My personal hero, Mr. Khushwant Singh, is ninety eight years old. And he recently wrote a wonderful column, in which, he shared the secret of his longevity. The full article is here.
One of the paragraphs that I really enjoyed is :
Equally important is the need to cut down drastically one’s intake of food and drink. I start my mornings with a glass of guava juice. It is tastier and more health-giving than orange or any other fruit juice. My breakfast is one scrambled egg on toast. My lunch is usually patli kichri with dahi or a vegetable. I skip afternoon tea. In the evening I take a peg of Single Malt Whisky. It gives me a false appetite! Before I eat my supper, I say to myself “don’t eat too much”.
And here is another one:
Never allow yourself to be constipated. The stomach is a storehouse of all kinds of ailments. Our sedantry life tends to make us constipated. Keep your bowels clean by whatever means you can: by lexatives, enemas, glycerine suppositories —whatever. Bapu Gandhi fully understood the need to keep bowels clean. Besides, taking an enema every day, he gave enemas to his women admirers.
The last line in the paragraph above is probably Mr. Singh at his malicious best. But somehow, I had to try very hard to stop myself from imagining how the father of the nation actually performed that rather unenviable task. But then, he also made the British leave, didn't he?
One of the paragraphs that I really enjoyed is :
Equally important is the need to cut down drastically one’s intake of food and drink. I start my mornings with a glass of guava juice. It is tastier and more health-giving than orange or any other fruit juice. My breakfast is one scrambled egg on toast. My lunch is usually patli kichri with dahi or a vegetable. I skip afternoon tea. In the evening I take a peg of Single Malt Whisky. It gives me a false appetite! Before I eat my supper, I say to myself “don’t eat too much”.
And here is another one:
Never allow yourself to be constipated. The stomach is a storehouse of all kinds of ailments. Our sedantry life tends to make us constipated. Keep your bowels clean by whatever means you can: by lexatives, enemas, glycerine suppositories —whatever. Bapu Gandhi fully understood the need to keep bowels clean. Besides, taking an enema every day, he gave enemas to his women admirers.
The last line in the paragraph above is probably Mr. Singh at his malicious best. But somehow, I had to try very hard to stop myself from imagining how the father of the nation actually performed that rather unenviable task. But then, he also made the British leave, didn't he?
this is the first time i'd already read your post somewhere else.babu,it was unnecessary.send your regards to the HT's editor instead.
ReplyDeletedesi babu,
ReplyDeleteHave you read his last book, The Sunset Club, a semi-autobiographical tome? Quite an enjoyable one, like his other works
Janani, no I haven't yet. I have been putting it off for months now, but I am looking forward to reading it.
DeleteYeah, please do. He scandalises us with this graphic narration, but then that is his USP.
DeleteKhushu is my fav too.
ReplyDeleteJust yesterday I was thinking that he is becoming repetitive but today I got to read this.as usual
Full of information and amusement.
Until SMJ started, I couldn't wait to read KWS every Sunday in Hindustan Times, and then Aamir came, and suddenly I lost interest. Yes, this was my favorite coulumn too.
ReplyDelete