Why Indians are stressed out and unhealthy

Kirk's Two Newsletters - which is best for you?

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Subject:	FWC: Why Indians are stressed out and unhealthy: An Interesting Article
Date:	Fri, 10 Aug 2012 12:53:58 -0700
From:	Jas Jain

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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