Traqade
It’s been sixteen years – SIXTEEN YEARS! – since Irom Sharmila has been on the non-violent warpath against the AFSPA*. On November 5, 2000, the Manipuri civil rights activist had announced that she would go on an indefinite hunger-strike and vowed to lift the strike only if the government would revoke AFSPA. Back then, few knew anything about her but as the years went by and she continued her silent protest, hers had become a household name in every nook and corner of the country. But what, besides the determination to see her dreams come true, has kept her going all these years?
Irom Chanu Sharmila reveals, in her own words, the secret that has kept her going strong all this time – YOGA.
For the entire duration of her hunger strike, Sharmila was administered about 1600 calories a day through Ryle’s Tube, and her weight was maintained at 51 Kgs. But weeks of fasting call for more than that, not to mention sixteen years.
“It is no ordinary feat”, admits former Head of Medicine at JNIMS, Imphal. “It is her strong will power and daily habit of practicing yoga, which kept her physically fit,” Sharmila’s brother, Irom Singhajit, said. Her family and close associates reveal that Sharmila began practicing yoga in the year 1998, two years before she began undertaking the fast, and has been practicing it daily since then. In her biography Burning Bright, written by Deepti P Mehrotra, Sharmila said, “By doing yoga, one can live up to hundred years”. She not only believed those words, she lived by them.
Every single day of her fast was marked by four hours of yoga and a brief walk in the corridor outside her room at the JNIMS which has been her home all these years. Her yoga prowess has impressed not just the doctors and medical attendants but even the police. According to Themthing Ngashangva, Former Superintendent of Police, one of the policewomen claims she saw Sharmila do a 180° leg stretch and performed her push-ups on just two fingers!
This revelation speaks volumes about the powerful effects of yoga not just on physical health but also on mental strength and emotional health.
- Health and wellness experts all over the world agree that the effects of some of the best yoga practices can be experienced while the body is operating on an empty tank.
- The body is resting internally, awakening mental awareness. A cooling pranayama helps the body to cope with the stress and calm the senses.
- Meditations go deeper during fasting. This helps to control and channel emotions better leading to a disciplined mind and a healthy heart.
There is no denying that what Sharmila has done is out of this world. And she herself does not deny that she couldn’t have done it on her own. She has become an iconic figure and an inspiration to many to support her and carry on the fight against AFSPA even as she ends her epic fast. Irom Sharmila may have lifted her hunger strike despite the AFSPA not having yet been revoked, but by no means is this a defeat. She has miles to go before she would emerge victorious but, in our eyes, she’s already a winner through and through.
*Armed Forces (Special Powers) Acts are Parliamentary Acts which give armed forces immunity against prosecution for their actions in what are termed in each act as ‘disturbed areas’.
