finding the time for A Walk A Day

It takes a lot to get most of us to exercise. Despite the constant media barrage of perfect 10 bodies on men and women, most normal people just cannot get themselves to don those exercise shoes and get off their behinds.

For city dwellers, most of us have (or have had) a gym membership that is hardly used, a pair of sneakers that has disintegrated after lying in the shoe rack for years, a set of work-out clothes that may as well be returned to the store un-used – except that they’re at least a few months (if not years) old. No? Not the case for you?

Ah well, I may be the only one then. But for me, a daily routine of exercise is certainly not normal.

Normal. What’s that, you ask? Sitting on a chair for 10-12 hours a day. Having something sweet after every meal. Eating pizzas a few times every fortnight. A bite of chocolate here and there. Excuses to skip that exercise routine “just today” (which turns into “just this month” before you know it!). Lo and behold, I’ve managed to put on more than 10 kilos and pushed my BMI to the brink of “obese”.

So what is it that forced me to put on those walking shoes and seriously (and consistently) watch what I put in my mouth? Counter-intuitive it is, but I did all this diligently during the time I was doing god’s own work of creating the next generation! The days during my pregnancy when I couldn't go for my 30 minute walks were days that I actually felt guilty. I consciously avoided fried and fatty foods, and reduced my intake of sweets and deserts. My daily routine of 50 squats, cat stretches and pelvic tilts made for a nice comic sight for my husband as he lazed away on the couch. But I persevered – there was always a voice in my head saying that it’s only thirty odd minutes, and that keeping a healthy lifestyle can affect your to-be-born for eternity!

And you realize that it’s that simple to stay motivated.. just a matter of consequences. If we can be so considerate for our offspring, then why not for our own older selves? A habitual walk every single day will make sure we stay on our feet till our last days. We should feel incomplete on days when the walk hasn't happened. After all, we have only one body; might as well keep it in working condition for as long as possible.

I did the #100HappyDays, happily!

A few months ago, I came across this challenge talking about staying happy for 100 days in a row. Considering that I'm not an unhappy person per se (I'd be hard pressed to point out some days or period in my life when I was "unhappy"), it felt a bit ridiculous that people - in fact 71% of people - failed to complete this challenge. So for no other reason than, "how hard could it be?" I decided I was doing this #100HappyDays challenge, and Facebook was my preferred medium of self-publication.

Today, I'm actually a little proud of myself for having spent these 100 days posting a 100 photos on Facebook. Once a day, for 100 days in a row, I captured something that made me “happy”. Here’re some things I picked up along the way..

1. There is a lot of happiness in food. Whether it is a seasonal fruit, or a meal out after a long working day, or indulging in junk/comfort food “just because”. In fact, there are times when even a simple home cooked meal can bring happiness. And drinks too. About one fourth of my posts were directly or indirectly related to food and/or drink. And these were the posts that more people seemed to relate to. (So it’s not just me who’s a hungry slob :P)
2. Inspiration comes from unexpected places. Reactions of my Facebook friends to my daily posts were varied. Some of them unfollowed or blocked me, some made jokes and called me “Ms Happy Days”, and some made an extra effort to reach out to me and say, “Good going!” The last lot is what surprised me. More so because these were people I may not have been actively in touch with. It made me happy to see their encouragement, and it kept me going when this felt like a tedious task more than a fun challenge.
3. Happiness is very personal. The answer to what makes you happy reveals a lot about who you are. If I have to highlight a happy moment each day, my preferences, my loves, some childhood memories, some fetishes; all this and more is bound to reveal itself in one way or another. My husband felt a lot of my posts were too much ‘PDA’. But can I really help it if his affection is the thing that’s making me most happy on a day?
4. Social media is actually private media. There was a lot happening in my life during some of those 100 days to make me happy. But I had to often look for less personal, toned down news to post on facebook. And if happiness is personal then sorrow must be even more so. The line on social media for what is personal and what is shareable is drawn differently by each of us. Makes me realize (yet again) that the facebook timeline is a very microscopic, very filtered, and very air-brushed view of a person’s life.
5. And finally, the most crucial one – Being happy is easy. It’s not about viewing the world with rose tints, it is about making place for your ‘self’ in the world. There are things worth smiling about all around. We just need to step back from our daily rut and consciously recognize that good things – from the very miniscule to the very large life-changing ones – are actually happening to us every day.

