After a week's worth of hard work, you finally gather yourself and a couple of friends and head out for a night on the town. You go to a pub, and order beer. As you guzzle that cold, delicious golden beer, you feel all that stress slipping away. You don't have any qualms about having that beer because you feel that you have earned it. Yeah, you have worked your ass off for the entire week, and you deserve to enjoy a night on the town with your buddies. And it feels so good after.

Well, this is what happens to your body as that beer passes through : *

1. You take a swig of beer.

2. Within seconds, the beverage passes through your oesophagus and into your stomach.

3. Twenty percent of the alcohol is absorbed from your stomach into you bloodstream; the rest is absorbed from your intestines.

4. The alcohol travels through your blood to your liver, where it's broken down. During this process, waste products called acetate and acetaldehyde are created.

5. Acetate and acetaldehyde signal you body to stop burning fat. At the same time, your body starts making fat from another waste product of alcohol, acetyl CoA.

6. Your body can effectively process only about 15ml to 30ml of alcohol per hour.

So the more you drink, the longer your body is inhibited from burning fat, and the more fat builds up from the excess acetyl CoA.
(A 340ml beer contains about 17ml of alcohol.)

Cheers to you !!!

yours truly,
Ar'Nath
*Original Article from Men's Health Magazine (Indian Edition) May 2007

I happened to glance on the above news snippet just a few days back in 'The Hindu'. This assault/robbery attempt on this woman is not particularly new news, and it isn't surprising either. Statistics reveal that a robbery or mugging attempt on an individual takes place once every 5 minutes. And a good 80% of those are carried out when the assailant is armed in some way.

This is the time when my internal light bulb chooses to switch on. This is when I realized how poorly adapted people are when they face such a harmful situation. Such a person, it does not matter if they are male or female, are completely at the mercy of their assailant or perpetrator. They can't do anything because they do not know how to respond. This is a major reason why every person - man, woman or child should learn how to respond appropriately and adapt quickly as and when such a situation presents itself. This is paramount. There are no two ways about it. One cannot always be dependent on others for one's safety, and this includes the good people in our law enforcement agencies. Even they cannot be expected to protect to protect each and every person out there, all the time. We really should learn to defend ourselves, as much as possible, to the best of our abilities.

That is all well and good, but what exactly are you suggesting we do ?
You may ask. Read on, I shall tell you.

Naturally, the first thing one will assume is to learn some kind of fighting technique, and in almost all cases, the spectre of Martial Arts looms large right ahead. We all assume that it is enough if we are trained in a Martial Art discipline to some proficient level. It is natural to have the belief that all will be well and good when we have the confidence that we can throw out a high kick or a punch that Mr.Lee or Mr.Chan would be proud of.

But it is only the first step.

------------------
yours truly,
Ar'Nath

Really people, some things are just too weird to figure out.

Let me just spill this out. When you got to a store and buy an item, you expect the shopkeeper to make the transaction without any fuss. It cannot be any more simpler, you pick the item(s) you want to purchase, pay the required amount, take what you bought, and leave. Tell me, what is the big deal in this ?

Don't fret, I'll get straight to the point.
This is the thing. I am a normal male of south indian origin, from Madras actually. I am 24 years old, a little bit on the shorter side, umm.....somewhat obese and i possess an attitude proportionate to my size. I have had a fairly active sex life, i've never had to try too hard to, you know....... get laid. I am not in any relationship of any kind, i just hook up with any girl i happen to like. I admit, when i first get acquainted with any girl, i look for any kind of action that i can get. What else do you expect from men my age ? I get lucky most of the time, since most of the girls i meet are the typical single-working in a big IT company-outgoing-partying-looking to have fun kind of girls. Most of the time, they are just there to unwind and party. Only very rarely does things go otherwise, and it works just fine for me.

The fact of the matter is, since i get a fairly good amount of action, i keep adequate protection with me. Now, yesterday i went to the neighborhood medical store to buy some condoms. There were just a few people before me. When my turn finally came, i went straight up to the shopkeeper and asked him for a particular brand of condoms. He had what i asked for, right there on the front shelf, it was right in front, displayed for all to see. What took me aback was that the shopkeeper kept looking at me in a disapproving way, as if i had asked him for something illegal. He was this middle aged fellow(in his 40's, i think) and he kept on shushing me. I didn't know what the hell was going on and i kept pointing to what i asked him for. To my surprise, he swatted my hand away and told me to keep quiet. He then took the pack out and gave it to me as if he was handing over drugs or something else illegal. Mind you, the whole affair had me perplexed, i didnt' know why he was behaving like this. Then it hit me, he was actually embarrassed to give me the condoms.

