The Fast Experience!

Hi Readers,

I had started fasting a few months ago. On every Tuesday.

In the beginning it started as just sacrificing and skipping the regular meals. Poha with Filter Coffee in the Morning, Daal-Rice and Veggies in the Afternoon, Cookies with Cardamom Tea in the evening and finally Sabji-Roti with Raita-Achaar(Hindi: Pickle) in the Night.

I remember in the beginning, Tuesdays were very noisy, from the growling of the empty stomach, which felt useless on this day of the week. A bit of drowsiness and numbness from the voids left empty by the C6H12O6 molecules in the body-cells.

The Wednesday Mornings were celebrated like Diwali or Eid. Breakfast seemed like a Feast. Each grain of rice, each pellet of pulse and each dollop of Curry felt like Ambrosia. With each grain rubbing against the tongue, Saliva turned Savage. Brain registered the importance of each grain of edibles.

Slowly as the practice of fasting matured, my body parts got disciplined. Stomach subdued its rumbling and growling. The drowsiness diffused and the numbness normalized. The voids were now filled with energy. Fasting became the Freedom from the shackles of the mundane food-cycle. Tuesdays became the new Sundays of the week. Refreshing and revitalising.

My fast is non-religious. I do not want to please the Gods with my abstinence from food. (Though if they get pleased by any chance, any rewards from the skies above are welcome.) My fast is a way to reduce the noise from the incessant chaos and complexity to listen to my own heart-beats, to feel my own blood flowing through the veins, to bath in the warmth of the skin of my body. To be me again.

Tuesdays throw me back to the ground every time and reminds me that life is as simple as it can get and is as complex as you want it to be.

By the way, today is a Tuesday!