I am telling you world is moving at a strange pace. Everyone is so obsessed with their looks. I am scared that this obsession will not yield positive results. Both my son and daughter are hell bent on transforming themselves. They are not happy with the way they look. And the astonishing point is that their ideas of a perfect look are so extreme.

My son wants to build his muscles. He wants to join a gym and have the perfect abs. My daughter wants to be slimmer with each day. Both of them eat every morsel of food after much thought and consultation with the calorie chart. Frankly speaking, I have started hating the word ‘calorie’. It is the most frequently spoken word in my home right now.

To be very honest, this word was never a part of my existence before my kids entered their teen years. I have always been very health conscious and taken care of my body. But it never gave me stress. When I look at today’s kids, I feel very sad. I feel sad because they are living under tremendous pressure. They are living very hard lives. They are trying to maintain bodies like those artificial mannequins in stores. They are being too harsh with themselves.

We were really lucky. In our times, things were more relaxed. But today- television, movies, advertisements- everything has created this world of perfect bodies. If you don’t have a twenty four inch waist- then you are imperfect. I really don’t see how happiness is directly proportional to size of the waist. Yes- it is always good to have healthy lifestyle and keep on striving for more agile bodies- but let’s not destroy our bodies in this entire process.

What my children are doing is starvation. They are forgetting that they have to use these bodies throughout their lives. They need to nourish it and make it strong. This wild goose chase has to stop somewhere. If someone likes you because you measure certain inches- then I don’t think he or she is the right person for you. All sensible people should stay away from that person.

I don’t know how I am going to explain it to my kids. But let me take your leave now. Please take care. Bye.

The ‘common man’ thought a great deal about it but somehow the kids were not willing to listen. They carried on with their calorie chase. The common man observed all these activities and wondered how he could help his kids.