It was just a subtle “click” in my right knee, a few years ago. Since then, the knee has been drawing my attention every now and then with a faint “creak” much like a hinge without grease. Occasionally, it would send a sharp pain, lest I forget its presence. The subtle reminders ensured that I take care while climbing stairs and be regular with exercise to strengthen my limb muscles. My parents too had similar knee problems and learned to live with it well into their eighties and nineties. Osteoarthritis had crept in with subtlety and stayed on with constant reminders.
The manifestation of another common chronic disease, diabetes, is different. It is often “silent” and the symptoms, if any, are vague. Many patients accept their high blood sugar levels as “normal” for them and become complacent about diet and drugs. Unfortunately, the seriousness sinks in only when complications occur. Heart attack, stroke and kidney failure are the extreme end of the spectrum of diabetes that has remained uncontrolled for several years. Raising awareness before the disease strikes is a challenge for the proponents of preventive medicine.
It is imperative to check blood sugar, blood pressure and body weight regularly and be aware of healthy lifestyles. Adherence to such a regimen and responsibility for personal health remain with individuals.
Subtlety takes a toll not only on our health but also on the health of the environment. While on my morning walks, I realise that I have not seen weaver birds and pied kingfishers in the city park in a long time. Twenty years ago, I had marvelled at the intricately woven nests of the weaver birds and the hovering flight of pied kingfishers over a lake. Where have they gone? When did they disappear? Unlike human beings, birds do not complain about their habitat loss. They quietly move over to a conducive environment elsewhere, if they are lucky. If not, they may just be counted among “threatened” or “extinct” species. Recently, I noticed an unintended consequence of a common “responsible practice” on biodiversity. Aided by the monsoon, grass and wild flowers overran a large ground in the middle of a housing colony. There were butterflies of many hues and sizes fluttering all over the place. Just the next day, I found the place “cleanly” mowed and devoid of butterflies. There was a lone blue pansy fluttering and probably asking, “Who did this and why? Couldn’t you leave at least a small patch of wilderness for us?” The questions from the little pansy were lost on the residents who had seen the ground as one filled with weeds and not as one filled with feeder plants. In this case, it was easy to espouse the cause. There must be several subtle indicators for ecological disruptions. Climate change, floods, landslips and species loss are at the extreme end of the spectrum of an unhealthy environment.
The pandemic has made many get close to nature. It is necessary for all to go a step further and see subtle indicators of threat to the environment, as well as to one’s own health before it is too late. The time for action is now.
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