Long Lasting Happiness

The doctor was listening, "Sir, I am having an impatient stomach since last 3 days. I have taken some tablets from the local chemist yesterday, but to only have an abeyance. Now, the diarrhea has aggravated along with vomiting." I have discussed this situation with my mom over phone. She told me the combination is deadly and should immediately contact a good doctor in town. The doctor enquired about my medical history, and prescribed few tablets for 3 days. One of the tablets (the tiny and round blue one) was first of the kind, I have seen. It has to be kept beneath ur tongue and let the tablet dissolve in the mouth. That tablet was magical, and immediately stopped my vomiting sensation.
Though the corrective action is taken but finding out the root cause and implementing an appropriate preventive action is necessary (the QA instinct). I was slightly above 24 years then. The last time I met a doctor was at 16, when I had my leg fractured in a football match.
Let me detail the past (Teen age 13 - 19)
I had the ball in control and was about to make a shot with my right leg towards the goal post. Just then, Rajamurugan (the best player in the school then), brought his leg daringly between the ball and my leg. My tibia (the long bone from the knee to ankle) at full swing hit his tibia and both of us fell down. He was crying in pain. I also had a severe pain in my bone, but it was not so severe to cry. I was internally happy. I got up, and went upto him, cheered him up. In another two steps, OOPS!! my pain in leg was becoming unbearable and I slowly stumbled in ground. I couldn't even move my legs. When I tried moving, the pain was deadly. Rajamurugan along with four more students carried me to the nearest vaithiyar (Doctor who practices ayurveda). The vaithiyar confirmed the hairline fracture in the bone and applied a plaster constructed by bamboo sticks, cloths, flour and egg white. He had told me to take bed rest for 15 days and come back to him.
The same night when I was in deep sleep on the bed, my younger brother (by 5 YEARS) accidentally fell on my legs fracturing my leg further. We rushed to the orthopedic surgeon as the pain was unbearable. The X-Ray confirmed fracture showing an inch gap between the broken pieces of tibia. He applied plaster of Paris on my legs. I was on bed for almost 20 days. The doctor after checkup commented, this is one of the fastest cure especially after the double fracture.
I didn't remember any other appointment with doctors (apart from the dentist visit once). I used to get cold once in a year or two, for which my mom's medication was good enough. The small cuts and wounds generated while playing in the field used to disappear in a day's time without any medication. In the medical examination conducted for my first job, all the values of the diagnostic tests were at the mean of the recommended specifications. Such a kind of health and power of immunity I had. I used to feel proud about my health when my classmates, college mates, colleague fall sick.
But, I realized this is the case with most sportsmen. (Don't count injuriphile Tendulkar in this.) I was playing football, cricket, table tennis, volleyball and badminton at an average of four hours per day throughout my entire teenage. My mom is a health freak and always served nutritious food. My weight was 64 Kg, through out the last 3 years of my college. All put together, I had a physic that was flexible, healthy and can make even a conservative girl stare at my chest. Having a good and admirable physic in itself is a wonderful feeling, and it lets you do all activities of your life in ease. It makes your life enjoyable unless you complicate it with anything else.

Post teen age
When I started my career(at 21), my weight increased by one Kg approx. every month. The engineering degree had fetched me a white collar job. Handful of money at the start of every month, gave me the freedom to enjoy everything in the world. I imbibe 2 bottles of beer every weekend and whenever I was excessively happy or excessively sad. I don't cook as I felt boring to do. Especially, I hate the washing utensil part. I had my breakfast and lunch in the office canteen, and had my dinner at hotels and restaurants. I relished the kebabs and biryanis. Lucknow had an array of hotels which served delicious mughlai cuisine, for which I had become a gourmet. In winters, I switched over to whiskey and rum. I smoke 5 to 7 cigarettes a day. But when I drink, I have 4 more. Though I was a bachelor, my extrovert attitude always kept me with lot of people around. I was happy enjoying the life.

I gained 12 Kgs in the first 15 months of my career and thereafter it stabilized. My body put up excess fat, which made me restrictive. After the visit to doctor for diarrhea and vomiting, it had become a routine to meet the doctor every now and then for various reasons. In the medical examination conducted in the recent job switch (7 years from the first one), the doctor certified not fit for the job. My cholesterol levels were alarming (330). X-ray showed problems. Every parameter in the diagnostic tests were no way near to normal. I'm undergoing treatment for my Sinus trouble. My hair started falling and looking older than my age (28). All put together, I'm a Sick Man now.

I was wondering, Does God Started thinking that “This fellow had enjoyed too much in his life. Let him suffer from now on".
Because, there was nobody else responsible for this change in my health condition (A fantastic physic at 21 and a good for nothing physic at 28). I haven't purposely did anything to ruin my health other than living a free and enjoyable life. But the question is, "Will your health become abnormal, If you enjoy your life?”

