Thumbnail description: Man confused between metro turnstile and treadmill, in classic Delhi hustle.
There was a time in Delhi’s history when cardio was optional. A gentle walk in Lodhi Garden, a few flights of stairs when the elevator was broken, or chasing after the autowala who sped away despite extensive eye contact — all perfectly acceptable ways to stay fit. But fast forward to 2024, and Delhiites are finding their fitness journey shoved upon them not by workout plans, but by the Delhi Metro’s new-found passion for climbing.
If you’ve ridden the Delhi Metro lately, you know that finding a functioning escalator is now considered an Olympic-level blessing. The rest, sadly, are either under maintenance, under litigation, or under someone else’s weight. Commuters are becoming involuntary step masters, hauling themselves up staircases steep enough to qualify as minor trekking expeditions.
And it’s not just stairs. Add to that the labyrinthine station transfers — Hauz Khas, we’re looking at you — where a questionably ambitious urban planner clearly thought, “What if we put every platform in a different postal code?” By the time you’ve changed metros, you’ve burned 400 calories, considered switching to Uber, meditated through your shin pain, and acquired thighs that could crack coconuts.
But there’s a silver lining in this urban stairmaster dystopia. Who needs a gym membership when Dwarka Sector 21’s platform is 300 metres uphill, against gravity and all hope? Every station is now an adventure sport in comfortable footwear. Elderly citizens, college students, and working professionals are united — not just by delays — but by a shared calf workout and mutual panting.
And don’t get me started on the new WhatsApp groups forming in office corridors. “Metrofit Challenge – Office Edition.” Tanya from Marketing just clocked 9,200 steps before her 10am coffee. Ramesh from HR may be planning a formal complaint, but only after he gets a protein shake. There’s even talk that some health influencers are filming their “commute workouts” vlogs on the Blue Line while asking strangers to film their push-ups against the token vending machines. Filmmaking is alive. Influencing is aerobic.
Of course, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) insists that escalators are being fixed in phases — though judging by the timeline, those phases coincide with planetary realignments. “Escalators are being modernised,” said a statement. What they meant was, “Please develop your glutes in the meantime.”
While some grumble, others are romanticising it. Love stories now brew between two breathless individuals who briefly locked tired eyes after collapsing at the same stair-landing. “It all started at Rajiv Chowk,” one such couple would later say. “The escalator was broken, and so were our wills. But then he offered me his hand. And also a glucose biscuit.”
In any other city, this might be a crisis. But Delhi takes it in stride — literally. We gripe, we groan, we do that weird half-smile when the station announcer lies again about train arrival times, and then… we climb. Because we are people of steel, raised on resistance. Be it weather, waterlogging, electricity outages, street cows, or potholes that are portals to parallel dimensions — we persevere. Metro stairs? Mere footnotes in our daily heroic journeys.
So next time you’re panting your way up a metro station’s fifth staircase, remember: you didn’t skip leg day. Leg day found you. And maybe, just maybe, your future self thanks you for the unexpected cardio gift Delhi wrapped in blue and grey gleaming tiles.
Keep climbing, keep commuting — and as they say in fitness ads, “No pain, no AC coach.”
#MetroWorkout #DelhiFitness #StairwayToDMRC #CardioWithCrowds #EscalatorSaga
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