Of Culture, Epics and Epidemics

Heard that there is an obesity epidemic in the land of burgers and Coke. We were used to some good old epidemics like Malaria, or Plague, or Chicken pox or something similar. But what is an obesity epidemic? Is it more, or less terrifying than a terrorist epidemic? Also, is it endemic (whatever that means) to a particular culture? Also, a related question- is culture good or bad for you?

Organising my thoughts neatly (something I keep attempting from time to time), here they are-

Culture is not entirely good for you, because it is more out of habit that one gets used to a type of food, or songs, or ways of celebrating something like festivals, or a wedding, or many such things. The problem is, you tend to cling to your way of doing things, by force of habit. Which is also fine, but for the tendency is to view your culture as being superior to other cultures that may be different.

Epidemics have a positive side too. They restore the balance between living beings and consumable resources like water, food, fuel, etc by reducing the former. Of course, if you happen to be 'reduced' it is not good for you as an individual, but we are talking humankind here.

What about epics, the third angle of this scholarly discourse? Why do people write them? One can imagine that in the pre-Ekta Kapoor (or pre-Facebook, depending on what you are addicted to) days, it was a way of passing the time, or shooting the breeze. That this marathon exercise was successfully accomplished in different parts of the world from Greece to India, itself is a tribute to man and his indefatigable nature.

Before the blog gets to acquire an epic status, let me stop this flow of thought-provoking thoughts.