by Debleena Roy
Sujata helped herself to three apple and oyster canapés before the plate moved just out of her reach. The tangy lemon flavour in the oyster blended really well with the warm and sweet apple jelly, she felt.
She knew she should be joining Veena, Ronita and Archana who were sitting together, perched at the end of the large beige sofa like three exotic birds in a row; their slender necks weighed down by their diamond necklaces.
But she just couldn’t tear her eyes away from the buffet table; the fresh orange, fennel and apple salad with the grilled prawns, the juicy red watermelon and feta cheese canapé topped with sesame seeds seemed to be calling out to her. Interesting …”Interesting,” thought Sujata, “I must try out the crumbly cheese combination with the toasted sesame seeds.”
“Lovely saree, Sujata”, Veena called out to her. “Sabyasachi, as usual!”
“Hmm.. a compliment for the designer, not for me,” Sujata mused.
“Perfect party,” Sujata said aloud. “Great menu, as usual.”
She turned awa,y her eyes searching for Amol.
There he was, standing in the large open terrace amongst the men who were discussing their favourite topic – money.
Whiskey and advice seemed to be flowing freely, she noticed, as she made her way to the group and stood at the edge, listening.
“What do you think, Amol, about investing in Alternatives?” Deven Mehta was asking.
Amol rubbed his nose thoughtfully and pushed back his glasses before replying, “Well no doubt there is money to be made, Deven.”
“Aha, the expert’s verdict was out,” thought Sujata. Deven and Sanjeev were nodding dutifully as Amol spoke.
“But Alternatives might be a little risky, don’t you think?” said Sujata animatedly.
“I think Index funds make sense now; returns are steadier,” she added.
Silence greeted her suggestion.
“Yes sure,” Amol waved his hand as if he were waving away her inputs.
“So, as I was saying” he continued, turning away from Sujata, “Alternatives are the way to go now.”
Sujata was put out.
He looked drunk she thought. He was drunk on his success; the rich Successful Entrepreneur whose start-up was the latest talk of the town. They all looked drunk. Why waste her advice on their drunken ears?
She moved away. She was no longer expected to have any opinions; rich man’s wife was now her job description.
Heading back to the dining room, she passed the large French windows and caught a glimpse of herself in the glass: black, kohl lined eyes, long, black hair that shone in the soft light.
Black; that was the only colour she wore these days, but today even black didn’t seem to hide how stretched and bloated her body looked with the 20 kg of extra weight she had piled on over the last five years.
She looked away. As usual, her eyes went back to the table. There were a few more dishes laid out now. She saw some pork chops. Pink and juicy, on a bed of creamy mushroom sauce with a spicy asparagus dip.
I am not a glutton, but an explorer of food… the line came to her mind. She couldn’t remember where she had read it but it sounded perfect to her now.
She went closer to the table. She must try one out. Or maybe two.
She helped herself to pork chops and some herb rice. Picking up her plate, she finally headed back to join Veena, Archana and Ronita.
Snatches of conversation floated up to her.
“Broccoli with spiced yogurt, couldn’t believe how tasty it was,” Veena was saying.
“Simply caramelize broccoli and toss it with lime juice and Parmesan cheese, it’s quite good too,” Archana piped in.
“That sounds really delectable,” Sujata thought.
The trio were talking about food, which surprised her. That was strange, for, they hardly ate! Food was not a source of enjoyment for them, to be savoured and relished; it was just a mathematical count of calories. One extra count meant another new diet or a rush to the gym as they huffed and puffed their way to glorious fitness.
Of course, it was not doing them any harm; look how their toned muscles were glowing smoothly in their designer sheaths.
“But I tell you Veena,” Archana was insisting. “It’s not a fad. I tried it, and I lost 3 kg in two weeks. It really works.”
Sujata’s ears perked up.
“What are you all taking about?” Sujata asked. Nobody answered her.
“Ya, Dukan diet may give results, I agree” said Veena sounding sceptical.
“But I just swear by Pilates. Great for lower abs,” Veena continued, her voice dropping, her red sari showing off her own perfect abs.
“By the way, have you the heard the latest, the Morning Banana Diet?” asked Ronita.
