Being A Fat Boy

I had just finished publishing two  blogs while sojourning in the US, and I received letters from readers to keep writing more about my childhood. Today (11/01/2022), I read an article in the Daily Mail, that obesity has everything to do with our genetic make up. The research conducted in Kings College Hospital, London postulates that obesity is hard-wired into our genes. The scientists think that obesity is not driven only by lack of exercise and over-eating. It seems dozens of DNA influence our body’s metabolism. However, I still believe that poor diet and lack of exercise are the main reasons for putting on weight.

Previously I have written about the set up of my childhood home at Cochin and Thrissur, India. I have 9 siblings, five sisters and 4 brothers. I have two elder sisters, and all others are younger to me.  Except me , all of them were lean and they all live in India. Looking back at my childhood years in 1950s and 1960s, I felt I was singled out being fat. I did not share the ‘fat’  generating genes with my siblings. Those days there was no term ‘obese’ and I do not know whether I was just over weight or obese.

While living at Kochy, I do not remember any one calling me fat. But when we moved to Thrissur in 1955, I was aware that I was odd being fat. I was not comfortable playing with my mates without wearing a shirt. Others were calling me nick names, and those domineering older people kept asking “from do you buy your rice?”. That was very insulting, and I had heard stories of low class people retorting to such a mockery by telling that it was from the enquirer’s mother in law’s. But I restrained myself and seldom went into confrontation by swearing at them.

While studying in high school, there were two drill periods in a week and the drill master Antony Cheenikka was in charge of them. He was also running a gym near by his home.Once he had asked, why I did not go to his gym to get rid of my pot belly. I did not like his overbearing attitude, and did not go to his gym. Since then the drill master picked me on silly excuses that I was not marching in conformity with others. The punishment was to stand holding up 1kg weight dumb bells in either hand, until the march past was over.

Contrary to today’s common understanding, being fat was considered to be healthy in those days. Therefore when our relatives came to our home or we went to their houses, relatives kept asking why my siblings were in such a deplorable state?  They queried my mother whether she was not feeding them properly? Some others directed nasty questions such as whether I was stealing my siblings’ food. In this context, let me make it clear that my mother never discriminated between any of us on the ground of providing food.

Once my mother consulted with an Ayurvedha physician about the lack of appetite and not putting on weight of my siblings. As the physician suggested, she determined to make my siblings better with black monkey broth for six months. With the help of a game keeper, Raghavan, she managed to get the carcass of a black monkey. For the next two days our house was filled with the pungent odour of spices like cumin, cardamom, turmeric, dried ginger, cloves, star anise, and fenugreek. The ayurvedha assistants prepared the broth as the physicians ordered. Except me all siblings then were given two ounces of broth daily. The trick with black monkey broth did not work, and all my siblings remained as lean as before.

Being fat means I had to do all household works, since my parents thought others  were weak. I have touched upon my looking after our goats, cattle and poultry in my earlier blogs. Since our servant Velayudhan left, there was only one servant maid coming in the morning time only to do washing dirty dishes and cleaning house.  I had to do other chores  like wet grinding rice and black gram for making breakfast meals. I was in charge for grocery shopping and getting ayurvedha medicine. Being the eldest son, I was asked to attend weddings and funerals to represent my father or grand father who was at Trivandrum with my uncle  for some time.

 Like mine, a lot of other parents were bothered about their offspring looking lean. In early 1960s, there were advertisements for ‘Jeeventone’ in most popular newspapers  and on bill boards along the highway. The manufacturer of Jeevenone  guaranteed the user a weight gain in six months time. Jeeventone was a thick viscous brown paste in oily media, having a dry ginger taste. Once while I was in my mother’s house at Irinjalakuda, one of my maternal aunts taunted me that I could be a model for the advertisement of Jeventone. Hearing that, my contemporary cousin, Innochan started measuring my biceps and calf, and endorsed her comment.

Once I grew into a teenager, I did not like  my unweildy body. I joined Ayer’s gymnasium, situated nearby the railway over bridge on the way to collectorate, Thrissur. That was a wise decision to develop discipline in my life. Mr.Ayer looked like he was in his seventies. He introduced me to, ground exercise, padmasanam and parallel bars. I stopped practising padmasanam in 2020 because I was getting pain in the right knee on twisting it. But I still keep doing ground exercise, and I am capable of going on parallel bars. Then I used to get up at 5.30am and on most days and I ran nearly one mile from home to Ayer’s gym. I continued going to Ayer’s gym, until I left Thrissur for pursuing medical studies at Davangere.

Since I started going to the gym, I hardly faced any jeering on being fat. However, in my sub conscious mind, I  disliked fatty people. In 1970s and 1980s, the  teaching was to do exercise in order to lose weight. In 1990 onwards, medical science stressed on cardiovascular exercise (not weight lifting) and dieting, to lose weight. Only from 2010 onwards we identified, carbohydrate being the real culprit, in putting on weight. Looking back, I feel eating too much was the root cause of my putting on weight.

In America as well as in England, no one taunts let alone notices a fat child, because most of them are overweight or obese. That was not the fact when I was at  school in 1950s and 1960s. Blaming, the genes or hormones is not an excuse  for having a fat son or daughter. In my view, overindulgence of  food and lack of cardiovascular exercise result in a fat child.