Weight and watch
By Geetu
SMALL is beautiful, proclaims a TV ad,aptly reflecting the ethos of the times. in today's world when everything is being viewed statistically with everyone longing to possess sleek things, how can the human body be spared? being slim or thin has become a barometer of beauty and people (especially women) are ready to go to any lengths to achieve a reed-like figure.

Achiever
A woman you can bank upon
By Teena Singh
NEENA Singh is an achiever with a difference. She lost her mother when she was barely five years old. Born when her youngest sibling was 18 years old, she was showered by affection and her father put everything on hold to tend to her. Perhaps that is why she is the antithesis of the aggressive, abrasive, achiever.

Weight and watch
By Geetu

SMALL is beautiful, proclaims a TV ad,aptly reflecting the ethos of the times.in today's world when everything is being viewed statistically with everyone longing to possess sleek things, how can the human body be spared? being slim or thin has become a barometer of beauty and people (especially women) are ready to go to any lengths to achieve a reed-like figure.

As women and beauty are two sides of the same coin, no wonder then that it is the fairer sex which is under tremendous pressure to look thin .almost 70 per cent of the persons trying various ways to lose weight are women .‘‘most of them are pressurised by parents or husbands to join weight loss programmes and many have low self- esteem because of their obesity,’’ says suruchi, a counsellor at a slimming centre.

Besides the tough ways offered by gyms and health clubs,several 'soft' techniques, ranging from pills to electronic machines,heat pads are being used in the fight against flab.

Pills and powders though, reportedly, have no side-effects,their effectiveness is doubtful.‘‘all said and done these are artificial methods, that trigger certain changes in the body and are bound to have some harmful effects’’,said Dr Anirudh Shreshta, a physician, "exercise and diet control are the only harmless ways of losing weight. People want shortcuts, but these can be harmful. various problems like low bp,palpitations and even kidney failure can result from the use of certain drugs’’.

Ayurvedic and homoeopathic slimming medicines cost between Rs 200 to 400 per bottle,whereas a combination of diet supplements,powders and drinks cost around Rs 4,000.All these promise a loss of at least 1kg per week.

Apart from these, several upmarket slimming saloons have mushroomed in the city and the adjoining areas in the past 2-3 years. The loss of each kilo would leave one poorer by about Rs 1000 to 1200. A 10 kg weight loss package could cost any where between Rs 10,000 to 12,000. but high cost does not seem to be a deterrent for those "suffering from figure fever" as all these clinics claim to have a "healthy" clientele.

Providing a combination of behaviour modification, through counselling and passive exercise through machines and heat pads , these clinics claim to transform one from 'fat to fit ',very easily."It is difficult to lose 10-20 kg on one's own as motivation has to be sustained for a long period of time", says Reena, a counsellor at one such clinic in the city."The counsellor keeps a close track of a person's dietary habits and also helps sustain motivation levels,while the machines provide passive exercise, thus increasing the metabolism rate", she adds.

"The whole programme is scientific and there are no side-effects.Our machines work only on muscles and provide benefits of exercise to the body",claims Virinder Luthra,Assistant Slimming Manager,at a leading weight loss clinic in the city."Apart from this there is lifelong maintenance help for our clients", she adds.

Some of the machines are for fatloss and others are for inch loss and figure correction. We ensure that the body looks well-toned and the skin does not sag after a person has lost weight,said Suruchi.

Ms Mridula Wattas,Head Department, Dietetics PGI,says a high-fibre and a low-calorie diet, along with increased physical activity is the only safe and sensible way of losing weight.‘‘I personally do not have much faith in mono-diets and fruit plans as the body needs all nutrients and depriving it of some does not make sense. At the PGI we prescribe a balanced and scientifically-designed diet and success rate is over 90 per cent in cases of obesity’’.

Changing dietary habits on a long-term basis and incorporating lifestyle changes might be a permanent answer to all weight-related problems,she adds.

Another danger of using these ‘easy’ weight loss ways is that a person gets into the habit of putting on and losing weight. "I rejoin the course whenever I put on more than 2-3Kgs," says Ms Shaguna Chahal,a housewife. "This is not a healthy thing to do," says Dr Anirudh while quoting a recent study conducted in the USA , according to which losing more than 5kg weight more than five times puts increases the risk of heart disease in a person, apart from other complications.

"There is no substitute for exercise and healthy eating habits. In spite of all claims of no side-effects, the fact remains that there can be some complications",says Dr Anirudh.

It is good to try to look attractive and to attain a trim figure but only up to limit. All women cannot win beauty contests or have pencil-thin figures. Too much importance to physical statistics leading to the use of drastic measures to achieve unrealistic goals can be dangerous and life threatening. As Roosevelt said "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent".

