It is election season in India and we are
looking at all our leaders making all kinds of promises. Thus, while the
Congress promises a ‘NYAY’
income support scheme, the ruling party promises to make India the third
largest economy by 2030. This is all well and good for a developing country,
but urban India is grappling with a more real, prevalent and endemic crisis –
Obesity. How will we get to 2030 or benefit from a stable society if we can’t
even walk!
Obesity is the new reality of modern India –
while on the one hand malnutrition
in India is worse than Sub-Saharan Africa according to senior government
officials, recent studies have report that India has one of the largest numbers
of obese people in the world. In urban India, consumption of fast food, sedentary
lifestyles, stress, long working hours in offices have all contributed to the phenomena.
Obesity is not a stand-alone disease, it
brings with it serious health risks including heart attacks and diabetes which
we, middle class Indians, tend to dismiss as someone else’s problem until it
hits a close family member but by then it could be too late. While being obese
is not about looking bad or being lazy, many of us do behind the excuse of gym
memberships! But honestly, how often do we end up going to the gym and how healthy
can a closed room with sweating adults really be, if and when we do pop in?
Thus, while politicians can focus on other “larger”
issues (pun intended), it is important for us to take ownership and work
towards combating obesity on a war-footing. One good solution that I first came
across in Europe is outdoor gyms. In Austria, many of the smaller community
parks are fitted with all kinds of equipment such as leg extensions, cardio
walkers, twisters, uneven bars, etc and are used by everyone. Outdoor gyms are a
practical and healthier alternative to any other form of fitness for the
average middle-class Indian family. Indians like to be jugaadu. Saving up on expensive
individual gym subscriptions and increasing overall community interaction also
speak directly to our middle-class values. And the sooner we induct the younger
generations to institutionalised fitness, the more realistic is the possibility
of a healthier society. ‘Fit India’ is about making this choice a movement – at
the individual, family and community level!