– a Talesmith short by Rajesh Muthuraj

Ramesh had made the Big Decision.

Not marriage.
Not buying a house.
Not switching careers.

Bigger than all of that.

He decided to get fit.

He even announced it to his family with a serious speech.

“From tomorrow,” he declared, chest out, chin up, “I start my fitness journey.”

Everyone nodded with respect.
His mother looked emotional.
His father whispered, “Finally.”
His sister placed a packet of chips on the table, just to see if he would break.

He didn’t.

Well… for five minutes.

The Great Fall

At 8 a.m., the new Ramesh jogged out of his lane feeling like an athlete.

At 8:07 a.m., the old Ramesh stopped jogging because the bakery near the signal released fresh samosa fragrance into the atmosphere.

His mouth, the real villain of the story, took over.

“Just one,” it said.

Brain: No.
Stomach: We agreed on a strict diet, didn’t we?
Heart: Think of your future, Ramesh!
Mouth: I heard nothing. Give me the samosa.

The samosa disappeared. Ramesh blamed everyone and everything for this mistake.

Sweet Disaster

Breakfast: promised fruits.
Reality: jalebi.

Brain screamed: “What are you doing??”
Mouth replied: “Shhh… it’s a sweet emergency.”

By lunch, Ramesh told everyone he’s doing a “flexible diet,” where flexibility meant bending his own rules.

The Negotiator

The Brain tried negotiation.

“Listen, mouth. We all want Ramesh to become fit. Please cooperate.”

The Mouth nodded sincerely and then ordered double-cheese pav bhaji.

Ramesh realised something important:
If his body was a company, the Mouth was the employee causing all HR problems.

The Official Meeting

Finally, a board meeting was called.

Brain (Chairman): “We need discipline.”
Heart (PR Manager): “We’d like to look attractive.”
Stomach (Operations): “Please stop overloading me.”
Mouth (Trouble Department): “Okay, okay! I get blamed for everything! Fine, I’ll behave. But I need incentives.”

The room fell silent.

“Incentives?” Brain asked.

“Yes,” Mouth said. “A cheat snacks every Sunday. And… occasional chai.”

After a long discussion, the board agreed.

The Transformation

Ramesh started controlling his mouth like a strict parent controls a naughty kid.

The mouth would look longingly at samosas.
Brain would close its ear.
Mouth would complain but finally obey.

Slowly, things changed:

• Moves from three plates of biryani to one.
• Moves from daily sweets to weekly sweets.
• Moves from “extra cheese” to “no cheese… okay fine, little cheese.”

Not perfect. But consistent.

Months later, Ramesh looked fitter, healthier, and confident.

People asked, “Bro, what’s your secret?”

Ramesh smiled mysteriously.

“Simple,” he said. “I stopped my mouth from acting like my boss.”

Moral:

Your mouth is the entry gate.
Your fitness is the building.
If the gatekeeper lets every samosa, jalebi, and pakoda walk inside like VIP guests,
the building will collapse, no matter how much you hit the gym.

So train the real troublemaker first, the mouth.
Once that gate is under control, your path to fitness becomes smoother than ghee…
…which, by the way, you should stop eating directly from the spoon.

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