Weighing In...

Pounds and Kilograms, Kilometres and Kilometres per hour and Kilocalories.

Sigh. There was a time when I was blissfully ignorant of these concepts. I mean, I knew what these were of course, but in an abstract sort of manner. They didn't affect me and I didn't affect them. I didn't think of them and they, in turn, didn't think of me.

But all this changed against the backdrop of pristine blue waters and white sandy beaches. Last October-November AV and I were on a vacation in Bali. Now, normally I would look to find cheap accommodations wherever I go but this time because of a glitch in www.booking.com  I wanted to make this a really, really special vacation, I booked a nice hotel. 

Nice.To put it mildly.

Let's just call it drain-out-your-account-and-max-out-your-credit-card-and-steal-your-neighbours-car-and-sell-it "nice".

Perhaps it was the pressure of knowing my first born child would have to be sold to bonded labour to pay the 'Nice' room's bill that I lost my appetite a bit. 

Now that we were at the hotel I decided to forget about the financial crisis when I return to India and enjoy myself. This obviously meant using EVERY SINGLE FEATURE in the room. Every light was switched on and off, the little touchscreen that controls the airconditioning was moved up and down just for the sake of it, the small cashew packet in the mini-bar was slit like a surgeon so that no one, least of all the guy who would come to check the mini-bar, would realize that the cashews were gone!

Amongst the last few things I spied in the room was a small weighing scale nestled unobtrusively under the wash basin. So, against my better judgement, in the spirit of extracting every Rupiah's worth, I stood on it. I looked down and the sweet display was showing something I just couldn't imagine. My weight was significantly lower than I ever remembered in the past. A good 4-5 kilograms lesser.

Miracles, they say, happen.

And thus began the journey of understanding all the scary terms (kilos, calories etc.). Of going for a run after coming back from work, on getting up early on a Sunday and going for a run. My weight lowered miraculously, and I was going to keep it low, dammit!

Unfortunately, after reducing it another kilo, it was time for another vacation. This time to Singapore for the New Years. And while we did run 3 kilometres on Chennai airport (yes, we did!) and then a token run on the first day in Singapore, the rest of the vacation was an insatiable cesspit of good food and drink.

Cesspit, you say? A bit harsh, you say?

You would say the same if you came home and realized that those little pre-lunch, post-lunch-but-before-evening-tea, pre-dinner, post-dinner, just-a-little-midnight-munching snacks had added another couple of kilos. 

And then we had to go to Delhi where moth our mom's have an ongoing healthy competition for the "Who-can-feed-them-more Cup".

Another kilo added in 2.5 days.

I started running again last week. But it looks like a hopeless cause. 

Perhaps I should have taken the scales photo and posted it on Facebook when the weight was low. 

Perhaps...