My Body- Health Enigma!

Arnold Schwarzenegger. See the biceps

WANTED- Experts.

Today I am going to write about one topic that almost every human being on this earth has faced at least at some point of time in their life- your body and health.

It is such a complex thing to understand at sometimes and seems relatively simple at others. I guess around 90% of people face the problem of being over- weight or obese! Well, why do you eat so much then? So, as you might have guessed, I am in the other 10 %. The simple indication for this statistics that I have written are simply from the fact that you will always see advertisements for weight loss everywhere. I am yet to come across an advertisement that even shows- “GAIN WEIGHT”- 10 Kgs a month with people testimony etc, leave alone an exclusive ad like this.

Coming on to my situation, let me tell you that I am 24 years old, almost 5’ 10” (178 cms) with a weight of 50 kgs (110 pounds) for the past 10 years I think! Since the past 10 years, I don’t think anything has changed. My height is still the same, my weight is still the same and even I look the same! No matter what I do, not even a kilo changes on either side with the exception that I feel a couple of times it has gone down or come up 2-3 kilos. You just have to visit my Orkut profile and you will find my school friends writing that I still look the same!!! Perhaps I look 18. No harm, but I would prefer to look my age though and it has everything to do with weight. Only if I weighed 70, I would definitely look 24 or even more.

Arnold Schwarzeegger. The lights and shadows give an amazing effect

According to the BMI (Body Mass Index), I am very clearly underweight at 16 BMI for which 18.5 is the starting range for normal weight. According to my age and height, my ideal weight needs to be between 65 and 70. That means I need to gain atleast 15 to 20 kgs of weight! Which in itself means 40% of my weight!!! Just see the arduousness of the task in terms of percentage. In terms of numbers it isn’t too difficult, people lose 15- 20 kgs quite regularly, atleast according to the ads but putting on 40 % of your current weight?!! That looks impossible right now.

A little of my back ground as well, I actually have a long, lean frame and I am deceptively strong. At the age of 12 I joined Taek won do and I was surprisingly good at it having won a trophy and standing first in the very first exam for Yellow belt. It is another thing that after that year itself, it closed down. But now if I look back, I surprise myself. How did I manage to do everything so easily? I remember others always complaining when they made us do hundreds of push-ups, running many kilometers, doing the fights, getting punches in the stomach or breaking things and other things and I tell you, I performed every single action sincerely and with dedication. At no point I felt that I wouldn’t be able to do it, my body managed it perfectly.

That did help me with strength and flexibility. I became as flexible as I can be. Splits which many found impossible, I performed with consummate ease and could hold that position for as long as I wanted.

Around that time, I came across Arnold Schwarzenegger of course through movies etc, and I was fascinated and wanted to have a muscular body like that. And I used to do all kinds of things- push ups, pull ups, weight lifting- of course never by joining a gym but doing it at home with whatever I could find. And I did get good muscles for the people of my age group but still I was lean.

Nothing’s changed and I still have good strong muscles but not big or bulky at all. At rest, my arm may look absolutely thin with no strength but when I flex my muscles, it might seem like a very strong, muscular person. Just see my pictures to understand.

Me with tightened ab muscles

As a child I wanted to be like a body builder- Arnold Schwarzenegger type and used to exercise, lift weights. But obviously I never became big and bulky and not even in the normal weight range and am still an underweight by some margin. Now I don’t want short- term or unhealthy measures to gain weight etc. Right now I am facing the problem of deciding what really do I want. Do I just want to put on weight? But I have a love for exercise and having muscles and there can be 2 things. Either you can have big bulky muscles or long lean muscles. Both are for different purposes. After thinking and analysis, I have come to the conclusion that obviously I can almost never belong to the first category and it’s no use either being big and bulky. It’s basically unhealthy. Nothing should be done in extremes. It is very easy to go from one extreme to the other. The most difficult thing is to stay in the middle. The “middle path” of Buddha and walking on the razor’s edge.

Flexing my biceps

I had figured it out a long time ago that Flexibility = strength. The more flexible you are, the more strength you actually have. From being extremely flexible, I have come down a lot and flexibility only decreases with age. I have tried many times unsuccessfully to get back to the shape I was in by all terms during my Taek Won Do time.

And one thing that has had me thinking and is responsible for me writing this blog post is that recently I came to know of a website called hundredpushups.com. It is a 6 week program at the end of which you will be able to do hundred push-ups consecutively. I loved the idea and am going to do it, in fact have already started but it also made me wonder, what would be its result. It should definitely make me stronger but would I put on weight or lose it? Would I put on muscle mass or have leaner muscle which, with the same weight would make me look thinner? It is a complex thing with many myths attached to fat and muscle and various theories.

