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Dec 13, 1999

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On the fit list
You think teenagers dig dating and dancing. Not Parth Chowdhary. The 13-year-old from Pune is so hooked to the gym, that everything else takes a backseat. He's not alone. Seven-year-old Prachi Hardikar is the youngest at her aerobics class at the Status Health Club. Far from struggling to keep up with the others, she has to be told to slow down by her aerobics instructor when the music changes to Barbie Girl. Ashish Kulkarni, 12-year-old gym freak, is a fan of Salman Khan and Sunil Shetty. "I want to be like them," he confesses.

Forget the days when kids groaned at the sound of the word "exercise". Youngsters in Pune are so bitten by the fitness bug that there's a dramatic rise in the number of kids at health clubs. Says Ravindra Datar, director of Anand Health Club: "When we started aerobics batches three years ago, there were 30 students. Now there are 100." Sumedha Bhosale of Status says two years ago only 15 children signed up for aerobics. Today, 75 frequent the gym. Schools are catching up. Symbiosis Secondary School plans to send students for aerobics. "The children enjoy aerobics, unlike pt which gets monotonous," says principal Uma Sharadchandra. Try P T with pop music, ma'am.

-Kanchan Apte

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