Busted and waisted! - Time for some soul searching?

They’re everywhere! Seriously! Every time I turn a page in the newspaper I’m met with adverts egging women (and lately even men) to change their natural shapes and sizes in a bid to become more comely. I mean for crying out loud....THEYRE EVERYWHERE!

Please don’t misunderstand me (especially if you’re a plastic surgeon and your income depends on people being unhappy with their bodies). I have nothing against altering one’s physical dimensions. It’s clearly a personal choice and I am in no way entitled to pass judgment on something that I have never agreed to try out myself. Maybe I’m chicken...maybe Im satisfied with the way I look...Maybe I’m just plain complacent. Whatever the reason, I am not judging a person’s choice to do with his/her body what he/she wants. Its just that this become a phenomenal craze now-at least in Singapore. All I want in the morning is a decent cup of Chinese tea accompanied by a newspaper which will in a brief half hour bring me up to date with the basic happenings of the world. But no. Every time I look for news, I get “Get ready for a bikini body this summer” or “Not Happy with your bust size? Call xxxxxxxx”. They’re EVERYWHERE!

Being overweight myself I can safely say it’s not a happy feeling. Especially for a person like me who has always been inherently athletic. And that is just one aspect of bodily unhappiness for different people. There’s inconsistent bust size, big thighs, the dreaded shapeless bottom, cellulite, thinning hair, acne and pimples, un radiant skin, pregnancy stretch marks, non pregnancy stretch marks and the list could go on and on and on.

I have myself counted at least 7 diet and nutrition centres that promise slimming without exercise, wraps or drugs. Then there are wellness centres which promote slimming via wraps and heat treatment without resorting to extreme diets, the pain of exercise or side effects of pills. Then there are pharma companies advertising their slimming pills which make weight loss happen without surgery, exercise or diets!

Of course there are Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) centres which offer weight loss by balancing the body’s Qi with acupuncture accompanied with a balanced diet and exercise program (this is definitely a more logical approach according to me). And then there are Gymnasiums with tailor made programs to “Burn fat! Lose inches! Drop Dress Sizes!”

Other pages are filled with before and after pictures of women who successfully lost weight in “just 2 weeks!” and new mothers who lost all the baby fat in “a matter of three months!”

Plastic surgery like liposuction is also getting a lot of media attention in Singapore for people who would like to resort to a one time quick treatment to get back to their desired shapes. Result: sculpted arms and thighs, firm buttocks and flat tummies...Quite tempting isn’t it? Only, many of these procedures are quite unsafe (the shadier clinics -not the well known ones) and can have far reaching consequences.

Then of course, the vast number of women unhappy with their bust sizes is amazing (and also a little frightening). Consequence: a large number of programs sprouting up island wide, for breast size reduction, enhancement and upliftment- either by creams or rubs or surgery. I do not know the success ratio of these programs, but considering the increasing number of advertisements, one thing is clear-more women are asking for it.

Hair and skin are never far behind (these affect both men and women) with acne, pimples, pigmentations, oversensitivity, sunburns being some of the more common skin issues and hairfall, receding hairlines, extra bodily hair growth and premature greying being some of the hair issues plaguing men and women in this country. So much so, that they are ready to put in hundreds of thousands of dollars to sort these issues. Laser hair removal, herbal pills and oils to blacken hair, an assortment of chemical and natural creams and drugs to solve the skin problems, are some of the treatments rampant these days.

I re-iterate I am not being judgemental. People have the liberty and the right to make their own choices in life. And if it makes them feel better about themselves, if it raises the faltering self esteem and if it increases energy levels owing to “looking younger”, then there is probably no reason for them to not go in for it. However I would rather eat heartily but healthily, get a lot of sun, air and exercise, run, swim, cycle, and go gymming and trekking, and train myself to have a high self esteem irrespective of how I think I look. I personally would not like to tamper with the body the good Lord above gifted to me. Moreover I think I would concentrate on spiritually cleansing myself with deep meditation and soul contact with God. I think it solves most of the problems people think they have.

The body can be altered as so many people are finding out. But happiness cannot be bought and it comes only from a lot of searching of the soul-an entity which remains unchanged no matter what. It is just my personal opinion that if along with sorting bodily issues, people realized the unchanging wondrous nature of the soul; it would go a long way in keeping them healthy and beautiful-both within and without. And I could have my morning tea and news in peace again. And all would be well with the world (Sigh!).

-----Shreyasi.

Matter of Perspective

Everything is relative. And I mean everything. Even fundamentals proved by science as unchangeable realities-are also relative to a person’s own beliefs and of course passing time. These so called scientific fundamentals have been known to develop cracks in them so often in the past. They have been known to crumble unceremoniously with new fundamentals taking their place. The once opined geocentricity of the universe is one such blaring and oft cited example. Everything depends on perception of the individual who is perceiving.

As such there is no definition of reality. There can be multiple universes with multiple realities. We define reality as something accepted by the masses because the majority accepts those things as real. But what of the minority that doesn’t? What of the minority that chooses to dream and create worlds which seemingly defy the accepted laws of nature and science. Take gravity for example. It was defined, studied and accepted. Nothing can defy gravity since it is such a basic law-or so I hear. Flying machines go against gravity to be able to do their thing. Birds have aerodynamic bodies which enable them to cheat gravity. But the fact remains-Gravity is a reality-at least in the physical world we live in.

But there have been so many documented levitating saints who have not only defied gravity with their yogic practices but actually proved that reality is perspective based since for them gravity does not exist. If a yogi while living in the physical world can astrally alter reality as we know it, who then are we to define reality as we do?

