Free The Skinny Person Inside of Me - Who ? Why ? How ?
I came into this world, premature, weighing a measly 3lbs and 12oz. My grandmother, who had proudly watched my mother deliver 3 healthy, fair skinned boys was disappointed. She is supposed to have said something about this baby looking more rat than human.....
Ahh.. well the rat grew up to be a little slip of a girl - constantly dwarfed by her older brothers. In India, where commenting on someone's weight is not considered off limits - people often exclaimed in surprise at how skinny this little girl was.
And then, as she grew up some more, she had the best hourglass figure a cotton sari ever saw... That is what I wore to work - A starched cotton sari , generally handloom (woven on a hand operated loom) , atop stilleto heels, and a Made in Dharavi leather handbag as I sprinted (yes, sprinted) up the stairs at Bandra Railway Station to catch my train to Churchgate.
Even today I run into people who fondly remember that skinny woman. Some also remember my special technique of getting the sari to wrap nice, crisp and flat.
Me - I have always known I am that woman, despite the lies that the mirror keeps reflecting back. Yeah, its been many years since I've worn a cotton sari, and yes I have trouble maintaining my balance in stilleto - but I don't see what that has to do with anything......
20 years after that poor little skinny thing had been securely encased in my American layers, never to see the light of day again.. I finally acknowledged that I was no longer skinny, that I was FAT. And that I wasn't just a couple of months away from being my skinny self again.
Since that time - I've tried a variety of things off and on, with almost zero success - always seeing the needle tip to the right till I got fed up and got myself a digital scale.
However, of late, I've had some decent success in shedding the pounds. This blog is to chronicle and share that experience. Chronicle so that I can look back and reflect when I get frustrated, when I can use it to inspire me - just as those photos from 1980 do. And if it helps just 1 other person, this blog will have been worth it. Besides, it makes me practice my writing... !
Ahh.. well the rat grew up to be a little slip of a girl - constantly dwarfed by her older brothers. In India, where commenting on someone's weight is not considered off limits - people often exclaimed in surprise at how skinny this little girl was.
And then, as she grew up some more, she had the best hourglass figure a cotton sari ever saw... That is what I wore to work - A starched cotton sari , generally handloom (woven on a hand operated loom) , atop stilleto heels, and a Made in Dharavi leather handbag as I sprinted (yes, sprinted) up the stairs at Bandra Railway Station to catch my train to Churchgate.
Even today I run into people who fondly remember that skinny woman. Some also remember my special technique of getting the sari to wrap nice, crisp and flat.
Me - I have always known I am that woman, despite the lies that the mirror keeps reflecting back. Yeah, its been many years since I've worn a cotton sari, and yes I have trouble maintaining my balance in stilleto - but I don't see what that has to do with anything......
20 years after that poor little skinny thing had been securely encased in my American layers, never to see the light of day again.. I finally acknowledged that I was no longer skinny, that I was FAT. And that I wasn't just a couple of months away from being my skinny self again.
Since that time - I've tried a variety of things off and on, with almost zero success - always seeing the needle tip to the right till I got fed up and got myself a digital scale.
However, of late, I've had some decent success in shedding the pounds. This blog is to chronicle and share that experience. Chronicle so that I can look back and reflect when I get frustrated, when I can use it to inspire me - just as those photos from 1980 do. And if it helps just 1 other person, this blog will have been worth it. Besides, it makes me practice my writing... !
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