This journey began back in 2010, with four people and a dog (a pooch named Bozo). Sehba Imam was one of the four, founder members of ‘Let’s Walk Gurugram’. “We had gone to Ghata village, and it was very green, full of peacocks. We met a monkey on a tree, and there was a little mandir — and that was it!” Sehba recalls.
It was a Gurugram that would be unrecognisable to any newcomer in the city, a time when residents kept close company with nature. “I didn’t have a friend when I arrived here. I don’t know how I discovered LWG but today, 90% of my friends are from the group,” Preeta admits. “People will tell you how LWG has changed their lives,” claims Sehba.
Arvind Dimri likens the group to a social security net. “You never feel lonely,” he swears. “When I came to Gurugram 10 years back, I had one, one-and-a-half friends. People didn’t know who you were, didn’t stop to say hello. Today, I have around 500 active friends, and all made through LWG.”
Every Saturday, some 30 or 40 happy souls, young and old, assemble at a prearranged location. They meet at 4.30am in summers and 5.45 am in winters, for their weekly date with the wilds. “The idea is to catch the sunrise from a vantage position, so the
walks start very early,” says Sehba.
Earlier, the LWG team would gather twice a week. “Wednesday was a timed walk – you went and you came back. On Saturdays, there was no guarantee you’d come back!” recollects Preeta with a laugh.
Still, whether walking under a hot sun or in the light of the full moon, memories of previous get-togethers are still fresh, and they’re narrated with much pleasure (invariably, the food, all of it homemade, would run out). “We used to get lost like how, because the jungles were unfamiliar to us. But we forged friendships,” Sehba describes. “From where we parked our cars, we would exit 8km away – so, we’d end up taking lifts in bail-gadis and trucks!”
Arvind remembers losing their way in far-off places like Damdama and Ghamroj. “One time, it was winter and it was raining, and we got terribly lost – that day, we returned home at 8 pm at night!” It was a kindly boatman who came to their rescue, helping the ramblers cross to the Damdama side of the ‘jheel’, and to safety.
According to Sehba, it’s the ‘lost’ walks that are the most memorable ones. “That’s when the best bonding happened, because you were concerned for the other person, for everyone in the group.”
Indeed, there’s always a helping hand or three for anyone in a bit of bother. But the rule is that all must keep pace with the slowest. “No one is ever made to feel left out. Because it’s not about speed, distance or heights, it’s about achieving friendships, and creating a sense of community,” says Arvind. “And we’re conscious about safety, so we don’t deviate from the trail, always walking as a unit.”
They’ve been all over, to Tikli and Sehjawas, Bhondsi and Bandhwari. “There are about 30 places where we go for a walk but there will be around 70-80 trails, and we never follow the same trail,” mentions Arvind. Their friendships have endured beyond walks. “It’s a very strong community,” shares Arvind. “We would reach out to friends who are not well, to someone who needed blood, or if a funeral needed to be arranged.”
Being a collective that delights in the outdoors, LWG
has on occasion worked dedicatedly to increase awareness of safety in public spaces (in September, a walk is planned around the importance of reclaiming the roads for women). “Because there are so many like-minded people on a single platform, it has given us the chance to do things for the community, to come together for fun but also to do empowering things,” Sehba explains.
LWG has its quiet members and noisy members. And crazy ones, too (those who climb trees). But then, this group’s all about fun, about letting everyone be. “It brings out the child in us,” says Sehba. Now eight years old (and closing in on 10,000 members), Let’s Walk Gurugram clearly is the gift that keeps on giving.
