NEW DELHI // Manohar Aich, the first Indian to win the Mr Universe title, has died at the age of 104.
Aich died in his Kolkata home on Sunday, months after his 104th birthday and 15 years after his final bodybuilding performance.
In his prime, Aich stood barely 1.5 metres tall. But with his slicked-back hair, broad shoulders, slim torso and winning smile, he presented such an impressive sight that it earned him the nickname “Pocket Hercules”.
In 1951, he was named the runner-up in the Mr Universe contest. A year later, he won the title in the amateur category.
Aich, who is survived by two sons and two daughters, died of "age-related complications", his son Manoj told the Indian Express newspaper on Monday. "He was on a liquid diet for the last 10 to 15 days."
Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of West Bengal, where Aich lived, said on Twitter: “Saddened by the passing of world-famous body-builder Manohar Aich. He made us proud.”
Born in 1912 in the district of Tipperah, in what is now Bangladesh, Aich suffered an attack of leishmaniosis – a parasitic disease transmitted by the bite of sandflies – when he was 12. He regained his strength through a regimen of exercises and, at 30, he secured a job as a physical instructor in the Royal Air Force.
But the leash of colonial rule irked Aich. He slapped a British officer during an argument and was sent to prison in 1946. It was during his incarceration that he focused on training seriously and developing his body.
By the time he was released in 1947, when India became independent, he had set himself on the road to bodybuilding stardom.
Determined to succeed, he sold coconuts to make a living in Kolkata (then Calcutta) even as he pumped iron on the side.
After failing to win the Mr Universe title in London in 1951, Aich stayed in the country, working for British Rail and doing a series of private shows that helped him raise the money he needed to compete again.
In 1952, after winning the contest, Aich returned to India and continued to perform, but also started training others. His students include Satya Paul, an eight-time national bodybuilding champion, and Premchand Dogra, who won the World Amateur Bodybuilding Championship in 1988.
In his seventies and eighties, when his peers were buying walking sticks or undergoing hip replacements, Aich maintained a remarkably fine physique. His hair had thinned, but his muscles still bulged.
“Our father used to say: ‘Discipline comes from within.’ He always maintained a strict regimen – sit-ups, push-ups,” his son Manoj said. “His simple diet of milk, fruits and vegetables, along with rice, lentils and fish, kept him healthy. He never smoked, nor did he take alcohol.”
In 1991, Aich stood for parliament as a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party but lost, placing third in his constituency and winning just over 160,000 votes. Even in his final years, he remained involved with a gym set up by his son Bishnu.
Tushar Sil, a politician with Ms Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress, called Aich’s death “a great loss”.
Mr Sil was himself a bodybuilder once, having won the Mr India title five times in the 1980s. He first met Mr Aich in 1975, briefly trained under him, and considered him a mentor and a role model.
“He was so disciplined,” Mr Sil said. “That was the main lesson I learned from him. His determination to keep exercising, even when he was older, was an inspiration, and he motivated me to work harder as well.”
ssubramanian@thenational.ae
