Skip to main content

Talkin' Body

Dear reader,

It's been a while, yet there hasn't been much to write home about. On a handful of occasions over the past 6 months, my fingers would hover over the keyboard as I wondered about the originality of my thoughts. The piece would subsequently die a quiet death. And today isn't an attempt to get back on the wagon and write more frequently.

If ignorance is bliss, then knowledge is agony, in particular, the acute awareness of how unfit you are. Spotting myself in the mirror and becoming increasingly unhappy with the view, I bit the bullet and enrolled in a gym recently. I've been researching a bit on the effect of exercise on the body. You can check them out here and here if you like. 

Before the monsoon took over, I did go cycling regularly but not enough to challenge my body. Besides, with the Metro work contributing to nightmarish traffic in my neighbourhood, it simply wasn't pleasurable. There are some great free circuit training apps but here, the issue is motivation. I realized that nothing was going to galvanize me like the thought of spending and wasting money. So I took a rather expensive 1-month membership to try and get into the habit of physical activity.

Let's get this straight; with no interest in a 'gym-bod' or 6-packs, I'm not going to evangelize the experience. I question the choice on days my muscles are extremely sore. I find myself unable to think of junk food or booze without guilt. Small dietary changes like switching from wheat rotis to nachni ones are healthier but cumbersome too. But it is fascinating to observe the slight changes in body and mind. 

 I now wake up earlier but well-rested. I feel physically lighter though I haven't lost any weight. My posture is different, without me trying to hold it so. I'm noticing more about the state of my limbs, attentive to how weak one side of my body is, how terribly unyielding the muscles are and how much effort it takes to breathe. I am looking forward to the Yoga classes that are part of the membership package because I have all the flexibility of a corpse in the grip of rigor mortis. It may also be making a difference to my thoughts but the jury's still out on that.

The gym isn't everyone's cup of tea but I'll keep sipping for now and see where it takes me. At the very least, it's a healthy dose of much needed physical activity that's been absent from my life for a heck of a long time.

Happy Diwali all. 

Song for the moment: Sweet Pain - N.F.A Khan & Michael Brook

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Longfellow Serenade

Dear reader, A conversation in a buzzing bar over a mug of beer got me thinking on today's theme; the writing of a letter. As with many of the shared contemplations I've had, we spoke about it for the sake of the flowing idea, the peculiarly gentle glee in being able to use what have commonly been referred to as 'big words' in actual conversation without having the threat of perplexity hanging in the air. Perhaps you have & enjoy these moments yourself. Mayhaps, you have debated the same theme ? Nonetheless, I often ponder upon the march of time & technology that has left me regarding life with some ambiguity. I appreciate technology & how it has made living easier on many levels. I do not hanker for the b/w television nor for a computer with 16 MB RAM & the large floppy disk. I thank the heavens for air-conditioning & the photocopier. I use the internet a lot. The Dark Ages or in India's case, the years up to the 1990's, had their moment in ...
8 comments
Read more

Love and Happiness

The year was 1950. Having missed a prestigious Government position in Delhi by the proverbial hair's breadth, a 24 year old youth from the south of India began to look for work elsewhere. In this land, destinies were & are made in Bombay. Fate decreed that this boy, called K, had been gallivanting around the backwaters long enough and directed him to the city caressed by the Arabian Sea. Once he'd begun to work, his family wanted to check off the next thing on the list - a bride. K bluntly told his father that he was not interested in an arranged marriage, practically scandalizing everyone in the vicinity and a few ancestors for good measure. Predictably enough, his wishes were ignored and the hunt for a suitable girl began in earnest, culminating in a small town in Tamil Nadu. K was tersely informed about his upcoming nuptials and although furious, he acquiesced. Which should come as no surprise, really, as young men and women do so even today. The bride-to-be was 20i...
7 comments
Read more

Many the miles

Some time ago, I decided to cut down on the whining that seems to be a major theme on this blog. After having written a couple of short story posts and one interesting challenge, I found that more commentary on life, its machinations and assorted tomfoolery just did not interest me. For the moment, at least. That also thankfully means that I can't talk about the Indian cricket team's test saga. Anyway, in recent weeks, a new trend has taken root in that fragment of the 'gang' that lives in Pune. Instead of meeting up and hitting the tipple every now and then, we meet and they discuss trekking to various forts in and around Pune. Notice how I'm not in these councils-of-war. Although I've played sports in school and college, I've never been a fan of physical toil. All these talks conjure up are images of waking up at some ungodly hour before sunrise, scooting to some random hill / fort and huffing, puffing, slipping & scrabbling around in near darkness w...
14 comments
Read more