A few days ago, I submitted my final research thesis.
During these last few months of my Honours' year in Aeronautical Engineering, all the rules I traditionally followed were thrown out the window and abandoned. The girl who had religiously exercised once or even twice a day had now given up the notion of health and beauty altogether. For what would the culmination of 5 years amount to without the utmost dedication and commitment?
Failure?
I don't know.
Truth is, I was proud of both my projects. I had worked my brown-butt off to the point where I did not really care whether people saw me in full PPE and no makeup. Yes, having a boyfriend studying Mechanical Engineering makes you feel as though you might be somewhat attractive, although when guys walk into your lab and shriek at the state of your appearance, your general reaction would probably be a mixture of self-pity and agony rolled up in a calorie-packed roti.
The truth is. Being a Femgineer (female-engineer) is not glamorous.
At least, the path of interest I chose is not.
I chose to be an Aero and unless I was a super genius and did not need to put any time and preparation into anything I did, I felt like I could either: 1) Live and breathe my studies or 2) Try to balance my lifestyle and be average at everything.
Unfortunately, disregarding exercise and healthy eating did not actually help me at all. Instead, it just made me feel unattractive.
Almost two weeks ago, I began a little journey I'd like to call: "My little dip in the green-pool". Essentially, I decided to devote myself to a month of pure Veganism - a cleanse of some sort which would enable me to interact with stuff from the earth again.
No more pizza, burgers, chips, or even worse - a pizza decked with cheese, spiced polony and slap chips. No more "man-sized" chocolates and bottles of cold drink. No more brownies, granola-crunchies (which I convinced myself were healthy), chocolate-covered turkish delights, boxes of biscuits and ladies and gentlemen...no more froyo. No more heavenly froyo which tickles (or tickled) my tastebuds beyond the possible capability of an average human.
This year was the first year of my life that I did not lay a finger on gulab jaman, burfee, chana mugaj, jelebi, naan ketai and every other imaginable ghee-enriched mitai on Diwali. Instead, I ate vegan biryani, pumpkin and greenbeans. My only comment from that experience is: "God-bless my mother for being able to cook divine food without ghee."
Honestly speaking though, my first independently-cooked meal was delicious.
I assembled a platter of avocado, a quarter of a green bell pepper, some grated carrots, a few celery stalks, vegan cheese (made from almonds) and some mushroom sauteed with chives, tofu, salt and pepper. I added a slice of wholewheat toast smothered in vegan basil pesto (which has no pecarino cheese) and topped off the meal with a tall cup of steaming hot black tea.
I then discovered Woolies' multi-coloured tomatoes and decided I'd give them a try and holy grapes-on-a-vine they were insatiable. Slice them in halves and drizzle a tad bit of salt over them (I use Mediterranean-spice infused salt) and you may just die and go to Tomato Heaven.
One of the nights, my appetite was pretty tiny, so I boiled some wild rice and topped it with broccoli and tofu and roasted some whole baby beetroot in the oven.
You may have noticed that I eat a lot of sugar snap peas - that's because they are literally the bee's knees. Sweet-lovers, may I introduce you to sugar snap peas? Little moon-shaped, sugary-water grenades which explode with one small bite. Oh-em-guarana. They are fantastic!
Next, I decided to tried quinoa even though the first time I ate it - I pronounced it as "key-Noah". So butchering food-names aside, I dived into a bowl of quinoa doused in almond milk and topped with a little cinnamon, crushed walnuts and raisins.
It wasn't as bad as it may look but after that meal, I dearly missed the milk from the udder of a Moo. The blessed Cow, how I feel the true reason why my culture celebrates you!
After a particularly gruesome workout, my body was throwing all its toys out the cart and screaming, yelling, threatening for carbs. Not a slice of toast with vegan basil pesto, not a spoonful of hummus, not a bowl of quinoa. No, my body wanted pasta and lots of it!
Enter, Princess Tagliatelle:
Now, the average folk might wonder how any human being is to assert a healthy lifestyle with a relatively high quantity of carbohydrates?
The true answer is that engineers use their "kop" a lot. The brain requires glucose to operate optimally and efficiently. I personally, have never been able to sustain a carb-free diet. Reading a journal article, sitting in a lecture, writing a thesis or studying becomes crazy-difficult. Besides suffering from ADHD, it becomes virtually impossible to have a bowel movement unless you hold hands with a sachet of psyllium husk or a poo-poo-pill or even worse - a poo-poo-pill which you have to stick up your bum! GROSS!
Instead, why not enjoy a lovely bowl of bran flakes, banana raisins and almond milk and have a healthy relationship with the toilet?
It is my true and honest opinion that engineers (particularly femgineers) should not subject themselves to diets which are frequented by the masses.
Being a female in engineering means that you are required to (by society): 1) Operate as optimally and efficiently as your male counterparts whilst 2) maintaining your femininity by 3) being attractive and 4) possibly enabling the continuation of the human species.
This, at least, is what I believe is the expectation whether or not it is brought on by the surrounding men or us women ourselves. It is not that I am preaching to you ladies out there to drop the milk and meat and go full vegan but you know as well as I do, that you want to be wanted.
Every human desires this.
So why is it that most human beings find slim figures most visually appealing? Is it because of the weight-loss driven industry which promotes skinny girls in bikinis as the way a woman should look?
Nah, I refuse to believe that. It's an absolute cop-out. Before magazines and bilboards even existed, Western women were buckling their waists up in corsets, whilst Asian women were binding their feet.
It is my belief that the primal attraction of a woman's body is subject to the man's instinct on how well a woman would be able of carrying and nursing his child. For different men, the image of a "perfect woman" differs. Health signifies longevity and strength which is required when raising a child.
So, here I am in week two of my journey afloat the green waters, where people among me are begging to know why I would take such drastic measures to be healthy. Honestly, I do not believe in a fully vegan lifestyle. I do not believe in abstaining from foods you enjoy because of a desire to be healthy and fit. I merely feel that my body needs to be cleansed. To rid myself of all the toxins and re-introduce myself to vegetables. Not oily, curried, vegetables, no. Vegetables barely touched or primed. Pure, scrumptious goodies from the earth brought to you by Mother Nature.
My goal here on out is to ensure that I never get overwhelmed by the workload delivered to me by my chosen degree and to let it take over my life. Obviously there will be days in the future where I'll stuff my face with slap chips and red velvet cupcakes but that day is not now. My aim is to try and achieve a so-called "well-balanced" lifestyle: to never stop my exercise, to maintain a healthy diet and to remain focused on the bigger picture.
Eating dozens of cookies and downing litres of energy drinks might enable you to stay up all night and submit an amazing thesis but the satisfaction is minimal and the end product will be a femgineer who takes no pride in her femininity.
Being a female is beautiful! We have the ability to make men go from intelligible to speechless with a dress and some lipstick.
Now that is power.
Bon appetit bi#*ches!
Written, edited and compiled by: Jyotika Rani Singh (batteries not included)
Published: October 29, 2014 (in my bedroom)
