Obese in the Country of Underweight
- Anupam Srivastava
- Feb 14, 2018
- 3 min read
Obese in the Country of Underweight
A feminine laughter emanated from a dark corner of the street and a dark mass – apparently a crowd of girls – moved along slowly it showed up in streetlight where we counted the people who constituted it. They were only four, but looked like so many. The fault lay in their size – they were so overweight that they occupied the space meant for more. It has been a few months since my wife and I – evening walkers as we are – found them – but they sometimes come up in our discussion as personifications of the obesity epidemic that has overpowered the people of India. Alas, even the young have not been spared.
Indians are Fat or Hungry?
My observation finds an echo national data. The National Family Health Survey (NFHS) 4 informs that 43% of India’s men and women are malnourished. This story is well-known, and one that holds a mirror to the picture of the common Indian’s real condition. What is less known is that an astonishing 39% of Indians are obese. This group of overweight Indians has increased by 17% in over a decade, revealing the flipside of what we known as affluence. The obesity figures are higher for districts that have greater ownership of assets.
Visually speaking, in any random group expect to find no more than 18% of women and men (put together) to be physically ‘normal’ in weight (and appearance). More men (10%) than women (8%) have a normal weight. While the underweight can sometimes pass off as being normal visually, an obese person should stick out like a sore thumb but doesn’t because there are so many of this ilk in our midst.
Affluenza
Affluence without the motivation or awareness to use it well is a waste of opportunity and, when it takes a turn for the worse, becomes affluenza. Affluenza often results in expenditures for the avoidance of hardship and embrace of gadgets and items that satisfy the immediate cravings but leave one less healthy and, in the long term, unhappy. It is one thing having a few gadgets that make one’s life comfortable, it is another letting them dictate one’s fate. While the affluent but aware lot will never skip a walk in the neighbourhood park or a visit to the gym, those afflicted by affluenza will complain about the weather all the time, and avoid going out except when the weather is perfect. Perfect weather is rare in the tropics, so they spend much of their time indoors. Many of them would buy a smart running shoe but that would be only for the brand and its style quotient, not the sport it is meant for. More money in our wallets also means the usual walk to the local market is abandoned, and one may use a vehicle for buying vegetables.
Take-Aways
Then, there is much more money to spare for take-aways and eat-outs. In fact, I believe take-aways takes the cake as a detriment to good health. The allure of food is such that the crowds that once thronged take-away joints on weekends are now seen there everyday. Typically, their customers are the young who do not want to cook and have money to spare. It is hard to find someone who is not overweight at these places. Equally alarming is to see so many of them who haven’t touched their thirties and are balding, if they haven’t gone bald already. All this is indicative of bad health attributable to bad food habits, all due to growing affluence. There is also the element of imitation and growing stress, with jobs that demand a lot, including odd hours, from their employees. At the end of a long day, it is difficult to whip up the motivation to cook, more so if there are easy options available to buy cheap and tasty food, even if unhealthy.
Perhaps the idea of poor eating habits and lack of fitness is attributable to the malaise of modern life that requires people to spend their day in front of a computer, by and large performing such boring jobs that leaves them unenergetic and despondent, pushing them towards food while destroying the motivation to exercise. Organisations are waking up the need to promote employees’ health, but it may be long before their policies reflect this. The onus on keeping one healthy and fit, ultimately, lies on the individual. There are very few individuals whose physical conditions or circumstances are such that they can’t be healthy and fit. They are certainly not the ones waiting around take-away joints every evening.
- Anupam Srivastava is the author of "The Brown Sahebs". Apart from being a novelist, he is a keen sportsman and writes about sports.
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