It’s nearly midnight, the air is autumnal in Delhi, there is only a distant thud-thud of an earthmover pounding away for a Metro line, we are both immersed in our books when my wife suddenly says, “I think I will take the dog out for a walk.” I am stumped. “But he is sleeping soundly,” I mutter. “No, he must be quite looey by now,” she says, and calls the dog, who looks incredulous. She is back in ten minutes, with a triumphant glow. Then I get it. Her 10,000 steps are completed. Her fitness app has sung a song and given her a round of applause.
There was a time when, on a trek, you told your partner it must be over 10,000 feet now, as the cedars have started to give way to the bhojpatra. Now, a glance at MapMyHike will inform that you are at 11,393 feet. Or if you are out jogging you tell yourself, ‘It’s the fifth round; it must be nearly five kilometres’. Now, Google Fit will tell you it’s 5.26 kilometres, 12,875 steps, heartbeat of 68, incline of nine storeys. There is new fitness chatter. ‘Ten thousand steps a day is passe; 500 steps every hour is the real thing.’ Or, ‘Counting calories is so yesterday, you should watch your BMR.’ Almost all fitness apps can tell you the carb content in the pizza you had (and many are Indianised too; don’t think you can cheat with that biryani or butter chicken). If you have been sedentary for too long, it will beep incessantly till you get up.
The fitness apps broadly tell you what you always knew was bad for you (five rounds of Chivas) and good (five rounds of Lodi Garden), but they strike you with surgical precision. They can make you feel elated, they can make you despair. A 50-plus friend got on to the ‘Couch to 5K’ app one inspired morn. The app promises to get you up from the couch and run five kilometres in nine weeks. Now, he has run the half marathon and is preparing for the full. Are these electronic handcuffs that enslave you? Do you need to monitor every action of yours so closely to make you fit? Is it a passing fad and will end up lying unused, like the treadmill or the cycle you bought? Perhaps, but while it lasts, fitness is what your thoughts are focused on and it makes you feel good. You have to give up on some tender moments, though. There has been a little drizzle and the breeze is cool. We’ve just finished dinner, a little heavier than usual, and I ask my wife, “Let’s go for a stroll?” She thinks about it, hesitates, and says no. Her 10,000 steps for the day are already done.
