Thursday 16 July 2009

Body: Temple

"Kenny, my body is my temple"

a friend of mine was fond of saying. This would be before he proceeded to consume, in front of my very own eyes

(a) Six Hamburgers
(b) Three Hot Dogs
(c) Four Local Beers
(d) Some Ketchup
(e) Ruffles
(f) Cake

I would be like, Yeah, Dude. After I had eaten grilled peppers and bread and drunk two local beers.

So anyway I like to think that my body is my temple too. I assiduously avoid things like ghee and butter and don't drink up packets of chips or boondi simply because they are there, on the table.

When I learnt about that word in Biology glass, Homeostasis, I would often tell my mom that its my body's way of achieving that equilibrium. Meaning, I would have two days in which I would be starving, and would be ready to eat anything that came my way (vegetarian of course). Then my stomach would start complaining and I would go off back to my usual diet of paruppu and rice and yogurt and to eating one dosa. Mom could never understand it but is, even today, most concerned about my eating. She would like for me to enjoy my junky foods (and believe me, I like it, at least, what are called 'Savouries' in Chennai). But she is most apprehensive of my tendencies to upset my stomach. She has no opinion on the abilities of cheap beer to achieve the same, lacking in experience in that quarter.

So yeah, my body is my temple. Oily 'Savouries' from Adyar Anand Bhavan or Gran's Sweets; Pastries; Yellow Coloured Burfis; Ice Cream; Road Side Things; Unfiltered Water; Unwashed Fruits; Watered down beer; these shall not cross into it. Homeostasis. Deep Breath Now.

I Clarify: I DONT count calories - don't know how to. And right now my stomach hurts.

6 comments:

Choxbox said...

mine is a temple too. i regularly feed it ghee - needed for the deepam and aarti.
steaming hot rice dunked with ghee and raw mango chutney or puran-poli soaked in ghee with tangy rasam on the side. nothing in the world can come even close to those pleasures..

Preeti Aghalayam aka kbpm said...

chox, dont think i could digest it. and deepam can be lit with til oil (which i like to put in puliodarai).

Anonymous said...

kenny i came here hoping to read about your redeeming human features -- you seem to have none.

wordjunkie said...

The stamp is growing into an envelope.
Chox, totally with you on that one. Who starves temples, I say.

Serious Lounger said...

Ah, would that have been our dear friend over at fun, yeah, the blog formerly known as csm-fanaa.. anyways, his latest was outside a dingy bar in Bandra where i met him last week - a cigarette in hand, puffing away to glory our man talks off air pollution :D :P.. he is quite an oxymoron you know..

Choxbox said...

junkieben - aah one more instance to prove your gujju-ness :)