“You know, it’s super simple, bananas and warm water for breakfast and rest of day you can eat what you want.” Youngest of the lot, Ronita was the thinnest and also the most well-informed.
Sujata leaned forward.
“Hey guys, just tell me something. Where do you get all this information about these different diets?” Sujata found herself asking even as she bit into the pork – well done, just the way she liked it, as it melted like butter in her mouth.
They looked surprised both at her interest and her question.
“Well,” said Ronita slowly. “There’s tons of information on the Internet. And if you are really interested, there are some really good books, you know, on weight loss and diets.”
“So what are these books about?” Sujata persisted.
“Do they give diet plans or do they speak about exercise routines? Do they include low fat recipes and all?” Sujata wanted to know.
“They are all different,” Ronita explained as if to a child.
“Some of the books like Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle and the Truth about Abs are bestsellers. Personally I like books like the Hungry Girl. That’s more like a diet cookbook, you know. Some really smart recipes there,” Ronita continued.
“But there are very few good Indian books in the market, I must say,” Veena interrupted.
“Maybe. I heard Rujuta Diwekar’s latest book is doing really well. More than two lakh copies sold!” Ronita showed off her knowledge.
“Well, I still believe some of these diets are just fads,” Veena said airily. “They come and go. I have my regime, I go by my gym trainer’s advice you know – he says, the classic rule is you can eat anything you want as long as you eat no carbs after 6 p.m.”
Veena stopped talking. There was a sudden silence in the conversation. Sujata looked up and saw them staring at her plate, their expressions as empty as their own plates. There were several spoons of herb rice and one last pork chop left on her plate. She calmly finished off as the others moved on to discussing the African Mango diet.
***
The subsequent morning, Sujata had just waved goodbye to Amol who left early for an Investor meeting. Raj, their fourteen-year-old son, had also rushed off to school, his IPod wired to his ears.
The whole day stretched out in front of her. Her servants Rajesh and Kamal hovered around her asking “Anything else, Madam?”
“Nothing, till lunch” Sujata sighed, looking at her empty breakfast plate .She had just finished her meal as recommended by the Big Breakfast Diet; it was all of two measly pieces of brown bread, a kid-sized bowl of oatmeal, a plate of scrambled eggs and a tiny muffin. Wasn’t all that big was it?
Sujata thought longingly of hot alu parathas and a glass of sweet lassi. Now that was a big breakfast – an immensely satisfying one. She looked away from her plate. Lunch was still hours away. In the meantime, she had work to do.
She switched her laptop on, and typed in… “Weight loss+ diet”
The search engine generously threw up 500 billion results! Stumped, Sujata scanned through a few links and opened one of them.
Weight loss, the article informed her, was a $390 Billion industry. Diet books, fitness equipment, diet CDs all contributed to the growing market. Double dip recession seemed to have had little impact on the industry which appeared to be growing steadily despite it being based on the fundamental fact that even children knew: eat healthy and exercise.
It struck her as amazing. Out of curiosity, she started reading some more articles and recipes, when Ronita called.
“Hey, joining us for shopping, Sujata?” she asked.
“One more black saree!” Sujata sighed.
“But it would be interesting to catch up again on the diet tips,” she told herself.
“Give me ten minutes,” Sujata said. “I’ll meet you at Cunningham Road.”
At the mall, while the others went to a designer saree shop, Sujata saw a Crossword bookstore and went in and headed straight to the diet books section
From XL to XS, Women and the Weight Loss Tamasha, Don’t lose your mind, lose your weight, Flat Belly Diet, Hungry Girl – the glossy covers and bold titles stared at her.
“Lose 10 kg in 3 months”
“Who said crunches are the way to flat belly?”
“Eat more, lose weight.”
Sujata flipped through the books one by one.
45 minutes later, she joined her friends.
Their hands were laden with designer dresses; she had paperbacks in bulging Crossword packets.
***
The next day, Amol found Sujata poring over the books.
“What’s up with all these books, you look busy?” he asked as he finished his
breakfast and logged into his iPad.
“Yeah, you know, I was just thinking about all these diet fads and all,” Sujata looked up from the pile of books.
