Namaskar Y’all

A New Bucket List

Namaskar, Y’all by Shyama Parui

“101 Things to Do Before You Die”, “The Bucket List: 1000 Adventures Big & Small”, “1000 Places to See”… etc. These titles screamed at me when I typed “coffee table books” in the search field of a popular online retailer. My quest to immerse myself in stunning photographs was foiled and instead I was faced with thoughts on mortality and the finite nature of time. Perhaps that was not so bad. It compelled me to make plans to actually visit the places captured on those glossy pages.

Tucked in our back pocket is the bucket list that is often forgotten leading to the familiar feeling of lament when there is so much to do, yet so little time. We crave more hours in a day, more weeks in a year and our urgency to grab those precious seconds has escalated. Prolonged introspection has nudged me to revise my bucket list previously driven by wanderlust, the assumption of longevity and an illusion of safety. It is almost cliché to say that COVID 19 has made us acutely aware of life’s unpredictable turns and combined with my reluctant acceptance of middle age, I have consciously altered my vantage point. It is not lost on me that I have much to be grateful for. The privilege to have the opportunity to even draft a collection of future desires at the tail end of a deadly pandemic is a boon.

My appreciation for the people instrumental in helping me check things off on my current list has grown ten-fold. The little girl in Mumbai who wanted to fly, remembers being overjoyed by her first experience as a passenger on a plane. It sounded way more exciting than waving at planes that flew over. Along the way, her goals to learn how to swim and drive her own car were achieved. And then her teen years sowed the seeds of globetrotting. During the late 80’s and early 90’s, travel shows on Doordarshan were rare and scenic locations in Bollywood movies often inspired people’s destination choices if they were yearning for haseen vadiyan (lovely outdoors) and khula aasman (open skies).

One of the shows that did encourage my generation to gain a more immersive cultural experience on trips, was “Surabhi”. Renuka Shahane and Siddharth Kak’s series about unique cultural traditions from different corners of India was fascinating. Even though the Tourism Department’s campaign of Incredible India was arguably successful and tempting, my family of small business owners

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of the doshas, and this imbalance is caused by intake of improper diet and by leading an unhealthy lifestyle.

The constitution you are born with is called your Prakruti, and an expert Ayurvedic practitioner can tell your Prakruti by your pulse diagnosis.

What does Ayurveda say about the importance of gut health?

According to Ayurveda, all diseases occur due to dysfunction of Agni - the biological and digestive fire that helps with the metabolism and digestion of food, maintains the natural gut flora by killing foreign bacteria and toxins and supporting the growth of the healthy bacteria. Agni also aids in breaking down the food, its absorption, and its assimilation into the body for its proper functioning. Hence, it is important to include foods which aid in the process of digestion to keep the digestive fire strong and gut flora healthy.

How can we improve gut health and overall physical/mental/environmental health?

In Ayurveda, food itself is the medicine. If we consume a wholesome well-balanced diet which provides strength and happiness to both our body and mind, we will not need any medicine.

According to Ayurveda there are six tastes that originate from the five elements. These are sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter, and astringent. All tastes essentially originate from the water element. We need each of these six tastes in our daily diet. Ayurveda recommends having sour and salty taste along with food to boost your appetite and digestion. However, to keep the doshas in balance, based on your health, constitution and season; the amount of these tastes on a daily basis may vary.

Deficiencies in the elements or doshas (space, air, fire, water, and earth) result in illnesses. When our doshas are in balance, diseases are kept away, and our body stays healthy. The key is to eat everything in moderation. Emotional wellbeing is also maintained by choosing tastes based on our constitutions and doshas. Our health mainly depends upon the absorption of these elements through food. When our Agni, the digestive fire, becomes weak or impaired, Tridosha become imbalanced and the metabolism, digestion, absorption, and assimilation of the food also get affected. The undigested food accumulates in the intestine and generates toxins. Accumulated toxins weaken the body’s immune system and afflict body, mind, intellect and senses.

In summary, Ayurveda believes in unification of all aspects of life, self and environmental as one integrated into another. In holistic terms it means to keep the balance of both microcosm and macrocosm.

Can you please share tips/recipe for probiotic foods that people can make at home?

We can consume natural probiotics, like yogurt, kanji, and homemade pickles in our daily food to increase the growth of healthy gut bacteria. Avoid pickles with too much salt and oil. Try making quick pickles with veggies and fruits by adding little bit of salt, herbs. Keep them for a day or two and consume them quickly. Simple pickles created from ingredients such as Amla, lemon, mango mixed with some salt, asafetida (hing), and mustard, and kept overnight are best for their probiotic benefits. Try to avoid adding vinegar or any preservative when making pickles. Not all pickles contain good probiotics properties, especially the commercial ones.

Nidhi Agrawal, Ph. D. Biochemistry, is an Ayurveda Passionate and Health and Wellness influencer. She is one of the founders of Wheels of Wellbeing (WOW), Wheelofwellbeing.com. WOW is a health and wellness community platform connecting like-minded people to lead happy and healthier life. You can reach her at nidsri@hotmail.com

Recipe: Kanji

Here’s a recipe for Kanji. Kanji is a tangy and salty fermented drink, which contains a lot of probiotics. It may take some time to develop a taste for it, but it is a great drink to enhance the digestion if taken in moderation.

Ingredients: 1 tablespoon mustard seeds 2-3 large carrots (traditionally, the recipe requires black carrots, but you can substitute with orange ones) 1 medium size beet 5-6 cups water 1 tablespoon sea salt as per taste A pinch of chili powder (optional) A pinch of Asafetida (hing) powder (optional) A pinch of chili powder (optional)

Method: Coarsely crush mustard seeds in a mortar pestle or a coffee grinder. Peel and slice carrots and the beet. Place carrots and beets pieces in a clean mason jar or any glass jar with a lid. Add water into the jar, make sure all the veggies are covered with water. Add all the other ingredients in the jar. Stir with a wooden spoon to make sure all the ingredients are mixed properly and then close the lid. You can also use cheese cloth to cover the jar. Let the jar sit in a preferably sunny or warm spot for few days. Try to stir with a wooden spoon daily. Usually when it is fermented, the mustard seeds start to float and once the kanji develops a tangy flavor it is ready. You can eat the veggies and drink the liquid. Store in the refrigerator but bring it to room temperature before you drink.

Parul Kharod is a registered dietitian and licensed nutritionist and works as a Clinical Dietitian. She can be reached at parulkharod@gmail.com