So in the end I am quite confused. I only know that in the end what I really want is to be in a normal weight range- around 65 to 70, with good strength and flexibility and a nice muscular look. Now what diet should I have, the percentage of protein, carbohydrates etc, the kind of exercises I need to do- has to be ascertained. I do have some idea about a variety of topics of health that to put on weight or bulky muscles mass, heavy weight lifting with a high protein diet is the way to go. But what I have to decide that what I really want in the end as mentioned above, is it possible to have it all at the same time? Or would I first only need to put on weight first, then take on strength and flexibility training!

Some other information is that my diet might be less with people always saying that I eat too less, but I eat all kinds of foods that is vegetarian, occasionally eat eggs too for the proteins, but will definitely not have meat, fish etc for personal reasons and is almost out of question. I eat all kinds of vegetables and have a balanced diet. I have reduced milk consumption and only have it with tea. And currently I also walk a lot but otherwise have pretty much sedentary lifestyle, not like most people have but still not a very active lifestyle either. If I play a sport etc someday, some muscles ache that day or the day after.

But I also have an excellent heart rate or pulse I guess at 60/min which I know that only meditators or athletes have less than it.

So this is my situation .

ANY HEALTH EXPERTS OUT THERE?!! HELP ME!

Stick twirling or Staff Wielding

This is a video available on YouTube as well.

You all would have seen the video. Now I don’t really know what you might have felt after seeing it. Personally my experience of showing it to others has been that first of all my friends, relatives etc none have been able to identify that it is me in the video in the first place. One another comment I got is that it is too short- just 5 seconds. Also some have suggested that it is some real fast twirling and even wondered whether it is a trick of technology etc. Generally everyone has been impressed by it.

So to clear it all, it is me and I have really, actually done it although what you might not know is that the stick fell out of my hands just after this. But it is allowed I guess for what came before it!

So how in the world did I get into it? I will start by giving a brief history. As a child, I have been fascinated by almost all aspects in life. And I can safely say that I have tried my hand at almost everything that I was exposed to or that which was within my reach. So till now I have practiced my hand at drawing, mainly portraits (which you all who have seen my whole blog would know), even tried my hand at cartoons like the ones that come in newspapers making fun of the political situation etc, writing poems, and now obviously blogs, tried my hand at making a novel or story book whatever you call it at the age of 14. I still have it with the pictures that I had drawn in it. Sports too, my true love being Cricket since as long as I can remember and am still so crazy about it. Also online games of all sorts, reading lots and lots of stuff from books, websites etc, Making things from clay etc, playing the piano, also dancing and even tried singing when I converted my poems into songs, composed and played music, sang it, recorded it, edited it all by myself at my home with just my PC and head phones! An achievement in itself I guess. Also Taekwon do which was an amazing experience and for which I got a trophy, the only one I have I think, learnt and loved swimming, learnt skating by myself on the terrace of my home, falling innumerable times, juggling etc.

So as you can see, I have tried many things.

I was also a huge fan of Akshay Kumar, Bollywood actor, whose movies were mainly action-oriented and consisted of stunts he performed himself. He was an inspiration. So too is Arnold Schwarzenegger and I have done various kinds of exercises through my life and am deceptively strong for someone with a weight of 50 kgs (110 pounds)

So this whole stick twirling thing started with a single glimpse of Daniel Goddard in Beast Master on Axn. He did that stunt of jumping from a height and somersaulting in the air and landing on his feet. I have been fascinated by it but never tried it full-fledged. It is a dangerous thing to do without an expert or instructor and there are serious chances of injury. Since then I was hooked to Beast Master and what a great show it was. Really commendable! It is there that I saw him wielding the stick or his staff so gracefully and easily and at least that was something I could try without getting seriously hurt. Fortunately at home we had a bamboo stick but it was a bit too long I guess as you can see from the video. It must be 6 feet long, me being 5’ 10” and it wasn’t really straight. It had a bent shape which might be visible.

The show itself was so wonderful, the people selected fit the bill perfectly. The combination of Dar and Tao was great. The combination of physical and mental strength. It also had emotions and well thought out characters. Click the link below is an introductory video of the show Beast Master : BEASTMASTER VIDEO

Now I cannot really teach or tell someone how to wield the stick. It would be very difficult. You can only learn by trying it yourself. Maybe you can watch in slow motion, try various things and experiment and if you are really interested and have a desire to learn it, you definitely will. There are lots of videos out there on YouTube as well. Happy stick twirling!

Kip-Up- Martial Arts step of getting up

Some of you who follow and read my blog would already know about me, but if not, then I'll tell you that among the various things that interest me, Martial Arts, in any of its various forms is one of them.


At the age of 12, I had joined Tae Kwon Do classes and it was one of the best things that my parents suggested me to do. Remember, I am using the word suggested, because they never forced me to do anything and also because I am a bit too lazy or not ambitious enough to do something on my own, or think about joining a class or something.