“Diet and you, forget it Suja,” Amol cut in.
“You love food too much. You can’t stay away from your gourmet recipes,” Amol laughed as he checked his tie in the sun-shaped foyer mirror and picked up his Blackberry.
What was it that someone had said at the party the other day? It was not about what you eat but when you eat, Sujata wanted to tell that to Amol but he had already left.
Sujata went back to her new books. After reading them, she put the next step of her plan in action.
Soon a set of scales, packets of broccoli, spinach, beans and avocado, and boxes of green tea were neatly laid out on her kitchen counter.
She was all set to start, and what better way to start than a cup of green tea, the panacea all her friends swore by? As she sat sipping the tea, an idea struck her and she began writing.
I sit and sip my cup of green tea,
They who know say it’s good for me,
Trying to lose weight;
It will be such a long wait,
Till then, let me sip my cup of green tea.
***
Two months later, Sujata was getting ready for Ronita’s cards and gossip party. She looked at her reflection. Today for the first time, she was wearing a size 10 dress and it fit her perfectly!
Her friends looked at her in surprise.
“So, someone is trying to lose weight,” Ronita said.
Veena looked her over and said “Well, you seem to have taken our advice.”
Sujata smiled demurely and bit into her fresh fruit salad. As she expected, the discussion soon steered towards diets.
“You know the main problem is…” Archana was saying, always ready to share her wealth of knowledge and experience.
“We just don’t respect our stomachs. We don’t realise when we should start eating and when we should stop. We should treat our stomachs better.”
Sujata nodded in agreement. Well, didn’t that sound like the philosophy of Rujuta Diwekar’s new book? But of course, she didn’t say that aloud.
“And don’t forget the exercise,” Veena, the self-confessed gym rat added.
“Diet is just 70% of the weight loss story. You won’t lose the remaining 30% unless you exercise five days a week,” Veena warned.
Sujata looked up. So there was a 30 % too that she was ignoring!
The next day she visited the gym. She had never exercised before and her muscles protested at their sudden remembrance. When she returned home, she opened up her laptop and began typing.
“Did you know there is a machine for every body part?
As you stand in the gym and wonder just where to start,
You stare at them and they stare back at you cold and grey,
Who said losing weight was easy anyway?
The treadmill starts; you can hear your loud, scared heart.
Her laptop folder was now full of typed notes, exercise plans, weight loss anecdotes, recipes and diet charts.
***
6 months later, 15 kg lighter…..
Sujata was at a book launch. The bookstore was crowded. Almost all the chairs were taken. The event was about to begin. The host was introducing the book.
“Nothing to lose has sold 20,000 copies. It is a revolutionary book in the world of weight loss and diets. And now, allow me to introduce you to the author.”
Sujata stood up. This was her cue.
She picked up her book and started reading. Her voice was calm and steady.
“Two years ago, I weighed 75 kg, and wore only black.”
From the word go, the audience was riveted. Within half an hour, it was all over.
“How does it feel to be the husband of the celebrity? She is the one bringing in the moolah now!” Deven asked Amol.
Amol looked at her. She could sense his amazement. “When did you do it? Why didn’t I notice? Why didn’t you tell me? I am so proud of you.”
She eavesdropped into a few people discussing her book.
“Entertaining read, don’t you agree, with the gourmet recipes and personal weight loss stories….?”
“Love the funny limericks at the beginning of each chapter….”
“Not just boring advice, you know, like the books written by experts…”
“So sympathetic, as if the author really went through the journey herself….”
Sujata spotted the trio – Ronita, Archana and Veena making their way towards her, smiles pasted on their faces.
Compliments poured from their mouth – for her new figure, her new dress, her new book.
Sujata heard them all. Wasn’t it all things she had heard before?
But they had got the order of the compliments quite wrong. Her new dress – she wasn’t sure if that would fit her after six months. Her new figure – well she didn’t really care how long that would remain.
But her new book, now that was what mattered. She drummed her fingers on her book as she thought of a new business plan.
Debleeena blogs at debleena-roy.blogspot.in and has had articles published in Chillibreeze and eZinearticles.
