The Luc Besson-produced action flick District B13 might have come, created a mild impact and gone. But for a certain group of youngsters in the city, it has opened up a whole new avenue and created a way of life. The Chennai Parkour group, a team of traceurs (people who practise and perform parkour), after being inspired by the film, have taken to practising parkour in a more professional manner. “The Chennai Parkour community was started in 2007 on Orkut. There were several people in Chennai practising parkour in their homes, but after the movie, we realised that there was a certain discipline to it,” explains Prabu Mani, one of the founders of the community. After the community came about, a group of 15-20 traceurs got together to practise on a regular basis and since then, the community has grown to have hundreds of members and followers. Susheel Samuel Chandrahas, an active member, launched the official website of the group, which further consolidated the participation of even the occasional members. Initially, they learnt the techniques from YouTube, Wikipedia, home videos and other sources online, informs Sandeep Achanta, another active member. “We tried it out, made mistakes, but kept practising. Eventually, we got the hang of the moves,” he adds. But with mistakes in parkour tending to be costly, it is only mandatory that they take precautions. “We do a lot of conditioning exercises to gain strength and prevent injuries,” says Prabu. After all, the parkour motto is “to be and to last.” “We have people who approach us and express a desire to learn the risky, dangerous and flashy stuff. However, parkour is not about that,” points out Susheel. “Only people who understand that strength is important last here in the group. Parkour is a way to be strong, flexible and adapt to the surrounding.” Their in-depth understanding of the training method has enabled the group members to adapt it to their own lives. “Not many people understand the mental aspect of parkour. It is the most efficient way to get rid of an obstacle and you'll realise that once you start training,” explains Sandeep. “One will be able to focus better even in everyday life, without even realising it,” sums up Susheel. Parkour has also taught the traceurs to push limits. In fact, it even inspired Vishwa Dayakaran to take up the challenge of clearing his business math paper in college with complete determination. “I told myself that if I can do something like parkour, I can definitely clear an exam paper, even though I have never done it before,” says Vishwa with a grin. “Parkour makes me feel like a superhero.” His friend Venkatesh, who saw parkour for the first time on a TV show, admits that he likes the pain that parkour leaves him with at the end of each practise day. “I don't feel normal if I don't feel the pain even for one day,” he admits, much to the delight of his fellow team mates. The group is also starting training sessions for beginners and can be contacted on their Facebook page for more details.
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