While the world’s attention was fixed on the death of Muhammad Ali this weekend, another legend of strength passed away on the other side of the globe.
His name was Manohar Aich, but he was better known in his native India by his nickname, “Pocket Hercules.” At 4 feet 11 inches, Aich was an unlikely body-builder, but, as his incredible life story attests, he was a man who could seemingly overcome any obstacle. He died on Sunday of natural causes at age 104 at his home in Kolkata, 64 years after he was crowned Mr Universe.
The obstacles to Aich’s success came early. As a child, he contracted two grave illnesses sweeping the Indian subcontinent – Asiatic cholera and kala azar, also known as black fever or leishmaniasis. He overcame them without even being admitted to a hospital. By the time he was 15, he was expected to support his family, as his father was bedridden. At the time, India had not been partitioned, and Aich left his home in what is now Bangladesh and began selling coconuts at the main railway station of Calcutta, now known as Kolkata.
In undivided Bengal, he began to show off his body at village fairs, and he travelled across the region with circus-like magic shows. He reportedly would bend iron bars with his teeth and neck and balance the sharp edge of a sword on his belly.
At some point, he caught the eye of the British, who still ruled India, and was hired as a physical trainer for the Royal Indian Air Force. In an interview with the Indian Express newspaper, Aich remembered how that job transformed his life and set in motion events that would catapult him to stardom.