Sunday, May 29, 2011

Tryst with "Weight loss ideas"

Tryst with Destiny

The story narrated below is that of one of my friend’s.I am sure many of us can/would relate to it.I did to an extent.So I wanted to share..here it goes…in my friend’s own words…


“Never in my life I had thought that I will ever have to try losing weight.Till I joined a software company,in fact until around six months,I was rest assured that I will never have to bother about how many sweets I have per day...or I have samosas and pastries for snacks...I was so comfortably laid back that I will never have to watch what I eat and whether I work out or not....Whenever I would see someone fighting back his or her temptation to gorge with pizzas or gulabjamuns,I would chuckle and pat myself saying...''dnt worry...this situation wudnt ever come in ur life...You have a lot of room to put on weight...jusss chillll........''
But Alas!!!
Those carefree days are gone! And however hard I try I fail to find out exactly when did my carefree days start vanishing..
You blow a balloon to the maximum of its capacity and tie it to corner in your room.You see it everyday getting smaller and smaller.but you dont realise that its getting smaller until the day it becomes as small as an unblown one.Same happened with me...Just that the reverse happened.In my case,the balloon started sucking in air and I realised it when I felt that there are
potential risks of the balloon getting burst...

However,I console myself saying 'Better late than never'.Atleast the balloon hasnt burst yet. I spent days reminicing my good old slim days...looking at my old jeans..which I could no more get into...getting sad...wondering if ever those days will come back...

Finally one day I got up and decided I will stop brooding and do something.The first thing I did was I brought back the bag of all my clothes( which had refused to let me in).I had packed all to give it to my bai...I kissed and caressed all my favourite Tees and jeans and asked them..."give me a few days my sweeties...dont abandon me in this testing time.."

I reasearched a lot on all healthy and natural ways to lose weight.(I can write a book on that as well....)
Lemon juice with warm water is a tried and tested way to lose weight.Added advantage is it gives you a radiant looking skin.So I was happy and started taking lemon juice everyday...until I started forgetting to buy fresh lemons everday.Daily started becoming alternate days..then weekly once..then fortnightly...monthly...and gone!

Next idea Suryanamskars.In addition to losing weight,it helps strengthening the muscles and gives mental peace.So I started.4 rounds..then 6 rounds a day..then 8...Went up till 12..but I wasnt seeing any result...( Yoga is no magic pill..I should have borne it in mind..)...In no time the count took the reverse course...12...8...6...4...1..and gone!!

Then I thought I lack determination...hence I should involve someone else also...so that there will be someone to monitor...So I called up a friend of mine who was
struck with the same tragedy as mine.
We decided to go for morning walk.Everyday. unfailinglly.Brisk walking.for atleast 45 minutes.But given the office schedule,I had to sacrifice some of my sleep in the morning in order to accomodate the new Weight-losing mantra.SO me and my friend decided to wake up at 5.30 am in the morning everyday and "march' to bring
back our glorious days back....

Day One: I could not sleep the whole night for the fear that I might get late on the first day itself.We went for the walk.yawning all through the way.hardly covered a kilometer.Gasping for breath & hopelessly seeing people run pastus rounds after rounds....

Day 2: I somehow pulled myself out of bed.We went.Tried to walk fast.Faster.fastest.We reached back home tired.To rest I just lied down and I woke up to realise that it was past 11...i was already 2 hours late for office!!

Day 3:Somehow manaaged to sleep at night.Called up my friend at 5.30 to wake him up.He was so deep in sleep that neither the alarm nor my phone calls could wake him.Imaginign him sleeping blissfully,I could not resist myself falling back on my
bed again.

So,first bunk!

Also,after our own kind of 'brisk' and 'fast' morning walk, my breakfast started getting big and bigger....:(

Day4:Me and my friend set our alarms at the highest volume possible.I was afraid what if we both don't get up and our neighbors come banging our doors....Thankfully we woke up.Determined to compensate for the bunk also.Perhaps,I walked too fast than what I am made for.I started feeling dizzy and my friend had to hire an auto to bring me back home...

Day5: Rest.

Day 6: I woke up and called my friend and said that 'its raining hard,what should we do?'.she said in a delightful tone that ,''yeah yeah I can hear the rain drops..we cannot go ofcorse..go back to sleep...''

