The Family That Plays Together, Stays Active Together
On a Thursday evening in Mumbai, the Pusalkars aren’t on their couch. They’re on a court.
However, urban India is steadily embracing an active lifestyle to overcome the hours they have to spend sitting. Just look around you, fitness and physical activity are the new buzzwords, and everyone from your 70+ neighbour to your 30-something professionals is all moving, bouncing, stretching, and probably playing a sport.
In Mumbai, you will find an emerging tribe of adults taking up recreational sports as part of their daily routine. And an example of this trend is the recent popularity in Pickleball, Padelball, tennis-ball Cricket, Football, Tennis, Squash, Badminton and Throw-ball. In fact, there are regular tournaments for these sports, and booking turfs or courts for them has become another activity in itself! You have families, groups of women, men, couples, and single people, all out there on the courts, playing out a hard week of work or celebrating a holiday.
In this series, KheloMore will showcase various such active-lifestylers. And who else to kickstart with but the Pusalkar family – Rishi, Puja and two boys, Veer and Vihaan. Between the four of them, they tackle, squash, padel, crossfit, marathon, HyRox, yoga.. sometimes together, sometimes individually.
“My father played Squash for India and wanted my brother and me to be involved in some form of sports while we were growing up. Although I chose a different path, the seeds for an active lifestyle were sown then,” informs Puja, 48, adding, “and I always kept active through some activity or another – starting with basic gym after my older son was born.”
For Rishi, 52, a busy Dental Surgeon, an active lifestyle has also always been a way of life. “Being Gen X, our only entertainment was outdoor play. I started tennis at the age of 6 and continued till I turned 20. Summer vacations were spent on the tennis courts and ‘gully cricket’. Monsoons were football.”
It is one thing to start a recreational sport or even get a gym membership, it is another to keep at it day after day, month after month and definitely year after year. Especially if one is not a professional sportsperson.
“Well, two things that kept me going were a motivating partner and the long-lasting happy feeling one gets after a workout,” says Puja, a textile designer with a demanding work schedule involving long commuting hours. “Add to that, having two boys who needed to expend their energy, especially when the pandemic hit.” Alongside CrossFit and yoga, she has recently taken up playing Padel with any available group of women thrown up by the booking app.
For Rishi, working out “gives me my daily dose of dopamine and endorphins, making me ready for the challenges of everyday routine.” He adds that since he has been indulging in some sort of physical activity for so many years now, he is addicted to it!
He, too, has tried his hand at Padel recently and finds it a great combination of Tennis and Squash. And he is a budding marathoner, having recently completed two half marathons and a 21 km trail run in Goa.
Besides, keeping physically active has given them their dream family vacations. Along with 19-year-old Veer and 14-year-old Vihaan, they have taken many an active vacation – be it a cycling vacation in the Netherlands, a surfing trip to Sri Lanka or a trekking and fishing one in the Tirthan Valley. “I am very happy that we all enjoy the outdoors, and in my opinion, the most valuable habit passed on to my children,” says Rishi, a tad proudly.
The boys, regular Squash players, love the intensity and challenge provided during the vacations. Their best holidays are the ones they spent cycling throughout the Netherlands and Italy, visiting different towns and eating local food. What’s more, the only girl, Puja, in this all-boy family, has learnt to keep up with them through her own activeness. “If you can’t beat them, join them, is my mantra.” And join them, she has!
