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| Edited By: Malavika Sangghvi |Source: |Updated: Nov 19, 2013, 11:17 PM IST
The Spectator
London might have the weather as its all-purpose conversation piece, but by God, Mumbai has its weight!
As someone who has been on both sides of the weight issue — very thin and very fat — and is now inching their way to being thin again, I am constantly amazed at how weight and its allies — diet, food, exercise — are at the top of people’s mind. Complete strangers in lifts, people whose names you don’t even know, will not think it rude to tell you cheerfully that you are looking thin or fat that day.
Heavy duty work meetings will meander off into delicious gossip sessions if the issue of weight happens to arise, with every one offering their weight-related stories, experiences and opinions; and with public personalities discussed, judged and pigeon-holed according to their relation with weight.
And of course weight is a political issue that comes along with a profound sense of judgment: how we view the world and what we think of it is weight driven, with a subtle bias against fat people and thin people assuming a moral superiority over their rounder fellow beings.
To say Mumbai is weight insensitive is an understatement. The same people who are loathe to being racist or casteist or class-biased will think nothing of being weightist: It is not considered rude, but cute, to tease some one about their weight.
And even while people have finally stopped offering unsought advice they will still offer you their latest fad diet if they think you need it.
What is delicious irony of course, is that in a city where thousands are dying of malnutrition, being thin has assumed such an important dimension, and weight has captured the collective imagination of such a large number of its citizens.
Don’t believe me? Try this simple experiment. The next time you need an ice-breaker or a conversation starter, just talk about the success or failure of your latest diet and watch how a room full of even the most uptight and solemn individuals, blossoms into a lively chat forum.
No doubt about it, weight is the great leveler, the bonder and Mumbai’s favourite topic right now. The world according to Mumbai is not flat-it's fat!
