Run India, Run for Your Life.
Posted on 30. Sep, 2010 by Ajay Goyal in A Rupee a Day, All Write, Health Care, Time
Tempers often run high in India. People throw tantrums over non issues – all the time. Where else on this earth young men burn buses and then immolate themselves because their favourite 74 year old film star dies a natural death. There is more emotion in real India than in most ridiculous Latin American soap operas. This fickle emotional state of Indians is attributed to various elements — climate, diet and generally passionate nature of Indians.
A newly released scientific report says Indians, especially educated urban Indians — need to work out or do some physical activity if they want to stay healthy and alive. I should add sanity to the list.
A consensus statement by leading medical doctors of the world has been published today: Consensus Statement for Diagnosis of Obesity, Abdominal Obesity and the Metabolic Syndrome for Asian Indians and Recommendations for Physical Activity
I want to take this a step further. I believe that not only are the Indians getting generally unhealthy, obese and contracting all manner of disease – more than most other ethnicities and nationalities – they are also losing their mental abilities. Age old meditative capabilities that were so true and original to Indians are disappearing and being replaced with fraud and superstition.
I have come to conclude that we, the Indians, are becoming lesser of a people than we have been because of this mass laziness and physical inactivity. A great civilization that had insight into secrets of universe and an ability to absorb, process and understand most complex mysteries of life is now turning into a information processor or calculator. It sits on a desk and crunches numbers. Deliberation, calm communication, proper conversation, peaceful discussion and meditative insight are slowly evaporating from Indian society. Harmless words are often misunderstood and can provoke violent reactions. A land of sages is turning into a soap opera nation.
To my mind, this report makes a correct diagnosis of a connection between lack of physical activity among urban Indians and their weakening organism. Look anywhere among urban Indians – they are increasingly obese and disease ridden. In a country afflicted with malnutrition and hunger, sight of fat children in big cities is as common as naked children begging for food on traffic lights.
I believe that lack of physical activity among educated urban elites of India is also causing mental disturbances. People working out less, get worked up more. Those Indians who remain physically active are on the top of the game anywhere in the world. Those who are lazy and sit around are turning into excess baggage.
Urban chaos, absence of footpaths, bicycle routes, parks and gardens, lack of exercise, disinterest in sports ( real sports –watching cricket and getting worked up over it is not counted as a sport ) is leading to Indians diminishing their health and their head.
True, most urban Indians try to do a morning or afternoon “Sair,” a saunter, a walk. I have seen it. I have done it. It barely wakes the muscle, let alone flex it. It does nothing for body and it does not keep the mind from descending into a slumber. There can be no worse waste of time and effort.
The truth is urban Indians have an antipathy toward real sports. They do not run for their life and they cannot run if their life depends on it. Indians has no interest in commonwealth games because they have no interest in sports at all. Athletics are considered a waste of time. Showoff yes, real sports no.
The lack of physical activity among Indians is not only because of an absence of opportunity. It is a lifestyle choice. Indian middle class is literally killing its body and brain cells because of lethargy and misplaced priorities. Middle class and rich Indians prefer to sit, drink, slouch and generally be lazy than be active. It is because the educated middle class mindset has been convoluted into believing that sitting, reading and stuffing minds with information makes better life. It does quite the opposite. Midnight dinners, daily drink, late work hours are a norm in Indian cities. I am shocked by how long and late my friends work in India. And by how little exercise they do. I have lost the love of many an Indian friend and relative by taking them on long walks.
People get breathless and impatient after short distances. No wonder, they get worked up over non issues – their brain cells are not being replaced. Spicy unhealthy food and hours of staring at facebook do not replenish brain cells. Fights start over nothing and arguments flare without reason. Arguments are conducted without reasoning. Loss of language and a disconnect with the soul of Indian civilization – everyone rushing to speak Roget’s Rajinglish — adds to this general state of emotional diarrhea.
In my election campaign in Chandigarh I became the first candidate in India to publish a “sports manifesto.” Other politicians and media laughed at me. It lost me many votes. A person encouraging Indian citizens into athletics is considered too much of a nut case to be trusted with a vote. They would rather vote for a known crook or a convicted thief than the one who asks them to run for their life.
That does not change my belief. I have come to believe that many of India’s problems – social, cultural or economic – are coming from weakening of the Indian mind and body.
Mahatma Gandhi, father of our nation was a man of peace but he constantly exhorted Indians to find physical courage. He preferred violence over cowardice. Physical inactivity leads to cowardice. Gandhi literally walked to wake Indians and free them from the British rule. His walk – Dandi March – is one of the most iconic and inspiring events in all human history.
Indians need to create spaces to walk before they can build eight lane highways connecting big cities.
London, Paris, Copenhagen all have bicycles that are used by millions of people to commute for work and leisure. In Delhi people need an auto rickshaw to cross a street.
This laziness, inactivity and lethargy is the disease of middle class and opulent Indians. Indian farmers and urban labourers do the most demanding physical work. And that is the reason for their peaceful, calm, kind and generous demeanor. If we want to chase higher goals of peace, joy, harmony and true success then we need to get physical.
Sometimes running aimlessly reveals real aims of life.
