The world at her feet

She’s over 40 and the mother of two teenage sons. On January 10, 2010, fitness expert Dinaz Vervatwala entered the Guinness World Records (known earlier as The Guinness Book of Records) when she completed a 26-hour aerobics marathon, the first person to achieve such a feat.

"I did not do this for myself. I did it for women and for the country, to show that India can do it,” she glows. The platform for the power-packed event had been built at the Polo Grounds in Secunderabad. Vervatwala stepped on stage to the sound of music on the afternoon of January 9, surrounded by students and supporters pounding the stage in sync with her. "Strangely enough, within the first hour I started complaining of pain in my left leg!” she narrates. "This was most unusual as I had been training for 15-16 hours with no pain at all. We realized that the soil at the Polo Grounds was soft and the stage was sloping to the left!” The situation could not be remedied and had to be endured. "There was a lot of pressure on me. I had to program my mind and my moves by going less to the left,” says the lady who runs four centers in Hydera­bad under the name of Dinaz’s Fitness Studio Private Limited and who has been teaching and preaching fitness for the last 17 years.

Her usual bedtime being nine o’clock, Vervatwala’s toughest moments at the marathon event were between 11 at night and four in the morning. "By one o’clock in the afternoon, the sun was scorching hot. I was exhausted. I fell down, but I was up in a split second. I had a stomach upset, I wanted to throw up! The rules allow a 20-minute break every four hours. I knew I had to make it!” she continues. A nutritionist was in attendance, sustenance came in the form of food freshly made in the kitchen set up alongside.

Official acknowledgement (far left) from Guinness, Dinaz Vervatwala (alongside); breaking the record (below) and with former chief minister Chandrababu Naidu (ext left) and cricketer V. V. S. Laxman

Volunteers swinging to the Tolly­wood (Telugu film) and Bollywood beat egged her on. It was the incredible support from the public, she says, that kept her going. "There were 25,000 people standing in the hot sun cheering me on. They kept making placards with messages like ‘all is well.’ Their concern was me. They kept coming up to the stage but I never felt threatened. There were high levels of discipline from the audience.” The event was also beamed live on television.

At the 24-hour mark, she says, she equaled the existing record held by a man from South America. "In the 22-24 hour period I was feeling very low. My spirits were flagging, I was crying every minute.” When the new 26-hour record was set and the performance ended, she was mobbed by Press and people! "I had no time to think! The closing ceremony took place soon thereafter,” she recalls. "The only thought was of gratitude. I was so grateful that people had supported me.”

What was your motivation? we query. "It was more challenge than motivation,” she avers. "I was focused more on the profession than on myself. I wanted to prove that fitness is serious business, that you can make a profession out of it.” It was also her family’s support that saw her through. "My family has given unconditional support, been there for me through my thickest and thinnest,” she acknowledges. Were they not worried about your health? we ask. "Oh yes, my husband Jamshed was very, very worried. But I kept telling everyone to be there for him, and not for me! My older son Yohan, who is 17, was participating on stage with me for quite a few hours; Zeeshan, who is 14 was not allowed to join in. After my feat, I have become a great source of inspiration for my husband and kids,” she smiles.

The family (from left): Yohan, Zeeshan, Dinaz and Jamshed Vervatwala

Vervatwala had been preparing systematically for the event in the preceding four months. In December 2009, she set an Asian record with non-stop aerobics for 20 hours! At that time, she recalls, the fat percentage in her body was very low so health risks were greater. "We set the record on Ramakrishna beach in Visakhapatnam. There was high dehydration; I was losing energy, eating into my muscle reserve. Anything can happen in such a situation.”

Her record-setting spree had started in October. Vervatwala first pounded her way into the Limca Book of Records with non-stop aerobics for 12 hours in Hyderabad. In November, she surpassed that with 16 hours of aerobics at the Siddhartha Arts and Science College grounds in Vijaywada!

She is now preparing, she says, to take a shot at another world contest! "Ms Fitness World is to be held in Las Vegas in August this year. It involves high levels of strength and flexibility and a bit of bodybuilding. There will be public speaking too on fitness, being a kind of spokesman for the fitness industry,” she asserts. Every country holds its own qualifying contests and only finalists are allowed to represent their nation at the world event, she notes. But since India does not have any such preliminary competition, the organizers have given her direct entry based on her Guinness and other records, she tells us. "I will be the first contestant from India and possibly Asia,” she declares. Her Guinness feat, she informs us, was videotaped and sent to England and "the letter (from Guinness) came in four days flat confirming my entry into the record book...

Dr P. N. Chenoy (left) felicitating Dinaz Vervatwala at Zoroastrian Club, Secunderabad on March 21, 2010

"I was born in Jamshedpur, the youngest of three children and the only girl in the family. My upbringing was far from being girl-like, thanks to the influence of my brothers. Cycling and hiking were great hobbies and pastimes and formed the fitness foundations that ultimately charted my destiny,” Ver­vat­wala describes the early days. The passing away of her father when she was in Std X made life difficult for the family. After completing her schooling at the Sacred Heart Convent in the steel city, she left for Bombay aiming to be a chartered accountant. Apprenticeship followed with very well known firms of chartered accountants, but accounting, she realized, was not in her fitness of things!

She married Jamshed in 1988 and moved to Hyderabad. Her first child was born in 1993. "I was at home looking after my son and as expected putting on weight. I decided to start exercising by myself and it struck me that this may be the opportunity I was waiting for… I started reading and watching exercise videos and getting better educated and informed. In 1993 I opened my class and waited for my first client. Dinaz’s was born and the rest is history. Since then I have been committed to the well-being of women,” she writes on www.myjamshedpur.com

With 37 trainers under her stewardship, Vervatwala believes she has changed the face of the fitness industry in Hyderabad and south India. She has done exams conducted by the American College of Sports Medicine, she says, and celebrity sportsmen and women have benefited from her guidance. "I feel privileged to be a personal trainer to Bhuva­neshwari Devi (former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu’s wife),” she notes.

Interest in aerobics and fitness is virtually non-existent among the Zoroastrian community here, she adds. "There are a few youngsters like Kynan Chenai who are good shooters and some who are into cricket, which seems to be the main focus,” she opines. Hyderabad’s Jehangir Bisney, who first informed Parsiana of Ver­vat­wala’s achievements, remarks: "In the 1990s when she started, there was hardly any consciousness of fitness among the people of Andhra Pradesh and knowledge was restricted to the benefits of walking or jogging. Being a rice-eating people, there was also little awareness of right food habits.” Vervatwala has worked hard to create consciousness about good health. "She started literally from scratch. All credit should go to her,” Bisney states.

An unfortunate accident in the kitchen a few years ago left her physically, emotionally and financially scarred. But she has bounced back. "Finally, it is all about how to enjoy living, not how to avoid dying. A few simple steps like eating right, exercising moderately, quitting smoking and staying involved in our communities can yield enormous benefits,” she believes. "There is great goodwill for the Parsis. As a community we have worked hard to build a very good name and it is important we retain that,” she asserts.