Waking up in the morning, even before getting out of bed, Totoff would think of what he was going to eat to make his day. It was as if he had no other preoccupation than eating. For him, to live was to eat, eat and eat.

In dailies and weeklies, he would first look up ads of various supermarkets and note down which food and drink were on sale or promotion. Little did he care whether the items he would pick out to buy were unsuitable for him: he was a heart patient, had diabetes and high blood pressure.

For the end-of-year and New Year festivities, Totoff would stock up his huge freezer and shelves with all the food and drink he usually consumed and treated his friends and relatives to.

What was shocking was that he would never listen to anybody at home nor even to the doctors as far as food and drink were concerned; yet, he would normally buy all the medications that would be prescribed no matter how expensive .

Totoff soon became so obese that he could not easily move around. After a heart attack, he could not even stir in his bed. He was helpless to such an extent that he was unable to draw the curtain near his bed in the hospital to reduce the glare of the sun. He had to kindly ask someone to do it for him. Not long after, he died an untimely death.

Like Totoff, many are those who simply live to eat and also at the expense of others. In a wedding feast, many people would hardly find an excuse for not turning up because food and drink are served in plenty. They may not attend it to wish the newly-weds happiness and luck, so what ? But when it comes to eating and drinking, wherever it is, these people would miss with difficulty.

Some popular restaurants are full all the time. Without reserving a table in advance, it is difficult to go out to such restaurants. Either you have to wait for a long time or go away hungry if in a hurry to eat.

A good vendor of dholl-puri (tortilla filled with spicy vegetable curries) has to attend to an endless queue of impatient eaters at any time of the day. A senior citizen once bitingly remarked that never had people been so hungry anywhere you would go. Is it a sign of prosperity or what?

Here we need to commend the wise decision of the government to ban from school canteens the sale of certain items of junk food as from the beginning of year 2007. Whether one likes it or not, this will indeed go a long way in promoting the good health of our children. It is hoped that such a bold decision be gradually extended to other groups of the population. Discipline and a new mind-set are essential at the start of a new year for the development and progress of our families and the nation at large.

We should then eat to live and not live to eat. The mantra - you are what you eat - has to be remembered always. The Ayurveda advises that our food must be our medicine. Let year 2007 be a new milestone.

<B>Kaviraj SOHUR</B>