It was one of the best experiences of my life and one of the most memorable year of my life. One, because such kind of things always attract me and the one year that I did this classes, I did it with utmost sincerity and thoroughly enjoyed it. I was always interested in learning new steps and doing various things on my own if required because they won't teach you too much in a year.


* See this other post of mine of Stick Twirling by clicking here


Whatever memories I have include first the warm ups, then the various kicks and punches that we were required to do with as much force as possible,the form steps and the push-ups (one of my favourites), the splits i.e. spreading of both the legs absolutely horizontally on the ground, the various official fights they used to make us have, tightening the stomach and after gauging how tight it is, accordingly they would deliver punches to it, and none of these strangely ever hurt. And perhaps as a culmination of all my sincerity for the one year, I stood in the first position for the exam of Yellow belt and was awarded a trophy! My first one.


I remember people always grumbling and grunting as the instructors would ask us to do 'a little more' of everything. I enjoyed the splits because as I was young, I was able to learn it quickly and do it with real ease, I used to learn by observing the seniors and trying out on my own various kicks with spin kick being my favourites among the limited repertoire I possessed.


Thus after 12 years of having a yellow belt, I still some times like to do a few steps, learn a few new things and one of them is the step of getting up on the feet from the position of lying down on the ground which is a very common step that you would have seen in almost all action movies. It is something that I have tried on my own and can do but never practise. It is very important to do it regularly otherwise it becomes very difficult. I try it once in a few months so I am not at my best in this and hopefully I'll put in the practice and put up an even better video!


I am sure most of you who are interested in doing various martial steps want to learn how to do it because it is a relatively simple thing with less chances of you hurting yourself even if you do it alone without any instructor or supervision. It is apparently called "Kip-up" and can fall in the gymnastics category too and in Chinese, the term is "Wushu". It can also be called "rising handspring", "kick-up", "kick-to-stand". From my experience, I'll tell you a few things about it. First of all you have to lie down on the ground and I would suggest to immediately raise your body meaning after you lower yourbody, don't waste too much time there because if you get into it as soon as you go down, you can carry the momentum and that is the most important thing here because you have to exert so much of force down on the ground for your body to go up in the air.

I would say that you need to use both your hands and legs as well as your complete body for this. Never neglect any one part here and use maximum force from both hands as well as legs. The legs are the most powerful though and the thigh muscles are used the most. I can tell this from my experience because I usually do it once in a few months and so after trying a few times continuously, the next whole day I become and remain aware of my thigh muscles (as they ache) :)

You lie down with your shoulders touching the ground, bring both your legs up folded, close to your chest, then push- the initial push has to be from your hips area and then your legs as you straighten them and finally your hands as you leave them from the ground. You just have to concentrate on exerting the maximum force down on the ground with each part of the body that leaves the ground by pushing downwards and thus the part going up. I find that harder the surface, the better it happens and even if you fall down trying it, it doesn't really hurt. So I do it directly on the floor.

Again practice is the key again and I can't tell you too much about it because I myself neglect it, but it sure is an attractive step and will keep you fit as well. Hope you are able to do it. Try till you can do it and enjoy the moment when you are able to do it for the first time. It is an achievement!

PIANO NOTATIONS- II

Please see my other post of Piano Notations

In that first post of mine on Piano Notations, I have mentioned that even if you don't have a musical instrument and don't know how to play it, still you can play your favourite songs with the sound of the musical instrument that you want.

Here, I will give you some other musical notations of other Hindi songs. I will not be providing for the full song. If you know a bit of music, you can figure it out yourself or if you do want, you can ask for it in the comments. Just request the notations for a song that you want and I will provide you the full notations.

Do visit my other post to understand how to read these notations because these are not the usual western notations or the Indian notations, but the t-piano notations.

Here it is for you. Enjoy!

1) The Airtel tune :
4 44 4 8 5t54 3 5 454345t 5431
8 5 7 5 5431 345t4 543

2) Tune in Om Shanti Om :
In the song- Tum ko paaya hain to jaise....

Instrument- Music Box

i o i o i o iuy y u y u y u ytr r t r t r t rewq
Tabqww eree rtrr tyt iy y t e e r

3) Tu Hi to Jannat Meri :
Movie- Rab ne bana di jodi

Initial Music- ty yui uyuyt

Tu hi to jannat meri, Tu hi mera junoon
r r t e r y t t t y r r r .....repeat- 2

Tu hi aakhion ki thandak, tu hi dil ki hai dastak
i o p p o i u i i o p o i u i

Aur kuch na janu mein, bas itna hi jaanu
i o u u u i y y yt yyt yyt ytre w

Tujh mein rab dikhta hai Yaara mein kya karu
w 7 8 y y 5 4 3 7 7 8 yy

Hope you were able to understand and play it. If not, do ask me for it and I will send you the audio for it as to how to play for these notations. And don't forget to refer to the previous post to clear all doubts.

