Is it over really?

2,804 kilometres.

Over a period of 8 days.

From Chennai (southern part of India) to Gurgaon (northern India).

On a car-carrier weighing 28 tonnes.

With Hyundai's i10 vehicles. Eight in number. Four over four in two tier format.

Umesh Kumar Rana (29 years) at the steering and Pinto Kumar Sau (21 years) as his deputy.

Both hailing from the mineral rich Jharkhand state.

Passed through the states of Tamil Nadu, Kanataka, Maharastra, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Haryana.

What did I witness?

First the positives:

India is on a big move.

I can confidently say, "watch your highways to feel the pulse of the nation".

Honestly I am glad the Indian economy is literally on a roll.

Secondly, the nation is pretty young. Why do I say this?

A majority of drivers whom I meet over this 8-day odyssey are definitely in late 20s and ealy 30s.

The kind of Over Dimensional Cargo (ODC) I saw trundling on Indian roads gives a feeling of what India is upto. Boilers, windmasts, turbines, etc.

A big pat on NHAI's back. Lovely, broad roads.

Yes, there is a massive construction in the new or broading of existing ones is in full swing.

Must have crossed over 40 odd Toll Gates operated and managed by private sector. Amazing efficiency.

The highest Toll (user fee) paid in this trip was for the Pune-Mumbai Expressway - Rs.946.

There is always scope for improvement.

Now, the saddest part: the negatives.

The state machinery is corrupt.

AT every inter state border, I personally interacted or transacted with Commercial Tax and RTO officials and paid - yes, paid bribe - to ensure my truck's smooth passage.

The Mumbai crossing (from Panvel in Maharashtra to Ghodbunder) was the cesspot of hooliganism by state machinery. Knowingly or unknowningly.

These people behave like road mafia with private sector participation.

I personally witnessed the 3-4 hour long orchestrated congestation by Bruhan Mumbai officials to extract their pound of flesh from illiterate driver who are physically tired.

I plan to write letters to all state chief ministers/secretaries and the federal government.

Enough of this highhandedness.

Transporters are the backbone of our - for that matter - any nation.

If these unkempt, ugly and illiterate drivers decided not to ignite their engines, Mr Prime Minister, all your dream about building u a powerful nation,will come to a naught.

I feel cheated and irritated by the harsh treatment meted to the transporters at inter state borders.

If highways remain empty, Sir, neither raw materials will reach assembly plants nor the finished goods (whatever it may be - be it a car, textile, chemicals, oil etc) will reach the end user. Forget about export growth. Even managing the domestic economy will become a big headache.

My eyes have welled up.

I can't see my desktop screen clearly.

So, here I stop.

For the time being...

Under Control

The three pronged strategy of keeping a close tab on diet, medicine and physical regimen is certainly paying dividend.

Over the past couple of weeks, the fasting blood sugar has settled at 110 and 2-hours post-lunch or post-dinner is hoveirng between 155 and 171.

Decent performance.

On dietary plane, managed to restrict to two plain chapatis with a bowl of dal or liquid sabji.

No curd, no cheese, no buttermilk.

Barring an occasional milk-laden coffee or tea (sugarless, of course), moved over to herbal tea.

Yes, on two occasions managed to tuck in one scoop of ice cream, some wheat halwa.

Worked out extra the next morning to compensate for the "violation".

Cravings have been surmounted by biting into half an apple.

Or roasted chickpea.

Did not check weight for more than a month.

Sure lost at least one kilo am sure because I am able to buckle my belt in the tightest hole comfortably. This was not the case six to eight weeks ago.

So, all is well. Everything is under control.

Doctor happy. I too

Yesterday (12 August 2010) was my second visit to Fortis-Vasant Kunj after the preliminary meeting two weeks ago.

Now that the test results are out, I trooped in with daughter and Tanya to the same venue for the 10.15 a.m. rendezvous.

After two hours wait (some patients were shouting for such long waits in the reception), the young doctor pored over the medical reports and began to unspool.

"All is well. Good imporvement."

Never thought you would take things so seriously and indulge in exercise, diet control etc whole heartedly," he commented.

Except for high calcium and very low Vitamin D, other things were fine, I was told.

I complained about starvation diet I was put thru over the past fortnight.

He relaxed it henceforth with additional fruit (appple) intake and green vegetables.

Thank God.

Asked to increase walking duration.

Advised not to do accupressure walking on sharp stones.

No to daily proudcts: no milk in coffee/tea, dahi, lassi, butter milk.

total stoppage of sugarfree as well.

