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Mindful meals, nature walks and fitness: Visakhapatnam’s slow living shift
Mindful meals, nature walks and fitness: Visakhapatnam’s slow living shift
Visakhapatnam's cultural and social calendar has long been shaped by speed. Quick meals, activity-overloaded weekends, fitness regimes built on burn and exhaustion and travel defined by checklists have been familiar patterns. Over the past year, however, a quieter shift has begun to register across the city. Increasingly, people are choosing experiences that ask for time, attention and presence. The appeal lies not in spectacle, but in participation. From intimate supper tables and unhurried walks in Nature to strength routines that privilege awareness over intensity, slow living is finding an attentive audience.
This turn is not framed as resistance to modern life, but as a recalibration. Many residents describe it as “a need to feel grounded again”, to exchange passive consumption for experiences that demand listening, patience and conversation.
Vantammayilu Supper Social Occurrences, a home-based supper club started in 2025 by Hyndavi Onimi in Visakhapatnam. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
At the core of this shift is Vantammayilu Supper Social Occurrences, a home-based supper club started in 2025 by Hyndavi Onimi at her Kirlampudi residence. The gatherings are curated around a cuisine and region, but the focus extends well beyond food. Guests are invited to bring a piece of self-made art, whether a photograph, a poem or a small craft, which is displayed during the evening.
“When we confirm a booking, we ask guests to bring something they have created themselves,” says Hyndavi. “The effort people make is deeply moving. We put the works up on our walls and that gesture alone changes the energy in the room. People feel seen, not judged.”
The dinners unfold slowly, often stretching close to three hours. Conversation begins with food and moves, without prompt, into travel memories, personal turning points and reflections on life stages. Hyndavi recalls one evening when a couple in their seventies held the table spellbound with stories from decades past. “When the man spoke about discovering Vanjangi (a peak in the Eastern Ghats) as a teenager in 1968, it felt like listening to a story from another time. No one wanted to leave.”
Hyndavi believes the interest in such gatherings reflects fatigue with socialising driven by image and performance. “People are exhausted by constant stimulation. Many talk about wanting to step away from screens and do something real with their time. Over the course of an evening, you can see strangers ease into friendships. The food matters, but it is the atmosphere of candour that brings them back.”
Guests are later added to a shared group called The Long Table Society, where conversations continue around food, travel, and lived experiences. “There is no hierarchy at the table,” she says. “Age, profession, social standing dissolve when people speak honestly.”
(To join the supper club, contact 9494958181)
Vivek Rathod of WCTRE during a birdwatching session in Visakhapatnam. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
A similar slowing down is visible in the growing popularity of bird walks organised by Wildlife Conservation Through Research & Education. Once attended largely by seasoned birders and wildlife students, these walks now draw families, first-time participants, college students and working professionals seeking respite from tightly packed routines. “Many people come simply to be outside at dawn,” says Vivek Rathod of WCTRE. “The sound of birds and the stillness of early morning help reset the mind.”
Walks are conducted across wetlands, reservoirs, coastal stretches and forest patches around Visakhapatnam, regions that support remarkable avian diversity. Participants have recorded species such as Asian openbill, Eurasian curlew, terek sandpiper, Pacific golden plover, yellow-wattled lapwing and purple-rumped sunbird, among others.
“Birding changes how you pay attention,” Vivek explains. “You listen more carefully, wait longer and observe closely. That attentiveness gradually turns inward. People find their thoughts slowing and they begin to move at the same pace as their surroundings.” For many, the appeal lies not in ticking off species, but in the discipline of observation. The walks offer a structured yet gentle way to engage with nature, one that aligns with the broader desire to be present rather than hurried.
(To join the walks, contact WCTRE at 9052797234)
.Farzana Begum during a training session at her women's gym Fit with Fab in Visakhapatnam. | Photo Credit: KR Deepak
In fitness spaces too, the language is changing. At Fit With Fab, founder Farzana Begum has seen a growing preference for strength sessions that emphasise form, breathing and consistency over intensity.
“These sessions approach movement through the mind, body and emotional state,” she says. “They are not built around constant cardio or exhaustion.” Participants are women managing health concerns, hormonal transitions or demanding work schedules. Farzana notes that grounding workouts allow people to maintain discipline without risking injury. “Women going through perimenopause or menopause cannot train the same way all year. Movement needs to adjust to the body's changing requirements.”
Farzana Begum during a training session at her women's gym Fit with Fab in Visakhapatnam. | Photo Credit: DEEPAK KR
The group incorporates challenges such as nutrition resets, step goals and lifestyle routines that encourage sustainable habits. “Exercise does not need to be fast or punishing,” she says. “When people learn to listen to their bodies, anxiety reduces and performance in daily life improves.” The group's new year challenge includes following five simple rules over next three months – follow a diet of your choice with zero alchohol, two 45-minute workouts daily, including an outdoor one, sufficient water intake, reading 10 pages of non-fiction or self development book and documenting daily progress with the help of a partner.
(To join the group, contact 7338698707)
Taste of local food during treks with Wilded nature group in Visakhapatnam. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Veering away from rushed, content-driven travel, Wilded has been designing treks in the Eastern Ghats near Visakhapatnam that prioritise attention, learning and place-based knowledge. Each walk or trek is structured to introduce participants to the agro-ecology of the region through slow observation rather than distance covered.
“We help people understand how agriculture and ecology intersect here,” says Vimal Raj of Wilded. “We talk about what grows naturally, what people cultivate, and how the landscape supports both.” Participants are encouraged to notice details often missed, from spider webs and bird calls to soil texture and shade patterns. A self-guided bingo-style exploration sheet prompts curiosity, with questions designed to initiate conversations with local residents and farmers.
One of the highlights of these treks is a visit to a seed museum near Araku, where participants are introduced to heirloom seed varieties preserved by local communities. The visit offers insight into native crops, traditional farming knowledge, and seed-saving practices that predate commercial agriculture. “People are often surprised to see how many indigenous varieties exist, and how closely they are tied to climate, food habits, and culture,” Vimal says.
Food, too, becomes part of the learning. “We do not encourage packaged trekking meals,” he adds. “Local teams cook with participants, using regional ingredients.” These unhurried, immersive treks are drawing people who want to understand a landscape in depth, not pass through it, and to leave with knowledge rather than photographs alone.
(Contact Wilded at 7330880274)
Published - January 01, 2026 08:44 pm IST
The Hindu MetroPlus
Source: TheHindu
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