EVENING SNACKS
2 Samosa 500
1 plate Pani Puri 400
1 plate Sev Puri 400
DINNER
1 plate French Fries 300
1 Veg Burger 350
1 Medium Pizza 700
1 600ml Coke 240
TOTAL BILL 2890 CALORIES
So how much did you spend this weekend?
Every day we see thousands of wiseacre diet conscious people poking around the best restaurants of the city for Indian, Thai, Chinese, Italian and all varieties of food and promising themselves to burn those evil calories in the next week aerobics session. Unfortunately, that next week had never arrived!!
Nearly half of the Indian workforce is overweight and more than 1/4th school going children are obese according to the study done by AIIMS in 2008. 27% of our urban youth suffers from hypertension which can shorten life expectancy. The study says that 9% to 11% of people above the age of 45 in urban India have heart disease. Bus and taxi drivers, who are physically inactive, have a higher rate of heart disease than men in other occupations. People who remain physically active have a lower death rate than people who don’t. In Mumbai itself over 37,000 people have died only due to heart attacks in both private and government hospitals between 2004 and 2006. India is a diabetic capital of the world and its prevalence among adults in our country is 12%. Estimated 150 to 200 in every 10 lakh suffer from kidney problems.
Today life has become much more simple, versatile and effortless. Everything is just a phone call away, but this has restricted us to do that bit of physical activity which can increase our immunity, stamina and strength. The functional training that can help to get a fit and healthy body is vanishing under our plush lifestyle. We are restricting ourselves just inside a scintillating room with few machines around to lose weight, which is surely not an accurate approach to get fit. The modern mechanical ways can be well used to get in shape, however to stay healthy we have to add a lot more in our routine.
“I love doing yoga, but this is my profession.” a reputed gym trainer Dev Dunga strongly believes going to gym is not complete in itself to get a fit body. Hardcore exercises at gym work on the outer most muscles of the body whereas rest everything remains untouched while yoga works to every square inch like a complete fitness package. Yoga is a form of exercise where the body and breathe get connected with the mind. By controlling the breath and keeping the body in steady position called “aasans”, yoga helps in creating harmony. Ashri Mitra, a yoga trainer believes that yoga impacts the hormonal system, so the change happens from inside, which is what actually requires to get healthy. Such exercises also help in pre-postnatal depression, by relaxing the mind and putting a lot of fears at rest. The primary advantage of practicing yoga is that the essential breathing exercises provide mental calmness especially to pregnant women. Yoga works at the level of both body and soul.
Another way to stay healthy is to practice laughter yoga, a complete fun way to reduce stress. Laughter yoga controls breathing and each time one practice it, breathing becomes more readily and deeper. When one stimulates laughter, the body doesn't know that it is not real and reacts in the same manner as in your peak moments of joy. The concept of laughter yoga is based on a scientific fact that the body cannot differentiate between fake and real laughter. Therefore, one gets the same physiological and psychological benefits. One minute of laughter is equal to 10 minutes on the rowing machine. Laughter yoga is believed to be anti- aging. It increases blood supply to the face, nourishes the skin and makes it glow. It also increases the level of endorphins - the body's natural pain killers and even helps to dump depression, anxiety and psychosomatic disorders.
The scenario today is, some people are reluctant to start exercising because they are afraid it will be too strenuous but Kajal Kathuria, diet consultant of a reality show “Biggest Loser” believes that one doesn’t have to do such exercises to gain health benefits; moderate exercises are effective too. One must increase the amount of exercises and physical activity in order to induce endurance, strength, balance, coordination and flexibility. She believes there is no concept of best exercise as every kind of physical activity is good until we are enjoying it. The idea of going to gym, yoga, kick boxing or any type of classes is in vain until one is not doing it with passion.
In this healthy lifestyle which includes a balanced diet, regular exercise and a daily milti-vitamin food, there’s another critical element which often gets neglected and that is SLEEP. Experts recommend minimum of seven to eight hours of uninterrupted sleep every night which does not only keep us healthy but even increase our longevity. Lack of sleep has been linked to emotional troubles, such as feelings of sadness and depression. Sleep helps to keep us physically healthy, by slowing our body's systems enough to re-energize us after everyday activities. Sleep isn't just a form of rest. It plays a critical physiological function, and is indispensable for your intellectual development. Those who do not sleep enough are not likely to live to their full mental potential.
