organised a yogasana and pranayam programme, along with the Western Maharashtra Tax Practitioners Association (WMTPA) with their members and students, at Phadke Sankul, Sadashiv Peth, Pune.
Yoga at Azam Campus
In all, 2,000 minority students participated in the Yoga Day celebrations at the Maharashtra Cosmopolitan Education Society (MCES), Azam Campus. PA Inamdar, President, MCES and Suraj Mandhre, CEO of Pune Zilla Parishad were also present.
Yoga at SPPU
Nitin Karmalkar, Vice Chancellor of the Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU), inaugurated the day on the varsity campus. Ashok Chavan, Controller of Examination Department and Deepak Mane, head of the physical education department, were present. In all, 250 students and local residents attended the programme.
