Fitness didn't feature on my priority list till recently. Even though my father introduced me to yoga in childhood, which made my body supple, I didn't follow a fixed regimen.
At school, we had hockey, football, boxing, swimming and athletics. I did join a coaching scheme in New Delhi when I was at university. Then, when I was working in Kolkata, and when I moved to filmdom, came the big slack. It's only in the past year that I have incorporated a fitness routine in my life.
The crunch came when I looked at the rushes of a film. I hated what I saw: my face, my body, the excessive weight. Though I was playing a senior character, my appearance came as a shock. Actors depend on the way their faces and bodies look. One fine day, you are no longer the face that people want to see. It's a face that you yourself don't love.
It struck me that I had to get back to maximum working conditions. A lot of water had flown under the bridge. I was doing TV, a very immediate medium, for the first time. There we also the realization that, as the only senior person in the family, I now had the responsibility of looking after my own health and that of my children and my wife.
Today, I employ a personal trainer, go to a gym, keep regular hours and eat sparingly. In my case, I underwent a series of episodes that damaged my body. Every time I would endeavour to do something to regain my strength, some other accident would occur and cases another setback. So fitness became an added priority.
The process of ageing can defeat you emotionally. You feel terribly lost, disconnected, and looked down upon. Particularly when you've been used to a certain amount of attention. However, one must move on. My personal trainer points out, At your age, you are not going to look like Salman Khan! You can't reverse the ageing process. You can only accept the fact that there's only that much you can do. That makes life a lot happier.
People speak of ways of coping. I have never been to a counselor or meditated. I gave up alcohol, cigarettes, gutkha, paan, sweets, meat and coffee and tea. It had nothing to do with anything or anyone. One must not depend on external stimulation.
You should get your entire metabolism checked, take charge of your system and learn to exert self-control. And, yes, keep away as much as possible from medication. I take supplements to sustain my weight training. I also take chyawanprash with a spoon of honey along with a controlled lunch comprising just two chapattis, lots of vegetables and lots of dal. At night, just soup.
Going to the gym is now an addiction. Being fit had its plus points-you look and feel better. Wearing new clothes is equally uplifting. Whether it's a new toothpaste, a pair of shoes or even a little band on your wrist, it just breaks your routine.
You can't stop the process of ageing but you can stay apace with it. When people ask me why I work so much, I reply that if you don't test your body and your brain, how will you know how much it can withstand? I like to test myself.
Old age is but a new turn on the road of life. You can't say, This is it. I'm not going to try anything new anymore. Then, you'll have reached the end of the road. My fitness regime has sharpened my faculties, made my reflexes finer. Stay fit, stand erect and keep walking.
Amitabh Bachchan, 62, is an actor and goodwill ambassador for UNICEFFeatured in Harmony Magazine.
July 2004.
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