FWC: Why Indians are stressed out and unhealthy: An Interesting Article
Date: Fri, Aug 10, 2012 at 10:49 AM
Subject: Why Indians are stressed out and unhealthy: An Interesting Article
The best piece of evidence that information, "education," wealth, and higher material standards do not lead to a happier life. The culture in which I grew up the first happiness in life is nirogi kaya, or healthy body. In case you are curious, the second happiness is wealth, the third is a wife with character and the fourth is children who are respectful of the parents and the elders. As best as I can judge most people have succeeded in one, wealth, compared to older generations. Dopiness of materialism as an end in itself, an anti-Jain and anti-Buddhist philosophy, seems to be a global phenomenon. No wonder that Jains are disproportionately unhealthy because in practice they are ajains, or un-Jains. Theories and practice are two different things.The world is full of hypocrites.
Jas
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Manmohan Singh had his arteries bypassed recently, a procedure that
increasing numbers of Indians are having. Last year, medical journal Lancet
reported a study of 20,000 Indian patients and found that 60 % of the
World's Heart Disease Patients are in INDIA, which has 15 % of the World's
Population.
This number is surprising because reports of Obesity and heart disease focus
on Fat Americans and their food. What could account for Indians being so
susceptible -- more even than Burger-and-Fries eating Americans?
FOUR THINGS: DIET, CULTURE, STRESS and Lack Of FITNESS.
There is no doctrinal prescription for vegetarianism in Hindu Diet, and some
texts explicitly sanction the eating of meat. But vegetarianism has become
dogma.
Indian Food is assumed to be strongly vegetarian, but it is actually
lacking in VEGETABLES. Our diet is centered around WHEAT, in the North, and
RICE, in the South. The second most important element is DAAL in its various
forms. By weight, vegetables are NOT consumed much. You could have an
entire South Indian vegetarian meal without encountering a vegetable. The
most important vegetable is the starchy ALOO/POTATOES. GREENS are not
cooked flash-fried in the healthy manner of the Chinese, but boiled or
fried till
much of the nutrient value is killed.
GUJARATIS and PUNJABIS are the two Indian Communities most susceptible to
HEART DISEASE. Their vulnerability is recent. Both have a large Peasant
Population -- PATELS and JATS -- who in the last few decades have moved
from an Agrarian Life to An Urban one. They have retained their diet and if
anything made it richer, but their bodies do not work as much. This
transition from a physical life to a sedentary one has made them vulnerable.
GUJARATIS lead the toll for DIABETES as well, and the dietary aspect of this
is really the fallout of the State's ECONOMIC SUCCESS. Unlike most Indian
states, Gujarat has a rich and developed urban culture because of the
MERCANTILE nature of its society. Gujaratis have been living in cities for
centuries.
This Prosperity has given the Gujarati surplus money and, Importantly,
surplus time. These in turn have led to SNACKY foods, some DEEP FRIED, some
steamed and some, uniquely in India, baked with yeast. Most Indians are
familiar with the Gujarati Family on Holiday, pulling out vast quantities of
snacks the moment the train pushes off.
Gujarati Peasant Food -- Bajra (millet) Roti, a lightly cooked green, garlic
and red chilli chutney, and buttermilk -- is actually supremely healthy. But
the peasant PATEL has succumbed to the food of the 'HIGHER' trader and now
prefers the OILY and the SWEET.
MARATHI Peasant Food is Similar, But not as wholesome with a thick and
pasty porridge called Zunka Replacing the Greens.
BOMBAY'S JUNK FOOD was invented in the 19th century to service Gujarati
traders leaving Fort's business district late In the evening after a long
day. PAO BHAJI, mashed leftover vegetables in a tomato gravy served with
Shallow-Fried Buns of Bread, was one such invention.
The most popular snack in Bombay is VADAPAO, which has a batter-fried
potato ball stuck in a Bun. The BUN -- Yeast Bread -- is not native to
INDIA and
gets its name PAO from the PORTUGUESE who brought it in the 16th century.
Bal Thackeray encouraged Bombay's unemployed Marathi boys to set up VADA
PAO STALLS in the 60s, which they did and still do.
The Travelling Chef and TV Star Anthony Bourdain called VADA PAO the Best
Indian thing he had ever eaten, But It Is Heart Attack Food..
Though JAINS are a very small part (1% or thereabouts) of the Gujarati
population, Such is their cultural dominance Through TRADE that many South
Bombay Restaurants have a 'JAIN' option on the menu. This is food without
GARLIC and GINGER. Since they are both tubers (as also are Potatoes), Jains
do not eat them, because in uprooting them from the soil, living organisms
may be killed (No Religious Restriction on Butter and Cheese, however!).
