Alakananda Roy, Rita Bhimani and Dr Milon Chhetri interact with the residents of Kendriya Vihar at the GoodLife Talk Show on Sunday evening. Pictures by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

What happens when a doctor and a danseuse get together to talk on Health and Fitness at a residential complex on a Sunday evening? Everything from dengue scare to body basics, food habits to meditation comes under the scanner.

That’s exactly what happened at the GoodLife Talk Show held at Kendriya Vihar, inside Anupama Housing Complex in Kaikhali, off VIP Road, this Sunday evening.

Sharing the spotlight were Odissi dancer Alakananda Roy and Dr Milon Chhetri, a specialist in medicine.

Moderated by Rita Bhimani, the event witnessed a large turnout of men, women, teenagers and kids.

The Q&A session was set rolling at 6.30 pm by Rita, who asked the doctor about the dengue menace and the misconceptions regarding the disease. She was soon joined by half the floor eager to know what precautions could be taken, particularly for children.

“There is no reason to be so scared about dengue because more than what the disease does to anybody, misconceptions make matters worse,” said Chhetri.

“A few precautions could easily help prevent things from taking a turn for the worse. For instance, anyone found to be running a high temperature for a few days should immediately consult the family physician instead of going in for self-medication.”

The doctor also prescribed preventive props like use of mosquito nets or repellents. Children who go out to play should always apply a mosquito repellent ointment, he added.

The next question was aimed at the other guest, Alakananda Roy, who was asked how she managed to keep herself fit at her age.

Draped in a white silk sari, she said: “There is no shortcut to keeping fit. One cannot remain fit by just visiting beauty parlours. Physical discipline is of utmost importance. My dance helps me keep fit, because as long as I am a performer, I am committed to the audience to look good by keeping myself in shape. In general, even 15 minutes of any physical activity a day and the right food habits are good enough. Another mantra would be to have an open mind as the body is the shrine of one’s soul.”

A.K. Saha then asked Roy what he could do to keep fit as he is unable to workout in the morning. “Mental strength is what you would need most to be able to workout in the morning. Tell yourself that you need to do this for your own health. Start slowly, maybe with just five minutes and go on increasing this gradually. Always remember, where there is a will, there is a way? Nothing can substitute an early morning workout,” she smiled.

On a lighter note, Hari Prasad told the panellists that if their wives went for a walk in the morning, they often felt tired and lost their zest for cooking! To this Chhetri said: “Ideally, morning walk should rejuvenate a person, but if this is the case, then walking at any other time of the day should also be fine.”

Rita wasn’t letting the opportunity go. “Why don’t you learn to cook as well? That should solve this problem. Your wives can then carry on with their morning walk in peace,” she smiled, to loud cheers from one section of the turnout.

Questions kept flying in thick and fast from every corner of the hall, ranging from dancing being an alternative to going to the gym to dietary short cuts for working people to tips for a bypass patient to stay healthy.

Bringing the two-hour session to a close was Shyamal Dutta’s question on whether good life was only about health and fitness or if there were other aspects to it as well.

To this, both the dancer and the doctor said: “Of course there are, and very often they are more important than just being physically fit. You can engage yourself in various activities like singing, drawing, social work? basically, anything that you like to do and are not bound to do.”