On maintaining/preserving the ecological balance in our pursuit of healthy food

Sometimes, people believe they are eating healthy while being unaware of the ecological damage their health fad causes.

Two examples come to mind:

Coconut sugar spoils the health of a coconut tree with repeated sap harvest and sends the farmers/ecology down the drain in long term. I see an entire coconut-based industry/society dying down & suffering. Should I just shut up when I notice people promoting such wrong things? And why did they start believing that it is THE healthiest sugar, there are other natural sweeteners to try out, right? Coconut sugar is high  in fructose & is no better than cane sugar (sucrose). 

I think good health goes hand in hand with sustainable harvest. Something that wrecks havoc with the ecology/health of a tree, can never be good for us to consume.

Quinoa: the very cheap seeds grown by Bolivians, the poor man's food, is now exported all over the world, is the fashionable healthy thing to eat... Domestic prices of quinoa skyrocketed and the middle class stays hungry. 

The poor grow poorer. This is not right, I am sure there are healthy ways of eating which we can adopt from within our local ecology, amaranth seed flour comes to mind, local rural Kenyans eat it. It is even funnier when the people who import & consume quinoa, do it without knowing about its saponin content!

It is okay to import & eat some exotic good-for-health thing once in a while, or if it is sustainable. 

But this kind of consumption, feels unfair to me. 

I don't know what the solution is, it is a free world so we can't place restrictions... But I do feel people need to be better educated. Sometimes a very healthy plant grows right in your backyard, but we ignore it and import some exotic healthy item to eat...

There are many such examples that come to my mind... Poor malnourished Kenyans who can't afford to eat Nile Perch from Lake Victoria in Kisumu, because it is now exported & very expensive.. The list goes on.. 

In memory of Nainamma :-)

'Nainamma' is paternal grandma in Telugu. July 16th 2013 is 25 years since my nainamma passed on.

Nainamma,

I have been meaning to write out something for you since ages, literally over two years. But somehow I never get down to doing it, and decided to start on a draft today, high time I do it before Miyyanv exits from my womb :-D
I hope I am able to jot down all that I wanted to say, I have said it hundreds of times over in my head, some nights before I go to sleep, while in bed... And I always tell myself, Vinie, you got to jot this down first thing tomorrow...

Nainamma, why am I writing to you? Just to let you know, that we remember you, we think of you everyday. Nobody forgot you.
Nainamma's greatest worry, gnawing at her heart, while she was bedridden during the late stages of her breast cancer, with lung secondaries... was that her tiny grandchildren (didi was almost 5 &1/2 yrs, I was soon to be 4 yrs old) will grow up without her, and forget her...
She would keep on telling Tittu repeatedly, Tulsi, don't let these kids forget me, keep reminding them that their nainamma loved them a lot...
Nainamma, Tittu did always keep telling us this story, the story of how you were bedridden, the story of how much you suffered, the story of how much you loved us, everything that you did for us, up until the moment that you died.
I feel really sad, that you died in the agony, of wondering if your grandchildren will ever think of you.
Of course we think of you, we thought of you, at every happy moment of life: Mom would say, how happy your nainamma would be if she could see your dad in this position now. How proud your nainamma would be if she was here to see me promoted. How thrilled your nainamma would be to attend your wedding. How I wish nainamma was here to see your children.
We thought of you even during every little sad/troublesome moment: Mom would say while shouting at us for any mischief: Thank God your nainamma died peacefully, she would have certainly died of a heart attack right now if she saw you doing this. Mom would say while we were in teenage: How I wish your nainamma was alive, she would have taken care of you & been by your side for moral support at this moment, when I am not able to leave my job & stay with you.
Nainamma, if you were alive today, you would have been very very old. But your daughter-in-law says with confidence, that if you were around, you would have continued striving to do something for us, to look after our comfort, insisting that you can take care of your needs/health by yourself, coaxing your daughter-in-law to focus on the kids. Nainamma: always obsessed about her children, her children's spouses, her grandchildren.
Nainamma encouraged mom to pursue her career. Nainamma would chide her: Girl, you are a medical officer, your juniors wear better clothes than you, don't be foolish, don't hand over your salary to my son, learn to manage your own money, save your money, buy nice diamonds for yourself with your money, don't just hand over your money to my son. Don't side with my son & keep quiet over things, you will regret, a woman should always be independent.... Who expects their mom-in-law to say such things? :-)
Some of her cousins called her 'the tree-climber cousin', nainamma didn't mind climbing up a tree to pluck fruit, so very very unladylike in those times! ;-)
The cutest thing about nainamma, whenever she bought a gift, she bought two pieces: one for her daughter, one for her daughter-in-law. She would split her limited budget into two, to be fair, to be equal. A lady far ahead of her times, nobody taught her feminism, nobody taught her gender equality, in fact, she suffered on the wrong side all her life, and learnt to be fair.
Nainamma was widowed at 28 yrs of age, left destitute with two young children: a 14 yr old daughter, a 7 yr old boy. She faced hardships of all kinds: economic, social, you name it. It was not the nicest thing to be a widow in those days.
With the support of her brother & parents, she resumed school, graduated, and started teaching Hindi in Ongole. With her teacher's salary, she brought up her two children, made them stand on their own feet.
Even after my father grew up & settled into a job, she would not take a penny from him. While my parents lived in Hyderabad, later in Delhi, nainamma continued working at her school in Ongole, she would save her salary, and buy jewellery: once again to be distributed equally between all her grandchildren.
Through my mother's multiple miscarriages, nainamma sat in the hospital wards weeping for her, trying to nurse her back to health, praying to all the pantheon of devatas...
When I got married, mom gave me a tiny thin chain to wear, it was so frail, it was lost under all my other jewellery. But mom insisted that I wear it, because it was a gift from nainamma.
Right when I was born, nainamma must have dreamt about my wedding, and started putting together whatever she could save from her salary after her expenses... She gave a gold chain for me, gold bangle for my sister, a string of pearls+corals strung in gold wire...
I can not imagine how much she would have struggled to save & buy these tiny ornaments for us. Moreover, going by her equality principle, she must have had to save an equal amount of money to purchase gold for her daughter's children too : ) Her struggle reminds me of the tiny squirrel that wanted to help Lord Rama build the Rama Setu. It would have been very easy for nainamma to relax at home & say, 'I am unable to do anything for you'. But no, nainamma had too much of a self-respect, too much of worry, perpetually obsessed about what more she can do for her children.

