Mr. Death convenes a meeting at his office with Messrs Diabetes, Hypertension and Heart Attack.
Death: I believe you will be wondering why I convened this urgent meeting. I am quite unhappy with your performance, and I am seriously concerned about the future of my dynasty. I have been instructing you for the past several years to bring Mr. Health to my office. But you people have been turning a deaf ear to all my orders. I just need your explanation. Let me start with Hypertension.
Hypertension: Sir, I am deeply offended by your comments. As you would be aware, my acts come to light only after a long period of time. I wish to once again disclose that I have been silently affecting a larger percentage of the human population, causing considerable damage to almost all organs of the body. Basically, I affect the blood vessels and will make every effort to hamper blood supply to vital organs, including the heart, the brain and the kidneys. My persistence depends upon the person’s unawareness of my presence. But if I manage to persist, I will surely ensure that he is brought to your gallery or at least make his life worthless and confine him to bed. When I damage a person’s heart, he will develop heart failure and when I damage his kidneys he will develop kidney failure. When I damage his brain, he will suffer a stroke. I can even make a person blind and speechless.
Death: You are boasting too much, then why did you leave Mr. Health?
Hypertension: Sir, whatever I said is not just empty rhetoric. They are true facts. Mr. Health gets his blood pressure checked periodically through his family doctor. More important, he is stress-free. He has reduced his salt intake, and right from childhood he has been doing regular exercise. How can I approach him, sir? I am equally ashamed and concerned. But I am helpless.
Death: Oh God, what about you, Mr. Diabetes?
Diabetes: Sir, It is indeed disheartening to see you worried and angry. But let me assure you that we have been working too hard, especially during the last 25 years to throw life on earth out of gear. Currently, I have made India the diabetic capital of the world. I wish to humbly disclose that I can derange the whole metabolism of the human body, and can equally cause damage like hypertension and I can even damage the nerves, when no one controls me. Especially, when we both (Diabetes and Hypertension) make an alliance, no human being can escape the clutches of our cruelty.
But in the case of Mr. Health, he has very clean eating habits. He avoids junk foods. He eats plenty of fresh vegetables and goes for a morning walk regularly. Even my sister Cholesterol couldn’t have any nexus with him.
I would also wish to bring to your notice that Mr. Cigarette and Mr. Alcohol have left him scot-free. I am helpless at present.
Death: Is it? I shall summon them both immediately
Death sends an sms to Cigarette and Alcohol — ‘urgent meeting at my office. Come quick.’
Both of them appear within minutes.
Cigarette and Alcohol: Good morning, sir.
Death: This morning doesn’t seem to be good for me.
Cigarette and Alcohol: What shall we do for you, sir?
Death: Look here gentlemen, I have been praising you always. You both have been doing a wonderful work ruining the world, and spoiling mankind. But I get worried when Hypertension and Diabetes accuse you of not having made any nexus with Health.
Cigarette and Alcohol: Sir, we tried our level best to approach him. We have indeed made an indecent proposal through his friends. But he doesn’t seem to bother us. Yet we are continuously struggling. Once we succeed in approaching him, we will destroy almost every organ in his body, but our preference will be his lungs, heart and pancreas.
Death: You have not spoken anything, Mr. Heart Attack
Heart Attack: Sir, as you would be aware, without the cooperation of the other members, I am virtually helpless.
Death: Gentlemen, I am totally upset. If such things continue on earth, then my galleries will be virtually empty. I have a feeling that my dynasty is shrinking. I hereby make an earnest appeal to each one of you to continue your battle more vigorously against mankind. Expecting positive results from you soon. Goodbye.
Writer’s advice: Dear students, did you hear the conversation of these bad guys? Let us not fall a victim to their nefarious plans. Let’s strive hard to win this unholy battle against mankind. It is only during childhood that healthy lifestyles could be built up. So right from now, start practising a healthy lifestyle. Adopt clean habits and sensitise your neighbours to the importance of health.
(The writer is a Tutor in Community Medicine, Tirunelveli Medical College, Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu. drplatha@yahoo.in)
Keywords: physical fitness, lifestyle diseases, diabetes, hypertension
your article is really wonderful. healthy life style will definitely
put hypertension and diabetes at bay.but today the stress and tension
encountered by the youngsters of sotware industry is more. they work
in the convenient hours of the westeners and not in our day time.
moreover the government believes that the revenue from the Tasmac
industry is greater than that from people favourable industries.
Alcohol and Cigarettes have well captured the women too.
Hoping for the miracle to happen.
PLEASE DO AUTHOR MORE SUCH ARTICLES.
The article entitled Beware of unholy nexus - Mr.Health deserves
attention and appreciation for the way it was presented. As we all
know, apart from the content of the message, the presentation
defintely matters.
These kind of message presentations will help making the content
appealing for the younger generation, particularly school children,
especially in our primordial prevention interventions.
Regards
N.SRINIVASAN Ph.D (Sociology)
Faculty,Division of Community Medicine
Rajah Muthiah Medical College
Annamalai University
Annamalainagar 608 002
Very good presentation worth to be enacted in schools. This way children
will easily grasp the essentials of good and healthy living.
