The latest concern is over my form. Im thinning down after years of corpulent well-being to a reed, bent and whittled, like something amongst which moses was found. And like at that time, so now, the reed isn’t important at all. Im no moses. To investigate this widespread alarm Ive had to revisit my childhood. Yes, I was disgorged from the womb plump and succulent, an offering to the demon, and was then nourished by a cornucopia of farm and dairy products, we being humble village folk from south-east India (if I give any more away il become a victim of racism). So, to come back to the meat of the matter, my childhood, my teens and my adolescence was round with no sharp edges. I entered adulthood healthy and with the avowed purpose of taking every tide in my affairs at the right time. All the tides were high, low only occasionally the morning after. They left their residue around my waistline. It was only in the past year that the storms of sahara have blown over my body. I got jaundice. It was to this dreaded disease of the government water dept. that I gave 10 kilos of flesh as ether, and it gave me cigarettes and lots of dope. Because with jaundice began 5 months of arduous prohibition. Then came a whirlpool of activity, frenetic and mad. There was a play(15-20 cigarettes daily), m a part 2 finals(10-15 cigarettes),comeback parties(10-20 cigarettes),blank afternoons(ditto),lonely nights in front of the tv(5-10 cigarettes). So there lies the genesis of my impending ruin. An embryo I could have left unincubated, (hint-an embryo that is good to avoid is egg. helps as a first step towards weight loss). But I have made a firm decision that the moratorium on alcohol is over, thank you very much, a decision to be honest , that id made sometime back. Ive been warned ad nauseum that the drugs are no longer working on my mind, but now only on my body. I have to parachute down. So ive gone straight ahead and chosen life. A career. a faaking big television…you know the rest.