♦ Born March 17, 1912 in Putia village of Comilla district in present-day Bangladesh.

♦ At 12, he survived a near-fatal attack of leishmaniasis, a disease caused by the bite of a sandflies but it left him fragile and sickly.

♦ The teenaged Aich got into bodybuilding. His father had ill health and so to support his family he started performing at fairs and other public events in his native village as well as those in the neighbourhood.

♦ Aich met magician P.C. Sorcar at Jubilee School in Dhaka. Sorcar instantly recognised Aich’s capabilities and asked him to join him. While the magician’s feats drew applause from the crowd Aich silenced them by bending steel rods, balancing on his stomach on the tip of a sword, tearing 1,500-page books and doing squats with very heavy loads. But a trick with a spear went wrong and resulted in a life-long scar on his neck.

♦ In the 1940s, Aich joined the Royal Air Force (RAF) as airman and met an officer, Reub Martin, who introduced him to proper weight training equipment.

♦ In 1942, at the peak of the Quit India movement, Aich slapped a British officer for making an offensive comment about India. He was court martialled and jailed.

♦ In jail, he would practise bending the steel rods in his cell. He would also practise daily for up to 12 hours with the little equipment he could find in jail. Aich was released from jail in 1947 after India gained Independence.

♦ In 1950, at the age of 38, Aich won the Mr Hercules contest. In 1951 he stood second in the Mr Universe contest in London. The first position went to fellow Bengali bodybuilder Monotosh Roy, who became the first Asian to be crowned Mr Universe.

♦ Aich trained in London for a year, funding his stay by working with British Railways and bagged the Mr Universe title on March 17, 1952, which was coincidentally his 40th birthday. At that time, his measurements were— biceps 46cm, chest 1.2m, forearm 36cm and wrist 16.5cm. His height was 4ft 11” and he won in the Pro-Short division.

♦ He got a hero’s welcome upon his return to India with both Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and President Rajendra Prasad congratulating him personally.

♦ Aich tried to repeat his feat thereafter but could only secure the third position in 1955 and the fourth position in 1960. He also won gold medals for body building in the Asian Games of 1951 (New Delhi), 1954 (Manila) and 1958 (Tokyo).

♦ Aich performed in a circus, entertaining the spectators with his amazing muscle dancing in the 1960s.

♦ Aich time and again said that the secret for his strength was that he was a teetotaller. He never smoked, ate a simple diet of fish, fruit, lentils, milk, rice and vegetables.

♦ He was a fan of Hollywood actor and multiple Mr Universe title-winner Arnold Schwarzenegger and had watched all his films. He regretted having never met him in person.

♦ Aich passed away on June 5, 2016 at the age of 104 years.

Had you met Manohar Aich? Write to The Telegraph Salt Lake, 6, Prafulla Sarkar Street, Calcutta – 700001 or e-mail to saltlake@abpmail.com

source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph,Calcutta,India / Front Page> Salt Lake> Story / Friday – June 17th, 2016