Better health is found in the integration of body, mind, and spirit; and meditation aids in the process. Doctors are spreading the good word about meditation, not because they think its cool, but because the studies have shown that it works. Along with yoga, it can reverse the buildup of plaque in coronary arteries, lower lactic acid levels and restore balance in psychiatric disturbances. Meditation increases intuition and clarity, which includes a sense of what it right for us at any particular time. There can be an increased feeling of well-being, lessening depression for the meditation followers. Also there can be an increase in energy, vitality, lessening of a tendency toward sickness, and quicker healing if one do meditation regularly. The National Institute of Health conducted an 18-year study that tracked 202 men and women whose average age was 71. The study has revealed that those who practiced meditation had longer period of life as compared to others.
Cardio kickboxing is another physical activity to burn calories and getting healthy body. It combines elements of boxing, martial arts, and aerobics to provide overall physical conditioning and toning. Cardio kickboxing improves and maintains cardiovascular fitness, increases strength, flexibility, improves coordination, balance and sharpens reflexes. Kickboxing also reduces and relieves stress. Its rigorous workout like controlled punching and kicking movements carried out with the discipline and skills required for martial arts can do wonders for feelings of frustration and anger. You can burn anywhere from 350 to 450 calories an hour with kickboxing
The benefits of exercise or any physical activity come from making them a permanent habit. So except fresh fruits and balanced diet other health benefits that you can avail by doing regular exercises are:-
1. By doing exercises like walking, running, hiking or weight training, one can build up bones.
2. Exercises make one feels more confident and if we feel proud of ourselves after a good workout, we’ll probably smile more.
3. Exercise reduces stress and also lowers the blood pressure.
4. By getting down the aerobics, known as “cardio” workout we can have a good heart. Aerobics like running, swimming, yoga, cycling, walking and other high energy activities will make muscles use up oxygen.
5. Flexibility of the body will increase which helps to keep us away from getting injured during workouts and keep muscles limber.
6. The energy levels will rise up which means we can do things including our work and hobbies with better quality. We can even enjoy better sex life.
7. As the endurance will improve, our stamina for the tasks we need to do to live and to do things like climbing stairs going for shopping et al will develop.
8. Even a small increase in muscle mass can make a big difference in ability, especially for frail people. Exercise can increase our metabolism, helping to keep our weight and blood sugar in control.
9. With the increase in flexibility body structure will remain in place.
10. Exercise can reverse the natural decline in one’s metabolism which begins around the age of 30.
In the present day many young girls are falling victim of anorexia and bulimia which can lead to severe nutritional deficiencies in them especially if it sets in before puberty. It’s believed that 50% of anorexic girls end up developing osteoporosis. When young girls are supposed to be packing their bones with calcium and protein rich food, anorexic patients are actually losing bone mass. Besides, they are also more prone to heart failure and hormonal changes which can lead to absence of menstruation resulting in infertility later on. However, lack of sports activities in the lives of young kids today has made the problem more acute and many girls consider starving the only solution for staying thin. Cycling, games like badminton, swimming or basketball, doing a lot of physical work is the key to unlock this problem for our young generation.
As food choices changes in the progressing world, educating common public about the potential risks of fast food and other sugar, high fat food is more essential. Health care and disease prevention in particular are the areas that demand more time and resources for the government. In 2008-09 via NRHM (national rural health mission) the increase in the central health budget is 14% in sharp contrast to the overall increase in central government expenditure of 20% revenue increase. This year out of total budget of Rs.16500 crore for the health ministry, Rs.12200 crore was allocated to NRHM, and 544 lakh was given for social health activities.
