Lt Gen Zameer Uddin Shah (retd)

I have always believed that the primary aim of yoga was physical wellbeing and mental peace. I was fortunate to have met my ‘guru’ while serving as an instructor at the Officers’ Training School (now Officers’ Training Academy) in 1972.

Earlier, while serving with a camel artillery regiment, I had sustained a spinal injury while jumping off a rutting camel. It gave me discomfort after a long session in a chair. One day, my guru-to-be observed this and asked if I had a back problem. When I nodded, he said he would set it right through yoga. He asked me to come to his room at 5 am. Both of us were bachelors and living in the Officers’ Mess.

I went as directed and for the next six months, he taught me several asanas and cured my back problems for life. Finally, he asked me if I was doing yoga for health or wanted to become a yogi. When I told him it was for reasons of health, he said I did not need any more lessons. He, however, advised me to refrain from smoking (which I had given up in NDA because of the demands of boxing).

The second demand was that I abstain from alcohol. This was accepted since I have been a lifelong teetotaller. The third was that I become a vegetarian. I said this was not possible, so we compromised on two out of three conditions. I, in turn, asked him why he called me so early every morning.

He laughed and replied that the moment people came to know that he was a practicing yogi, they invariably asked for tips. There are no ‘yoga-made-easy’ lessons, so he would summon them early to ascertain if they were genuinely interested. Very few would turn up. I did benefit and have practised yoga for half a century now.

His instructions were limited to the alignment, breathing patterns, focus of the mind, and other guidelines around the asanas and their benefits. We practised on the ground, on a jute mat. He also stressed that there should be simplicity, no gimmickry and any teacher who demanded a fee should be given a wide berth. He also did not favour difficult, unnatural postures performed by contortionists.

On International Yoga Day, I was shocked to see photographs of BSF personnel performing yoga on camels lying prone on the ground with their limbs bound together. The ITBP, not to be outdone, performed ‘pony’ yoga. There was a storm of protest on Twitter. A retired officer, attempting to defend his erstwhile force, tweeted that BSF camels were taught yoga in addition to evasive action (probably under enemy fire). I have witnessed BSF camels sitting immediately under fire and ‘crawling’ under cover. The BSF camel contingents are the pride of the Republic Day parade.

The BSF battalions that served under my command in insurgency-hit areas performed creditably. This gimmickry detracts from the fine standards of this paramilitary force.