I feel happy.

asked to check calcium levels every fortnight and report if it crosses 10 plus levels.

otherwise, to visit dec 15 this year. three months interval.

automatically, returned the unopened sugarfree can. began to drink black tea/coffee and green tea.

added extra apples, no doubt.

asked to walk under a lot of sunlight for vitamin D.

Well, well...

Half an hour walk plus one hour aerobics at Chattarpur ashram is the current regimen on the exercise front. Plus climbing 4 flights of stairs at home with no lift in sight.

Have to add more mileages per day soon.

My heartfelt, I was glad to hear, is something akin to athletes!

Thank God.

Surya Namaskar

Today's was Day 2 since I began Surya Namaskar with a guru to guide at Adhyaya Sadhana Kendra in Chattarpur.

But for the diabetes, perhaps I would have attempted Surya Namaskar. Each round consists a series of 16 steps which takes the practitioner through a slew of asanas. Forget about the asana names. It is suffice to say that your body is put through the wringer. You stretch each ligament and come out of it much more energised despite the feeling that this strenuous exercise would exhaust you completely.

The guru was commenting that you cannot learn this by watching the TV or video shows. You need a personal trainer to correct your postures in the beginning stages.

Surya namaskar is part of the hour long morning yogic exercise session between 6 and 7 am. SN lasts hardly 5-10 minutes. But the exercises that one does in the earlier part of the session is very interesting. Each part of the body - from head to toe - is exercised in a gentle way.

Whether the group - no fees - consists of just a solitary practitioner or more than a dozen, the session begins earnestly at 6 a.m.

It is the lifestyle we began to lead that needs rectification, advises the Guru. Spare at least 90 minutes in every 24 hour cycle for your health, is his message.

Surprisingly, I notice a sprinkling of youngsters among the 40 plus gathering.

If you live in and around Mehrauli, the Kendra is easily approachable & situated near the Chattarpur Temple complex.

134....

Well, this is what the Accucheck displayed this morning at 6 a.m. just before i brushed my teeth and had the first cuppa tea and four sugarless crackers.

Wow! That was the expression from my better half. "Was it not close to 180 yesterday?" was her rhetoric.

If you ask me, I am glad that my hard work is paying dividend. My diet is under control. My exercise regimen is more sharper.

I had taken to two trips per day: net effect one and a half times than in the past.

I sweat a lot.

Hunger pangs are under control. Occasionally I feel like grabbing a pear or an apple and grab out of the hands of my wife or daughter when they indulge in eating in my presence!

But I tell myself: control, like Nana Patekar used to say "Welcome", the Bollywood hit.

While at home, I restrain from entering the kitchen area - just to ensure that temptations don't ruin my bigger plans.

What bigger plans?

Health... Because health is wealth.

Sometimes I wonder how many holes I would have made in my body beyond the nine prescribed and given by Almighty.

Every pin prick is no longer a pain. I got accustomed.

I began to enjoy the "pricks" perhaps.

Wife keep asking whether I began to feel 'light".

LIght as in what? I don't know.

90 kilos is no easy burden to carry.

Am sure this would tumble down by a few kilos over a month or so.

Not drastic enough to cause celebration.

By the way, how do I celebrate because cake cutting is ruled out.

Maybe I can down an additional glass of pure H2O.

Merciless God!

Compulsory drinking!

Before you jump to conclusions, let me clarify that the nursing attendant at Fortis Vasant Kunj's ultrasound department forced me to drink "water", and nothing else.

I landed up at the appointed hour for my turn at the ultrasound desk. LUckily not much of crowd and I was second in queue. An elderly lady was led into the room and she was out in no time.

The lady accompanying the elderly one - presume her to be the daughter in law - protested that her "amma' had taken two bottles of water before coming.

The nursing attedant brusquely said that her bladder is empty and ultrasound cannot be done in an empty bladder.

So what next?

Drink more water. Walk around the building for half an hour. Try your luck again.

I was getting jittery.

My fears turned out to be true.

I was also sent out with the same instruction.

I had planned an early return to home.

Now it is not possible.

By then, the crowd outside ultrasound desk has thickened and there was no room for seating.

Cursing my fate, I walked out with a friend in tow in search of water. Emptied one full bottle.

My companion kept asking about "pressure in my bladder".

Adding insult to injury, my wife kept pinging me on phone on the latest "status".

"My foot".

Instead of pressure on bladder, I was getting restive and wanting to shit.

