KOL BALISH – BENGAL’S GIFT TO THE WORLD

If you are not a Bengali you have no idea what this is. But if you are a Bengali you have grown up with it and you can't even imagine a good night's sleep without hugging your kol balish! The Bongs are a special breed who need to cling on to something not only when they are awake but also when they are fast asleep. So as soon as the mother deserts the child in bed she gently places the child’s hand over this cylindrical pillow, which the latter takes to as his mother and falls in love with it for the rest of his life! This pillow becomes a constant companion in bed of the Bong and he/she embraces it, at times with all four limbs, only because there aren’t any more limbs to spare!

Usually filled with cotton, these side pillows are neither too hard, nor too soft, and the best are those made at home. These long, hot dog shaped pillows, that are used to cuddle or throw your legs on – that’s a “Kol Balish” There’s no way in hell you can enjoy a sound sleep without that. Impossible!

Till today I had considered this kol balish to be a culture bound syndrome of we Bengalis but science is fast catching up with this bit of our culture and now we know that this habit of ours has some distinct health benefits. Getting a good night’s sleep is essential for our long term health. To ensure that we sleep comfortably every night, a good posture is extremely crucial. When we sleep, our muscle mass in our back begins to loosen up over time, and hence a proper sleep posture is all the more essential as misalignment while sleeping places stress on the spine.

Unfortunately, not many of us give much thought to our posture before going to sleep. We simply use a couple of pillows to relax our heads on and then doze off. But do you often wake up with an aching back or sore knees? Then, maybe your sleep posture isn’t right, and you are missing a kol-balish. By adding a pillow between your knees can truly help your posture by keeping your pelvis in line and also improve your sleep quality.

 

The Science behind the kol-balish

1. It improves blood circulation in your lower body.  Sleeping with a pillow between your legs will ensure that your feet are slightly elevated and hence help in promoting blood circulation more naturally through your lower extremities - from the hip to the toes. Sleeping alternately on the two sides would allow both the legs to assume an elevated position alternately. Also, once you make this into a habit, you will notice that you won’t be waking up with numb legs or any tingling sensation between the feet as the blood circulation in that area would improve.

2. It helps reduce pressure and muscle tension on your lower back. If you are a sound sleeper and sleep on the side, it is more than likely that your knees knock together throughout the night. This isn’t particularly good for your body as your knees gravitating towards each other can cause a lot of muscle strain in your lower back and hips and eventually lead to back pain. This happens because your legs pull from your spine when your knees knock together. Placing a pillow between your legs helps to maintain the knees on top of one another. This can help prevent your knees from gravitating together while keeping your hips aligned, thereby reducing muscle tension on your back. This significantly reduces muscle cramps, varicose veins, and sciatica pain. Make sure, however, that the pillow stretches comfortably from your knees to your ankles. This will help keep them in line with each other.

3. It helps maintain normal spinal alignment and prevents your hips from rotating. Side sleeping can pull the spine out of alignment and the additional pressure on the sciatic nerves could leave you uncomfortable with pain all night. We must remember here that our spines are not a straight line and have a natural S-curve that assists flexibility and balance. As your hips rotate while sleeping, your spine can twist into an unaligned position. You can realign your back into a neutral position by placing a pillow between your legs. This will ensure that your back is neither flat nor arched and that your top leg doesn’t fall over your bottom one. Another benefit of this is that your legs and pelvis will be at the same level. The pillow should be placed between the knees in a way that it elevates the whole lower leg, and supports the thigh. This will reduce pain in the hips and back.

4. Kol balish ideal for pregnant women. Finding a comfortable position to sleep during pregnancy can be quite a challenge. Placing a pillow between the legs or knees in that phase can help alleviate some of the pressure on their spine. This will be quite helpful given the extra stress a woman’s back has to endure during pregnancy. Also, the pillow in between the legs will help promote better posture for pregnant women as it aligns the spine and hips better and delicately redistributes their weight to ensure their body maintains good circulation. Alternately one leg or the other can be rested on the pillow and achieve elevated position. With the help of this, they can surely hope to have a more comfortable night’s sleep.

 

The commercial angle:

Even the West Bengal Tourism Development Corporation understands the importance of kol balish. They have decided to pamper their visitors by adding the very typical and much-loved kol balish to their bed décor. When a customer survey was done in this region the result showed how people attached importance to these side pillows. This is the reason why WBTDC decided to introduce these in their renovated rooms. WBTDC officials stated that this will introduce people to a quirky habit of Bengalis, along with the state’s handlooms, food and handicraft.

