MUMBAI, DEC 15: When Yukta Mookhey came back with the crown today, a 75-year-old woman in Mumbai had reasons to cheer about. No, she is not her grandma.For Ramma Bans, it's like her own triumph she helped Mookhey even before she became Miss India.``Exercise is God. If you exercise every morning it's the same as offering your prayers,'' says Bans, fitness guru and the lady behind some of the most beautiful faces and bodies in the country.When Mookhey turned Miss World last week, it was the fourth victory for India as well as for Bans who has been working behind the scenes for years to give the country's beauty queens that extra edge over others. Starting with Sushmita Sen, Rani Jeyraj, Lymaraina D'Souza and now Mookhey, Bans has helped lose or put on weight and sculpt the body for the girls.``Yukta came to me in November last year just six weeks before the Miss India contest. She not only had extra bulges on her outer thighs but was also anaemic. She loves food and hates exercising. But when shemade up her mind to lose weight, she was very persistent. Apart from a separate session of aerobics, I gave her special yogasanas and a tailored diet.''She adds, ``For her anaemia, I asked her to consume a special green chutney everyday. It is made up of coriander, mint, curry leaves, celery and til in equal quantities. Two tablespoons of this chutney taken as it is or in the form of a drink with a dash of salt and pepper helps get rid of the ailment. In six weeks, Yukta had lost 7 kgs, 3 inches on her hips, 2.5 inches on her thighs and 2 inches on her waist.''Bans says that after winning the Miss India title, Yukta got engrossed in her studies and stopped her regime. She had put back all her lost weight and visits to other experts in her area yielded no results. ``Seven weeks before the Miss World contest, she came to me distraught. Look what has happened to me. I am back to square one,' she said. I put her back on her earlier regime and told her to keep control on herself. By the time the Miss Worldcontest happened, she was back in shape.'' In a letter to Bans, Yukta has thanked her for her wonderful exercise and diet regime.Bans says it's imperative to design a different workout and diet for each person. ``While coffee can make one person stay awake, it can help the other fall asleep.'' She also warns against popping magic pills that promise to help you lose weight. ``These pills contain hormones, purgatives or diuretics and weight not only bounces back later but it also destroys your health. In the US, more money is being spent on research on obesity than cancer. So if and when such a pill is invented it will make headlines all over the world. There are no short-cuts to losing weight.''Though Bans was always a fitness enthusiast, she took up yoga in a big way at 27 to cure her asthma. ``Most people talk of the spiritual power of yoga but very few know that with yoga you can lose three inches all over your body with no change in body weight''. Former prime minister Indira Gandhi and actress Rekhahave been some of her famous clients. She was recommended to Mrs Gandhi by an ambassador's wife for her ``great facials'' and was her personal beautician for three years before she settled in Mumbai.
