A Health Conscious Buddy!

@shyamala1234
My dear Syamala
In my youth, I once attended a month's training course in our Hyderabad Staff Training College. More than the training they imparted, the food that they provided us was fabulous. We all ate to our heart's content every day and by the end of the course, we had all gained at least 5 to 6 kgs. When I returned home after the training, my mum came rushing to me and said 'You look famished and thin. Did your Bank feed you well or starved you?' Being fat is the best way we can pay tribute to our affectionate mothers.

Very true. At my age, I look at not nutrition threads but possible health hazards that people of my age face. I once wrote about Jerome K Jerome's Three Men in a Boat in which Jerome gets hold of an encyclopedia of diseases. As he goes through the Book, he is shocked that he has all the diseases listed therein! My daughter has been threatening me that she would deny me access to health related cites. When people of my age group meet at the club, we invariably discuss our latest health problems. You must see the pride in the faces of those who have been diagnosed with ailments that are difficult to spell.
During my childhood, whenever I fell ill, my mum took me to the family doctor. He had a medicine mixing room with a 'componder' in charge. He would read the prescription and prepare a solution which he gave us in a bottle stuck with a paper indicating dosages. And I tell you, those medicines cured us for sure without any unwanted reaction.
Sri

 

@satchitananda

Wishful thinking! This is the hot subject in any gatherings especially of women. If we see a fatter person than us, we feel grateful that we may be spared of being the focus of attention.

Same pinch! I have never stopped thinking about the implication of X in apparel sizes. As I am reaching X to the power of infinity, I get very confused with this gradation. Why don't they stick to the simple numerical system? and then, why X? Why not Q or z or H? Will any enlightened soul in IL explain this to me?

 

@Vidya24
Dear Vidya
When a kid is fat, we love it and affectionately pinch its cheeks. I even saw in a TV ad, the mother pats a kid's cheek and it keeps shaking for a while. If a liberally endowed body is an endearing factor in childhood, why does it become a subject matter of ridicule as we get older? Size or healthy life style has nothing to do with longevity. My maternal uncle who is obese is 100 now! My doctor would always tell me that my weight is fine as long as my legs can bear it. 'If anyone has to say anything about your weight, it is your legs' he would say.

Ah! That makes me 5 kg heavier with this difference that all that weight has gone into my heart! Thank you for your love.
Sri

 

@iyerviji
My dear Viji

In that case, I must be having 2 lakh comments by now as I have so many favorites!

This applies only to body size!

Very true. You have made me to think why I have put on weight!
Sri

 

@girvani
My dear Vani
I am glad you liked my friend's visit to my house. All said and done, old people are always fun to watch, ain't they? Old people are fun and that includes me! I too scan my grandchildren very minutely. My grandchildren love my concern for them. My daughters make fun of me saying they are not children anymore. They are in their mid twenties.
Sri

 

@kkrish
My dear kk

Very true kk. Giving advice is of course free. If they start charging for the advice they give, they'll be booted out. The point is that nobody looks at it from the point of view of receivers of unwanted advice. In SBI, I had a colleague who had a board in his room saying, 'If you have nothing else to do, please don't do it here'! Advice givers do not realise the impracticability of their advice. I remember about an incident relating to Winston Churchill. He was quite worried about the havoc caused by German submarines. He convened a meeting of his senior officers and sought their suggestion. One of the officers suggested that if they found a way to boil the sea water, the submarines would have to come out unable to stand the heat!

Very uncharitable remark! People with a lean and hungry look always develop a complex when they come across a well-endowed person. My mum used to perform a ritual when I returned from the school to ward of the effect of evil eyes cast by the famished-looking guys!

If you think of it dispassionately, direct attack is any day better because it gives you a chance to hit back. But veiled comments are different. They give you no chance to hit back. You will have to grin and bear them.

I have heard smokers saying, 'Who says giving up smoking is difficult? I have given it up so many times!' The best way to resist temptation is to yield to it.
Sri

 

@shyamala1234
My dear Syamala
Is murukku called murukku in Telugu too? I never knew that. Pakoda is of course has a flexible attitude to however it is called. Some call it pakora to give it some respectability.

You are forcing me to drop my plans to visit you if and when I come to Hyderabad!
Sri