 

So you can see it is not just that the Bengalis have a constant need for slacking off. Yes, Bengalis love to relax and shops often close in the afternoons for a quick ‘ghoom’ or power nap or siesta but the kol balish is most required early in the morning when the trauma of leaving it is just unbearable. A Bengali craves for its company every single minute and longs to go back home and hug it for a good night’s sleep more than anything else.

PANDEMIC INDUCED HOME ALTERATIONS

Home design trends are always changing - what may have looked good in the 70s looks outdated by today’s standards, and our house, which was built by my parents in 1959 in Mahanagar is definitely antique. It must have looked like the height of style then, when people from their native place Kolkata and Dhaka would come and spend time, sightseeing and catching up at leisurely pace for weeks together. Even the ten rooms appeared all cramped up then, but as children have left home and hardly anybody visits us now, particularly because of the ongoing pandemic our house has lost some of its flair. Our living trends are influenced by overall twists and turns in culture (joint family to nuclear family). Add to this the confusion that was ushered in by the Covid-19 pandemic, our lives have turned topsy turvy and so has our living spaces.

While we have constantly made changes in our home over the years to suit our changing needs, those changes were not really forced upon us. But the pandemic was a different story all together. Work from home, video conferences, webinars, video consultation with patients was all thrust upon us all at once and our open-concept layout turned out to be fairly impractical. Children interrupting webinars and adults poking into e-classes were not uncommon at all. We in our home, quickly spread out and occupied different rooms for the sake of privacy and so that we did not disturb each other.

From our own experience I am in a position to suggest to you a few changes:

An Office Space: With working from home becoming the new normal for many, and with not every home having enough space for a full-sized office, people will be seeking out office spaces anywhere they can, and preferably stylish cozy, and nice-looking ones. If one cannot spare a room then carving out a tiny office is possible nearly anywhere - alcoves, under dormers, or even backyard sheds - and it will be a big trend in the coming years.

Appropriate background: People have had enough with awkward Zoom backgrounds during work or private calls. Creating a stylish background for video meetings is an easy upgrade - artwork, pops of colour, good lighting, a little greenery, and objects of different sizes can create a stylish backdrop for a meeting. Fortunately I have a study with 4 walls – one lined with books, one with paintings, one with indoor plants and the fourth blank. So, depending upon the occasion I can change the background. We have excellent lighting from all sides which need not fall on the camera lens and a phone stand which helps us go hands free.

Changes in kitchen: Even the most reluctant cooks among us probably spent more time in the kitchen since March 2020. Classically the kitchen has a “working triangle” between the stove sink, and fridge for maximum convenience and efficiency. But with people indulging more and more in baking, prepping and chopping, or requiring separate stations for snacks, drinks or homework. I can see a change in the kitchen layout with a “working trapezoid” model, which might include dedicated areas for the newly acquired hobbies and skills.

Changes in bathroom: Now that there is no travel involved the ‘me time’ has increased. So a hasty shower can be replaced by a luxurious bath, steam showers, aroma therapy and true spa experience! If you have the time then why not take care of yourself! A bookrack and a reading light can only add to the new rejuvenation experience!

Garden time: If you are lucky to have an open space then this is the opportunity to turn it into a garden – flowering plants or kitchen garden is your choice but satisfaction is guaranteed. We have all come to understand the importance of spending time outdoors, so those with gardens will seek out to make the most of them. A fountain or a marble statue, some fancy lights and music will only add to the pleasure! And the good news is that Swiggy and Zomato are back in business too!

So, who was telling that we are having a horrible year? We can choose not to make it so! Who knows, when you are again rushing full steam you may be missing these priceless moments of leisure!

DARK CHOCOLATES ARE GOOD FOR HEALTH

 

I bet you have been told otherwise at every stage of your life. When you were a child you were told that it causes cavities in your teeth and when you grew up they told you that chocolates are rich in calories and will only add to your girth; but all that is changing now, and thank God for that!

 

Around 1 billion people in the world like chocolate and more than half of them favor chocolate over other sweets. For most of these people, chocolate is a guilty pleasure that should only be reserved for the rare special occasion. This may soon change, as it turns out that compared to other sweets, chocolate may actually have the upper hand due to its beneficial effects on heart health and the cardiovascular system. Not only is chocolate, and dark chocolate in particular, full of beneficial nutrients in comparison to other sweets, it also contains much less sugar.

