Recently, I was talking to my mom (yes I do that at times) about one of my cousin who got married few days back. I commented on how much weight she has lost when my mom told me her secret: she found some churan, that she takes whenever she thinks she is gaining weight. That so called churan, gives her loose motions and she looses weight. I was speechless.
In my extended family, I am supposed to be fat, according to almost all of my relatives and quite a few friends. Medically speaking, I have a BMI of 21.6, which falls right in the middle of “normal weights”. But I have always been told by my extended family that I need to loose weight . For some reason, all my cousins, especially girls, falls under the 
category of skinny. This aforementioned cousin has always been a bit towards plump side, again according to my relatives (she is still skinnier than me!). So I was surprised to see her skinny in her wedding pictures and hence commented on it. I was shocked to learn the reason. The saddest part: I can’t do anything about it. Sure, I will try to talk to my aunt, her mom, about the potential health risks. I will even try to talk some sense in her but I don’t think I will succeed. After all, I am the fat one who thinks she is normal weighted.
For every thing I will say, there will be only one counter-argument from all of them: She is thin, so she looks pretty. And then I would be advised to join some weight losing classes or take some of those dubious dieting pills to reduce weight: I might look pretty if I loose weight. I, any way, have a dark complexion, so only way for me to look good would be by losing some weight.
I am honestly quite worried about my cousin but I am helpless against these ridiculous beauty standards. I have no way to refute them. I hate feeling so helpless. I wish I could do something about it, except writing a post about it.
Credit: Img from: http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/thisweekineducation/2007/06/national_yawn_standards_again.html
reminds of chatur ramalingam in 3 Idiots :)
ReplyDeleteSigh. That's bulimic by the way...what your cousin is doing. We talk about western standards of weight but I think sometimes Indian standards are a lot worse. I'm considered fat too by Indian standards but my BMI is within the normal range. When I went to India last year to buy clothes, I had to buy large and extra-large sizes which really surprised me because all the years in Australia, I have been buying sizes 8-10 which are small and extra-small!!! I don't understand why thin always equates to pretty! Gets my goat every time. I can understand your helplessness in this matter...but unfortunately, when an entire society thinks that way, you may not be able to make much of an impact. Having said that, don't stop yourself from airing your views!!
ReplyDelete@ Sunny_Raju: Okay, I don't get it! How does this incident related to Chatur Ramalingam? I can see no connection..
ReplyDelete@ PB: I kow what you mean. I no longer shop in India for clothes. In any case, the fitting of those tops/garments are usually horrible. I am not sure what kind of women does these tailors have seen, but I am very sure I don't know any of them.
I will try to appeal to common sense of my dearest Aunt and cousin but I am not sure that if they have any, it's very thickly clouded by social standards. And as you know how important society is in India..
BTW, how many goats do you have? Otherwise I hope you get them back everytime they are stoolen!! :P Just kidding. I am guessing it's an Australian catch phrase. It's nice to learn the cultural specific slangs. I know quiet a few English and American (and Indian) slangs by now. Nothing Australian so far...
I guess he was taking some churan to boost his intelligence, my comment was related to churan and nothing to do with diet
ReplyDeleteI guess he was taking some churan to boost his intelligence, my comment was related to churan and nothing to do with diet
ReplyDelete