Just because we as we are, are unable to see other worlds or other realities with our physical eyes, it does not mean they don’t exist. Swami Sri Yukteshwar clearly explained to Guruji (as mentioned in the Autobiography of a Yogi), that there are many astral worlds with many kinds of creatures and beings. After all, the physical world is the densest of all. Surely we cannot limit God to just having created what we with our limited senses can perceive.

Where there are minds, there will be imagination. And where there is imagination there will be creation. My good friend maintains a blog which houses the words “You cannot blame your eyes if your imagination is out of focus” and this kinda hits the nail on the head. People who dare to dream and imagine, make brilliance out of nothing. And once it’s been thought of, it begins to exist.

The Never Ending Story is one of my all time favourite movies because I love the background theme about how a deep darkness called “The Nothing” has begun to engulf and devour Fantasia-a fantastic land created out of the combined imagination of people worldwide. In the end when The Nothing devours the whole of Fantasia, all but one grain of sand remains of the once flourishing world abounding in magic. And the central theme of the movie-a boy called Bastian, wishes fantasia back just by holding the grain in his hand-thereby saving imagination.

Such is the power of dreams. Fairytale characters are everywhere –pixies, gnomes, fairies, mermaids, flying dogs and talking sphinxes, dragons and giant sea monsters, water nymphs and grinning cats, castles made of golden sand and cottages made of candy, lavender oceans and purple skies, silver stardust and moons teeming with life, friendly centaurs and dignified minotaurs, talking animals and moving trees, history abounding with mysteries yet to be unravelled. Only we can’t see them. Or better put, we choose not to. We choose to stay behind a veil of self imposed logic and practicality, living out our brutally serious lives and losing our inherent imaginary powers to boredom, routine and in a nut shell “being grown up”.

Well I refuse then to “grow up”. I’d rather be a child with the freedom to express myself as I wish, than be an adult bound to act and think in a certain way because that’s what “gown ups” do. I refuse to be one of those who die knowing full well that the life I lived was a sham. I refuse to live a lie, an act acted out to be in accord with societal pressures and conventions. I refuse to limit myself to this physical world where murder and mayhem are considered normal, where money and making money is considered the be all and end all of life, where I cannot see beyond dense matter.

I will be free, in mind, body and spirit. I have a choice and I choose to allow God’s creativity to flow through me. I will search and I will find, I will not only see but look closely; I will not only touch, but feel with my heart, think with my mind and create with my soul. I will break physical barriers to find my beloved subtle and incredibly magical world just behind this one. And I will create many more. In my worlds there will be nonsense with a meaning, and a galloping chaos totally unlike the maddening one of this world. I will not drown in this crazy discord, I will breathe freely... I will not just survive, I will live.

----- Shreyasi M.

"Bookworm"

I grew up in a house where most of its inhabitants liked to read. I still remember those quiet, sunny afternoons in Santacruz (My first home) when I was first introduced to books. My dad, aunt and granddad used to be away at work, managing the family pre-press business, mum used to spend all her time putting in efforts to raise a decent human being and my grandmum used to take care of all the household chores. I used to attend morning school and as such would have the rest of the day to myself to do as I pleased. There were no other kids my age in the building where I lived, and my mother was my sole playmate and companion. As it happened, I developed an active imagination, created very real parallel worlds of my own and had a truckload of imaginary fairytale friends. Life was good.

What I particularly remember about that house in the afternoons, is my grandmother retiring to her room post lunch and settling down with a book from her big collection. She used to love English mysteries and suspense thrillers and would occasionally devour Bengali literature as well. My mother of course was further gone as a bibliophile. For as long as I can remember, the love of books has been ingrained into my mother’s very blood. And as is normal with most parents, she wanted to inculcate the reading habit in her one and only offspring as well.

She introduced me to all kinds of wonderful books which fuelled my already active imagination. Robinson Crusoe, Jules Verne’s Books, Little Women etc to brilliant imaginary worlds like OZ, wonderland and beautifully narrated fairytales as well as immortal fictional (but real to me) characters like Enid Blyton’s magic faraway tree and its inhabitants like moon face, Dame Washalot and watzisname. My love for magical creatures and worlds grew manifold since those very days and to my surprise continue to grow even after I have supoposedly grown up to become a “responsible” adult.

My mother of course soon realized my bias towards certain kinds of books dealing with ancient civilizations, alien abductions, conspiracy theories, paranormal phenomena, spirituality, children’s books with bright illustrations and certain Victorian classics (Pride and Prejudice types). She goaded me to read about many more varied topics, but I think somewhere she knew that my fascinations would lead me on a path I had already started paving for myself. However she continued to move me to read in her own unique way and one such effort I remember vividly. It’s when she made me the Bookworm.

It was a rotund two dimensional cardboard backed paper worm, a wriggly cute little fellow splotched with light and dark green patches, replete with spectacles which magnified his already big eyes, a big patch of white woolen hair on his round head and a big red two-toothed smile. She had spent a few days cutting out the shape, gluing, colouring etc and the end product was an absolutely brilliant bookmark. In fact it was one of my most prized possessions. My mother had taken care to give it a protective plastic coating too which made it last longer than my other things usually do (oops) and I remember treasuring the image of its woollen hair and encouraging face, sticking out of my books every now and then. I used to love to go back to a book just to get a glimpse of the Bookworm. That’s what I used to call him and I admit I wasn’t very original with the name. But somehow his name suited him just fine.

I don’t really remember when or where Bookworm disappeared from my radar, but I still remember him every time I open a book. I have had many many bookmarks since Bookworm, but none as original and encouraging as him. I guess its one of those pieces of the past (that I so often refer to) that make a solid mark on you when you are young and continue to remain important when you get older. He was alive, like all my other fairytale creatures and I think he spoke to me too. Read on Twinky, he said. Read on.