Mugdha Shah : A Cease Study - How To Transform People In Neighborhood
I first met Mugdha Shah in the garden area of Nagri Niwara here in Goregaon East, where I jog, meditate and do Yoga almost every day. It is now almost more than a year back. At that time, she was teaching Surya-Namaskar, basic yoga and meditation to a small group of 10-12 ladies. With her physical appearance, she looked like a forty year old, lean, thin and face very vibrant and radiant. I initially thought her as other yoga coach doing for a monthly fees. But I was wrong, she was doing it for free and her group members were from the most underprivileged strata of society who were not even in a position to afford a yoga mat, what to talk about paying a monthly fee. It was revealed later that she is an actor, did lot of movies and TV serials in the past, and still active in acting. Her body and looks absolutely defy her real age, it is hard to believe that her daughter is married years back and son, a well known director, is 25 plus.
Today is International Woman's Day, so I thought let me share with my readers that how one lady can transform life of people in her neighborhood without hogging space for publicity or for the sake of money. The lady is of course Mugdha Shah.
Like many others of her breed, due to constant work pressure and irregular schedules Mugdha also had some medical issues like diabetes and thyroid. She was conscious about her health so she tried alternate therapy, became a yoga student 15 years back, she quips,' I am still learning yoga'. With yoga, meditation and exercise she could be able to control her diabetes and thyroid problem. In addition to this yoga routine, she was also very much concern about her diet, started avoiding junk food. In few months regular exercise, yoga, meditation and diet control, she managed normal blood sugar as well as T1, T2. T3, T4 without taking any allopathy medicine. And of course she goes for pathological examination on regular intervals for strict monitoring.
Today her yoga group has more than 170 members, the age of her students ranges between 20 to 70 years,she is fondly called Didi by every one in the group. The morning activity of the group is going without even a single break for more than one and half year. She often travel abroad, sometime has tight shooting schedule but group meticulously assembles and engages as she has created her second line, nearly 7 to 8 of her students have achieved same competence level, so there is always skilled trainers available to take charge in her absence.
I ask her,' What prompted you to
Mugdha says,' I am very selfish, l love myself, I love my body. I started my own journey, but thought to have more happiness. So I thought to share my joy and yoga skills with less privileged who can not afford a costly yoga program. I started my group with two ladies. They had all kind of ailments, their life was revolving around family, storing water in the early morning, making dabba ready for husband, dropping children at school and buying bhaji. No outside world exposure, life was confined to four walls of tiny living space. Suddenly things started changing for them, the husband realised that after joining yoga group wife's health improved and he also noticed subtle transformation in personality. The husband himself bought yoga mat and proper attire for doing exercise.
I keep on organising health checkup for the group members. I also now encourage them to do community service, visiting orphanage, sharing time with mentally retarded children.'
'Share some interesting facts about your group.'
'A lot of change happened in a short span of time. I recently took my group for a countryside outing. It was rather first such venture in their life for most of the group members . Many of them specially purchased salwar kameej for outing, an 65 years old group member never wore any thing other than sari, she was in salwar kameej that day, her face blushed, I saw smile on her face for the first time, this lady took selfies and shared with her grand children. That day I realised that I can bring smile on people's faces.'
'How you get time for this activity?'
'I work 12 hours a day for pursuing my professional work. It is not so difficult to spare 3 hours for the thing which gives you real joy. A lady has so many roles to play, wife, mother, grand mother, friend so even the time I spend with group, I feel it as one of the role.'
'How your family reacts to your initiative ?'
' My family was seriously worried to see my involvement. My son feels that I am lowering down my dignity in the company of these under privileged ladies.But my daughter tells him just chill, in case Mom feel happiness in doing this work, let her do.'
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