Fit to lead

At a time when most people would think of retiring and enjoying the comforts of their home, some seniors are spending their time training the younger lot. Sweta Mohanty reports.

They look like anybody’s grandparents, but they practise different lifestyles. All of them have made their life’s mission to not only stay fit themselves, but also to help others do the same. Be it yoga, karate or diet, they have found a way of living life to the fullest and the fittest.

Ramma Bans

She is 82 but looks 50. Today, a completely fit and agile Ramma Bans has to her credit the distinction of being the first physical trainer in India. Born in a family of theatre artists, she aspired to be a part of the Indian film industry. After her marriage to actor, IS Johar, she pursued a beauty therapy course in London. On her return to India, she started her own beauty salon which was patronised by the diplomatic corp. “The maharani of Kashmir asked me to launch a beauty parlour and health club in Delhi,” she says. “Eventually, I became the official beauty therapist for Indira Gandhi in 1965.”

A new government ruling refusing five-star rating to any hotel without a health club and swimming pool turned out to be a good thing for her. Offers poured in and within a few years, she made her presence felt amidst big players of the hotel industry. Her name became synonymous with the sinful concoction of beauty and health. She was responsible for grooming Rekha, and celebrities like Yukta Mookhey are regulars at her exercise studio in Colaba. Bans feels, “We have a body that serves us 24 hours a day, and we should serve this God-given infrastructure at least one hour a day.” Her maxim in life is, “If you want to see what your thoughts were like yesterday look at your body today. It you want to see what your body will be like tomorrow look at your thoughts today.” 

Seetadevi Yogendra

“We were the first yogi couple,” says Sitadevi Yogendra, wife of Yogendraji as she sits, elegant and tranquil in her cosy room. The Mother, as she is fondly called, is six years older than the Yoga Institute at Santacruz. That makes her 95, a witness to two World Wars, the independence and the rise of computer technology.

She’s the first woman to write a book on yoga which has been translated into so many Indian languages. She has also introduced teachers’ training programmes and special yoga classes for women and is popularly believed to be responsible for awareness of yoga among women. “Yoga is non-sectarian and its application or study is not restricted to any particular sex or section of humanity,” she says.

Her association with the institute began way back in 1929 after her marriage to Yogendraji, founder of Yoga Institute. Married at the age of 15 she was strong enough to face an established tradition where women were discriminated against. She has had to face public criticism not only because she was a woman doing yoga, but also because she was a wife of a yogi.

“We faced a lot of flak from the society of our time,” she remembers. But like her husband, she felt passionately about the place of yoga in her life. “Our aim was always to spread our message with dignity.”

Mother fondly remembers Yogendraji as a very charming and intelligent person and thinks that it was her good fortune to have met him. “One day this friend asked me to meet a boy who’d come down from Bombay. That’s how we first met and eventually got together. I moved from Bangalore and came here to live a beautiful life,” she says.  Her son Dr Jayadeva Yogendra at 78 is now the president of the Institute and manages the activities along with wife, Hansaji J Yogendra.

Dr Vinod Dhurandhar

Being a sports freak didn’t seem to help a young doctor in Bombay 1960. Weighing 200 pounds, Dr Vinod Dhurandhar, the then professor of Physiology at Bombay Homoeopathic Medical College, won four prizes at inter-college sports competition. But he lacked one thing. “Stamina,” Dr Dhurandhar recalls, “was something that I didn’t have at that time.” He adds, “Those days, we did not have  any weight management clinic or any dietician who could help me. So, I myself thought of regulating my diet and achieve my goal. I lost 60 pounds in a matter of time.”

Born on September 27, 1927, Dr Dhurandhar exemplifies a class of his own. Dr Dhurandhar is India’s pioneering obesity consultant and is still practising at 79. His clinic is the first of its kind in India. Started in 1964, he has treated 1, 28,000 patients so far. Also, he is the Founder President of All India Association for Advancing Research in Obesity (AIAARO).

The humble look of his clinic may put many in doubts regarding the efficacy of this treatment. “Unlike others, I have never taken any money from those who’ve referred to me. In fact, I have even lost out on a few patients because my fee is quite low,” he says. But his clientele includes names like Shabana Azmi, Kirron Kher, Amjad Khan, his son Shadab Khan amongst many others. My wife, Anuradha Dhurandhar, at 50, is the most sincere follower of the diet regime prescribed by me. She lost 20 kgs in a matter of one year after we got married.

“One learning that I gather from my experience of 43 years is that incorrect diet is not the sole reason of being obese,” he says. “Once I had a patient who weighed 150 pounds and couldn’t travel in BEST buses. He managed to lose 54 pounds in three months’ time and now travels whichever way he wishes too,” he says. He furthers, “A smile on my patient’s face and the fact that I could help others is my greatest achievement.”

Pervez B Mistry

Shihan Pervez B Mistry, known to many as the founder of karate in India, was born the year the Second World War II ended. When the world still believed that the martial arts were cradled in Japan, it was he who traced the roots of karate back to India.

At 17, it was an early start for him as a trainer. Four strenuous years after his introduction to the art of Judo, he started with teaching only two students at his residence. From just two students to a whole Academy of Martial Arts, Mistry sure has come a long way. Over the years, Mistry has trained several karatekas. His absolute passion for  karate makes him work endlessly towards the cause of promotion and spread of the art and in turn, awards good health to  him as well as his students.

At 62, his mental and physical acumen is to reckon with. “I feel very fit. If you ask me, I can do 60-70 push ups in one go,” claims Mistry when questioned about his fitness levels. “What I am today, mentally, physically and emotionally, is all because of Karate.

The training regime and discipline has made a tremendous difference to my life,” he emphasises.

Anand Ratna, technical director, J Karate Association agrees with Mistry. “Karate brings in the practise of perfection in your life. You are more focused. What you transpose in karate gets translated in you daily life,” he says. Training since 35 years now, he feels that in India, people over 50 tend to slow down owing to their lifestyles and dietary habits. “Karate people, however, have a regimented lifestyle. I sleep early, not because I am tired, but because I have to have early day tomorow.”