Kolkata, July 14 (IANS) Ailing Marxist leader Jyoti Basu, 96, Tuesday had an older visitor at the hospital - a 97-year-old former Mr Universe.
Fit-as-a-fiddle body-builder Manohar Aich, who won the Mr Universe title 57 years back, looked a bit disappointed after he emerged from the former West Bengal chief minister’s room in the private AMRI hospital.

“He was sleeping. So I could not talk to him,” said Aich, trying to hide his emotion beneath a dry smile.

Basu was hospitalised after he fell unconscious at his home Sunday morning.

Asked to spell out the secret of his good health at an advanced age, Aich said: “When you are born, you have to die one day. But still, if one eats in a measured amount and has a daily workout, he can have a long life. I have led a disciplined life all through.

“I eat only as much as is necessary to live. I exercise daily,” said Aich, thrice Asian Games gold medal winner in body building.

Recalling his earlier interactions with Basu, Aich said : “Oh! We have talked so many times. Thirty years back we even met at Madras (now Chennai).”

Born in 1912, Manohar Aich won the 1952 Mr Universe championship and was given the name ‘Pocket Hercules’ for his five-foot frame.

Aich still trains for 90 minutes at his own gym in Kolkata which has produced Indian champions like Satyen Das, Satya Pal and Hitesh Chatterjee.

Meanwhile, Basu was also shifted out of the intensive cardiac care unit considering the improvement in his health.