Day 26 - Zumba

Video screenshot from Zumba

I haven't gone for it, but I know a few friends who signed up for Zumba classes. They say it's real fun.

Traditional exercises or dance forms can be too formal. Usually, they are bound by a strict pattern of movements, which sort of makes them too regimented.

(Some of the well-known Indian dance forms: Bharatanatyam, Kathakali, Kathak, Kuchipudi, Manipuri, Odissi etc.)

Zumba adds a liberal dose of entertainment to dance and exercise. There is no water-tight regimen and the routines are flexible, customisable to individual needs, and therefore enjoyable, making it very popular.

Zumba is a trademarked fitness programme that originated in southwest Columbia in the 1990s. It was created by dancer and choreographer Beto Perez, by combining elements from four Latin American dance rhythms: salsa, reggaeton, merengue, and cumbia.

In 2001, Zumba Fitness, LLC, was founded; and in 2011 it arrived in India, one of the over 180 countries where it's now taught and practised.

There is music and a lot of high-impact body movements, including jumping and bouncing. If one is keen on moving into advanced forms, it's better to get prior medical advice.

Like any exercise, Zumba is undoubtedly good for health. It burns calories, loosens joints and muscles, and keeps one agile.

Also, like any exercise, overdoing it won't do any good.

Sources:

Zumba, Mint; WebMD, Wikipedia

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This post is part of the blogging challenge in April every year, wherein bloggers put up one post a day, from A to Z, every day except Sundays. 

The series concludes with this post.

I'm participating in #BlogchatterA2Z. I am also on A2Z April Challenge.

Day 25 - Yugoslavia

Courtesy: Encyclopaedia Britannica 
(Click on image to enlarge)

Yugoslavia was one of the countries very familiar to Indians once upon a time.

Its Communist ruler Josip Tito was among the leaders, alongside India's Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, who played a key role in the setting up of the Non-Aligned Movement or popularly called NAM.

NAM, established in Yugoslavia's capital Belgrade in 1961, wasn't formally aligned to either the West bloc led by the US or the East bloc led by the once-mighty USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) or the Soviet Union.

Late 1980s and early 1990s were tumultuous times. 

The biggest event then was the collapse of the USSR, with its impact felt worldwide including in India (the privatisation of Indian economy in 1991).

Yugoslavia -- which comprised six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia -- was one of the first countries in East Europe to be impacted by the breakup of the USSR.

One by one constituents of Yugoslavia began declaring independence, starting with Slovenia and Croatia in 1991. 

The Yugoslav Wars, which broke out among the republics, resulted in the deaths / massacre / genocide of hundreds of thousands of people. 

Yugoslavia as a country was finally dissolved in 1992. But the ethnic tensions / violence / insurgency has continued.

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This post is part of the blogging challenge in April every year, wherein bloggers put up one post a day, from A to Z, every day except Sundays. 

I'm participating in #BlogchatterA2Z. I am also on A2Z April Challenge.

Day 24 - X

Many, many years ago, in the office where I once worked, a senior colleague used to get irritated whenever replied, "I don't know", to any question of his.

I used to say so because I really didn't know. If I didn't know what else was I supposed to say?

He used to tell me: "You should know. How can you not know?"

If I were to look at it in a positive manner, probably he used to have very high expectations from me; and he expected me to know a lot of things; an answer to every question of his.   

But the fact is how is it possible for anyone to know everything?

I don't think there is anyone who knows everything. Not even science has answers to everything.

Take Covid. Even the best of the world's virologists and doctors don't have all the answers to the mysterious ways the SARS-CoV-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2) has been behaving. 

No one knows if and when there will be another variant of the virus or how lethal will that be.  

In spite of a suffusion of information (verified and unverified), amplified today by social media, we all live in the midst of a void. The void of the unknown. 

This unknown springs itself upon us out of the blue -- in the form of surprises both pleasant and unpleasant. 

How much ever we base our lives on science and reasoning, there's always the realm of the unknown.

It's this realm that is filled by our beliefs, thoughts, hopes, aspirations, dreams, prejudices, fears, etc.

Our quest is to more. But, the more we know, the more questions we have.

The known is finite; the unknown is infinite.

The journey never ends.

(Image by Flavio Poletti from Pixabay)

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This post is part of the blogging challenge in April every year, wherein bloggers put up one post a day, from A to Z, every day except Sundays. 

I'm participating in #BlogchatterA2Z. I am also on A2Z April Challenge.