India - Bangalore

A Sea of Green and White descends on Bangalore

It was a sunny afternoon with a cool breeze blowing, the weather just perfect for the Global Diabetes Walk in Bangalore. The forecourt of the building housing Novo Nordisk India office wore a festive look with lots of banners and a huge banner of the Walk was hung from the balcony of the Novo Nordisk office on eight floor. The banner covering more than 3 floors of the building was visible to everyone from a very long distance. The assembly area had registration tables for the purpose of registering walkers for the event. The walker’s at the registration table were given patient education booklets and info pamphlets on diabetes.

With 45 minutes to go for the Walk, 1000 soldiers from the Madras Sappers of the Indian Army’s Engineering Group trooped in wearing White & Green T-shirts and green caps, to participate in the Global Diabetes Walk.  George Anthony, Event co-ordinator: GDW, India, with a big smile, says, “I am confident we will exceed the 1,000 walkers estimated.”

As the clock moved towards 3.30 PM local time (10 GMT), students from nursing colleges, medical colleges joined the other walkers waiting for the flag-off. There was a beehive of activity at the registration table. Novo Nordisk India employees were also present in numbers. The whole forecourt area bathed in sunlight was a sea of green & white. The excitement was building and there was a buzz all around.

At 3.10 PM, the guests of honour started arriving and there was a huge buzz all around. First was the Commissioner of Police of Bangalore City who arrived for flagging off the Global Diabetes Walk. He was soon joined by Colonel Gurdip Singh and his wife and then the former ace athlete Reeth Abhraham. The guests of honour were escorted by Dr. Anil Kapur and Event coordinator - George Anthony onto the podium. The assembled walker’s were all ears when each of the speakers extolled the virtue of walking, exercise and healthy living to control as well as stop early onset of diabetes.

It was 3.25 PM; the dignitaries then proceeded to the starting point for the flag-off and then, as the minutes counted down, the air of expectancy and enthusiasm were infectious. It was 3.30 PM and the Commissioner of Police waved the green GDW flag and the walk was on. Walkers carrying banners and placards, descended from the forecourt to the street and the orderly file was watched with curiosity by the people in the traffic.  The waiting newsphotograpers from the media were busy clicking the walkers. The walkers stretched to a few hundred meters.

As the people slowly walked towards the finish point, the lead set of walkers had been walking for 30 minutes. And the other walkers soon after finished the walk. At the finishing point, George Anthony said, “the response and the enthusiasm of the participants was fantastic and it was a great experience organizing the walk.” The final count for the total number of walkers in Bangalore was 1571.

Elsewhere in other parts of India, over 4250 people walked in 36 walks at 3:30 PM (10 GMT) bringing the total contribution to the Global Diabetes Walk to 5832 walkers.