Me and cooking!

Regarding this topic, let me tell you that those people who know me, know that kitchen is one of my least frequented places- not because cooking is one of the things I don't have interest in but because I am not a foodie whatsoever. It will be difficult to find a person who is as indifferent (if I can say that) to food as I am!

If you have read my other posts, you will know that I weigh 50 kgs and I clearly fall in the underweight category. As regards food, I have always seen people around me having strong likes and dislikes about food to the extent that they have so much aversion to some foods that they will just not touch it and other food items that they like, they can have any amount of it!

For me, there are only 2 categories for me- Foods that I prefer and foods that my body doesn't tolerate. I don't have likes and dislikes about food. I am a vegeterian by my own choice and I am proud of that because it is not out of belief or any other reason but because it is my own decision coming out of my nature or understanding or tendencies whatever you can call it.

There are some people who are born in a vegeterian family and because of their family belief or religion are vegeterians and they have never tasted or eaten non-vegeterian food. And this I don't find good because it is just based on their beliefs or fear and that is not a very good thing to base upon and certainly in their sub conscious this thing will remain- the curiosity of tasting non-vegeterian food, about wondering what it is like, about why people all over the world who eat it praise it so much for its taste. They can never be free from it this way.

There was no particular thing about food in our family and so this was never a question for me so I must have had nonvegeterian food 2 or 3 times in my life and I remember vividly the last time I had it mainly because I was thinking about the proteins but I just couldn't get it down my throat. It was so apparent to me all the time I was trying to have it that this was a living thing which was killed, something that had life and now I am consuming what is actually a dead body. The main thing was I was having food at the cost of taking a life and that cannot be acceptable to me. So that was the day I stopped...for good.

Now in this post, I will put up a couple of pictures of the food items I have made.

1) Sabudana Khichdi

As I have already said, I don't have much likes or dislikes about food. I prefer any form of sweet food and avoid too hot or spicy food because I just cannot have it. My body doesn't tolerate it. I am among the rare people who eat every vegetable. But throughout my life, whenever I was asked to name the food that was my favourite, the answer throughout the 24 years has been the same- Sabudana Khichdi

This picture is after I made it just the second time in my life. Now I stay alone with my friends and I made this for myself so I didn't have to do anything fancy and do any decorations or garnishing etc but of course when you make it, you can. By all means go ahead and do it.

I had gone home for a few days and at that time my mother told me about how to make it and I observed it and after coming here made it. If you want to know the recipe, it is quite simple. Here is one way to make it:

-Wash sabudana and soak it for 15 minutes, then drain the water and let it remain for a few hours. -Chop the potatoes into small cubes.
-Mix crushed groundnuts,sugar and salt and keep aside. -Heat the oil/ghee in a pan and add mustard seeds. When the mustard seed crackle add cumin seeds, green chillies and curry leaves. -Add potatoes and stir well. Mix sabudana mixture and mix gently. -Mix the grated coconut and garnish with coriander leaves. -Sprinkle some lemon juice over it and serve hot or it can also be taken with curd as it is usually done.

2) Poha :

For the recipe to this-

-Put the poha in a sieve and wash under running water for 2 minutes. Keep aside to drain. -Heat the oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds, curry leaves and green chillies. Fry till the spluttering stops and then add the onion. Fry till soft and translucent. -Add the peanuts and potatoes and stirring frequently, cook for 2-3 minutes. -Drain the poha completely to remove all water and add it to the above mix. Add the turmeric powder and stir well to blend all ingredients. -Cook for another minute. Turn off the fire. Pour lime juice over the poha and mix well.

Poha is a dish that I hadn't given a lot of thought to up to this time but after coming to Mumbai, where it is a standard breakfast dish along with Upma and others, I started having it in college and started liking it a lot and that was the first thing I started having at my room too in the evening. It too is quite simple to make and good to have.

Now I never showed much interest in cooking from the beginning but I did like it to some extent because to me it is also an Art. And somehow I always knew and felt that this was something if and when I got into it, I would like it and do it well too. It is interesting indeed and you can innovate and experiment and someone who does it well is my sister whose blog covers it extensively. You can see it here- Nikita's Blog.

In fact in my family, all are great cooks! Definitely my mother and even my father! I feel that if there is a competition of all the fathers in a society or any other place for cooking, my father will win it unless some one's father is a chef by profession! But if that is the case, chefs wouldn't be allowed in the competition then..would they? So yes, my father would win!

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Interesting Fact - When the famous explorer Marco Polo returned to his homeland of Italy, from China in 1295, he brought back a recipe (among other things). The recipe, was a Chinese recipe for a desert called "Milk Ice." However, Europeans substituted cream for the milk, and voila..."Ice Cream." Ice cream has been a hit ever since!