Would you be willing to take on this challenge? I was inspired by a friend on Facebook, and I in turn inspired a few (I think).

It is definitely worth giving a shot. If nothing else, you’ll end up with an album of photos that will make you smile. Check out www.100happydays.com for details.

fan-dom

We were at a North Indian swanky airport the other day when my husband pointed out a lonesome tall man standing in the corner, gazing out into the horizon. "Isn't that such-n-such model?" I realised that it was him. While I was contemplating the fact that even though his head was now a fully salt-n-peppered crop, he still looked quite fit and attractive, I saw a young man walking up to him - mobile phone in hand. A polite request - Sir, may I click a picture with you - was politely declined - Sorry buddy, but no. The young man walked away, a bit embarrassed, and a bit disappointed. I smiled and thought, good for him. That sure seemed like a polite and efficient way of declining an invasion on one's privacy.

But later I wondered, would his reaction have been different if the young man had asked him for an autograph instead of a photograph? A normal reaction to spotting a celebrity in the days before the cell-phone-camera existed, was to rush to find a piece of paper to get their scribble on. A scrap from a notebook, paper napkin, for some extreme fans even a permanent marker on skin would do! And this scribble was then cherished by the fan for years, maybe even shown off to children & grand-children with pride. I assume the celebrities of yore would have signed hundreds, maybe thousands of such scraps of paper during their peak years. Why is it then that a simple photo with a fan - no forcing, no hustle, just a polite selfie - should be shunned as a severe invasion of privacy?

If we look around us, a lot of things are documented via the camera phone these days. Like a recipe in the newspaper? *Click* Need to scan an ID proof? *Click* Buying clothes and want the opinion of a partner who's across town (or the world)? *Click* Preserve the memory of tickets to a historic last tour of a band you've grown up listening to? *Click* An important business card? *Click*

Anything and everything that used to be noted down on a little notebook or cherished carefully in a scrapbook is now stored diligently on our hand-held photo repositories, aka the smartphones.

So a celebrity sighting should obviously follow suit. That's why it does come across as slightly in bad taste if you deny a single fan the pleasure of this keep-sake - an autograph of the modern world. Of course I'm sure there is a line there somewhere which is not so easy to draw. When does one photo turn into ten, which turns into a hundred, which turns into an unruly paprazzi-ish frenzy? I don't envy celebrities these choices they need to make sometimes.

But at that airport, on that day, I too felt just a little cheated like that young man must've felt. It was just one photo - one among the million you would've already gotten clicked in your lifetime - but one that would've been the most important one for that fan. And you denied it.

one man's happy is another one's despair

I was recently reading a book that talks about the Jewish Holocaust during WWII. And one morning, it suddenly dawns on me that the term "grammar Nazi" must be quite trouble some for the people of that region. I imagine it would be difficult to hear that dreaded N-word being brandied about with such callousness, and being associated with humor.

Much like the Swastik, that we in India use for all things auspicious, must be bringing a chill into the hearts of those that were tormented by the Third Reich. I had always thought there was a difference between the two swastiks. The Hindu auspicious one was clockwise and square, while the Nazi symbol was on it's edge and anti clockwise. I recently discovered that this is not actually the case. The direction for the Nazi symbol was clockwise or anticlockwise both, and square / on edge is merely a matter of alignment.

So we in India are putting up this holy symbol with love and reverence all over the place. At entrances to our homes, on road signs, at temples, whenever we start some new endeavor, anywhere and everywhere. How does a holocaust survivor handle this when he/she visits India? How does the German that is trying to outlive the heinous acts of his/her ancestors deal with this? It would help to have some perspective wouldn't it. In India we at least know that the Swastik (in some form) is associated with the Nazis. A lot of westerners may not even know that it has a different connotation in India.

