New Delhi, Aug. 8 -- Weight lifting for me is the elixir that if I'm unable to take, I shrivel up, turn brittle and begin withering from within. That is metaphor but not too far from truth.

This is a road that I started on in boarding school in 1979 but only half-heartedly. The full-bore purposefulness of exercising regularly and making physical activity a part of my daily routine came when I went to Hofstra University in the US in 1985. It happened to be the year that my college along with many others decided to make Physical Education a requirement for all Freshman.

The one credit course that the college required called for an hour-long PE course of our choice, three times a week. I chose weight training. My teacher for that class was...