Bhubaneswar
Her body erect, eyes shut, and posture in padmasan, she went on doing pranayam and anulom vilom—for 21 minutes that coincided with June 21 of the year 2021, the International Yoga Day.
Mamata Bhue (25), a Gond tribal from Bandhapali village of Subarnapur, was among eight in Odisha who clocked up this achievement at the Longest Mass Pranayam Mahayagya World Record in 2021, organized online by Akhil Bharatiya Yog Mahasangha (ABYM), Jaipur (Rajasthan).
“As many as 53,120 participants from 26 states of India and 12 countries took part in the collective pranayam,” ABYM national president Yog Guru Rakesh Bharadwaj told The Indian Tribal over the phone.
“I was one of the eight from KIIT-KISS (Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology-Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences), Bhubaneswar, who achieved this feat,” said Mamata.
Mamata dreamed to be a botanist. She had never thought to forge her tie with yoga before she stepped into KIIT-KISS. One morning, she noticed a file of her hostel mates engrossed in yoga on the KIIT-KISS compound. Prompted by curiosity, she made a shot at it. It has now turned out to be a life-long love affair and she claims to have mastered over 50 asanas and evolved four ‘nameless’ ones.
She also became a yoga athlete who not only bagged Gold at the first ever Janjatiya Khel Mahotsav (Tribal Sports Mega Meet) in Bhubaneswar this year, but also earned much acclaim at several state and national yoga meets. Now, she is a teacher on a mission to teach yoga to people mostly of Oraon, Munda and Santhal tribal communities in the rural pockets of Sambalpur.
“When I did yoga regularly on my friends’ advice for six months, my eye problems, migraine and periods irregularities vanished. I lost no time in deciding to learn and teach yoga and dropped the idea of being a botanist. After completing my graduation with Botany honours in KIIT-KISS in 2020, I took yogic science as the subject of post-graduation study,” she shared with The Indian Tribal.
Now a yoga teacher under the National Health Mission at Kuntara Government Hospital in Kuchinda Block of Sambalpur, she trains about 300 people in 20 villages under four health sub-centres. Though appointed on a contractual basis with a consolidated salary of Rs. 15,000 in 2022 soon after her post graduation, she never wavers in her mission.
Initially, Mamata found it tough to motivate villagers to go in for yog. They used to listen to her but baulked at attending any of her sessions in an Anganwandi Centre. However, ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activists)), ANM (Auxiliary Nurse and Midwives) and community health officers of sub-centres threw in their lot with her. Led by Mamata, they moved from door to door. Then a few gave it a try, and reaped benefits. When others noticed them recover from long ailments, they sought Mamata’s guidance to be fit and fine.
Purnima Bhainsa of Charvati under Kuchinda Health Sub-Centre had her left wrist bent a little due to diabetes. But it gained back its normal shape after doing Pavanamuktasan, Surya Namaskar and meditation for three months. Similarly, yoga brought high blood pressure of Ganesh Adabar of Jamankira-B under control.
However, Mamata has her mixed bag of feats and duds. While she was a KISS student, she failed at the All India Inter-University Yog Tournament in 2017 in Bhubaneswar. She bounced back with a bang in 2020 when she emerged first at the Virtual National Yogasan Sport Championship organized by Yoga Sport Association, India. She was adjudged second at the State-level Yogasana Championship next year in Bhubaneswar.
She failed again at the Virtual National Yogasana Championship in 2021 but emerged runners-up at All India Inter-University Yoga Tournament in 2022. But she could not prove her mettle at the Khelo India jamboree in 2022 in Karnataka. Finally, she bagged Gold at the first national-level Janjatiya Khel Mahotsav in Bhubaneswar in 2023.
“If Mamata goes on polishing her skill through relentless practice, she can bag Gold at any World Yoga Championship,” said Yoga Guru Sanjay Panda, the dean of the school of spiritualism and yoga sciences of KISS-KIIT.
Even Mamata confessed to be a little weak in doing asanas like Nagastrasan where hand-balancing is a major requisite. However, she is confident to set it right with practice before the commencement of the next national yoga championship.
Mamata’s life has been a rough ride since the time of her matriculation in Radha Krishna Girls High School in Dungripali, about five kilometers from Bandhapali. Her struggle intensified when she started camping in a hostel in Matagini for her Plus-II in Sindhol College. She had to board a bus to cover 55 kilometres daily from her hostel in Matagani to attend classes in Sindhol College.
“I needed over Rs. 30,000 every month to meet my expenses during my Plus-2 days. It was really tough for my father whose erratic annual income is about Rs. 60,000. Fortunately, I and my father got reprieve, when I started staying at KIIT-KISS, as I did not have to pay anything,” she added.
Mamata’s father Sikunda Bhue is a farmer who has three acres of land in his village Bandhapali. But he uses only 1.5 acres of it for paddy cultivation, as the rest of land is too rocky.
“So I have to work as a farmhand to run my family. I used to spend a major portion of my income on my daughter Mamata’s education. If she needed some extra money, I used to raise loan from finance pools formed by a number of groups in my village at two per cent interest rate. I clear them gradually till I procure the next one,” said Sikunda.
Sikunda has two sons and four daughters. The eldest son, who is married, works as a daily wager for Vedanta Aluminum in Jharsuguda, while the second son works as farmhand in his village. Her eldest daughter has been married off. One daughter who stopped studying after Class X helps her mother in household chores.
“My sons occasionally help me. Now Mamata gives Rs.10, 000 in every two months. She also gives Rs. 1200 to my youngest daughter doing graduation in the Degree College in Bir Maharajpur, about 67 kilometers from Bandhapali,” he said.
