Click here to join Express Pune WhatsApp channel and get a curated list of our stories
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
At 97, professor Gururaj Mutalik, the first professor and head, Department of Medicine at Pune’s B J Government Medical College, credits his longevity to maintaining a disciplined lifestyle, good diet, managing stress effectively and ensuring he gets regular exercise. For Mutalik it is equally important to have a clear sense of purpose in life.
“I may have inherited my parents’ genes (My father lived till the age of 96 and my mother till 91) but there are several factors that can hasten premature ageing. Among them stress is one of the greatest contributors and hence it is necessary to develop a sense of purpose in life,” he said while speaking with The Indian Express. In Pune for the launch of his book Visions of Yoga on November 15 at Savitribai Phule Pune University, Mutalik will also hold forth on secrets of health, happiness and longevity.
A day for Mutalik starts at 4:30 am. It begins with yoga, followed by reading non-fiction, a simple oatmeal-and-spices breakfast and two basic meals (lunch and a 6:30 p.m. dinner). It also includes a daily 2.2-km walk and muscle-strengthening exercises, all of which contribute to lab results showing his biological age to be 70. The professor, however, admits that it has not always been a smooth journey and recalled at the age of 90, he had suffered a cardiac arrest.
“This was caused by 90 percent blockage in my coronary arteries. Doctors thought I would not survive—but I did,” he says. But even a small lapse can prove detrimental. “Perhaps it was a bit of arrogance,” he reflects. “I thought I was doing well at 90 and would indulge now and then in some sweets. My weight shot up to 184 lb and HbA1c count (that measures the blood sugar level over the past 2-3 months) rose to 7.8,” Mutalik recalls. However with a dedicated regimen he soon brought his weight and HbA1c down.
So much so that Mutalik is among the group of researchers who want to classify ageing as a disease and have advocated it in different petitions to the World Health Organisation. “The aim is to encourage research funding and drug development towards improving the health and well being of the elderly,” Mutalik said. The WHO, meanwhile, has stated that it does not classify “old age” as a disease and promotes the approach of “healthy ageing”.
The professor emphasises that old age is worth living only when supported by good health and his book explores how mindfulness, meditation, self-discipline and healthy ageing are interwoven, presenting yoga as a universal path to balance, resilience, and peace. As Dr Bhushan Patwardhan, National Research Professor at the Ministry of Ayush, Government of India writes in the foreword “To fully understand the professor’s vision, one must look deeply into his roots. Born into a humble village family, he was shaped by the wisdom of his father, a Sanskrit scholar, from whom he absorbed not only the language of Ayurveda and yoga but also the rhythm of a life lived in harmony with nature, purpose, and self-discipline.”