Modern Lifestyle diseases are the price unfortunately, the developing India is paying for progress. Although India counts for 16.5% of the world’s population, it contributes to more than 20% of the world’s share of diseases. Average 60% income of an Indian family is spending on single hospitalized member every year. In the Indian Journal Medical Research report the team has said, the top 10% of spenders in the sample they have studied had spend about 150% of their annual income on a single illness involving hospitalization. This is the appalling face of our awful health due to lack of exercise, nutritious and balanced diet which is coming across us in the form of facts and figures, but the time is not far when we will become another added number in these statistics.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
A FILM BY FILMMAKER OF FILMMAKERS
Recently in film class we studied about the great new wave cinema directors. One of an extraordinary director’s exceptional film BREATHLESS was played and as a film student frankly I was speechless or say breathless… So here is something about Godard and his anomalous works in the field of film making.
Jean- Luc- Godard is well known as “filmmaker of filmmakers”. Godard was not ever interested in telling a story through his movies. He has said “I don’t write essay, I filmed them”. In essay one have abstract thoughts but Godard used to make films over those abstract thoughts in different genres. In his movies he wanted to have a proper beginning, middle and end but all of this not in a sequence. This was his unique way of shaking the audience mind. Also, he used to use a lot of jump cuts in order to disturb the smooth flow of movie, as he wanted his audience not to lead a conventional life.
In new wave cinema Godard had tried to convey how cinema acts as an escapist among the mass culture audience. The movie` “Breathless” starts with the sound of a car horn to convey the urban life, where he focuses a lot on how capitalism was being promoted though brands and status in the media centric era. Therefore, when the poignant character Michel steals cars or stays in luxurious hotels, he was portrayed as a victim of this same capitalism. Though the genre of the movie is gangster, but Godard communicate through it how people sell their body and soul when caught in this vicious cycle of capitalism.
Breathless storyline tries to take out deep routed meaning of existence in the world where media is becoming a product of capitalism. The way media is becoming a critical device to spread materialism is showcased in the film. All forms of media are used in the movie like paper, radio, tickers, posters, pined up images or constant use of t-shirts with slogan, photos et all. Media acts as an agent to create capitalism by giving magnitude to glamour and brands usage which ultimately give rise to an aspiring lifestyle among ordinary people. There are many such instances in the movie like Coke brand is shown in the beginning of the movie at Michel’s back. Cars like Buggarti are used, also in a scene Michel shows a picture of Rolls Royce. When Patricia is introduced in the movie, she is shown wearing a t-shirt of New York Herald Tribune and selling newspaper. Other status symbols like Disney’s teddy bear or imperial hotels like Coleridge or Royal hotel’s are shown. Top brands of cigarettes are used by Michel to create the idea of macho. Godard shows the level of aspirations among people who are trying to live beyond their means. The movie deals with the sensitive issue of lies and truth or media and reality.
In one of the scene the lead character Michel brings newspaper, read it a bit and then clean his shoes with it. This very significant scene convey how today’s newspaper will become useless tomorrow and how media never delivers complete truth, so it is worthless to depend on it for the accurate news. Old are useless whereas youth is what media all about. Therefore advertisements, movies, bestsellers all are media forms which are youth based. Not a single audio- visual track is useless in this movie. For instance Runvo has captured a beautiful moment of a lady in his painting, but when Patricia compares herself to Renoir’s painting’s poster and asks “do I look like her?” brings out the mediated reality of media in which she was living. Firstly, the poster available had reduced the value of art among the mass audience. Secondly, Renoir’s painting was a reality where as the poster portrayed the mediated reality.
Godard believed that commercial cinema mostly numb the mind, so through his movies he wanted to make the audience think. He has referred to many great artists and their work in “Breathless” because he believed that art stimulate mind and invites participation whereas mass culture movies doesn’t ask for any involvement from the audience. Patricia, the heroin of this movie represents art. In one of the scene she asks Michel “have you read William Franc?” whereas Michel who represents the locked intellectual mind of audience asks “Is that a man you slept with?” In the movie references are made to other great artists like James Joyce, Renoir’s, and Picasso. All these people were the one who broke conventions by bringing realism out but for the mass culture audience their art is meaningless. Therefore, through this movie Godard pays homage to all those great artists whom he respects. These people have raised the level of film to the status of art.
