Adventurous women inspire me everyday. The zeal they have for life and the energy and excitement they bring to all our lives is just wonderful! Let's meet Veekshitha today who has tapped into Zumba along the seas and stirred quite a wave!
Given my background in journalism, I spent long hours at a desk through which I developed a back issue. My back pain became so severe that I had to be admitted to the hospital, the only way to prevent a relapse was by moving and strengthening my back. Thus began my journey into fitness and in turn Zumba.
I am based out of Bangalore and have conducted classes across the city and was also invited to Hong Kong as a guest instructor. But back home in Mangalore very few people had heard of Zumba. I wanted to contribute to my community and decided to conduct an open showcase of Zumba. What better place to do it than on the beautiful beaches of Mangalore. It was a public holiday and we had taken a small space on the beach, few of my friends who were also Zumba instructors came down from Bangalore. We didn’t expect much of a crowd, in all honesty we thought it would just be a great vacation. As the time got closer we saw a small crowd trickling on to the beach. We felt good that we didn’t have to lead the dance for an empty beach. But in the last 5 mins leading up to the start, we had herds of people walking in. And as the music started playing, we realized this was going to be much much larger than we expected. We had 100s of people pouring in, dancing to the beat with us. From young women with their kids, to cute elderly couples - there were people from all age groups and backgrounds. There was an ocean of people in front of me, I could see heads bobbing up and down as far as my eyes could see. I remember standing on the stage, so pumped up to lead the biggest Zumba session I had ever conducted. The feeling was absolutely surreal and very emotional- there I was back home where I grew up, on the beautiful beach that I loved, with some amazing people and doing what I love the most - dancing to the beats of Zumba.
I remember that day I was wearing a T-shirt which said “Zumba Anywhere + Everywhere”, I in fact was living up to that - taking Zumba beyond the confines of the cities on to the gorgeous beaches of my wonderful hometown - Mangalore.” -Veekshitha
