don’t make money in the name of health

‘Wake Up Fat Burners’

‘Health is Wealth’ was once the wise man’s call but not now. Ironically, because health is a subject to be ignored in today’s fast forward world the fitness clubs make the best use of the negligence of the busy bees. Last week, I was in my uncle’s house at Hyderabad. My uncle is a software engineer and a father of two. He is a big fat man and that always worries my aunty. ‘Elephants are good in computers and so is he’. This line very well suits my uncle and how has the elephants been related to computers?  Are elephants really good in handling computers? Here is the explanation for my not so weird comparison. The largest animal on land is apparently the elephant and the elephants are a symbol of luck and intelligence. Likewise, software engineers make a good fortune with their smart thinking but they hardly get out of their computer desks and that makes them obese like an elephant. In that way, sometimes an elephant can be humorously compared to an IT professional like my uncle. One need not grow furious regarding this comparison for the elephants are forever one of the most sacred living land animals but not the lardy tech wizards known for their lazy life styles and my uncle is not an exception to this reality. My uncle weighs around 120 kilograms and that makes me call him a ‘Smart Jumbo’.  Sometimes I feel that his shapeless body is made up of brain and not fat and he stops at nothing before arriving at the best software solutions for his clients. Every day he works for about twelve hours in front of the computers and that makes him a busy man on earth. Burgers, chips and pizzas are like drugs to him and these fast foods push him hard to finish his assignments in no time. This non-stop munching is adding a lot of calories to his system which indeed makes him a fat man. To my complete and utter surprise, my uncle made up his mind to get rid of his rotund structure and that’s why I took him to a nearby fitness centre.

At the fitness centre, the trainer received us with a warm smile. He then asked me if I was there for the sexy six pack abs which I never thought of till that very moment. When the trainer was told about the purpose of our visit, he came up with some weird offers which truly annoyed me but not my uncle for those offers seemed very much acceptable to him. The first offer would be ‘Lose up to 10 kilograms just at rupees 12.000 and lose another 10 kilograms for absolutely free’. The second offer ‘Lose up to 10 kilograms just at rupees 10,000 and get 20 sessions of figure correction for absolutely free’ was still worse than the former at least to me. My obese uncle was very much interested in the first offer for he can burn an extra ten for free and he was filling the application form right in front of my eyes which indeed irritated me for my own reasons. Fortunately to my very great relief, he did not pay the cash that day. On our way back home, I was tempted to ask one question to my fat uncle and the question was ‘Why do we need offers in health care? My uncle chuckled and said “Nothing sells without offers these days and unfortunately, health is not an exception to this New Age Business Concept” to which my response was “it’s no way acceptable; these offers are abusing health care to the core” If the current trend continues, then one can’t be surprised to witness insane offers like – ADMIT YOUR GRAND PARENTS IN THIS CLINIC AND GET YOUR KIDS TREATED FOR ABSOLUTELY FREE. The question of the effects of such baseless offers over the frugal world is never far from a reality as the very issue beckons to tempt us in the near future. Nowadays the health sector has become a mere money making business. The present day hospitals run major tests for minor ailments and believe it or not, the spiralling medical bills scare the patients more than the ailment itself. In the shadow of this health care crisis there thrives another industry called the Fitness Clubs with their never before heard offers. Such nonsensical offers are definitely attracting customers but it is clearly insulting health care. By whose authority are these fitness centres selling health in the name of bizarre offers? Is it not a sin to relate a person’s obesity with cheap offers? ‘Wake up fat burners or else it is going to be too late for you to feel sorry for yourself!! ’ These not so meaningful offers are indeed hurting the sentiments of the obese people and must not be encouraged by the public. Instead, these healing centres can go for decent offers like – ‘PAY FOR SIX MONTHS AND WORK FOR TWELVE MONTHS’ or they can charge customers based on their age groups. Such packages will never affect the sentiments of the suffering obese individuals and this is surely one of the possible ways to redeem the status of health care in the ailing society. My opinions may shed a little light on a burning health issue but will that be enough to inspire a change? Let’s wait and see!