A magical touch to Happy Streets in Lucknow

The area near Police Headquarters Sector 7 in Gomti Nagar Extension witnessed great zeal and enthusiasm on Sunday morning. The reason was Happy Streets, a Times of India and Navbharat Times initiative. The event saw Lucknowites gather in large numbers early in the morning to participate in activities like cycling, yoga, badminton, football, skating, and tug of war.
School kids having a fun time in the tug of war (BCCL/ Vishnu Jaiswal)
Quite excited to teach yoga to Lucknowites, instructors Akanksha, Aruna, Jigyasa, Dr Awadhesh Sharma and Shalu Bijani began with Surya Namaskara followed by Sheershasana, Setubanda Asana and Trikona Asana.
Aarvi Rajvardhan Singh (L) and Kavya Yadav playing foosball (BCCL/ Vishnu Jaiswal)
Another favourite activity of the crowd was cycling. A few were even spotted taking part in badminton, football, basketball, zumba and cricket. Making the most of the event were a group of students from a well-known city school who had a great timing participating in the tug of war.
(L) Aishwarya Singh and Anjali Tiwari (R) Aanya Wadhwa (BCCL/ Vishnu Jaiswal)
However, having maximum blast on the streets were the kids this time. Apart from ludo, snake and ladder, archery, sketching, shooting balloons and wheel of fortune, the bachcha party had fun doing Hoopla too. Introduction of foosball too had the kids and even the adults glued to the activity area. A visual illusion of a genie coming out of a lamp caught the maximum attention of the people, who got themselves clicked with the genie.
(L-R) Akanksha, Aruna, Jigyasa, Dr Awadhesh Sharma and Shalu Bijani (BCCL/ Vishnu Jaiswal)
This time too, Happy Streets wasn’t just about having fun but also about learning some important fire safety lessons. A mock drill to escape and tackle fire emergency situations was held at the event in which Lucknowites were trained to use a fire extinguisher and other fire-fighting equipment.
— Saad Abbasi
(L) Anjali Dobay and Moni Singh (R) Anushka (BCCL/ Vishnu Jaiswal)
(L) Krupal and Roshni Desai (R) Arjun (BCCL/ Vishnu Jaiswal)
(L-R) Ashok, Ankit with emcee Shadab (BCCL/ Vishnu Jaiswal)
Participants getting fire safety lessons during mock drill session (BCCL/ Vishnu Jaiswal)
(L) And well, it was not just the humans having fun at Happy Streets. Reema and Naman’s labrador Maggi too enjoyed the morning walk at the event (R) Lucky Singh (BCCL/ Vishnu Jaiswal)