Achiever
A woman you can bank upon
By Teena Singh

NEENA Singh is an achiever with a difference. She lost her mother when she was barely five years old. Born when her youngest sibling was 18 years old, she was showered by affection and her father put everything on hold to tend to her. Perhaps that is why she is the antithesis of the aggressive, abrasive, achiever. Neena heads the HDFC banking operations as the Regional Business Manager in Chandigarh. She recalls how her professional choice as a teenager would either have been the police or literary pursuits in English literature but at 21, it seemed just natural to give the very first competitive exam she was eligible for and it happened to be the State Bank Exam. She got through and it became her profession. Since then she has trained to excel in it by giving further exam to become the certified member of the Indian Institute of Banking

Management at the Bank is a putting together of all different styles, feels Neena. She might be a coach, a counsellor to a beginner under her but to more experienced she is the tough, strict lady who means business when dealing with all deadlines or achieving set targets. She would not think twice before giving the boot to a non-achiever barring which she is like family to her staff of nearly 100 people. "Different strokes for different situations" she adds.

She feels she is lucky to have God’s blessing and her team’s devotion to keep her there. It is not her right, but the unity, strength, harmony, work and good wishes of her team that keep her in the exalted chair she occupies.

To the question whether she experienced any amount of discrimination in a man’s world, Neena says: "God has been good to me. It might be happening in the word but I can’t complain and fight with my God on this!" She laughs but agrees that very few women reach where she is and that, according to her, is primarily because not many women have the kind of home support that she enjoys. The stakes are high and one needs a lot of family support. Many of her contemporaries who reached such positions chose to remain single. But thanks to her husband and son, she can give her all to the work. Neena’s job requires her to prioritise her time and it is distributed judiciously between work, husband, son and her staff. Mere socialising is way down on her list.

A spotless table without fancy files speaks of her efficiency. A laptop on which she works endlessly speaks of her ability to change, adapt and learn newer methods of work. For a November 56 born, this was not the way one grew up. The five carnations add class to her room as does the Anju Pasricha painting. Of course one cannot to miss the certificates emeritus adorning the walls given to the bank, she leads in the city.

Visitors and colleagues keep walking into her room for help and advice and watching each one given me an impression of being a dear old friend of Neena. That is her style. Like one of her colleagues puts it, "she is not required to handle customers. But the doors of her room are always open for anyone, even the junior most trainee, who wishes to talk to her."She joined Times Bank after working for years in the State Bank of Patiala at the insistence of her husband, who is also her friend, supporter and guide. He knew she was excellent in the job at SBOP but realised that with the plus of being able to teach well, nationalised banks had an inherent minus of unionism, curtailed growth and limited wages. Sky was the limit for a hard-working honest and intelligent wife Neena.

She left SBOP with flying colours as the youngest Chief Manager without second thought, was taken-up by Times Bank. The Times Bank people stopped their interviews after she walked in for an interview. HDFC happily retained her after the take-over. She could be a research scholar, or a theatre personality or an author or simply a glamorous intelligent wife and mother. This calm, serene and cheerful woman is all of the above. She is anything but the prototype of the bankers as a staid person.

She happily quotes from Khalil Gibran, loves Tagore and is highly inspired by books like — Your Sacred Self by Wayne Dyer. Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s poetry still tugs at her heart. All her travel time and the quiet time at night before she sleeps goes into reading. She writes prize-winning poetry, paints, sings beautifully and has excelled in theatre as her one wish is to learn music, to be able to play the harmonium. I joke that she could easily do with a 48 hours day. She gives her disarming smile to tell me she will manage it sooner or later like she had managed to learn Reiky from her Guru Puran Prabh Dua and reached level two.

When one visits her house which is a home a big note on the door saying "Mamma welcome home, we love you, we missed you" sweeps one off the feet. Her husband Prithpal is welcoming as he ushers one into the tastefully-done drawing room. She is still at work. Prithpal, in avery matter of fact way tells one how he tried to get into private banking but failed and so decided to chuck banking and joined as General Manager Kandhari Beverages Limited. He is on leave at present to help their 17-year-old son for his approaching 10th class boards. He is in charge of home running. He knows Neena is far superior in her work and requires all her attention to be focussed at work so leaves her free from household chores. I wonder if his ego does not prick or if some complex emotion doesn’t overtake "him".

"No", he says, "I can do anything for her and for her only. I love her. She is one in a million because of her clean, transparent and loving personality. Not only me", he tells, "everyone she comes in contact with loves her". People who happen to travel with her have become life-long friends. The heart-shaped, strawberry cake with a rose next to it was the wake up call for Neena on Valentine’s Day. Lying next to it was the sari with matching jewellery and bindi with love from Prithpal. There is something about her that keeps romance alive. They had met as colleagues in SBOP 20 years back and, after two years of courtship, married in 1982.