Still I could not trace any sign of pressure on my bladder.

Three rounds and I said enough is enough.

Returned to the ultrasound desk and waited to bounce on an empty seat when it got vacated. The occupant got up to ask the desk when is his turn!

Saw the elderly lady trooping in and luckily she did not emerge for 15 minutes.

I was counting my luck and begin to feel the pressure on my bladder. Not too much. Minute definitely.

Will it be acceptable to the nursing attendant?

My wife has to literally pester the desk to reallot my slot.

Soon my turn came and I was led into the room.

Soon, the male attendant said, my bladder is half full.

I protested, "can't help it. You can't force me drink water... bloody tastes like medicine'.

He smiled and continued his test.

When it got over, he asked me to go and empty my bladder in the adajacent toilet and return for another final round.

As I was about to enter toilet, my wife screamed: "stop".

Wat? I screamed back. Everyone was looking at us.

"You cannot empty your bladder just like that. The other department wants the second urine sample after ultrasound," she said.

What to do?

Stupidly, I walked in and asked the nursing attendant whether I can "capture' my urine for the other department. He nodded politely.

He must be used to this kind of daily scenes.

I quietly filled up a special container given to me earlier by the lab attendant and surrendered the same to the lab.

I have not eaten anything since the previous night 8.30 p.m. I was feeling hungry.

Can I eat anything now?

Go ahead, I was told.

The food was kept inside the car in the parking lot.

Rushed out to take a bite.

The bread toast has lost its crispiness. What the hell? Anything is better than nothing.

Emptied the bottle of mint, ginger and lasoon laced butter milk.

Supremely divine feeling.

That's how you feel when you eat after a long gap... perhaps.

No sooner did we leave the parking lot, the urge to empty my bladder overtook everything else.

The pressure was becoming uncontrollable.

We had two options: return to Fortis and use the santised toilet. Or park the car on the roadside and relieve the pressure in wherever and whatever condition.

You know what I did.

Boiled channa

Post investigation and pending results, I am already on a strict diet.

Look at this.

5.30 a.m.
A cup of sugarless tea/coffee and 4 cookies (sugarless, of course)

8.30 a.m.
Had a bowl of boiled channa and some cut fruits (apple n papaya)

1.30 p.m.
three chapati, one bowl of channa and some mixed sabzi

5 p.m.
tea and 3 crackers.

in between snacks have been totally done away with.

regular feeding is something unusual for me.

never followed such a regimen.

not tough. but am at home for the past week or so.

what happens when I begin to return to normal work?

Should not be a challenge, you can carry time fixed menu in alumnium wrapped parcels, tells my better half.

trying to imagine telling colleagues at fixed hours: "excuse me. i have to eat now. wait for sometime.'

sounds hilarious? keep watching this space for more updates...

@ Opthamologist's den

For the umpteenth time, heard that diabetes impacts kidney, eyes and lever. While tests for more than dozen tests have already been carried out at Fortis-Vasant Kunj 8 and waiting for results to be out next week - I was asked to go for eye check up.

Landed up at Dr Sameer Sud's eye clinic in Green Park. Nice and chic clinic situated just behind the Church next to Aurobindo Market.

Two days ago when I had called up, he sounded very young. When I came face to face with him this morning, found him in his mid=forties. Told him about this and he reacted: I am 44, but conducted several thousand operations.

I trust him because his reception was packed with society ladies waiting for their turn to get their eyes checked and treated.

After two rounds of dilation to check the status of retina, he declared that my eyes are hale and hearty. No sign of any diabetes' impact. Thank God.

He advised to go for yearly eye check up. Otherwise, all is well.

He warned that everything will be bright for the entire day due to the dilatory exercise.

Eveyrthing is bright indeed!

No heels, please!

Post-Zack demise, my sugar levels are reaching heavenwards.

My diabetologist Prof.Anoop Misra at Fortis-Vasant Kunj chided me for taking diabetes very lightly despite the fact that my mother was a diabetic and i have been diagnosed with diabetes over the past six years.

After two hour long wait-cum-preliminary testing-cum-consultation in the run up to the full-blown complete check up, I landed up at my dietician's cubicle.

I was categorically told 'not' to wear heel-type footwear.

In my 54-year earthly existence, I seldom wore anything that was not 'flat'. Or put it differently, I wore no 'heel' type footwear.

Perhaps what my dietician meant was even a minor elevation from the flat position.

Otherwise, her advice does not make sense to me.



Anyways, no to 'heels'.


'