Sarvesh Kumar Tiwari
The Dalai Lama, when asked what surprised him most about humanity, answered “Man, because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.”
The above quote of His Holiness the Dalai Lama represents the true picture of our society today. The way of life has changed drastically since the rapid industrialization of the world post1950’s. These days a man has to deal with preservatives from the very beginning. Breast-feeding is giving way to various sorts of condensed milk and then there are various baby foods which are pushed down the baby’s throat by busy parents who don’t want to spend their precious time in mashing a wholegrain food cooked at home. The mention of the phrase food ‘cooked at home’ reminds me of a lady instructor I had while I was undertaking a diploma programme. ‘’She must be in her early 30’s and had a son who was 3 years old. Our classes used to start in the evening at around 7:30 and were generally over by 9:30. I did not notice it in the beginning but after some days a batch mate drew my attention towards the fact that every day at around quarter to nine her husband called and inquired regarding dinner. It was surprising to find out that eight out of ten times she would name a restaurant from where they could have their dinner. Only on Thursdays and on some other random day she would say that she had cooked at home or would ask him to prepare some lentils and vegetable and that she would roll out Rotis when she would return home. Some of us used to ponder over the plight of the child while the others joked about the ever increasing diameter of her waist.”
The above story is not a unique instance rather one can find similar circumstances in many households. Working couples often rely on restaurants for their meals. The food served by most of the restaurants are spicy, oily and such that the nutritional value which is the defining factor of food is on the fringes. The system of regular inspection is in place but one hardly finds any instance in which a restaurant has been closed because of not adhering to the food safety rules. Thanks to the online rating mechanisms initiated by various online agencies and the food surveys conducted by various magazines that some restaurants tend to follow standard procedure or else we would have had no choices. Can there be a way by which healthy food could be procured from restaurants. Restaurants or any FMCG industry makes a lot of profit and if the government makes it compulsory for the restaurants to keep a few healthy food on their menu it won’t hamper their interest. It should be followed with more conviction at market places which are near schools and colleges. The government should impose a ban on fast food products in school canteens. Educative campaigns should be initiated by the Health ministry asking parents to avoid introducing children to fast food items. Children should be initiated into using indigenous food items at an early age so that they develop a taste and habit for those products which somehow or the other are healthier in comparison.
As if these problems are not enough, a friend of mine recounted a harrowing experience at a vegetable market in Delhi. He told me that, “I went to the market to buy vegetables very late that day and was surprised to see that the vendor was not throwing away the rotten tomatoes and so were the others, I jokingly asked whether he planned to use them. He smiled at me and told me that the restaurants queue up to buy those. I smiled in disbelief but then suddenly I saw the waiter of a restaurant where I visited frequently buying the rotten tomatoes from the nearby vendor”.
Food safety is an issue which has drawn attention of the masses ever since the Maggi fiasco but we need to investigate the other dormant issues like those discussed above if we want our next generation to be healthy.
“शरीरमाद्यम खलु धर्म साधनः”
I conclude the article with this Sanskrit couplet which highlights the importance given to health in ancient Indian philosophy. It says health is a must and one should not try to undertake arduous tasks which may affect his health and should keep his dietary habits in check.
Sarvesh Kumar Tiwari is Socio-cultural Writer
Courtesy : www.wisdomblow.com
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