Health Is Wealth

'Aakchoo! Mummy,I don't feel good.'

It is funny how 1 simple sentence,with 5 simple words, has so much potential to terrorize one entire family to bits. All because of that one eventful month 2 years ago.

It was August 2012. The month when we celebrate India's Independence Day. The month in which St. Xavier's College organizes its Inter-Collegiate Festival 'Malhar'. The month my little sister had been waiting eagerly for 6 months now. She had just taken admission there that very academic year and was exploding with excitement at having an opportunity to showcase her talent in Dancing, Singing, Photography, Debate and what not. You know, the usual teenage excitement at going to a top notch college and having a gala time at the mega-popular youth festival.

Until, 1 fine day, we heard her going 'Aakchoo'. No big deal, just pop in some herbal tea and maybe a couple D-cold and it will be all fine. The next day, Fever joined the list, albeit mildly. No issues, it is monsoon season after all. Pop in a couple Crocin and it will be okay. Body pain made an appearance on the 3rd day. Hmm,maybe something is wrong after all. So there was that mandatory trip to the family doctor. A couple of impressive looking tablets, syrups and we came home satisfied, nothing more than one of those pesky monsoon infections.

Except that it was not. Fever kept rising, so did mom's, dad's and my blood pressure. 2 more days and finally she herself decided to go to the nearest hospital for a detailed check-up. Final diagnosis? Typhoid! Course of action-Immediate hospitalization for at least 3 days and then bed rest for at least a week!

What? How is that possible? We eat healthy, we are vegetarians, we eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, we are not supposed to get so sick!

Well, it happened,as such things tend to happen. And so the circus began.

Wake up, run to hospital, do household work, make special (read-boiled, spice-less, taste-less) food especially for 'the patient', feed her, come home, call up her friends to make sure she did not miss any important test, go meet them in case there are some important notes to be taken. And who exactly was involved in doing all this? Of course, The Entire Family!

When the child of the house gets sick,it affects the psychology of every member of the family and shakes the very roots of the home. Going to office, doing regular work, watching TV-nothing seems possible as the mind is always engaged in debating with oneself over futile questions like-how did this happen? what can we do to avoid this in future? what could we have done? how long does she have to suffer? And of course the doctors do not make it easier by ordering a 100 tests one after the other making everyone even more anxious! The whole atmosphere is tense and almost on the verge of a mental breakdown!

It is in such situations that one realizes the important role Health plays in our lives. Something we all take for granted. We all know that 'Health is Wealth' but very few of us actually realize its importance till we are hit by the presence of a gaping hole in our hearts by the absence of someone we all love so much! Missing a child's innocent smile, their incessant questions, their sense of wonder, their curiosity-it is hard to come up with anything that could hurt one so much!

That is why my family has made Dabur Chyawanprash our resident doctor. We know first hand how important it is that we take care of our immunity. Eating fruits, vegetables, drinking water, sleeping properly and such good lifestyle tips are well and good but to be Truly Healthy from within, the immune system has to be as strong as cast iron. And Chyawanprash is a time tested formula, a blessing we have gotten from our ancestors.

Of course,it does not mean we are now perfect beings. We sometimes do gorge on junk food. Sometimes we do take the risk of eating roadside chaats. Sometimes we also do 'Aakchoo' :D But we always remember the Golden Mantra-Health is Wealth!

When Diwali Comes Knocking..

..I could finish this sentence in so many ways-'..my asthma acts up' or '..I miss my nani the most' or..but the point is, you wouldn't know what I am talking about,right? So let me start from the beginning :)

It is a Sunday morning and like all Sundays,my ritual is to browse around the net lazily looking for something unique and so I ended up at this wonderfully colorful and festive site 'Pepsi Ghar Wali Diwali' and then this wonderful Video which made me reminisce about my own Diwali moments, especially during childhood!

Diwali-the most important festival in our home. Growing up, I looked forward to Diwali vacations as much as Emraan Hashmi likes kissing scenes in his script! It was the only day day in the year I voluntarily woke up early and assumed the responsibility of looking after my little sister and getting her ready while mom prepared savories and sweets. Most amazing part of every Diwali was our nana-nani coming down from Varanasi and staying with us for a month-every night of which was spent in nani's godi listening to stories of Shiva and Vishnu..My Naani is really democratic,she freely told us stories of every God possible no matter what the occasion, so yes Diwali was also spent thinking about Krishna and Brahma for us :D

                      

So, right about when I was 11, one fine Diwali, as always, I woke up at 6 AM and jumped out of bed like a mongoose, running right up to mom and dad, screaming, 'Diwali aayi, Diwali aayi!' This made my sister (who was 5 at the time) join me in creating an even bigger stampede which was doused only when nanaji intervened and enjoined us to take shower and get ready. Mom was already busy making Gujhiyas, Namkeen, Shakarpara, Malpua,Puri-Bhaaji, Naariyal Ladoo, Boondi Ladoo..all supervised by naniji ofcourse :) Dad was soon off to market to get our supply of flower pots, fuljhadis, anaars and chakris. As a rule, my mom-dad always celebrated Diwali as a Festival of 'Lights', not 'noise'-so no bombs, no rockets, nothing that could turn midway to bite any of us in our butt !

                       

Dad and Nanaji then also got off to get a tokri full of flowers which were woven into huge garlands for decorating the house and Ganpati-Laksmi ji in the evening for Pooja...Afternoons were reserved for decking up, putting aaltas on all the ladies' feet, braiding our hair, getting the new clothes out, trying them on a 1000 times until naniji yelled, 'ab bas karo', putting on lacto calamine to save our skin from all the harmful chemicals.

                         

After Lakhsmi Pooja and stuffing ourselves with sweets and savories, we would go down in the apartment complex garden and play with all the crackers. Now on this particular Diwali my nanaji had,on a whim, got some really powerful rockets and light bombs too..reason-he was a big fan of noisy crackers as a child and even though his grand-daughters did not play with them, he knew there were enough boys in the complex to get excited with them. So he had got about 2000 rupees worth of such burstling crackers and dad had played along as long as my sister and I kept at a safe distance.

But of course, who could have read the mind of a 11 year old? There was this particular bomb, not very noisy, but emitted a lot of smoke which was purple in color and I LOVED IT! I kept going back with nanaji to burst it and dad let me go because,well, I was in safe hands. But 10 minutes later and I suddenly had the nastiest Asthma Attack you can imagine! I get these very rarely and had never got one during diwali earlier! So I was rushed to this doctor we fortunately had in our compound and obviously, he diagnosed it as the inevitable result of that 'purple smoke'! Boy,was that nasty! I can still feel my lungs covered in purple soot as naniji cradled me in her godi and I slept the rest of the night,coughing and drifting in and out of sleep while the rest of our apartment children enjoyed the crackers with my dad and nanaji!

Till date, whenever I smell crackers or even a diya-whether it be mom burning the evening diya or celbrations after India wins a match, or when Ganpati comes to our apartment complex or yes, when Diwali comes knocking, all I can remember is that Asthma Attack and naniji ki godi! 

Oh, How I Love Diwali!

                           
                      

(PS-All pictures taken by my sister Prachi Shailendra during various Diwali days in our household over the years. You can admire more of her pics at CLICKOLOGY but if anyone tries to steal them without her permission,she will perform the nastiest kind of Black Magic on them, trust me!!!)

PPS-Thank you PepsiCo and Indiblogger for bringing #GharWaliDiwali Campaign in our midst and making us misty eyed with all the memories :)