If you ask Arry about the various kinds of people who live in this earth, then I can bet on what his reply would be. In his typical moronic way he would say, "well I believe there are only two kinds of homo sapiens who inhabit the earth; and they are
1) Those who have
2) Those who haven't".
Now you might be curious to know what this have or haven't business is? To throw more light on this matter let's just jump on the topic which I believe must have mystified, terrified, sickened all of us at some point of our life span at least once. If you are still clueless, then let me be crystal clear about my blog's topic now; lest you skip this page and hop on to another ride on the information super highway. We are talking (taking a specific case-study) of the perils of having a beer belly in your early twenties; and if you are a bachelor; then god forbid you from the uncanny comments from everybody around you; which I believe can unsettle even a person of nerves made of steel.
To comeback to our central character of our plot or rather blog; it was not always that Arry was like this having this halo effect around him. By halo effect, I mean the situation when an acquaintance or an office colleague comes to you and says "hello" to your belly and not to you. I mean, how much more embarrassing it can get to you. Well I shudder to think myself in Arry's shoes. As I know him since existence, I can vouch for the fact that he was quite a lean (may be not mean) machine in his insti days. Rather I would say he was a gangly person of average build, quite awkward and unsure about himself or his future. But then he was happy with whatever he was, at least he didn't had to listen to others about his upper half.
Then one fine day, cupid stuck in his life (not in the sense of romance, that will be one huge novel, not to be covered in this tiny little blog) Arry got a job in a good enough company with a decent starting salary and prospects of the moon in future. This is where the twist comes in the story.
As Arry became more sure and confident about himself and his future, he became more and more careless about his upper half. (He failed in his quest for a better half). Parties after parties followed like bogies follow each other in a typical express Indian train except in some rare circumstances. He was away from home for the first time of his life and the restrictions that it brings, so it was natural for him to enjoy his newfound status of free life. (Guess what, I want to break free, the famous lyrics from Queen, became the national anthem of his beer-chicken biryani parties). Gradually this started taking a toll on his belly, it started getting a spare tyre (as they usually say). Now, having a spare tyre can be quite handy when you are on a long drive but it's another matter when you have to carry it on with you always.
Soon fate and some perseverance brought Arry to his home city for an assignment in which everything was free for all for him, he was staying in a guest house and he could go home too depending on his mood and opportunity. This quite aggravated the matters for him and the situation gradually worsened. People started giving comments, like when his PM came to visit his project team, his first comment was " you are putting on more weight, don't want to get married or what".
People started getting conclusions that he must be missing love in his life, may be that's why he is putting on more weight (quoting remarks by great personalities like Osho, who once had remarked that people tend to eat more when they are not loved or appreciated). I mean Osho may be true in his observations, but how can he be generic. As far as I know Arry, he was in his happiest state of mind since long. Doesn't make sense!
It's not as if he didn't try to get rid of the flab that he had acquired in the recent past. Following were the remedial steps tried by him: -
1) Tried to hit the gym goaded by his office colleagues and friends who motivated him enough to visit the gym for the first time in his entire life, but sadly that was not enough to be sustaining the activity for a long enough period to have any drastic effect.
2) Stopped having free colas and chips, which were in abundance in his office. But compensated that by buying junk material daily once in breakfast time.
3) Distanced him from having more than one chapattis in lunch, but this too was compensated by having daily chocolate ice-cream treats from his project gang, who I suspect viciously had ganged up against Arry from regaining his past glory (in stricter sense, may not be glory days but still he had seen better).
Now a new year has come, bringing with it new hopes and motivations for a better tomorrow and I suspect that he has made a resolution to himself that come what may, he will not treat himself anymore of junk till he gets back to his original waist size of 32'' from the present almost gigantic 36". Till then, I know that Arry is consoling himself by getting relief from the fact one of his fellow office mate (who sits next to him) weighs almost one quintal. Thank god for small mercies!!!
