India realises the power of yoga

Nearly a year after the United Nations declared June 21 as the International Yoga Day, an overwhelming crowd of nearly 38,000 men, women and children with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the lead, demonstrated what possibly is the largest mass yoga event ever.

New Delhi's Rajpath, an area where different political parties and ideologies have converged over the years to battle each other, was on Sunday morning indiscriminately flooded with people from all over the country and from all walks of life.

The Prime Minister, who arrived almost an hour later than the scheduled time, kicked of the day by calling Rajpath as 'Yogpath' and thanked the people for showing up in such large numbers. Behind the PM was seated Baba Ramdev, who has been credited with the revival of yoga movement in the country.

"Did anyone ever think that Rajpath can become Yogpath?" the Prime Minister asked and added that India was not only celebrating a day but training the human mind to begin a new era of peace.

"For most of the people, yoga is just a physical exercise. This is the biggest mistake. Had this been the case, children working in circuses could have been called 'yogis'. Yoga is not only about making the body flexible," he said, while addressing the participants.

He also expressed hope that the ancient system would find its way to all corners of the world through the event.

Security arrangements, which almost paralleled with that made for the Republic Day, were put in place for the event. Amidst the massive three-tier security and an overwhelming crowd, the Prime Minister following his brief speech proceeded to sit right in front of the gathering and perform yoga for the next 35 minutes. The weather which remained pleasant for most part of the event transformed drastically but only after the event was over.

Earlier, the participants who were asked to report as early as six in the morning were seen enjoying the environment as Rajpath was swarmed with renowned politicians and celebrities.

Marco Frigatti, official from Guinness World Records, was accompanied with some of his colleagues who had come come to monitor the event and to decide if it qualifies to be featured in the books. Calling the gathering extraordinary, Frigatti said, "I don't think this record will be broken anytime soon."

He said that 1500 volunteers were monitoring the demonstration and only judge the event if the participants actually were performing yogaand not just come for the event.

Expats from a number of countries were seen following the lead quite enthusiastically and posing for photographs. "I wish such events happen on regular basis," said Michael (21) a student of yoga philosophy.

A German couple said that the Indian Prime Minister has set in motion a trend across the world. "When ever the word yoga is mentioned, Mr Modi's name will be taken as well because he was the one who toiled hard to give yoga such a platform," they said.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal his deputy Manish Sisodia, BJP MP Menakshi Lekhi, party leader Ram Madhav were among the known faces sitting in the first row.

As soon as participants noticed the Delhi CM, a large number of them took turns and started to click selfies with Kejriwal as BJP's chief ministerial candidate Kiran Bedi looked on at the proceedings few rows behind. This would continue for minutes with the security finally having to intervene.

Delhi Lt Governor Najeeb Jung who refused to discuss 'Delhi government' said that his focus today was to perform yoga. Similar views were expressed by other participants which included Nisha Yadav (21),from Haryana and currently undergoing police training in Delhi.

"We are doing this to be healthy. I have been performing since I was 10 and I recommend this for everyone" Nisha said.

Members of the Muslim community, who said that they were fasting, were also seen talking to a barrage of TV reporters before finally settling onto their yoga mats. Khalid Qureshi said Muslims should perform yoga and can use Islamic prayers while performing the act and Irfan Mirza (40) said that politicisation of yoga should be avoided at all costs. A more animated Kaushal Prasad emphasised that on how India can only achieve greatness if its citizens are healthy.