Hello, you are fat!!

            The much hyped twiggy figure has turned me into a flabby sinner. I can’t chisel myself into this desired figure of the day, so, I’m in violation. As a faithful follower, I buy Marie Claire every month and each time, I put myself on their scale and see myself wanting. They do promote plus-sizes but the fashion-shopping spreads are proofs that skinny women are preferable. They use only skinny models.

            Our own society doesn’t help either. We tend to scrutinize each other's bodies as a form of greeting. Every time I meet someone I know, either from the past or the present, I get commented upon in my face. The usual remark that I have so lovingly claimed my copyrighted possession is “Hi, oh…you’ve become so FAT”. While some people stop there, others extend to “You should NOT gain more weight”, “Shed some weight”. If only I could. Heaven knows I would do anything to make these banters stop. Questions like “Why have you become so fat?”, “Do you want to look like a mother while you are single?” are so tough to answer. If only I can make my body shrink with my mind, I would never have to struggle so hard to be thin.

    My body, as of today, hovers somewhere between the normal and overweight margins in the BMI range. Ever since I heard the first snide remark passed on my bloated form, I have been struggling to lose weight but to no avail. From diet pills and supplements, healthy food to rigorous exercises, I have tried them all. I have shed only a single kilo from my highest count on the scale. What do I do? For the past month, I have started drinking herbal tea and taking oats instead of rice. I have also been playing badminton regularly. But the crude remarks still come. My weight remains the same. Sometimes I just want to give up and slouch on the couch all day, eating potato chips and flipping channels. I just want to escape this burden society puts onto me. Of course, there are other means to be appreciated but I guess my psyche has been so regularly fed with the ideal of thinness that I can no longer find complete satisfaction in other ways. I try to convince myself several times that I have to embrace myself as I am, but with these pressures, I fail. It kinda sound pathetic and morbid, but by way of justifying myself, I profess these are ramblings unearthed from my deepest core, so, jolly me still turns up on the outside.

TRADITION and CONSERVATISM

The recent clarion call made by a certain organization of a particular locality to uphold tradition by wearing puan here in Aizawl sparked off numerous debates. While there were many who cheered this idea, there were also others, especially from the younger generation, who felt it was inconvenient and biased. It was considered inconvenient because by this law, women would be required to wear puan every Wednesday regardless of inapt time and place. And biased because the imposition was upon women only and not upon men.

Fear of antagonism seals my lips. I would not like to state an opinion on this, every view bids different angles and therefore, my opinion would not make me wholly right.

Ethnocentrism sometimes leads to unpleasant outcome. It is one of the many causes of horrifying genocides around the world. Valuing one’s traditions and customs is ideal in today’s world of multiculturalism but on the flipside, it can promote insularity whereby one would be egged on to denounce any change that modernization brings. Evolution forms the crux of life on earth. Culturally speaking, our food habit, dress and lifestyle are set to change with time.

But, from another stance, we also thrive on the past. In an age when quest for identity has become significant, reverting to the past to question one’s entity is important and as such, tradition still holds the key to achieving a sense of belonging. If even my limited learning about my culture and history in my high school could have so much effect, Im sure proper education, starting from the lowest, in these regards can be tools to moulding children and youth of today and the future.

 Still, drawing lines is as necessary as it is difficult. If we don’t, the past with all its practices can be a means to senseless conservatism. That is why we need to look back into those practices in the past with guarded eyes. What was once acceptable may no longer be valid. Taking heads as war souvenirs, for instance, was very much in back in the old days, but in our progressive society, it would never be encouraged again. How a particular custom was observed may not be applicable today but it may still persist in a different mode. Our perception and practice of Tlawmngaihna would be a case in point. But to discuss this would require a whole new post.