True ! … Health is wealth

On Thursday last week, I was in Bangalore and went out with the team to have lunch. On the way from a client meeting I saw “Pind Balluchi” at Garuda Mall and since am a regular at their Gurgaon restaurant, I thought the team would enjoy the food there.

So we all trooped in around 1.30 or so and as we entered the restaurant, two things made me a little uncomfortable – it was dark and none of the tables were occupied. I ignored my intuition and went in and as soon as we sat down, one of the servers came and used a room freshner right under our table and Muthu and I both asked him to stop immediately as we were about to eat there.

Then ofcourse the meal progressed, we ate all the regular stuff, Dahi Kabab, Paranthas, Pindi Chana etc etc and everyone enjoyed the food. I had yet another doubt about the Pindi Chana as the color was different than what I would see in Delhi. I extolled the virtues of Paneer cooked in the North compared to how it is cooked incorrectly in the South and the lunch went off well. We had ordered more food than we could eat and got the rest packed. And I started feeling queasy just after getting up but ignored it thinking I had eaten more :).

The queasiness increased as the evening progressed. I refused to eat anything at Manish’s place inspite of Swati’s insistence, even left the tea unfinished and then on the way back, I had to stop the car and get out to walk a little as I felt like throwing up. Got to the hotel and slept fitfully as I had fever. Finally the next morning I changed to an earlier flight and got back home. I had slight fever on Saturday too and I am unable to work today as I am exhausted, feeling drained.

Well, if a small thing as food poisoning or fever can have such an impact that I lose 4 productive days, look at the impact when your health really takes a turn for the worse. What worries me is children being obese, children eating all sorts of junk…. The impact on their adult health is huge. Adults anyway care less about health in their pursuit of wealth, little realising that all the riches in the world cannot match good health. Ofcourse an interesting message doing the rounds on Whatsapp says you don’t use 70% of the wealth you accumulate 🙂 so what are you accumulating it for ??

Spend time to stay healthy, put exercise and relaxation as the top priority – all that wealth you chase after can only buy you an expensive casket or sandalwood to burn your body, but remember “you” wont around. While alive, spend the extra hour walking, resting or cooking fresh food, rather than using that time to send that extra email at work – if you are healthy and fit, the emails will get done and work will get done anyway.

I like our PM for this, he works really hard, but ensures he eats home cooked simple food, and makes some time to do some yoga. He may not have a six pack, flat abdomen, but he is healthy and fit. Hasn’t missed work on account of health except once or twice in his 12 year stint as the Gujarat CM. I also have to remember my dad’s advise – never eat at an empty restaurant .. He would always look for a place that was crowded. His logic was if many people eat there, the food has to be fresh and must taste good. Good logic.

Please remember health is wealth …. For once our forefathers were right. :):):)