Michel is portrayed as a typical American guy who is always on the road and hunting for money. Being on the road means sense of freedom; sense of being overtaken by other speedy cars; it’s like journey of life. Michel talks directly to the camera in these scenes. Travel also denotes here escapism. And acquiring wealth in this capitalist society is the central idea of Godard. Michel happens to be someone who needs money. He plays bluff, back stab, kill people, but all these immoral activities are displayed in an untailored way. In one of the scene he even says “Tell the truth, others think you are lying, and you win.” While he is driving his swanky car in a lovely mood, he heedlessly plays with the gun and this mood remains casual even after he kills the cop, which depicts how human life has lost its value. Money and prostitution is being showcased a well knitted bonds in the modern life. Men want pretty women and women wants money, but when they are not able to meet their needs, they sleep around with one another. Casualness of sex is being constantly pointed by Godard through the two lead characters.
Patricia is worried about her flourishing career for which she is ready to sacrifice her lover, morals and values. Beginning of feminism comes at this point as well pointed by Michel to her that “you are not wearing a bra.” Women are supposed to be truthful and faithful but she keeps on playing constant game of lying. She sleeps around with different men just to acquire money and status. She is shown in the movie counting number of people she has slept with. To establish the casualness of sex at many places pornography is also being used, like in the beginning when Michel is reading newspaper, the cartoon strip has pornographic images. Also Michel is shown reading a sex magazine in one of the scene. Through all this Godard wants to establish the present world of
Everything that Godard has shown stand for something worthy. From the beginning scene when Michel is driving, Godard starts driving the contrast of urban and rural life. The villages he passes by in his plush car and western music. There is far more layered meaning to every action of both characters. Two persons (Michel and Patricia) having no family background, belonging to no where, just keeps on wandering as nomads. Different hotels, hospitals, stations airports, roads are the signs of transition. Urban lives in which there are no homes only hotels indicates that everything is transitory and that is what Godard wants to tell through their traveling sequences. When an officer came to enquire Patricia about Michel at her office, a dummy plane is placed in the background, which symbolizes their nomadic life. In the movie when Michel kills the police officer is another sign of urbanization. Godard conveys how in the modern metro life there is no value for life, the casualness of death is being highlighted.
The genre of this movie is ‘gangster’ and like in every gangster movie Godard has shown the basic elements like heroin betraying the hero, or the macho hero wearing hat, smoking constantly and trying to survive as a fighter till the end. Like in normal gangster movies Michel even uses a phrase commonly “As you like it buddy.” As gangster movies deals with life, death, fear, disloyalty, ‘Breathless’ contains all these components but still it can not be compared to normal gangster movies because it sarcastically breaks the convention of this genres and implicitly convey the survival of the fittest terminology in the urban lifestyle.
Michel lives in the moment. Being a thief, killer, bluffer still he is not portrayed as an evil guy. His morals are being questioned again and again after the horrendous crimes he commits but the fact, morality is something that is shaped by the society can’t be denied. Michel becomes the hero in the eyes of viewers because the culture he lives in and activities he perform are accepted normal by the mass audience. This film is a philosophy of the urban life. Godard poses the question to audience that who is actual coward between the two? Patricia who betray Michel by complaining to the police about the cop murder just because she was afraid of her passport or secure life or Michel who keeps on running, stealing but still he was ready to die. He refuses the revolver to save his own life as he had no fear of dying.
Central theme of the movie is uncertainty of life. In a scene when Michel returns newspaper to Patricia he considers it useless because there was no horoscope in it. He was keen to know his future. Also in one of the scene he says “I want to be immortal and then die.” In another scene of hotel where Patricia asks him “What would you choose between grief and nothing?” He answers “Nothing because grief is a compromise.” Also he keeps on saying “I am feeling very tiered.” Because there is so much running, stealing, lying, betrayal that he starts feeling Breathless and ask for rest.
Godard has used a lot of different techniques in this movie in order to break the conventions. The sequence in which Michel is running away and killing the cop Godard shoots against the light, there are many swash pans, a lot of movement of camera and various jump cuts. Jump cuts were considered as a flaw but Godard has used them a lot. He has also used long tracking shots in many of the scenes to give the mood of running, or constantly on the move. In the last scene where he is running from cops Godard has used natural lighting, these long tracking shots and kept the camera hand held.
