Journey From Fat To Fit

A smart, young man in military uniform walked across the street. His face seemed very familiar.

 Vineet crinkled his eyes. ‘Could it be someone he knew?’ He was wondering whether to move towards the man when surprisingly, the man himself walked up to him and tapped his shoulder.

“Hi, Vineet! Remember me?” he addressed Vineet with the familiarity of a close friend or relative.

Vineet tried hard to jolt his memory into recognition of the man’s face but failed.

“I am sure I know you, Sir. But” he drew a long breath.

The man laughed heartily.

“Confused hey Vineet!” he chuckled.

“What Sir and all!” he questioned merrily. “I am Harsh, your batchmate,” the man introduced himself.

Vineet could not believe his eyes.

“Harsh!” he exclaimed.

Harsh, the fatso, who was the perpetual butt of all jokes of their classmates in college! He had been definitely over 120 kilos then. Not a day had passed without someone or the other making a snide remark about his weight or casting him as a comic caricature. He was bullied too often because of his weight. But, Harsh had been such a happy and lethargic person that he would not even retaliate or show any signs of discomfiture. Vineet remembered that sadly, he too had contributed to the jokes with the others at the expense of Harsh’s obesity. All would laugh and Harsh would laugh with them knowing full well that his bulging torso was being turned into a focal point for their merriment.

‘But, what a turnaround this was!’ 

No sign of the old Harsh whose rotund belly would shake up and down with his laughter. Just two years since they had passed out from college and Harsh looked unrecognizably firm and fit. How could he slim down so drastically? What an amazing change this was! And he looked really handsome now, with all the cheesy fat on his chubby cheeks, and the bulging belly virtually non-existent!

“I just can’t believe it is you,” exclaimed Vineet.

“I thought as much,” laughed Harsh.

 “Sorry man, I could not recognize you,” Vineet could not still come to terms with the new look sported by his friend. “You look absolutely wonderful Harsh.”

“Thanks,” said Harsh. “Do you have the time to share a cuppa and reminisce about old times?”

“Of course I do,” replied Vineet.

They walked into the nearby Café Coffee Day outlet and ordered a cup of coffee each.

While they were slowly sipping the delicious hot coffee, talk veered towards their friends, their college days, nostalgic memories and whatnot. Finally, Vineet, unable to control his curiosity, raised the poser that was topmost on his mind, the question about Harsh’s incredible ‘fat to fit’ voyage

“I hope you don’t mind me asking, but seriously, what did you do to bring on such a stunning change in your appearance?” he asked.

 “Ha, ha!” laughed Harsh. “I was waiting for that to come.”

“Anyway, since you asked and since I don’t mind talking about it, here it is, the interesting story,” said Harsh. “At the outset let me tell you, that you along with the others in our class, who used to make fun of me, were the reason for my transformation. If I was not poked regularly by you all for being overweight, I would never have even thought of trying to reduce it. So thanks a lot. And be assured, the journey from fat to fit was not easy.”

“I can understand. And as for my part, I am really sorry about it Harsh,” Vineet apologized.

“Hey man!” Harsh laughed. “I was just joking. What’s the need for apologies between friends? Anyway, as I was mentioning it was not easy to deal with my obesity. Nor was it easy for a person like me, struck by the disease of lethargy, to embark on the tough journey of reducing weight little by little. But the best part was that it was not impossible. All I needed was motivation.”

 “So, what did you do and how did you motivate yourself?”

“I am coming to that. It was the summer of 2017. As you know, most of our batch mates passed with flying colors and I was one among them. I was searching for a job and had calls for interviews from various firms, but the moment the interviewer would lay their eyes on me, the answer remained the same, “We will get back to you.” And the second call would never come. As you know already, I was quite unaffected by the bullying and the jokes at college, but now I was getting frustrated. My happy outlook had changed. I almost always presented a grumpy face and my parents bore the brunt of my tantrums. They were apparently feeling sorry for me and on the advice of my uncle, who is a doctor, by the way, they sent me on a vacation to Ladakh.

The beauty of the Himalayas and the hospitality of the folk there was heartwarming, to say the least. Covered in layers of cloth to protect oneself from the cold, everyone looked quite bulky and I felt at peace with the world at large. I used to frequent a joint for dinner, and it was there that I came across Major Chandrakant Singh. The man was a stickler for discipline. And, discipline was almost a nonentity with me. He was fit and I was fat. He ate healthy food, drank natural fruit juice, and here I was, fond of aerated colas, and a binge eater of fast food, burgers and fried stuff. Being an army man he was absolutely active every day, whereas I was prone to the proverbial attacks of laziness. But, I still can’t fathom how in spite of all our differences, we took to each other like peas to a pod. Maybe, it was because both of us were Punjabis with a common attraction for Parathas dripping in butter and creamy lassi.”

Harsh paused for a second. Vineet was listening to him in rapt attention.

“One day, Major Singh asked me whether I would be interested in joining the army. I was shell shocked. I had never ever dreamt that somebody would actually ask a fatso like me such a question. For a moment, I thought he was fooling me like everyone else. But he was serious. I could read it in his eyes. I remembered the endless interviews, the agonizing wait for calls and not thinking any further about the consequences, I blindly said yes. And that ‘Yes’ was the turning point in my life. The Major was happy.

 Then he made a statement that still echoes in my mind. “If you are serious, and I think you are, then we will have to embark on a troublesome journey. Are you game?”

I looked at him with apprehension wondering whether in my moment of madness I had committed to something that was going to be my nemesis. His look was reassuring. I nodded.

“Then we start from tomorrow morning,” he said. “Be ready at 6.00 am. We will start our exercise routine.”

And that was that. He made me, the ultimate lazybones, get up every morning at 5.30, get ready by 6.00 and we would set out on a walk. At first, I used to get breathless and start panting before completing a kilometer or two. But gradually I started becoming acclimatized to the timings, cold weather, and long walks. And would you believe it? I had lost almost 10 kilos in no time. My eating habits changed. I prolonged my vacation with the consent of my parents as I did not have any job waiting for me at that time. Two weeks became two months. And my new found friend, guide and philosopher were happy to see me trudge along with pandering to his crushing routine. He made me give up my longing for the cola and substituted it with hot green tea. The fried stuff disappeared with more alacrity from my plate, replaced by healthy soups and salads.

Not that I gave in with ease. I threw tantrums, but with the ease of control that he held in his regiment made me such easy prey that soon I gave up. He taught me swimming too, which I had never attempted in my life before. There was no gymnasium for workouts there. It was not necessary. All this activity and change in food habits worked wonders. I had lost more than 30 Kilos before I returned home to Chandigarh. We kept in touch. And he was a continuous source of inspiration. I continued my walks, swimming and in addition, joined the gym for cardio and muscle building exercises. In December, at the height of winter came the call from the Major. He wanted me to apply for joining the armed forces. By now, I was fully slim and fit. I sent in my application and to the joy of my friend on duty in Ladakh, I was selected.”

Vinnet was hearing the tale spellbound.

“And now I am a full-fledged army man with a love for my job, my country and myself, thanks to the continuous inspiration and motivation of the Major. He still rings up once a week to see if I am keeping to the routine set by him for me,” Harsh paused.

Vineet held out his hand in congratulations to his friend and whispered “Wow! What an inspiration your fat to fit journey has turned to be! I doff my hat to you and the Major.”