Nainamma, there is a reason I am writing out this blog. In your last days, you were perpetually scared on your deathbed, that we will forget you... This is the age of technology, where I can write about you online and make you famous, all my friends will read this post, some will comment... This is my way of blowing the trumpet, publicising, showing off, whatever you might call it, because 2013 July is 25 years since you died, and we still think of you always!!!! :-***
I remember coming home from DAV school, Tittu would walk me home, sometimes we would take the rickshaw.. And I would jump straight into your bed with my school uniform still on, and I would copy your every move, every pose... I remember your laughter, you found me too funny! You called me 'bangaru konda' (golden hillock) , you would circle your palms over my head & crack your knuckles on your temples, it is a way of 'warding off the evil eye'... I would do the same to you & say, 'bangaru tonda' (golden chameleon) in my kiddy language; and you would burst into peals of laughter...
One day, you were sitting down on the floor, requesting Tittu to please help you get up, I offered you my hand, you found it simply hilarious & pulled me down, gave me a big big hug...
I remember going to hospital once with dad, you were admitted, with a saline bottle hanging by your bed...
When you died, we were not told, we were told you were back in Ongole and would visit us soon.. We kept waiting, and grew older, and somewhere down the line, realized that you won't be visiting at all.
Nainamma, if you were around, just one question for you: where from did you inculcate these ideas of gender equality & fairness, these ideas of responsibility/duties? I guess I know the answer, from your own life.
And another question: Why were you really worried lady, that we will forget you, of course we didn't silly!! Whenever I have a tough moment, I think, if grandma could do it all alone back in those days, I have no reason to fret today, she's watching over me.
And whenever I have a nice moment, I think, why was grandma's life so tough? She was widowed at an early age, she struggled financially, she faced social stigma being a widow, thank God at least she saw her children settled down & saw her grandchildren... But just as she started enjoying life without major worries, she was diagnosed with cancer & had to die at 58yrs of age. Why didn't God let her enjoy a bit more, I wish she could have seen her son buy his first home, his first car, seen her daughter-in-law rise rise shine in life...

What I have been able to jot down today, is partly from my memory, mostly from the stories told to me by my mother & Tittu. Thanks mom, thanks Tittu, for passing on such wonderful memories to me.
And nainamma, you were indeed very intelligent with foresight, you invested in your daughter-in-law, you gave her the utmost respect & importance in your life, it was really worth it, because your daughter-in-law in turn made sure, that you are deified in my memory, as a super-woman, a bat-woman, a spider-woman :-)

I love you, and I will think of you the moment Miyyanv is born. Mom will say as usual, I wish your nainamma was here to see Miyyanv.... :-)
Let me add to your happiness, Miyyanv wore your string of pearls in his naming ceremony at the temple!