Even in Bombay, this intolerance prevails. Domino's, the famous Pizza Chain,
has a vegetarian-only Pizza Outlet on Malabar Hill (Jinnah's Neighbourhood).
Foreigners like Indian Food, and it is very popular in England, but they
find our Sweets too sweet. This taste for excess SUGAR extends also to
beverage: Maulana Azad called Indian Tea 'Liquid Halwa'. Only in the last
decade have Cafes begun offering sugar on the side, as Diabetes has spread.
India's Culture encourages swift consumption. There is no conversation at
Meal-Time, As there is in Europe. because there are no Courses, the eating
is relentless. You can be seated, served and be finished eating at a
Gujarati or Marathi or South Indian Thali Restaurant in 15 Minutes. It is
eating in the manner of animals: for pure nourishment.
Most of the Indians eat with fingers, as opposed to knives and forks, or
chopsticks, resulting In the scooping up of bigger mouthfuls. Because the
nature of the food does NOT allow for leisurely eating, Indians do not have
a drink with their meals. They drink before and then stagger to the table.
As is the case In Societies of scarcity, rich food is considered good -- and
GHEE is a sacred word in all Indian languages. There is no escape from FAT.
In India, advertising for healthy eating also shows food deep fried, but in
lower-Cholesterol OIL.
The insistence by Family - 'Thoda Aur Le Lo' -- at the table is a part of
our Culture of hospitality, as is the offering of Tea and perhaps also a
snack to visiting guests and strangers. Middle class Indians, even families
that earn Rs10,000 a month, will have SERVANTS. Work that the European and
American does, The Indian does not want to do: Cooking, Cleaning, Washing
Up.
Painting the House, Changing Tires, Tinkering in the Garage, Moving things
around, getting a cup of tea at the office, these are things the Indian Gets
someone else to do for him.. There is no sense of Private Space and the
constant presence of the servant is accepted.
GANDHI'S Value to India was not on his political side, but through his
religious and cultural reforms. What Gandhi attempted to drill into Indians
through living a `Life of Action' was a change in our CULTURE OF LETHARGY
and DEPENDENCE. Gandhi stressed Physical Self-Sufficiency, and even cleaned
his Toilet out Himself.
But HE wasn't successful in making us CHANGE, and most Indians will not
associate Gandhi with physical self-sufficiency though that was his
Principal Message. Indian men do no work around the house. Middle class
women do little, especially after childbirth. Many cook, but the cutting and
cleaning is done by the servant. Slim in their teens, they turn
thick-waisted in their 20s, within a few years of marriage.
Since we are dependent on other people, we have less control over events.
The Indian is under STRESS and is ANXIOUS. This is BAD for his HEALTH. He
must be on constant guard against the World, which takes advantage of him:
the servant's perfidy, encroachment by his neighbors, cars cutting in front
of him in traffic, the vendor's rate that must be haggled down. ALMOST
nothing is orderly and everything must be WORRIED about.
In the Indian office, the PAYROLL is a secret, and nobody is told what the
other makes. KNOWLEDGE causes great Stress, Though the lack of information
is also stressful, leading to SPY games and office GOSSIP.
Because there is no INDIVIDUALISM in India, merit comes from SENIORITY and
the talented but young executive is stressed by the knowledge that he's not
holding the position he deserves. Indians are PEERLESS detectors of SOCIAL
STANDING and the vertical hierarchy of the Indian Office is SACROSANCT.
Dennis Kux pointed out that Indian Diplomats do not engage officially with
an American of lower rank, even if the American is authorized to decide the
matter. In the last decade, when Indians began owning companies abroad, the
Wall Street Journal reported on CULTURAL problems that arose. Their foreign
employees learnt quickly that saying 'NO' would cause their Indian Bosses
great offense, so they learnt to communicate with them as with children!
Indians shine in the WEST where their culture doesn't hold them back. In
India honor is high and the individual is alert to slights from those below
him, which discomfort him greatly. There is NO CULTURE OF PHYSICAL FITNESS,
and because of this Indians DON'T have an ACTIVE OLD AGE.
Past 60, they crumble. Within Society they must step back and play their
scripted ROLE. WIDOWS at that age, even younger, have NO HOPE of REMARRIAGE
because SACRIFICE is expected of them. WIDOWERS at 60 must also reconcile
to SINGLEHOOD, and the Family would be aghast if they showed interest in
the opposite sex at that age, even though this would be normal in another
CULTURE.
Elders are cared for within the family, but are defanged when they pass on
their wealth to their son in the joint family. They lose their Self-Esteem
as they understand their Irrelevance, and wither.
*The Writer is a Former Newspaper Editor who lives in BOMBAY. 
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