Good health is in your hands
By Poonam Kumar
IN this era of professional women who have to look after work as well as family, health is not given the importance it deserves. It is only when a disease sets in and starts interfering in one’s daily activity that a medical opinion is sought by which time it may be too late.

To marry or not to marry
By Tammana Kanwar
IF such is the promise of everlasting love and companionship that marriage holds forth, then to stay away from such bliss would be sheer insanity. The catchword however is “if” and such tentativeness makes all the difference. The Utopia that it promises is perhaps just that – a Utopia –the end of the fairy tale whose “happily ever after” is left to conjecture.

Good health is in your hands
By Poonam Kumar

IN this era of professional women who have to look after work as well as family, health is not given the importance it deserves. It is only when a disease sets in and starts interfering in one’s daily activity that a medical opinion is sought by which time it may be too late. Medical science has made rapid strides over last few years and it is now possible to prevent and cure serious diseases like cancer and osteoporosis if they are detected at an early state. So it is imperative for all of us to eat a healthy diet, exercise regularly, have a positive attitude towards life, take short breaks from routine work and reserve at least one day in a year for comprehensive medical checkup. Here, I will outline some important components of an annual medical checkup that are applicable to women.

1. Pap Test — This is a simple and painless test done to detect cancer of cervix at an early stage, when it is most curable. Cancer of the cervix is the most common cancer in Indian women. In the Pap Test, a long bud is inserted in the vagina and a sample of secretions is taken from the surface of cervix for testing. This test should be performed once a year in all women after 25 years, throughout life.

2. Breast examination — If performed properly and regularly detects cancer of the breast at the earliest, curable stage.

a) Self-examination — Every woman after 20 years should examine her breasts by standing in front of a mirror and look for its size, shape and skin surface and later by palpating with fingers. This should be done once a month, after each menstrual period. Post-menopausal women can fix any day of the month.

b) Clinical breast examination — Should be done by a doctor once a year after 18 years.

c) Mammography — It is a specialised X-ray to detect breast cancer. A baseline mammography should be done between 35-40 yrs. age, followed by one every alternate year till 50 and then once a year throughout one's life.

3. Preventing osteoporosis — The bones are made up of calcium and protein. After 35 years, the bones in the body start losing calcium gradually which over several years results in their weakening and makes them prone to fractures. This thinning out of bones is called osteoporosis. The best way to deal with osteoporosis is to prevent it through diet, exercise and hormone replacement therapy.

a) Diet — Ensure adequate calcium intake. Young women need about 1,200 mg and post-menopausal women about 1,500 mg of calcium per day. The main dietary sources of calcium are milk products, green leafy vegetables and nuts. Vitamin D helps the stomach absorb calcium. Milk that is fortified with vitamin D and being in the sun for about 15 minutes a day helps the body in getting its full quota of vitamin D.

b) Exercise — To slow the rate of bone loss and strengthen existing bones, some regular weight-bearing activity (such as walking) is helpful. Exercise like aerobic dancing, brisk walking and tennis is good for the bones as well as heart and muscles.

C) Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) — The female hormone oestrogen, produced in a woman’s ovaries, protects her against bone loss. After menopause — the time in a woman’s life when she stops menstruating — the ovaries stop producing oestrogen, leading to increase in the rate of bone loss. In HRT, this oestrogen and other hormones are replaced which helps in preventing osteoporosis, protects against heart disease and relieves symptoms like hot flushes, mood changes etc. seen so frequently in postmenopausal women.

However, before starting HRT, you must get yourself a thorough checkup by your gynaecologist who will recommend the exact schedule of HRT and explain the possible side-effects.

4. Abnormal Bleeding in Premenopausal Period

Abnormal bleeding can sometimes be a sign of a problem in the uterus or its lining. Even though periods tend to be irregular around the time of menopause, it is important to be aware of bleeding that is not normal for you. Call your doctor if you:

• Have a change in your monthly cycle.
• Have very heavy bleeding.
• Have bleeding that lasts longer than normal
• Bleed more often than every three weeks.
• Bleed after intercourse.