This is really stupid, i know. I didn't say anything, i just handed him the money and left the store. I can't help thinking about this weird episode. Everyone, i mean every sane person out there knows about safe sex, and every sane person condones the use of condoms whole heartedly. The Government is totally behind this, the government encourages people to indulge in safe sex as part of its AIDS awareness programs. Then why is this shopkeeper embarrassed to sell condoms ? Why is he such a prude, yet keeps them in his inventory ?


God only knows why.

yours truly,
Ar'Nath

Two of my greatest passions are Books and Movies. I collect whatever worthwhile books I can get my hands on, and hoard them with all the possessiveness of a pit bull. And movies, need you say more, I am a movie addict. I would most definitely go nuts if I don't get to watch movies on a regular basis. My addiction for books and movies has grown to great bounds, so much so that I am in danger of needing a separate room for my collection of Books and Movies.

What the heck are you gonna do with so much stuff ???
I can hear you wondering about that. What am I going to do ?

Well, I am planning to build an extensive collection of Books and Movies, a home library of sorts. Book by Book, Disc by Disc. Soon, I would convert have a separate room, an extra one mind you, and convert it into a media room. To house each and every one of my Books and the Movies that I have.

(To be continued........on account of just realizing that I am late for a party)

yours truly,
Ar'Nath

This is part of the makeover series of posts where i thumped and puffed my chest out and announced 'I'm a Bad Boy'.

Last time was about that disgusting smoking habit that i picked up. Now, the second part is about shaping myself up. You cannot be a "Bad Boy" and taken seriously if you look like a big drum of lard (Lookee....that is exactly how i look right this minute). I was always seriously overweight, i had never been even moderately plump in my entire 23 years of existence. I can blame it on genes, or a medical condition, or any other of a thousand possible excuses that i care to put the blame on.

But, the truth is...... i am just plain lazy.


I am a lazy ass and a chronic procrastinator. This is how i had always been. Throw in a propensity to wolf down large quantities of junk food and singularly unhealthy eating habits, and there you have it..... a recipe for disaster that is bound to succeed. On top of it, my profession also contributes to my extremely sedentary lifestyle. I am a Freelance Graphic & Web Designer working out of my home office. There, now you see it. My entire lifestyle is at fault.

In the past, i had joined a couple of gyms on account of my father's insistence. But i just did not have the motivation and the sincerity to follow a dedicated weight loss regimen. I am weak willed when it comes to food and exercise. So much so that my father, a Diabetes & Cardiac Specialist Doctor (the two conditions overweight people are most susceptible to), got fed up and left me alone. Being the son of a Diabetes & Cardiac Care Specialist, i had a wealth of material available to me. Scientifically, Medically proven and tried & true information on being overweight and all the health complications it leads to. I had pages and pages of material, books, magazines, and hundreds of gigabytes of the same. I had also been given tried & tested weight loss kits designed by top medical conglomerates to help me map and schedule a working slimming regimen. But what did i do ? I kept them all aside and ignored them completely. At risk of repeating myself.....

I just did not care.

I did not see it even when my XL size clothes weren't fitting me. But then, when my work started to get affected, I realized i had to do something, i had no choice but to get my act together. I had lost a couple of projects due to me being lazy and not delivering it on time. It is then i realized that there is no other choice, but to do what i had always shirked from.

I had to go on a weight loss regimen......and stick to it.

Now, the best way to lose all that fat is to huff, puff and sweat in buckets. A Strenous aerobic activity like walking, running or aerobics is the key. Since i had become very shy to go outside in this body, i did the next best thing. I bought myself a treadmill. It is a motorized foldable model, it has the inclinations, the vibrators, the pedometers, all the works. It cost me quite a bundle, the cost of this beauty is Rs.27,000/- . I also got some Resistance bands and some free weights also, a couple of dumbells.

My father, the good doctor, has told me that he will get big ol' me a multi-station gym if i so much as use the treadmill regularly and stick to a working weight loss regimen sincerely. He assured me that he will get me the multi station if i so much as show a weight loss of at least 5KGs. Now that is a more than fair deal to get me motivated. At last, i have put together an 8 month weight loss plan to lose a target weight of 15 kilos. It is a most definite and possible target to achieve and i have promised myself a reward later on. It is always extremely hard at first, but i am willing myself to stick to my weight loss regimen. I am confident that this time around, i will succeed in what i have failed before.

I can hear you telling "Yeah right, you fat slob."
Let us wait and see.

yours truly,
Ar'Nath