My wife is a big fan of yoga. For her, Ram Dev Baba can never be wrong. I tell her that yoga is a good thing but I would prefer walking. I seek help from Google Baba to show my wife the benefits of walking. Albert Einstein used to go for walks daily. She tells me I am no Einstein. Let me tell you this, my wife has the right retort for everything.
I used to be a cross-country runner in high school. I was quite an athletic lad. But since we got married, my wife has already participated in three 5K events while I have only managed one and that too by walking through the finish line instead of running. My sisters have run marathons and I too have promised myself that I will run a marathon this year. I can’t do the Everest thing like my sisters and I will have to settle for the annual Kathmandu marathon where you have to compete with microbuses, tempos, and holy cows.
After weeks of debating over the benefits of yoga, I had no choice but to finally relent to my wife’s repeated requests to give it a try. So on the first day, we got up at 5 am and decided to drive to TU in Kirtipur. This was probably the first time in my life that I had woken up so early. It felt weird. The drive to Kirtipur from where I like in Lalitpur is about seven minutes in the morning and more than an hour in the afternoon due to traffic jams and road construction.
When we got there, there were some early morning birds already doing various asanas of yoga. The guru and his crew had the sound system all set up and music was on and he was giving instructions on warm-up. It was mostly stretching and dancing. This part, I enjoyed. Then came the real yoga session that I had no clue about but my wife, who has been practicing yoga for quite a while, had no problems with it and started doing the most complicated of postures with ease. I just left her there and went for a jog, if you can call panting and huffing jogging that is. It had been nearly six months since I had gone on a run, and after a few laps around the place, I nearly dropped dead.
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After the yoga session was over, my wife insisted that I should at least try to do some of the asanas or whatever they call it. Then, we had a debate where I insisted that I would do the stretching and then the laughing stuff with her and then go for a run while she did her yoga thing.
The next day, it was the same routine. And I have to admit that I’m slowly getting the hang of it. Yoga is not a bad thing after all but, of course, I won’t be doing Ram Dev Baba’s stomach waves anytime soon and I am not taking any of that Patanjali herbs and concoctions either. At the end of the day, I have to make my wife happy and there is no point in trying to stick to your guns all the time. After a few years of marriage, every husband learns this lesson.
So, I have promised my wife that I will follow the daily 5 am routine with her. I know that it will also help me wake up early, do a little bit of stretching, laugh for a minute or two, and then go for a run. After all I need to practice now so that I can get ready for the marathon in the fall. It won’t be easy running forty plus kilometers on dusty roads of Kathmandu. I will also probably need the breathing exercises to strengthen my lung capacity so that I can run in the marathon without wheezing like an old man or, worse, panting like a dog.
And the breathing exercises are also important because I recently went for a routine check-up after two years. My wife insisted that I do the whole-body check-up even though I kept reminding her that I was fit and fine. The check-up went well. To be honest, I was surprised when the doctor looked at my chest x-ray and said everything was fine.
A few years ago, another doctor had told me that if I didn’t quit smoking, I would suffer from all kinds of problems within a decade. The blood tests came and except for something to do with the liver, everything was normal. The doctor asked me if I was an alcoholic. I said I was not. I drink once in a while and do enjoy it but surely that doesn’t make me an alcoholic. According to my wife, it does though. The doctor has asked me to cut down on smoking and quit if possible and come back after a month for further tests.
I’ll soon be going for my routine dental check-up to get my teeth cleaned. As always, I promise myself that I would quit smoking after my dentist visit and I always fail miserably. This time, my wife has told me to smoke as much as I want before visiting the dentist so that I will be fed up with smoking. I asked her for the source of this brilliant idea and she said her brother-in-law was the motivational speaker. This man has already quit smoking but still continues to drink even though he suffers from high blood pressure and is diabetic. He tells me you don’t need to do all the hard work when medications will easily do the job for you.
With such sound advice and counsel, I begin my ‘quit smoking’ journey, which according to my wife will just take some determination. Oh, she makes it sound so easy. But, to be honest, if I could do yoga then I can do probably do anything. I check my packet of cigarettes. Turns out I still have four left. That should last me till my appointment with the dentist. After that, I’ll be a yoga freak who can’t stand the smell of cigarettes.
The writer is a house husband who believes in changing, if not the world, the community he lives in one person at a time. Reach him at kalumaila99@gmail.com
