Life comes full circle

Anu Aggarwal explains how she has been breaking stereotypes and her transition from a style diva to a yoga guru

November 23, 2016 04:47 pm | Updated 08:36 pm IST

24dmcanu

24dmcanu

A s you sit face-to-face with Anu Aggarwal you search for the ‘Aashiqui’ girl in her. The sharp-featured sultry actress who took the nation by storm with her innocent looks of a shy girl next door in Mahesh Bhatt’s film in 1990 seems to have walked out of that image and transformed into another one that is a complete antithesis of the former. The one who sits before you now is not the bohemian styled diva, the Kamasutra model, one who walked in Jimmy Choo’s and carried Gucci; but a balanced, calm individual who lives by the adage “simple living and high thinking”. She laughs when she talks of her days as an actor, “Yes, life has been a path breaker all these years and I have been known for breaking stereotypes right from the colour of skin to having a drink named after me –Anu Vodka. But that is now long gone”. The girl who was the first brand ambassador for Tata Tea was always free spirited and lived life like there was no tomorrow.

But all that changed with her car accident in 1999. Even as the crash resulted in near death, Anu emerged, almost reborn, from her month long comatose state and began to see life in a completely different light. So was it then that you took to Yoga? “Yoga I had already taken to in 1997 with a teacher’s training course from the Bihar School of Yoga”, she says, “But post accident and recovery, my knowledge and understanding of yoga grew. I became more spiritual, did transcendental meditation, and got more deeply into karma yoga”.

But all this was for a greater purpose. AnuFun Yoga, a holistically styled form of yoga that she developed for children, is what her life is all about today. “This fun yoga has been developed by me. It is based on a proprietary tool created, practiced, and envisioned by me. It not just entails stretching and relaxing exercises and asanas but is also a learning module for kids. And since I have been focusing on slum children since 2013, I improvise modules as per the group of kids I am dealing with. For example, a group of Muslim girls from Dharavi will have a different module from that of a bunch of street kids”, she explains. AnuFun Yoga includes Yogasanas, Art, Chinese Qi energy raising, Ayurvedic music therapy, Chakra intonations, and empathetic values as an integral part of the total holistic yoga plan. “My aim is to bring joy, optimize human potential, promote equality among children, and bring about world peace”, she states.

An advanced Buddhist meditator, Anu is also the author of “Anusual – Memoir of a Girl who came back from the Dead”, that tells the story of her life. What made her write the book? “I had been writing a diary since the age of 11. I also wrote poems. My mother is a hidden writer. So earlier when I finished the book, it was a book of poems. ‘But it wouldn’t sell,’ said the publishers. I had no choice but to put prose into it”, she states.

Writing for Anu has always been “more than a leisure activity. It is like a soul connection with my diary. It’s like going to a priest and saying, ‘I’ve sinned’. The diary has purged me”, she says. “Also, after my recovery, writing came more easily. No one really understood what I was going through. So writing in a way became cathartic. In fact, I also see my book as a literary piece of work with its play of words and language”.

Anu reveals that she started to write a line or two every day since 2003-04 when she wanted to do a book on yoga. But instead this book came about and was launched in 2015.

Life for Anu, has come full circle. She sold her flat in Mumbai, has self-funded herself, worked on her life to simplify things and today lives out of a bag. “It helps me connect with who I am”, she says. “I don’t plan anything but just aim to evolve and better what I am doing today”.

Making a de-stress module of AnuFun Yoga for the off-shore staff of ONGC, working with children – from the slums, streets, challenged, to the orphans, Anu has her hands full. With Akanksha Foundation in Mumbai, she has been worked on education for the low income group; with Dharavi kids for the Acorn Foundation; the IBDA Foundation in Jaipur; the Dalai Lama Foundation; and many more.

She is now ready with another book on yoga for children. “This one talks about how asanas should be done by children between the age group of 5-16, the kind of diet they should follow, the role of parents and teachers; and holistic living”.

A book on poetry is on the anvil too. “Am waiting for a publisher”, she smiles, “My poems are more like confessional writing. My style has changed a lot in the last few years. I express things more with a compassionate, humane attitude than with a women’s point of view. My poems are more about human suffering”.

So how is it being single? “I am totally loving it. Like my mother says ‘You are happy being single because you’ve made friends with your mind’.” Anu’s laughter rings clear like the gushing waters of a gay stream. And she walks off to shake hands with the hordes of unprivileged children that have gathered to meet her.

She was in Noida as part of the GlobalLogic Foundation Sports Meet that had children from three participating schools dabble in AnuFun Yoga. The event was part of a CSR activity for the Foundation.

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