It was a usual day at the office, I was used to taking a walk after my lunch
while walking I scroll my phone list to call some missed calls, mostly by family and friends and yes of course “insurance companies”, I called my elder sister cum calendar for me, she always reminds me about the upcoming fest and leaves.
As we know India is a country of festivals Each month some festivals are there…..and we found reason …
To celebrate
To be religious
To interact
To be dressed
And yes, of course, lots of food with so many different pakvaans, so-called “this festival speciality snack” !!
A very famous festival called “NAVRATRI” also called as Chaitra Navratri according to the Hindu calendar, worshipping of the goddess “Maa Durga” for nine days celebrated in India with full energy and joy………Gujarat’s Garba and Kolkata’s Durga Pooja have different levels of celebration.
Navratri happens twice in a year, and both times it’s different way to celebrate but the thing which is common is the 9 days of fasting.
My sister told me that she’ll be having fast on the first day and every next odd day, as I am not very much inclined towards fasting but just for the sake of my “on the way” upcoming tummy, I found it’s a good idea to have fast on odd days and I decided to fast, I don’t even remember which was my last “no-food-today” day.
All decided, @ 11:40 just before the night of my fasting, as after 12 p.m. I can not have anything, so I decided to have something very fast …I had a glass of milk by looking at the time cigarette packet was lying near….Then I thought, can we smoke in fast, and I was literally about to Google it, but without wasting any time, I just took some drags………………
a clock ticks 12 and the fast starts…
I decided to take the time only for fruits
I packed my lunch with fruits and a can of milk
As soon as I reached the office, my stomach started calling for something as I had only Tea since morning… I gulp some water from a bottle and to avoid my stomach, call just started working …
the morning passed and here is the time where the clock ticks 1 p.m. it’s lunchtime oh my god I was damn hungry to have anything as fast as possible even without chewing …
and The FINAL call from stomach….sounds somewhat “gud-gud-gud-gud”
Then I open my lunchbox full of fruits
When I took the first bite, I realised how tasty this fruit is, and I realised here what hunger exactly means, it is the same fruit which I don’t like much, and maybe having it after a long time.
The first realisation…
Then I took each bite very calmly, very slowly, and even followed ideal counting for chewing,
also not taking the bite even into the hand until the mouth’s one finished….these tips I read in
various newspapers and health guidelines, but never followed
I don’t even remember when I last ate with
This much hocus focus
This much relaxation
This much yummy
feeling so content as each bite was giving me some energy, the food was limited so I understood the “Respect of food”, Second realization How it is important to take each bite with relax and focused and how to enjoy your meal” I was not talking to anyone on the table, fully concentrated to my limited fruit salad….I found that most of the time I was used to making fun of people, who fully concentrated on their plates without seeing anywhere else and taunting them, “look around, they will not grab a bite from your mouth “ hehe
Today, I understand all of them. Third realisation… and why our parents tell us not to talk while eating, and how old rules worked here not just a misconception, reason always hidden behind.
After lunch, back to work, thank god for that day, I was having too much work, so easy to ignore my stomach ache…too much work may also work in some way I never thought !!
After reaching home, my stomach started refusing my ignorance and demands for whatever possible bites……I start preparing Tea and meanwhile preparing dinner too…with some fresh fruits and some milkshake.
I poured Tea into mug and sat into chair of my balcony to enjoy my Tea..before that I was just used to take sip from my cup of tea while working or using phone or watching TV or talking on cordless my god I just had one long sip of Tea with my eyes closed and found that who damn prepared this …its tasted damn good so refreshed …I start taking each sip with full focused and my stomach start liking it then I realized it is really the
same tea
same evening
Same me …No, it was different today. I was needy today, I literally want to have while all other days it was just a course after reaching home.
How limited things pleased us, how we lost our interest while we had a huge
Fourth realisation of what we are focusing on, searching for, which kind of peace, as just one sip of tea with relaxation was enough to pacify my mind.
No need to do anything else, just focusing on whatever you are doing right now, as Robin Sharma’s quotes “Put All Your Energy Into One thing”
That day, I was satisfied, and so was my stomach. I worshipped god in peace mode,
no hurry,
no haste, with all focus
And yes, I was loving this…now you already know what will happen with dinner, and I was dying for the moment when I’ll take my first bite, and how
It’ll satisfy…
My stomach, my soul !!
That one day of fasting made me learn and realise so many things that I was searching outside…
And from that day onward, I started enjoying my food. I fasted for the next eight days without even realising that I was having very limited food because
that was enough to content me.
Happy Navratri, Happy Detoxification
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