From cancer to Mr World

The word cancer usually spells doom and depression. But 41-year-old Mahadev Deka from Assam not only overcame the disease but also went on to win this year’s Mr World Musclemania contest in the US.

Mahadev Deka had been obsessed with sports for as long as he can remember. He would play football, go wrestling and spend hours at the local vyayam shala (gym).

But it was only at the Assam Engineering College, where he studied civil engineering, that he took up body-building seriously, winning the inter-collegiate title in the final year. He then began concentrating on toning his body and participating in body-building competitions, winning the Junior Mr India in Pune in the late 90s. “Body-building became my ambition, but even prior to this, my obsession was to be fit,” says Deka.

Aches and pains are a part of a body-builder’s life. So, when Deka felt a shooting pain in his chest while preparing for the Mr Eastern India title back in 2001, he wasn’t worried, thinking he had over-stretched.  “The physio-therapist wanted me to undergo some tests, but I was focussed on the competition. It was only after the competition when the chest pain persisted and I also got fever, that I went to a doctor who sent me for an x-ray,” recollects Deka.

Depression sets in
What followed were a series of tests, which detected a tumour in his chest, followed by chemotherapy in Delhi. Although initially the full import of it had not sunk in, by the third chemo-cycle, he was in depression. “Once Deka called from Delhi and said he felt like throwing himself in front of a truck. I talked to him trying to keep his spirits up, but my cellphone went dead in the middle of it because a payment was due,” says Jitesh Bhattacharya, Deka’s friend. “I went through a few hours of nightmare, not knowing what was happening.”

The normally positive and upbeat Deka felt bogged down. “I had lost my hair, my voice faltered and I had no energy. It was difficult to keep away the negative thoughts,” says Deka.

Strong support by his side
A source of strength during this time was his wife Naina. At that time, they had only been seeing each other, having met during competitions. She was a national yoga champion.

“She is stronger than me. I earlier thought I shouldn’t spoil her life by marrying her, but she insisted,” says Deka. “I wanted him to fulfill his dream of winning an international title and I wanted to be at his side to support him all his life,” says Naina simply.

They married and Deka’s treatment too continued. After the chemo cycles came the surgery. Deka willed himself to be positive through this challenge. “I would keep telling myself I am physically fit and I will overcome this disease,” he remembers. “In case I got negative thoughts, I would do some light exercise. This gives me the most happiness.”

He exercised the day before the surgery as well. “I did bench press, bends, rowing and dumb bells. I slept soundly after my round of exercises. I woke up early and went to the hospital.”

Back to the gym
For Deka, the toughest part of the recovery was not being allowed to exercise. The doctors had told him he could not go to the gym for at least a year. But after three months he started to cheat. “He would sneak into the gym for an hour each day,” says Dhiren Das, a member of the Assam body building federation. It took two years for Deka to get back on track. It was around then that the president of Indian body building federation, Madhav Pujari, spotted him during a competition and encouraged him to try for the Mr World Musclemania. This June, he won the competition in the 65kg category, having trained hard and lost nine kilos to be eligible for it. He even paid his own way to Miami for the contest. Now the Assam government has recognised his effort by granting him a flat and the oil companies too have chipped in with monetary aid.

Deka works as an assistant engineer in the public health engineering department of the government of Assam. He also runs two gymnasiums in Guwahati.

Deka attributes his successful fight against cancer to his physical fitness. Even the chemotherapy had affected him less than it would have most others. However, his appetite for chicken and fish had not diminished through the chemo cycles.