To marry or not to marry
By Tammana Kanwar

IF such is the promise of everlasting love and companionship that marriage holds forth, then to stay away from such bliss would be sheer insanity. The catchword however is “if” and such tentativeness makes all the difference. The Utopia that it promises is perhaps just that – a Utopia –the end of the fairy tale whose “happily ever after” is left to conjecture. Marriage is the beginning of the “ever after” which unfortunately may not be so happy. And probably this is the reason that there is a sea of change in the way women today are thinking of marriage even in a traditional and conservative country like ours.

Such a changed perception is not merely limited to the educated, urban, upper middle class women or those brought up on a staple diet of “Mills and Boons” who wake up to the reality of a staid married life without the ever elusive figure of the “knight in shining armour” but seems to be cutting across class and regional barriers. The biggest eye opener was the 20 year old daughter of our domestic help, who having seen her mother suffer a hellish marriage, refuses to get married simply because she is supposed to. Be it those down below in the socio-economic ladder or the young educated college girls or the working professionals, the underlying instigator that has led to a questioning of the established social moors is a desire to live with dignity, on their own terms without a string of endless compromises.

Infact the very word “ marriage” brings to mind a life of compromises, a bargain where each tries to strike the best possible deal. If women today feel compelled to get married it is largely due to societal pressures. The response of the society is still rigidly conventional. The very terms used to describe a single man and a single woman shows the extent of society’s hypocrisy and double standards- if it’s a woman she is a “frustrated spinster”; a man however is a “happy bachelor”. What is being questioned, however, is not the institution of marriage per se. Call it orthodoxy if you will but we are still, thankfully, away from the promiscuity of the West that is often passed in the garb of open-mindedness. The big question mark is around the stereotypical and essentially patriarchal concept of marriage that has been the order of the day.

“One is not born, but rather becomes a woman,” announced a leading French Feminist Simone de Beauvoir. This realization that the essentially subordinate role assigned to the women, as also the wife is a result of cultural conditioning and not because of any innate inferiority is increasingly dawning upon the so-called “second sex”. Equality, sharing, compatibility, honour, and understanding-this is what women today desire from marriage and not simply being condemned to a lifetime of drudgery and household chores. Career, marriage, family- men have had it all since the beginning and women want it too. Ekroop Caur, who will soon be leaving for training under Customs and Central Excise, puts it all very succinctly-“Taking the Civil Services Examination was for me a conscious choice, as has everything else been my life. How can marriage be any different?”

And how do men feel about such an abdication of traditional female role? Threatened? Hostile? Impervious to change? Possibly. But men too are trying to outgrow the anachronistic, chauvinistic thinking albeit rather slowly and reluctantly. Pratul Sharma, a student of Mass Communication at Panjab University, asks so very poetically-“Unless my wife is my other and better half, how does the concept of “Ardhangini” make sense?” Yes, how indeed? Only that not many men think thus. For them women remain the “lesser” half, ideal for the unpaid job of a housewife. No, not unpaid in the strict sense or the word. After all the wife does get “paid” in terms of social and economic security…a fair enough bargain one would say.

If it’s just a question of socio-economic security instead of spending your life with the rather nebulous figure of a “soul-mate”, then it is not surprising that women are increasingly making their presence felt in the hitherto male dominated world of business, politics, breaking through the so-called glass ceilings and deciding to marry as and when they want rather than follow the societal dictates. Perhaps this is the reason why the societal churning is more visible in urban areas where the number of economically independent women is much larger than in rural areas. Economic independence however is just a means to an end and not an end in itself. The essential requirement for a meaningful change is a change in the ossified mind-sets of the society at large and not any reforms imposed from the outside without a corresponding change within.

That the change we see in both men and women is the exception rather than the rule cannot be denied. But at least it’s a beginning – a limited one but a beginning nevertheless. The elusive “trickle down theory” which did not work in economic development might work here for it is all about spreading awareness and a concern for the other. And as such it has nothing to do with the politically toned, forbidden word “Feminism”. The question “To marry or not to marry” is simply a manifestation of the desire to lead one’s own life on one’s own terms and has nothing to do with being a “feminist”. And such a day, when each one of us has the right to lead our life the way we want to- such a day will be a day of pride for the Indian women, not the crowning of yet another beauty queen.