Fit and flourishing

"We are programed from a very young age to finish what’s in the plate, resulting in gluttony. In fact we are struggling with gluttony all our lives! Then, when we put on some extra weight, we are forced to join gyms. We at Body Art (the fitness center in Bombay’s Gamdevi area) advise parents not to send their kids against their wishes and not to, at the same time, overfeed them. Now, this is not the case with our adults. They know what society accepts and rejects,” notes the founder of Body Art, Nawaz Modi Singhania, who has adapted her training in the US to the situation in India: "It’s incorrect to compare an average American to an average Indian. Although America ranks the highest in obesity, the attitude towards exercise, towards weight loss, towards diet, is completely different. They are a far more conscious lot, whereas in India, our problems start right from childhood.”

Body Art sees the prospective mem-ber’s body type, where the weight is concentrated, the age of the person, his/her current fitness levels, whether there is any pain in any part of the body, the family background, which program would suit the person: "The best for each person is very different.” The fitness center largely deals with people wanting to lose excess weight for which it offers Pilates (which works on the principle of healthy mind-healthy body), Swiss Mall Classes, Tae-bo (a form of martial arts), Body Sculpt, Stress Management, Pent Classes, etc. It also has diet programs and exercises for people who wish to gain weight, programs for people with physical ailments, for pregnant women, etc. Body Art gives a lot of significance to cross training.

Body Art has a fully equipped gymnasium with state-of-the art imported machines such as treadmills, cycles, pecdecks, leg extension machines, leg curl machines, ab machines, free weights, bench press, bicep/tricep machines, seated rows, etc as also a room/studio for theory classes and freehand exercises.

But what about the common man who neither has the time nor the finance to join a gym? According to Nawaz: "Circuit training can be experienced in our own homes as well. With a little bit of imagination and modification, one can create one’s own equipment and a fabulous workout. Running up and down one or more floors of one’s building, and/or wall-to-wall touches can give one a great cardiovascular workout. Using a bathroom stool or a thick book, one can get into calf raises to target calf muscles... The stool can also be used for triceps dips and, if the stool isn’t too small, back hyperextensions.”

Body Art faces stiff competition from several fitness centers that have sprung up in the city, but Nawaz remains confident: "If you are good, even if there are 10 people surrounding you, people will want to come to you. Competition then makes zero difference. Your standards and your work counts.” Nawaz continues to take personal interest in physical training, training new and existing instructors, choreography, music, one-to-one training, marketing, etc: "Marketing entails product designing, event designing, making presentations, conducting workshops by inviting skin specialists, dieticians, medical professionals...”

"Today I have 14 staff members and 4,000 members, most of whom are satisfied and return to Body Art whenever the need arises.” Body Art is open throughout the year from 6.30 a.m. to 9.30 p.m. On Sundays it closes at 1.00 p.m. (tel nos: 23805929/23802602). The fees range from Rs 1,000 per month to 18,000 per annum, depending on the program undertaken.

Recalling her formative years, 33-year-old Nawaz relates how she was quiet and shy as a child. Although not studious, she always managed to get a first class in her exams. After the separation of her parents Homai and Nadir when she was 11, she has been brought up by Nadir. With her father, her elder brother Pesi and younger brother Nosh all being advocates, after her schooling from the Cathedral and John Connon, and graduation in Arts from St Xavier’s College, she too passed her LLB from the Government Law College. Realizing that "law was a male-dominated and saturated field,” she wanted to do something new, something different, something artistic. The active and energetic Nawaz decided to make a career in physical fitness "to offer much more than what was available. There were only two institutes in Bombay, Rama Bans and Talwalkars, training people in physical fitness.”

Convincing Nadir was quite a daunting task. He initially thought that it was "a passing fancy” and tried to talk Nawaz out of it, but seeing her determination, he relented. Once convinced, Nadir sent Nawaz for training at the International Dance Exercise Association and the American Council on Exercise, USA, in 1990. "Physical fitness, except yoga, is completely aped from the West,” she points outs. During her six months of practical and theoretical training in the US "they covered everything to do with the field and a whole lot more — the science of movement, biology, injuries, instructing, different forms of exercises, what is suitable to different populations and why, dealing with people having different health problems...”

Fully trained, Nawaz returned to India to fulfil her dream. There was a lot of space vacant at Modi Lodge, the building owned by Nadir in Bombay’s Gamdevi area. She started Body Art at Modi Lodge in 1991, with Nadir providing the initial capital of "a little less than a lakh” to design the interiors: "We initially started with a studio (an empty room) with minimal equipment. I was the owner, the instructor, the secretary, the choreographer, the public relations officer and the marketing person. Gradually, I started hiring people to do these jobs.”

The Indian market is filled with crash diets viz protein diets, herbal diets... to lose weight. Warns Nawaz: "The word ‘herbal’ does not mean that the diet is completely safe. Herbal diet can also have snake venom! Crash diets do a lot of harm in the long run — permanent damage to the liver or the kidney, hair loss, fatigue... These diets propagate that you reduce your calorie intake, whereas Body Art suggests that you reduce your calorie intake by being sensible, not at the cost of your health. Include all the food groups but have the right compositions.”

Writes Nawaz in an article entitled "Fight the flab!” in the Sunday Mid-Day dated April 9, 2000: "In order to gain constant results, it is important to continuously challenge the body differently by engaging in a wide variety of activities. This is commonly known as cross training and is the key to long-term success. These activities may include walking, jogging, swimming, cycling, yoga, racket games, rope-skipping and roller-skating. In a formal class setting these may include circuit training, step boxercise, hilo fusions, calisthenics, callanetics, slide training, body sculpt, new body format, Pilate weight training and more.”

Nawaz has discontinued writing for Mid-Day. She now addresses various health and fitness issues in Femina, a bi-monthly and Marwar, a quarterly.

Nawaz has known husband Gautam Singhania, managing director, Raymond Limited, since the age of 20: "It was my first time at a discotheque called RGs at Hotel Natraj. I met Gautam through a common friend. Even before I got introduced to him, he pointed out to me saying — ‘That girl in the navy blue blazer and white skirt, I want to marry her!’ He then came up to me and we got friendly.” Friendship turned into wedlock after a decade in 1999. Once again it was a challenge for Nawaz to convince Nadir: "My father is a staunch Zoroastrian. But, ultimately, his daughter was more important than his faith. The Singhania family is a Marwari family. They didn’t object to our marriage.”

Unlike her father, Nawaz is not a religious person: "I haven’t given up my religion to go into the Hindu faith. This is because I do not believe in religion. I’m more of a spiritual person. I go by my conscience of what is right and what is wrong. I’m an avid reader of hypnotism, psychology, etc, all of which leads to spirituality.” It’s not a "big issue” for Nawaz to sit worrying and gossiping about the dakhmenashini controversy. She is quite clear in her mind that the "electric crematorium is more hygienic and clean considering to- day’s day and age with the diminishing vulture population.”

"The fact that I’ve retained my maiden surname, Modi, and also have my husband’s surname, Singhania, shows a large degree of independence. I think it’s symbolic of not giving up my ‘soul’ to another person,” declares the fiercely frank and independent woman who maintains, "I have my own thinking. I do not poke my nose in somebody else’s business, even if it’s my husband’s. In fact I’ve always wanted to be my own master.” She is one businesswoman who does not "believe in giving discounts” and "devaluing” her products.

Nawaz exercises a maximum of six hours a week, has a balanced diet and always tells herself: "Nawaz, believe in what you can do. Don’t worry about what you can’t.”