160 to 87 (I)

The Year was 2002. I was travelling from Agra to Bhuj where my posting was at that time. My train reached in the middle of the night at Vadodra. The platform was entirely deserted. There was only one more person on the platform at that time. Those were testing times. The carnage at Godhra had taken place a few days before and the backlash was meandering to a close . My train to Gandhidham was at least two hours away and the night cold.As is natural at such times both of us gravitated towards each other. If not for anything else then at least to prove that theory that man is a social animal and he craves company. We got talking and I found out, that even that individual, had travelled from UP. We got talking and on a bit of probing discovered that he was a channa seller outside Rajkot Cricket Stadium. He was married and yes so was I. It was revealed  that he was in the channa business for quite sometime. As the time passed he started getting familiar with me. One thing led to another and then he asks me A personnal question "What does your wife think of your weight? " Of course his language - like all UPites was quite unparliamentary and crude. After that I decided that I did not want to have anything to do with him. I quelled him with my murderous looks and before I could -The temptation was there- React violently  , I moved to the other side of the platform. He made as if to follow me. I finally had to tell him not to.....

At that time I was looking something like a captive balloon. ( See Photo above). While I did manage to remove the man from Rajkot from my mind , his words still rankled in my mind. His allusion to my weight hurt me a lot. The idea of losing weight  took root in my brain. Over the next few years I tried hard to lose weight, but was singularly unsuccessful. Even if I did lose weight it came back. From 2002 to 2012 I must have lost more than 70 to 120Kgs. The problem arose when this lost weight manged to creep back on to me . This was partly attributable to the fact that I could not maintain my weight and partly because I let down my guard after losing a few Kilograms and got down to heavy eating, leading to increase in my weight, Every time that I regained the lost kgs it became that much more difficult to lose it the next time around. By 2011 I had given up trying to lose weight altogether. That was until I had an accident and hurt my knee. No amount of treatment would improve the condition of the knee,

Added to other breakages of bones along the way, the weight became unsustainable. Like Prof Sachendra's class today which was about Product life cycle, the product called Ravindra was in decline. Suitable measures had to be undertaken to ensure that the product was repackaged to continue surviving .Newer and better products in the market in form of younger and fitter individuals were continuously being introduced into the market. Other products launched with me were yet to reach their maturity . I had my growth in a steep curve and the decline was equally fast. Other products took cue from me and ensured that the same did not happen to them. There was a crying need for product ME modification." My attitude would decide my altitude."
 Prof Sachindra's previous class was not a flash in the pan , The class he took today was equally -if not more brilliant. Thoughts about how to survive a long class were easily banished due to the interest that he was able to generate in the class and we learnt a lot . Kudos to prof Sachendra for ensuring that our interest did not wane..