Every bodybuilder has his or her story - but none quite like this.
Just recently the fitness world lost Manohar Aich at the ripe old age of 104. He left behind a wonderful life and a fitness story not quite like any other.
In the 1950s in Kolkata, the capital of India's West Bengal state, Manohar Aich sold green coconuts just past the railway station.
Manohar sat there with his 46-centimetre biceps trying to make ends meet, and to pay for his dream of competing in the Mr Universe in London in 1951.
Everyday, Manohar would start his day at the wrestlers’ training ground, doing thousands of press-ups, sit-ups and leg-raises. It's definitely a different approach to the one Mr Universe competitors would take today, but it certainly worked for him.
Manohar competed in the short category - he was only 4ft 11 and weighed just 44.5kg, but boy was he strong; he could break a spring of 125 kilograms (275 pounds) or rip up a 1,500 page book with his bare hands.
In 1950 he won the Mr Hercules title, and was known as "the pocket Hercules."
And his diet was something far different from the usual. There was no supplements or carb-loading, just fish and vegetables, pulses and rice.
Manohar had a very clear opinion of rice: "a small amount of rice doubles up power...a full portion may bring doom.”
And as for his gym, he laughed at the commercial gyms that were popping up. He had hardly any equipment and took to press-ups and knee-bends on the floor. He thought modern bodybuilders in their commercial gyms were just plain lazy.
Manohar got into exercise as a way to promote health; at 12 he had black fever and his parents who were poor villagers of Bengal couldn't afford to buy him medicine.
So, he imitated the older boys with their dumbells to get on the mend and never looked back.
He teamed up with great magician P.C Sorcar to add further entertainment to his show, that already consisted of cutting ladies in two with a buzz-saw and making passengers in a car disappear. After audiences were amazed by Socar, Manohar would then enter and bend metal bars with just his neck and even lean on the points of swords.
The show travelled right around India and Manohar became famous.
But he could still only just afford the Mr Universe trip in 1951 to London, and finished second that year. The coconut game wasn't as lucrative as it needed to be. So, he took to working as a guard for British Rail to get by.
Then a year later in 1952, Manohar secured the Mr Universe title. He had achieved his dream. He would then tour everywhere as Mr Universe, but sadly it was not lucrative and he struggled to put his children through school.
There was some luck when British Rail paid for his flight home from London, but there was never really anything tangible.
But what he had earnt through travelling with magician P.C Sorcar and winning the Mr Universe title, was respect.
To Manohar, his body was a holy shrine where his spirit lives - even though it is illusory, changeable and subject to decay as the “Bhagavad Gita” (Hindu scripture) had taught him.
Manohar was convinced that by controlling the body man could control his/her mind. By repeating “Strong, and strong, and strong” he was sick no more than twice in his life and never lost his temper. But there was one exception.
He had joined the Indian Air Force in 1941 (an arm of Britains Royal Air Force) as a physical-training instructor and was naturally popular. But the Quit India movement was bugging him, and when one of the Britishers made a comment about the Indains needing them, he found himself on the end of a Manohar slap.
And the little Indian paid for it - doing five years in jail.
But in true spiritual fashion, Manohar turned his jail time into a positive, pumping the dumbbells in there for a reported 12 hours a day. He walked out almost in better shape than he walked in. Overtraining? He'd laugh at you.
When he wasn't touring, he taught his techniques to future champions.
And as for retirement? Forget it. He was bodybuilding until the age of 93 and still training as a centenarian for 90 minutes each morning.
On his 100th birthday he was given an award by the state of West Bengal. He was seen flexing his biceps with a cheeky grin that day for anyone that even hinted at wanting to see it.
Manohar loved health, fitness, and bodybuilding. It's that simple.
A true character forgotten by so many, and unknown by more.
He left his body to the R.G Kar Medical College to use it as they could - and left us with a lifetime of inspiration.
"Stay Fit, Stay Flexed!"
Author
Dayne Hudson