Being a gourmand, I hate putting restrictions to my food. I hate taking medicines (It lowers my self confidence, always reminding that I'm a sick fellow). I hate doing exercises. I would like to play but not the boring exercises. At desperate times, I tried doing the exercises to reduce my weight. I was successful in reducing 3 to 4 kgs in a week by doing exercise.
But the weight regained in the following week, when I stopped the exercise. At one patch of life, when my weight had reached 81Kg, I decided to go for 4 weeks rigorous gym program (with my logical calculation - 3 to 4 Kg in one week means 16 kg in a month). But that was a stupid calculation. My weight reduced in the first week by 4 kg, but it remained there for next three weeks. And the weight as usual regained in the following week, when the gym program was over.

Nevertheless, a good health is like water for fish. The fish will only feel the deadly trouble when it is out of water. Till then, the fish takes the water for granted.

So, the million dollar question now is "Will my health become abnormal, if I enjoy my life?” The answer is Yes and No.

I got convinced. It is the lifestyle that matters. It doesn't mean that you should not enjoy the life. What exactly has to be understood is "A happy lifestyle with adequate physical activity and healthy intake will keep you away from all the doctors and as well as let you have a long lasting and sustained happiness and excitement in life."

Consequently, I tried an intelligent make over in my lifestyle.

I switched over to a house that is at 15 minutes walk from the office and I sold my bike (There are some other reasons also).
I have breakfast at home like museli (roasted oats with milk), eggs, sandwiches, biscuits and fruit juices in the morning.

I walk to office with my walkman playing the latest tunes, glancing at the day's outfit of the girls passing by and this has become a habit and pleasure now. I still have my lunch at office. I cook dinner at home for at least 5 days in a week.

I have handpicked some healthy and tasty recipes from my mom and the latest cook books for dinner, which generally does not take more that 10 minutes to cook and does not leave too many utensils to clean. I wonder there is really handful of them and they are tasty too. Purchased a Microwave, which is very handy for loners like me. Logically I should have done this much earlier because, cooking these foods takes less than the time I travel to hotels (definitely you save the time of waifting), and also keeps you healthy at one fifth of the cost . Given the choice of nutritious semi cooked food available at the super markets, cooking the dinner at home is much easier than I thought earlier. Apart from looking at the price, I also started to glance at the cholesterol content and the sugar content while purchasing raw materials for cooking.

Very importantly, I quit whiskey, but have wine and beer.

The makeover is magical. Right now, my cholesterol has come to normal; all other parameters are approaching mean and that too without any medicines.

So let's put the learning together...

1. A makeover in ur life style only can save ur health, thereby let you enjoy the fullest of life.

2. A change in lifestyle does not mean a compromise or hard work or any kind of enforcements.

3. It is just the choosing of right ones from bad ones.


4. Do any physical activity for at least 30 minutes a day that u enjoy. It can be playing with ur kid, or playing sports or just walking staring at the girls.


5. Choose the healthy and tasty ones for eating. (Always choose Oil without cholesterol, have skimmed milk, eat vegetables and fruits, always keep two bottles of good fruit juices in fridge.)

6. If u doesn’t have the habit of cigarette, bear, or hard drinks, it is absolutely fine. Having these bad habits doesn't mean that they enjoy life. Practically, the reverse is more probable.


7. If u have those habits then, adopt the following good news.

8. Contrary to the common myth, beer does not have any cholesterol or even any fat content. Beer like wine is good for health in moderate quantities (One bottle a day). I read in internet that the fattening effect in the body is caused by the extra dishes we have during consumption and the inactivity attained due to the tranquilizing effect of the alcohol. If you are an active person and drink beer with healthy accompaniments, you will not get fat.

9. Quit Whiskey - It has sugar, cholesterol etc, etc.......

10. U can have a bit of rum but that too in very moderate quantities. The moderate amount for you is directly proportional to your physical toil and healthy intake. A man who does lot of physical exercise have lot of room to drink every day and still be healthy.

11. Smoking is generally bad for health. But they too have some positives, if had in moderate quantities (Four filtered cigarette a day, will not cause you any danger till your death. The only problem is to stick with 4 cigarettes which many find it difficult.)
a. Smoking increases the blood circulation to brain momentarily, thereby giving the extra power to brain. Even I had got solutions to many struggling problems while smoking.
b. Smokers become friends faster. If ur boss is smoker, u have lot of merits as a smoker.
c. Smoking (psychologically) increases self esteem when u r alone and depressed (No proof).
d. Last but not the least, you can enjoy the kick the cigarette gives.

12. The points from 7 to 11 are exclusively for males. The girls have less strength to resist these bad habits.


13. Sex is always good for health and mind. Only thing is to use condoms at appropriate times.

14. Avoid sex in teens, as that will lead u avoid the pursuit of noble options available at that point of time. Learn and enjoy all other adventures, pleasures and techniques of life in teans and have sex for post teen age. That makes a lot of difference in you future.




The list is becoming endless....... but they are worth it......... Though the changes look simple, it needs a killer instinct to initiate them. So....... Best of Luck. After all these are the secrets to have long lasting happiness and excitement.