Urbanites must contrive to contain their fretful impatience every morning for their twin addictions: their first cup of elixir and the daily newspaper, delayed as usual.
Meanwhile they formulate their schedule for the day, the sequence of tasks and errands that cannot be postponed, delegated or ignored altogether.
When the paper is delivered, I savour the moment when I sit down with my cup, careful to avoid mixing up the pages, or tearing or mislaying them irretrievably. I have my priorities as a time-challenged reader. Crisp headlines and skilful sub-editing have made it easier. I skip reports of yet another scam, high-level arrest, traffic accident, convocation homily, diatribe by an Opposition aspirant for power.
I flip through the cricket column, even if it is an Indian bowler rather than a batsman who has notched a century in the scorecard. Then I eagerly scan the ‘middle’ chosen for that day and what the laconic astrologer forecast for my zodiac sign, hoping to see ‘ultramarine’ as my best colour, giving me an excuse to flaunt my gaudy bush-shirt that I dare not wear otherwise.
Then I look for press reports of what I call ‘new-found gems of therapy.’ Let me cite some examples. I was thrilled by one which proclaimed that rumour-mongering can have a beneficial effect in relieving tensions. It argues that gossip makes more people aware of rogues and cheats, and that anyway the process can be relaxing.
Another gem I intend to test out is that ‘purple potatoes help cut blood pressure.’ Some gems are spurs to further enquiry and medical consultation. One says that silver can help as a chemotherapy drug. That means added risk for the family silver. A similar gem is this: “Negative pals may cause cancer”. It makes one rapidly list one’s kith and kin and friends and mark some names for precautionary avoidance; one is free to decide what constitutes pally negativism.
Indians are said to be prone to diabetes and heart diseases. The old wisdom was to lessen one’s intake of sugar and salt in meals. But new gems of therapy could change all that. I await the time when they discover that smoking may have some beneficent health-enhancing effects, as red wine in moderate doses is touted to have. Two of my uncles, and friends too, were heavy smokers, desperate for privacy and cash to indulge in the vice.
My mother’s disapproval of smoking went to the extent of banishing our lovely bronze ash-tray to the show-case and telling visitors that her carpet was too precious to accept cigarette ash. She would have assented to the latest clinical discovery, endorsed by a British psychiatric journal, that “Smoking makes men stupid”.
The gender bias might have pleased her, but she was too fair-minded to think that women can manage Lady Nicotine better than men.
I look forward to more therapeutic gems that are hope-inducing and not copies of gloomy negative beliefs which have dogged us in life. There is paradoxical trend in those new discoveries that are genuine gems that restore a cheering and positive spirit, backed by science. Onward, therapeutic jewellers, we need your positivism.