Sensitivity to another's beliefs and understanding perspectives is easier said than done. But I sure am glad the internet is doing this one thing right - showing us all that there are literally opposing world views that exist and the more we equip ourselves with knowledge, the better it will be. For all of us.

Read up, and be aware.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika

(Yes I know, this is a more preachy post than normal, but bear with me. Happens sometimes :))

out of sight, in your mind

I often wonder about the role abstinence needs to play in religion. Growing up in a Hindu household, we were exposed to the concept of fasting for religious purposes very early in life. My mother fasts at least once a week, and also during special periods called “Navratris” (literally meaning Nine Nights) which come twice in the year, as per the Hindu lunar calendar. These fasts are quite flexible, it isn’t as if you don’t eat the whole day – it’s simply a different diet. Fruits, some starches like potato, sweet potato, tapioca are allowed. Then there are the more severe ones “Karva Chauth”, “Chhat”, and a few others – followed in different parts of India – where you don’t eat a morsel or even drink a drop of water the entire day.

After I became more aware of “religion” and how different households function, I realised that the concept of Fasting as we knew it was quite alien to a non-Hindu. But I also realised that there are similar concepts of abstinence even among Christians (45 days of Lent before Easter Sunday), Muslims (Roza months), Jains (something called “Pradyushan”).

Which brings me to my question – how does abstinence help? In my mind, when I’m “forbidden” from having something – it’s the only thing I can think of! Very Adam-Eve-Apple-of-Eden-esque, I know. On a typical day, I may not even think of food or what to eat for lunch or dinner till my stomach actually tells me that I’m hungry. But on a day when I’m fasting, I wake up planning which fruit to eat when, I get random cravings for tandoori chicken during the day, every channel I switch to on TV seems to be playing a commercial for food.. So how am I in any way getting closer to God? I’m getting closer to insanity with all the cravings! A better way of getting closer to God would be to eat what you want, when you’re hungry and focus on other things in your life. In fact it may have originally worked the other way round – i.e. forget to eat when concentrating on something (work, religion, shopping, anything!) and inadvertently end up “fasting”.

I do however wholeheartedly endorse fasting as a way of controlling your diet! I certainly find it easier to resist the temptation of that yummy looking fried chicken leg when I’m officially on a fast, rather than when I’m on another one of those on-again-off-again-diets.

PS: I sometimes re-hash some topical posts from my earlier writings (here). Remembered this one as I geared up for the Summer Navratras this year. 

being Indian

Being part of the 'youth' of a country that brandishes its young population as one of its assets is a heavy responsibility. It isn't an easy one, and it isn't something in which one is given a choice. You just are.

A recent dinner conversation with a friend got me very irked. In the middle of a pleasant dinner and wine, helping ourselves to the usual therapeutic bitching about work and bosses and colleagues, she made a statement that she no doubt makes very often, "This country has gone to the dogs! There's nothing worth doing here and nothing works."

Now I'm all for bashing a person or an organization that is troubling my friends and making their lives miserable, but I asked her a simple question to which she didn't have an answer. What is it about India that troubles you so much? Her answer was, "Everything!" And that is what irked me. This friend of mine has done pretty well for herself. She's in a (very) high paying job, she has a loving husband who works from home and takes care of their lovely child. They own multiple houses in a city that has the amongst the world's most expensive real estate prices. She hasn't lived abroad. She probably hasn't even lived in any other city in India. And yet, she likes to make a statement so sweeping and generic like everything is wrong with this country.. Wtf!?

Not to say that there's nothing wrong with our country. And it may sound too cliched to say it, but I still feel it needs to be said - this is 'our' country. We make it what it is. Stop nit-picking on the failures. The way I see it, we aren't in a race. Being a better country doesn't have a finish line. It's an ever evolving process. Sure, the past 5-10 years have been bad for us. But they've been bad for most of the world. A lot of people like to say we haven't achieved anything in the past 60 odd years of independent India. Well, let's do something about that. Let's not give our children the opportunity to say the same things.