Time is so relative…and forever changing. This makes it impossible for a person like me to write blogs on all the opinions, ideas and thoughts I have, coz: I have a lot of them!
Well since I’ve obviously found the elusive time, I shall write, hopefully a lot, though not too much to bore you guys!
The things of foremost importance to me right now are: a) Research. b)ReSearch c)RESEARCH. (heheh) I have been knee deep in work doing my research on “ metabolic syndrome in children and adolescents” . This needs to be published somewhere, for I have been dedicating quality of my time on this topic. How? Why? What? You may want to know…So let me start, well, at the beginning. I happened to stumble on this topic, thanks to my guide, the best, Dr. Shubhadra. She directed me and I fell for this topic: hook, line and sinker.
About the research: I have basically been working on childhood obesity, one of the MAJOR paradoxes in our India. We have people dying of starvation and sad pictures of marasmic & kwashiorkor kids on one end, while, on the other side, we have an obesity epidemic on the rise. I pity the government, for, policy making ahead is going to be tough.
Childhood is the time to make the most of everything, least of all, to become FAT and unfit to do anything! These children from different schools in Mumbai are, say, 30% at risk for all the complications their fathers and forefathers had, at the age of +_ 12 years!!! They will be diabetic, hypertensive and obese individuals with heart problems. Most of these kids belong to the notorious ‘Middle class’, sadly. Being middle class, their parents hope for their child to be a doc, engineer, lawyer, architect…Im sure they wouldn’t want to see a diabetic youth, unable to climb a flight of stairs, coz the heart is choked with cholesterol. But seemingly so, this may be a reality for many households. Most parents/grandparents manage and continue to ‘buy’ love and affection in the form of ‘junk’. Children continue to splurge their parent’s hard earned cash on ‘junk’. No one wants to move their behinds for anything these days, thanks to tech-savvy attitudes ans home delivery! Well, it must be brought to notice that: Being the plump boy is not cute!!! The baby fat is going no where. I say boy, because, the boys in my study (on a minor majority) are plump, while the girls are catching up, as the usual trend.
Hopefully, by the end of my research, after working with delightfully bright, co-operative and amazingly intelligent intellectuals (I would rather call the children and youth I have been working with as intellectuals rather than individuals, for they are truly a smart bunch, something that makes me proud of them), I shall be able to guide them to a better lifestyle, something our generation skipped on.
Till then, hoping for the best and sure to keep you’ll posted.
(For more information, suggestions, ideas and thoughts, feel free to email me at: shirinjanoos@gmail.com)
