COMFORT BEGETTING DISCOMFORT

 About five years back, I had seen some forty students of a school being run by a foreign embassy, who had come to see a museum. To my utter surprise, I found that more than half of them were overweight. Some of them were awkwardly flabby.They had problems in standing erect and maintaining a normal gait. Particularly the girls, who were of around 10-12 years of age, appeared carrying their bodymass with some difficulty. Since they were from a reputed and costly public school, they must be hailing from affluent sections. We may call it the side effects of opulence.

Yesterday, I was talking to a family member of mine, settled in Singapore. She surprised me by telling a similar but more awkward story from the USA. I could learn that in certain parts of that great country, people have started taking only hotel food. They argue that cooking the food at home is not only time consuming but also costlier. To cater to their need, the famous eatery joints including KFC have lowered the cost to attract more and more customers. Since the world renowned chicken preparations of KFC and Macdonald contain bad cholesterol, the people enjoying this dainty food are growing fatter. The matter does not stop there. The things have come to such a pass in these areas that even the normal coffins are not big enough to adjust these dead fatties. The society needs bigger coffins for the disposal of dead bodies.

The physical complications like diabetes, hyper tension, coronary complications etc are defined as lifestyle diseases. These ailments are caused by sedentary lifestyle. Most of the domestic chores are being done today by machines. Several kitchen ingredients are available redymade. Moreover, the rich enjoy highly processed and nutritious cuisine which in absence of matching physical labour begets unwanted fats. These people need corrective orientation. If they find time for seeing films, net surfing, gossiping etc why they cannot spare some time for cooking. Like mother’s milk for the new born, there is no substitution for home cooked food. If we did not learn this unpleasant appearing suggestion, in the days to come  we will have no bed in already overcrowded hospitals.