He has brought out the feel of casualness not only through the actions of the character but also by camera movements. Intellectually he has captured whatever comes in his frame just to maintain that casual mood. The dialogues of the movie re scripted and the screenplay for it was written by Truffaut. The music is jazz and Godard has tried to pick up a lot of location sounds only.
Jean- Luc- Godard is well known as “filmmaker of filmmakers”. Godard was not ever interested in telling a story through his movies. He has said “I don’t write essay, I filmed them”. In essay one have abstract thoughts but Godard used to make films over those abstract thoughts in different genres. In his movies he wanted to have a proper beginning, middle and end but all of this not in a sequence. This was his unique way of shaking the audience mind. Also, he used to use a lot of jump cuts in order to disturb the smooth flow of movie, as he wanted his audience not to lead a conventional life.
In new wave cinema Godard had tried to convey how cinema acts as an escapist among the mass culture audience. The movie` “Breathless” starts with the sound of a car horn to convey the urban life, where he focuses a lot on how capitalism was being promoted though brands and status in the media centric era. Therefore, when the poignant character Michel steals cars or stays in luxurious hotels, he was portrayed as a victim of this same capitalism. Though the genre of the movie is gangster, but Godard communicate through it how people sell their body and soul when caught in this vicious cycle of capitalism.
Breathless storyline tries to take out deep routed meaning of existence in the world where media is becoming a product of capitalism. The way media is becoming a critical device to spread materialism is showcased in the film. All forms of media are used in the movie like paper, radio, tickers, posters, pined up images or constant use of t-shirts with slogan, photos et all. Media acts as an agent to create capitalism by giving magnitude to glamour and brands usage which ultimately give rise to an aspiring lifestyle among ordinary people. There are many such instances in the movie like Coke brand is shown in the beginning of the movie at Michel’s back. Cars like Buggarti are used, also in a scene Michel shows a picture of Rolls Royce. When Patricia is introduced in the movie, she is shown wearing a t-shirt of New York Herald Tribune and selling newspaper. Other status symbols like Disney’s teddy bear or imperial hotels like Coleridge or Royal hotel’s are shown. Top brands of cigarettes are used by Michel to create the idea of macho. Godard shows the level of aspirations among people who are trying to live beyond their means. The movie deals with the sensitive issue of lies and truth or media and reality.
In one of the scene the lead character Michel brings newspaper, read it a bit and then clean his shoes with it. This very significant scene convey how today’s newspaper will become useless tomorrow and how media never delivers complete truth, so it is worthless to depend on it for the accurate news. Old are useless whereas youth is what media all about. Therefore advertisements, movies, bestsellers all are media forms which are youth based. Not a single audio- visual track is useless in this movie. For instance Runvo has captured a beautiful moment of a lady in his painting, but when Patricia compares herself to Renoir’s painting’s poster and asks “do I look like her?” brings out the mediated reality of media in which she was living. Firstly, the poster available had reduced the value of art among the mass audience. Secondly, Renoir’s painting was a reality where as the poster portrayed the mediated reality.
Godard believed that commercial cinema mostly numb the mind, so through his movies he wanted to make the audience think. He has referred to many great artists and their work in “Breathless” because he believed that art stimulate mind and invites participation whereas mass culture movies doesn’t ask for any involvement from the audience. Patricia, the heroin of this movie represents art. In one of the scene she asks Michel “have you read William Franc?” whereas Michel who represents the locked intellectual mind of audience asks “Is that a man you slept with?” In the movie references are made to other great artists like James Joyce, Renoir’s, and Picasso. All these people were the one who broke conventions by bringing realism out but for the mass culture audience their art is meaningless. Therefore, through this movie Godard pays homage to all those great artists whom he respects. These people have raised the level of film to the status of art.
Michel is portrayed as a typical American guy who is always on the road and hunting for money. Being on the road means sense of freedom; sense of being overtaken by other speedy cars; it’s like journey of life. Michel talks directly to the camera in these scenes. Travel also denotes here escapism. And acquiring wealth in this capitalist society is the central idea of Godard. Michel happens to be someone who needs money. He plays bluff, back stab, kill people, but all these immoral activities are displayed in an untailored way. In one of the scene he even says “Tell the truth, others think you are lying, and you win.” While he is driving his swanky car in a lovely mood, he heedlessly plays with the gun and this mood remains casual even after he kills the cop, which depicts how human life has lost its value. Money and prostitution is being showcased a well knitted bonds in the modern life. Men want pretty women and women wants money, but when they are not able to meet their needs, they sleep around with one another. Casualness of sex is being constantly pointed by Godard through the two lead characters.
