A body of work

Then there is Shilpa Changude, a Puneite who reveals how yoga freed her from debilitating ailments like slipped disc, spondylitis and even fibroid. From being almost bedridden, the 45-year-old lady now conducts yoga classes. Another pupil, Devki Desai, a yoga student from the age of 15, talks of how yoga helped her during her pregnancy, contributing towards an easy labour, normal delivery and a well-formed and healthy baby.

These are just a few of the yoga enthusiasts from all walks of life and different parts of the globe who have started to gather together in the city, not just to exchange their personal experiences but more importantly, to felicitate the man who made these experiences possible.

Their guru is B K S Iyengar, arguably the best known yoga exponent in the world, who turns an energetic 80 next month. And celebrating this event with great enthusiasm will be his pupils from across six continents, who have decided to host a 13-day Iyengar Yoga festival 1998 under the aegis of the Ramamani Iyengar Yoga Institute.

The celebrations will begin from December 2, Iyengar8217;s birthday according to the Indian calendar, at the Shivshankar Hall, after which the focus will shift to Ambrosia Resort on Pirangut Road. At Ambrosia, the mornings will be devoted to asana-pranayama classes and talks, followed by cultural programmes in the evening. Indian dance presentations, gastronomical delights from various regions of the sub-continent, music recitals, plays, yoga exhibition and children symposiums are some of the highlights of the 13-day festival. With almost 800 participants from 25 countries coming together, the unique festival is also slated to be a melting pot of sorts for various cultures and races, with yoga being the major unifying force.

With hundreds of student performing the asanas in unison almost like a choreographed ballet under the guidance of Iyengar, the performances would be a test of both precision and harmony. Further scientists have been asked to evaluate the psychological status of these participants and objectively study how they differ in the mental make-up of other adults of same age but different backgrounds.

And presiding over all this with his benign presence will be the man who has given an estimated four million people over the world a new life through the knowledge and practice of yoga.

So how does the guru feel on the eve of his birthday? 8220;For the 65 years that I practised yoga, it was like a boiling water test for me. It converted me from a sickly boy to a man who at the age of 66 was found to have a lung capacity of a 25-year-old Olympic athlete at peak form. But having gone through the acid test all these years, now I feel I can afford to go back to simplicity with a certain amount of comforts,8221; smiles the man who has given over 10,000 live lecture demonstrations at places like the Harvard University and Albert Hall, whose list of pupils reads like a Who8217;s Who of this century and who even has a star in the universe named after him. Well, the sparkle then is only to be expected.