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Dumbbells or yoga?

At an ungodly hour, young people are jumping out of beds for a yogic tryst, finds Serish Nanisetti

SOUL STRETCH Despite new-fangled exercise gadgetry, yoga still attracts people in droves Photo: S. Mahinsha

Darkness still envelops the night as whistle-happy policemen try to bring order to the chaos near the NTR stadium at 4.29 a.m. The young, the old, and the plump begin trooping in with bed sheets tucked under their arm.

The men wearing white kurta pyjama, the women whatever they like, with a card hung around the neck showing an extremely hirsute man in yogic posture. The man happens to be Swami Ramdev, the television yoga teacher, middle-class India is in love with. He promises deliverance from a host of illnesses - both of the mind as well as the body. Standing in queues that literally ring around the stadium, people try to find their entrance to yoga deliverance depending on how much they have paid. The Rs. 2,500 ticket will bring them close to the feet of the yoga teacher.

This sort of thing usually draws in the old and the waiting, but why are the young queuing up?

Sai Ramesh, a 22-year-old B.Tech student, has come from Dilsukhnagar to attend the yoga session that is supposed to start at 5.00 a.m. "We are not sure about him. Whoever he is, what he is teaching is good. It will keep us healthy," he says. His 21-year-old brother-in-law, a student of Arora College, chimes in: "Yoga is better than going to a gym. The better part of the deal is that meditation helps improve concentration," he says.

In another part of the queue are three friends introduced to yoga when one of them, Aarti Mallikarjun, who had obesity induced by hormonal imbalance, watched TV, practiced what was shown and shed 10 kg. "When we see the results, there are more converts. We have come here for a better understanding of Kapalbharathi and Pranayama," says Kshama Patil, a post-graduate student pointing out a young woman who looks normal. "We are not interested in the medicines he prescribes, nor are we interested in the religious aspect. We are fascinated by the spiritual aspect where it calms the mind and keeps up mentally active," says Kavita Rao.

The envelope is still dark when at 5.00 a.m., a grey Innova draws up to the gate, saffron fluttering from the flagpole. One policeman recognises the puny person in the front and directs the gates to be opened. He is Ramdev.

At 5.03 a.m. sirens shattering the Brahmamuhurat calm. A convoy of eight Ambassadors reach the gate. People in the queue get excited about their turn to get inside. "We should have come earlier." "Where's the Diamond Gate (Rs. 1,100)? Where's the Platinum Gate (Rs. 2,500)?" these are the questions in the air when at 5.20am, a gravelly voice begins to drone about the virtues of yoga like a schoolmaster. It ends only at 5.33am.

Impatiently waiting outside is Kapil Bibekar, a final-year MCA student from Ghatkesar. "I have diabetes and expect help from this session of yoga. I have watched the CD but this would be a kind of personal lesson," he says. He couldn't be farther from truth. Assembled inside are close to 10,000 persons with simulcast on eight plasma screens. As Ramdev speaks the voice booms out of a dozen speakers.

As the streaks of light splay into the darkness, a different set of men and women in shorts, Ts and Reeboks gawk and jog past the kurta-pyjama crowd to Tank Bund for a chat, sweat and a feeling of wellness.

The ancients had it that the mystical intonation that connects one to a higher being, letting the spiritual lotus bloom in the mind, needs to be secretly imparted by the yoga master. But if yoga were to remain that pure, then it would require a million yoga masters and hundreds of acres of land to spread the goodness of yoga. The choice is ours to make.

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