You Only Live Once: Part II

(From the previous post: “What I love doing is eating and sleeping. No one is going to push start my stopped juggernaut. I am a rebel with a grouse. Suddenly I have realized that my time on this earth is limited. I will not waste it living someone else's life.”)

Friends, my Eating & Sleeping project is going on very well. As Ralph Waldo Emerson had once said, “Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.”

My universe is made up of my friends and my family members. And I have been receiving unconditional support from everyone. All my online and offline friends except a few jealous souls have been extremely delighted at my undertaking. I remember my best friend, praying, “Oh God, if you can not make me thin, make all my friends fat.” Looks like God has listened to her. I am putting on a lot of weight these days.

This is how I might look in the future.
(In this 2007 picture, I am in a jumpsuit filled with balloons)

My husband is the best husband in the world. Not that he has ever given in to any of my demands in the past without rolling his eyes, but this time he has been extremely generous and supportive. He keeps the refrigerator full with cakes, pastries, pizzas, samosas, jalebis, and what not. And also regularly makes Indian sweets like milk cake, gajar halwa, etc. at home. My whole house looks like a pantry these days. He also wants me to sleep all the time, of course, only after I finish my wifely duties.

Only a few jealous friends have tried to put hurdles in my way. I am not complaining. It is human nature to pull down anyone, who aims for higher things in life. I don’t want to name this person, who makes a very bad face whenever I talk about my achievements. And only awful statements come out of her mouth, like, “Overeating can cause serious health problems,” or “Sleeping or inactivity causes muscle loss.” As if I don’t know anything about health and nutrition. How can you lose something that you are not using? For the same reason, nor do I use my brain too much. Many scientists and geniuses have gone mad because of too much thinking.

My mother is very happy these days as she has always been after me to eat, eat, and eat more. She wants me to take a balanced diet with a liberal helping of everything including, ghee, butter, cream, sweets etc. She herself has dietary restrictions because of diabetes and heart problem, but her faith in rich and sumptuous meals for everyone else has not wavered. She wants me to look well-off.

“No exercising.” She has issued prohibition orders against all types of stressful activities including swimming, running etc. When she saw me lifting weights, which is now banned, she couldn’t contain her laughter.

Thrice a day, after both of us are done with our work in the kitchen—cooking, eating, cleaning—she sends me to sleep, saying, “Don’t wreck your eyes on the computer. (Computer pe ankhen mat phodna.)” One should always obey the parents. I am comforted by the fact that I am making my mother happy.

Right now, I am highly motivated and no amount of putting down by the naysayers is going to deter me. I have galvanized all my resources towards my efforts in achieving my goal. I have spent half of my life just finding out a purpose for my life. Now I do not want to spend the remaining half going after it in a halfhearted way. No more mediocrity. I have the biggest pool of knowledge—the internet—at my disposal to find out how to eat and sleep well. I want to be one of the best in the world.

All of my role models are the Guinness World Records' Heaviest Woman contenders and winners like, Donna Simpson, Susanne Eman, Pauline Potter etc.

But I have a confession to make. After watching these superstars, I am feeling a bit depressed. I have a strange feeling of anxiety and morbid melancholy. Maybe I am daunted by their success.

Guess what? I have decided to keep doing what I love without thinking about the results.