One Life.....

I sometimes wish life was like video games, where we have multiple lives, when we can afford to lose the first life, the second and then "game over". I thought about this recently after a colleague of mine passed away when he was just 45. One massive heart attack. That was the end of everything. You might think he was one of those pale, ailing guys who wrote his will, waiting to die. NO. He was not. He was "healthy looking" like us; walking, talking, joking and waving his kids good bye to office. Should we just dismiss this saying "it happens to others". I suggest we don't. We are as mortal as everyone else is, and no "Supreme God" can save us no matter how much we pray. So how safe are we from such tragedy ? Should we not introspect ? Let's look at some of the risk factors and explore mitigation strategies. I expect our Ortho-Psycho-Ezhil to guide us here.

Risk 1 : Smoking.
We all know the risk, but we still choose to ignore it. Hoping that some miracle will save our lungs and heart. They say nicotine is the "most addictive substance" known to humans, and most people who try to quit, fail. Making famous people like Mark Twain comment, "Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I know because I've done it thousands of times".
But they say it is never too late, check this link for the short and long term benefits of quitting.
http://www.everydayhealth.com/smoking-cessation/immediate-and-long-term-benefits.aspx

Risk 2: Habitual drinking
If you're a smoker and habitual drinker, you give your body what is called as "double whammy". Habitual drinkers cause considerable damage to heart and liver.

Risk 3 : Obesity
If you're a smoker, habitual drinker and obese, then it is "triple whammy". Your condition is serious and you immediately need to seek some help.

Risk 4 : Stress
If you're a smoker, drinker, obese and stressed. Guess you should rush straight to the hospital and get yourself checked thoroughly.

Besides the above 4, there are genetic factors as well. But that's not under our control.
Hmm...I have some or most of risk factors listed above, so will I die in my mid 40s or 50s ?. The chances are high !!
Is that the end, then ? ...Fortunately, NO.

It's never too late. By adopting a healthy lifestyle we can significantly mitigate these risks. But,what's healthy ?. Quit smoking immediately. Eat a fat free diet with lots of fruits and vegetables. Start jogging or exercising.

Besides, most important, is to have regular health check-ups to diagnose any source of problem early on. Instead of waiting for the "fatal surprise", then blame the whole thing on cruel fate as we normally do.

Shopping Instinct

I read this somewhere. They say "shopping" is instinctive in women.
Sounds interesting. Lets try to put things in perspective.

Evolutionary psychology always gives us interesting things to think about. The theory goes like this. We(humans) have existed as Homo Sapiens for almost 2,00,000 years. Of which, we started agriculture around 10,000 years back. That's only for about 5% of our past. Then what were we doing for the rest of the 95% of our past for food?. We were "hunters gatherers". The men hunted game and the women gathered fruits, vegetable, nuts, etc. The meat gave the needed protein, while the fruits and vegetables supplemented our diet.

They say the hunter gatherer life we lived for so many tens of thousands of years has a profound influence on the way we lead our lives today. Men go fight(hunt) it out in the work place for money, status, etc. Women take care of the domestic needs, gathering things needed for household. Today's retail shops even gives the real gathering feeling, where things are laid out to be gathered and taken home.

The gathering we did as hunter gatherers was "free" and served to supplement out diet. But unfortunately shopping today "costs", and more often than not women buy things men deem "not needed". Any surprise why men throughout the world complain about their wives shopping habits?

I want to write more, but I gotta go..... I'm late for my Sunday "Gathering".

P.S : All characters appearing in this blog are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental

Get-together

After months of anticipation and days of preparation, it finally happened. For a day, 36 Venkatachalam street was shifted to Manipal county, Bangalore.It was a momentous day, seeing the entire clan under one roof. Rather, over one lawn.

The weather was perfect. The lazy breakfast on the lush lawn was followed by Tatha's felicitation.After a "brief history of Tatha" that was read out our doc, everyone came forward to speak what they knew about this nonagenarian, who's beaten all odds for nearly a century !.Almost like Tennyson's brook...."for men may come and men may go, but I go on forever".

After all that, the "seven wives" were seen anxious about the sudden disappearance of the "seven brothers".Where do you think ? huh ? Toddy tapping ?. We might have done that centuries ago as a profession, but now, the business been taken over by big corporations who give us a chance to be only "consumers".And maybe, it was being in the toddy supply chain for centuries that caused some subtle changes in our DNA sequence, that we inherited through our maternal genes that made all seven the "consumers" we are.

It was a great day, except for a few anxious moments at the pool and the sack race injuries.Looking forward to more of these get-together in the future....