Fan who ran 400km backwards for Big B, prays for his recovery

Vadodara: He ran backwards for over 400km to pray at Siddhi Vinayak temple in Mumbai for the recovery of Amitabh Bachchan who was critical after a serious injury during the shooting for the film ‘Coolie’ in 1982. Bachchan recovered and the Bollywood icon even met Arvind Pandya when he reached Mumbai.
Pandya has a prayer on his lips for Bachchan and would repeated the 38-year-old feat, but for the Covid-19 outbreak. “My body still has the energy and the heart is determined, but the present Covid-19 situation is such that I would prefer to work for others suffering in the city and help them,” said Pandya who is actively involved in relief and other work related to Covid-19.
Pandya, who was practising backwards running in 1982, made his first long run from the Siddhi Vinayak temple in Vadodara to the famous one in in Mumbai. “Amitabhiji’s father Harivanshrai Bachchan had come to the temple in Mumbai and taken me to their residence. Amiitabhji met me and we shared an emotional moment together. While I got a special attention in the media and he mentioned me on the social media and TV show, I believe that he got well due to the prayers of many like me,” Pandya said.
Pandya added that the superstar’s wife Jaya Bachchan had also tied rakhi to him. “I visited their house later too for getting the rakhi tied and then with my wife after my marriage. My last visit was in 2012,” said Pandya.
Pandya said that he does not use a smart phone and was unaware of Amitabh testing positive for Covid-19 till others called him up to inform him. “I pray for him and everyone. I want all of us to come out of this pandemic successfully. I have been training people in building their immunity through yoga and Ayurveda,” said Pandya.
After his run to Mumbai, Pandya travelled from Los Angeles to New York to collect funds for the Nargis Dutt Memorial Foundation for helping cancer patients after a meeting with late Bollywood star and MP Sunil Dutt. He set a Guinness record with this run and says that it still stands. Subsequently, he ran twice in the UK and even in India for different causes.