The conversation among the personified Mr.Death,Mr.Hypertension,Mr.Diabetes,Mr.Heart Attack,Mr.Cigarette and Mr.Alcohol is down to earth dissemination of medical message to all.This novel style will more effectively reach more people than the usual way of posting people with information about the 5 fold silent killers. The conversation of these Merchants of Death should be got translated into regional languages of the country and included in the school curriculum as suggested by Dr.Ashok Kumar. Adding some more killer diseases in the conversation it could be got enacted by students on school day celebrations and in the villages on festival occasions to educate the rural population. In the Readers Digest I read an autobiography by HEART published 40 years back under caption I AM JOHN'S HEART dwelling on how it stood systematically abused by its owner.It was also educative and interesting.
The narration is excellent, many a times though the fitness articles reflect the same Good Healthy Habits, but the article is really worth catchy for thinking on the facts mentioned.
Hard hitting information, amusingly presented – thank you Dr Latha.
May I add two more growing menaces in India (and world over), that of
junk food and sugary drinks?
A bar of chocolate, a packet of crisp, a big mac washed down with a
coke will require 5 hours of running to burn up the calories!! So
don't fall for the 'exercise more line' trotted out by enormously rich
global corporations selling these items!!
Also, please note that the body does not really know how to
effectively deal with 'refined sugar'!! So consider cutting out
refined sugar, as much as possible.
Junk food + sugary drinks = obesity and illness.
Don't be taken in by adverts by successful/rich/beautiful
personalities – who themselves probably don’t touch the stuff, but are
happy to endorse them for large amounts of money to adoring fellow
citizens!!
The article “Beware the unholy nexus, Mr. Health” reveals the health
crisis of the modern world. Nature’s rules were not written for today’s
fast food, sedentary lifestyles, long days at the office and nights in
front of the TV. But our body has an amazing ability to renew itself.
The only secret for a long and energetic life is to take up exercise
regularly. Besides preventing heart attacks and strokes, it can help
resisting many other illnesses including diabetes. In fact it will make
us look as well as feel better and our heart will thank us.
Mr. Death is very clever. He has already developed contingency plans through polishing of foodgrains,use of chemical fertilizer and pesticides, use of chemicals in food items, bleaching essential minerals in sugarcane along with color for better appearance as white sugar, bleaching salt of its natural minerals along with color for better appearance as white salt and consigning people to work on computers in artificial a/c or heater environments causing damage to their internal muscles, bones, etc. Our doctors are also doing a wonderful service injecting chemical antibiotics and killing the body's natural disease-controlling mechanism. So this hide and seek will go on for ever between human intellect and diseases - most diseases caused by the very same human intellect in the first place. Mr. Death is also ably assisted by nature through tsunamis, tempests, floods and what not.
Thanks to the writer Latha for bringing out an article which, though somewhat
serious in nature, is made hilarious for the benefit of the reading public. . It is a
timely warning to everyone that from early life itself one should be cautious in
food habits, particularly avoid junk food and take to regular exercise which should
become a regular routine . This also includes total abstinence from alcohol and
cigarettes. This is the only safe and sure method by which one could keep
enemies like hypertension, diabetes and stroke a safe distance away, thereby
leading to a healthy life. The Health Ministry, both central and State level, should
give wide publicity through media and other means for the benefit of all citizens,
in particular the younger generation
Really good article,a nice way to communicate the information.
Funny as well as enlightening.
This article by Dr Latha is impressive for its style of presentation
which is off the beaten track and acceptable to all'The message it wants
to convey has been clearly sent couched in subtle huumour and though
there have been many such articles in the open page itself on the same
subject i am sure all readers would have read this one withput fail for
its novelty/The author has succeeded in her intent and deserves
congratulations
Good one and worth to be published in every college journal for the benefit of the students.
Instead of talking about banning smoking etc, this article should be included in curriculum for all students.
One of the best articles published in the Open Page. Humorous and at
the same time very educative. The writer deserves our thanks and
appreciation. I am sharing this article with my children and friends.
`Conversational style of presentation of the three major diseases generally affecting people eminently supported by Surendra's speaking cartoon is in refreshing contrast to what we normally come across as write-ups or articles from the pens of Doctors.It made an interesting reading. Humour even from Mr.Death and M/s Diseases ! Superb. Kudos to the writer P.Latha.
Wow is the word, thank you, Dr. Latha! I'll try to wean people
(irrespective of their age ) from M/S Cigarette and Alcohol..
Thanks and regards...
Nice article narrated with a wonderful technique. Any amount of
description on the harmful effects of BP, Cholesterol, etc will pale in
comparison to this absorbing piece. Congrats and all the best for more
such articles.
Dear writer, your article is very hilarious, yet thought-provoking. Thank you for the same. Habits are like cobwebs initially, and they become iron chains over a period of time, making it very difficult to break from the clutches of bad (food) habits. Therefore, your appeal to the children to make good habits right from their childhood is very relevant and timely. In our Indian society, people think that children can eat anything as they have strong digestive power and feed them accordingly with lots of junk/oil foods, which would spell disaster when they grow up into adults struggling to come out of those bad food habits, but unable to. Some other misconception that after 40, we should control our food habits indicating that before that whatever we eat, it is all right. But the fact is that cholesterol start accumulating in the arteries right from age 1. Let us hope your article will serve as an eye opener in making our society more healthier and happier.
Excellent Article and thought provoking to smokers and alcoholics. One should cultivate habits of doing exercise and avoiding junk food. Doctor has rightly said India has emerged as the Diabetes Capital of the world and indeed it must be a worrying factor for all the citizens.
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