Patricia is worried about her flourishing career for which she is ready to sacrifice her lover, morals and values. Beginning of feminism comes at this point as well pointed by Michel to her that “you are not wearing a bra.” Women are supposed to be truthful and faithful but she keeps on playing constant game of lying. She sleeps around with different men just to acquire money and status. She is shown in the movie counting number of people she has slept with. To establish the casualness of sex at many places pornography is also being used, like in the beginning when Michel is reading newspaper, the cartoon strip has pornographic images. Also Michel is shown reading a sex magazine in one of the scene. Through all this Godard wants to establish the present world of
Everything that Godard has shown stand for something worthy. From the beginning scene when Michel is driving, Godard starts driving the contrast of urban and rural life. The villages he passes by in his plush car and western music. There is far more layered meaning to every action of both characters. Two persons (Michel and Patricia) having no family background, belonging to no where, just keeps on wandering as nomads. Different hotels, hospitals, stations airports, roads are the signs of transition. Urban lives in which there are no homes only hotels indicates that everything is transitory and that is what Godard wants to tell through their traveling sequences. When an officer came to enquire Patricia about Michel at her office, a dummy plane is placed in the background, which symbolizes their nomadic life. In the movie when Michel kills the police officer is another sign of urbanization. Godard conveys how in the modern metro life there is no value for life, the casualness of death is being highlighted.
The genre of this movie is ‘gangster’ and like in every gangster movie Godard has shown the basic elements like heroin betraying the hero, or the macho hero wearing hat, smoking constantly and trying to survive as a fighter till the end. Like in normal gangster movies Michel even uses a phrase commonly “As you like it buddy.” As gangster movies deals with life, death, fear, disloyalty, ‘Breathless’ contains all these components but still it can not be compared to normal gangster movies because it sarcastically breaks the convention of this genres and implicitly convey the survival of the fittest terminology in the urban lifestyle.
Michel lives in the moment. Being a thief, killer, bluffer still he is not portrayed as an evil guy. His morals are being questioned again and again after the horrendous crimes he commits but the fact, morality is something that is shaped by the society can’t be denied. Michel becomes the hero in the eyes of viewers because the culture he lives in and activities he perform are accepted normal by the mass audience. This film is a philosophy of the urban life. Godard poses the question to audience that who is actual coward between the two? Patricia who betray Michel by complaining to the police about the cop murder just because she was afraid of her passport or secure life or Michel who keeps on running, stealing but still he was ready to die. He refuses the revolver to save his own life as he had no fear of dying.
Central theme of the movie is uncertainty of life. In a scene when Michel returns newspaper to Patricia he considers it useless because there was no horoscope in it. He was keen to know his future. Also in one of the scene he says “I want to be immortal and then die.” In another scene of hotel where Patricia asks him “What would you choose between grief and nothing?” He answers “Nothing because grief is a compromise.” Also he keeps on saying “I am feeling very tiered.” Because there is so much running, stealing, lying, betrayal that he starts feeling Breathless and ask for rest.
Godard has used a lot of different techniques in this movie in order to break the conventions. The sequence in which Michel is running away and killing the cop Godard shoots against the light, there are many swash pans, a lot of movement of camera and various jump cuts. Jump cuts were considered as a flaw but Godard has used them a lot. He has also used long tracking shots in many of the scenes to give the mood of running, or constantly on the move. In the last scene where he is running from cops Godard has used natural lighting, these long tracking shots and kept the camera hand held.
He has brought out the feel of casualness not only through the actions of the character but also by camera movements. Intellectually he has captured whatever comes in his frame just to maintain that casual mood. The dialogues of the movie re scripted and the screenplay for it was written by Truffaut. The music is jazz and Godard has tried to pick up a lot of location sounds only.
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