 

Choose the right chocolate

 

Chocolate gets all of its health benefits from the cocoa bean. In order to turn raw cocoa beans into chocolate, they are first fermented, dried, and roasted. After several steps of processing, cocoa butter and cocoa powder are derived from the cocoa beans - the two main ingredients of chocolate. Cocoa powder contains the highest concentration of beneficial plant substances, hence, the more of it chocolate contains, the healthier it is. Dark chocolate consists of 50-90% cocoa powder, some cocoa butter, and sugar. Milk chocolate, on the other hand, consists of just 10-50% cocoa powder, cocoa butter, milk, and sugar according to Harvard. Compared to dark chocolate, milk chocolate contains a lot more sugar and much less cocoa powder. Therefore, dark chocolate will be more beneficial for one’s health.

 

Beneficial effects of Dark Chocolate

1. Dark chocolate has high concentrations of magnesium, iron, potassium, and copper. Magnesium helps prevent high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and other heart diseases, while iron protects against anemia.

2. It contains chemical compounds called flavanols which are antioxidants. These stimulate the lining of arteries to produce a gas called nitric oxide. This gas sends signals to the blood vessels to relax, which lowers resistance to blood flow and in turn, this helps reduce blood pressure. Lower blood flow reduces your chance of blood clots forming and prevents arteriosclerosis, the hardening of arteries.

3. Antioxidants in dark chocolate are capable to prevent and repair cell damage, which is how they are capable of reducing one’s risk of developing heart disease. These flavonoid antioxidants are capable of lowering blood pressure in people suffering from hypertension. One specific subgroup of flavonoids called flavanols are found in especially high concentrations in dark chocolate, and they are notably recognized to benefit heart health. According to a 2017 study, published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, foods high in flavanols like dark chocolate, almonds, and cocoa are capable of lowering one’s risk of coronary artery disease

4. It lowers the LDL cholesterol or “bad” cholesterol, which is dangerous when oxidized. This can inflame your arteries, and promote heart attack or stroke risk. Dark chocolate contains powerful antioxidants which protect against oxidative damage. Dark chocolate has also been shown to increase HDL, the “good” cholesterol.

 

5. Dark chocolate can also be good for your skin’s health. Flavonoids in dark chocolate increase skin density, hydration, and improve the blood flow to your skin. 

 

6. Dark chocolate contains theobromine, which eliminates bacteria and hardens tooth enamel. If you practice good dental hygiene, dark chocolate can actually lower your risk of getting cavities.

 

7. Theobromine is also a mild stimulant and does wonders for suppressing coughs. This chemical compound blocks the sensory nerves from activity and this stops the cough reflex. Unlike codeine, the active ingredient in most cough syrups, dark chocolate doesn’t have that drowsy side effect.

 

8. Dark chocolate can keep you looking young because it’s packed with antioxidants, which fight toxins and free radicals in your body that cause damage to skin cells. 

 

9. Flavonols, polyphenols and proanthocyanidins are antioxidants present in dark chocolate that help slow the growth of cancer cells. Pentamer, another compound that naturally occurs in cocoa, can deactivate proteins that encourage cancer cells to continually divide.

 

10. Dark chocolate stimulates your body’s production of endorphins and serotonin, hormones that cause you to feel pleasure and happiness. Dark chocolate is also filled with phenylethylamine, the same chemical produced in your brain when you fall in love. So now you know why falling in love with chocolate is so easy and why you crave for it when you feel low and bad. 

11. Dark chocolate helps people cope with stressful situations and feel the effects of stress less. Researchers found that people who ate dark chocolate regularly had lower levels of stress hormones, cortisol, and epinephrine, circulating in their blood.

1.     
There is no recommended amount of chocolate you should be eating every day, as even dark chocolate can be quite high in calories. Therefore, simply play it by ear and enjoy a bit of chocolate when you’re craving something sweet. Just make sure that the amount of chocolate you eat won’t exceed your daily caloric needs. For even greater benefits for the heart and blood pressure, nutritionists recommend also including other flavonol- and flavonoid-rich foods in your diet, such as almonds, pistachios, green tea, grapes, berries, scallions, and lettuce and quite a few of these come studded in a bar of dark chocolate too!

 

So there you are, I just saved you from depriving yourself of one of the greatest pleasures of life!