I woke at 8.30 and saw it was bright and sunny outside.Not a single sign of rain..leave aside last night,it must not have rained in the past two months.I was puzzled and called my friend to ask.she was equally puzzled.Then we both realized that our inner longing to sleep made both of us imagine and invent rain!

We weighed ourselves almost everyday to see keep a track of the progress...
But only if any progress could begin...

Still struggling with newer ideas.If I manage to lose atleast 50 grams..I can call it an achievement! “

Hats off to my friend!! :) :)

Sunday, May 22, 2011

The feeling of feeling dumb...

I feel idiot and dumb when i count using fingers and thumb
I feel left out and dumb when i want to speak but stay mum
I feel afraid and dumb when in the middle of traffic i go numb
I feel stupid and dumb when on stage i fear falling plumb
I feel hopeless and dumb when in tension i crumb
I feel sad and dumb when i am scolded for being dumb
I feel all the more dumb when I am told I am dumb...

The Joy of Giving

Today, I had an experience which I never had till now in my life.
The Joy of Giving.
I was though reluctant for I had to wake up at 4 in the morning. But I should thank myself that I did not let myself sleep again. The feeling of joy was worth sacrificing hundreds of hours of sound sleep.

Going inside a Cancer hospital was itself a different feeling... like... I was getting overwhelmed with a sense of admiration and respect for every face I was seeing around... The patients-for they are fighting with strength, fighting for their life, constantly living with the pain and the thought that they are going to die soon...
the attendants-for they are fighting back tears may be, seeing a loved one suffering from cancer is no less pain,
the nurses-the one who guided us through the hospital with an unfading smile on her face, for her dedication....

The first patient who was given the prasad and blessings was an elderly man, his body shrunk into a bag of wrinkles skin. I don’t know what feeling brought tears in my eyes seeing him get blessed. His face lit with a faint smile and gratitude, he sat with his eyes closed and hands folded...I was touched by his being, or his pain or his spirits...I don’t know. I felt overwhelmed.
There were patients with frail bodies like that of a bird...Some looked at us with bewilderment...some with faith...some with doubt...some with contempt, that again a troupe of followers of some baba...
We went to the children’s cancer ward. It was awful to see kids gone bald because of chemotherapy. A fair small little kid was looking at us with amazement. The hair on his head could be counted. His eyes had sunk deep. He was holding his mother's hand in fear....I was wondering how would his mother be feeling to see her child like this...the kid being unaware of what he is suffering from..
Something was moving inside me. I could feel the movement in my heart.

A small guy was lying on his bed...may be in his teens...sat up straight as he saw me and smiled...When I wanted to give him a packet, he said, “I have already got one, take it back ma’m, other patients also want it..”. And said a humble thank you. I felt so good. I was wondering that a small boy, hasn’t given up courtesy even when he is battling with his life...where as we don’t mind giving up basic manners even on a small argument with a friend…or the waiter takes a little longer to bring us our order...or we get a slightly pushed by a co passenger in an overcrowded bus...

Some patients looked at Guruji's photos with a twinkle in their eyes as if there might happen some miracle...

In the pediatric ward, I gave fruits to a small girl who was lying weak, with needles pierced into her tender hands. Her mother talked me that she has been suffering from high fever for more than a week. She asked the kid to say thank you to me...”Dekho didi mausambi di na...thank you bolo”. She raised her thin needles-pierced hand and smiled at me...it touched.

Then the journey took us to the so called Apollo of Poor... Gandhi Hospital...

There was a ward...some 20 beds in two rows...on each bed was a mother and a new born baby...Looking at so many bundles of joy...I had never seen so many babies at a time...it was so wonderful...their delicate fingers...cute faces...some sleeping blissfully…some crying...in a few moments so many thoughts ran through my mind..I fail to recollect all of them now…just one I remember is that until then I had been carrying a heavy heart…but these small teddy bears filled my heart with joy...Perhaps this ward is the only one in every hospital where the patient and their attendants are happy and in celebration...

By the time we wound up everything and set to leave...I was filled with mixed emotions...that I m so lucky that I am blessed with a healthy life…I am blessed with a healthy family…the indescribable feeling of bliss I got by bringing a smile on the faces of those in pain...

All I could say to myself was Guruji, thank you for giving me a chance to experience the Joy of Giving.