By Shobhana Tai Tirthali Story of Shri Moreshwar Kashikar
(हिंदी में पढ़े) (मराठी भाषेत वाचा) We were waiting for Shri Kashikarji at Renisa Soni’s physiotherapy clinic . He was supposed to come and teach Renisa,how to tie the belt . We were worried about him as he was late and he was known for his punctuality. Mr. Kashikar is a well-wisher, who was diagnosed with Parkinsons in 2011. Today he is 81 years old.
Mr. Moreshwar Kashikarji , graduated as an Electrical Engineer from Engineering College,Pune in the year 1961 . He began working as a Consultant post his retirement after successfully working for over Thirty nine years. Apart from this,he began imparting yoga training at the famous Kabir Baug in Pune and also serve people. In Kabir Baug , different instruments are used for yoga therapy, one of which is the belt. Kashikarji mastered the art of tying the belt.
The waist of Parkinson’s patients starts bending from behind, hence Kashikarji suggested the use of belt. He was of the belief that if Parkinson’s patients start using this belt from the beginning their bending reduces. Once the belt is tied and a shirt worn over it, the patient can move about without any problems. Once when he demonstrated the art of belt tying in Ashvini Auditorium, we had invited him to our residence to learn the same. He would visit houses of people to demonstrate the art of belt tying.
He first experiments all new techniques on himself. In the 2015 edition of the Mitr Mandal’s souvenir he had written an article “Friendship with Trimmers-An Experiment” based on the experiment conducted by him. He had experimented on himself and he believed that whether this experiment would be useful or not, there was no harm in trying it. He had mentioned the same in his article.
Kashirkarji has been a firm believer of yoga. According to him everyone should work out regularly. He has mentioned his contact details below the article. Hence, many people request him to come and teach the art of belt tying. Initially, we would travel on his scooter, but after some time, he began to travel by an auto rickshaw as Parkinson’s affected his legs. He once very sorrowfully said, “I am willing to teach the art of belt tying a innumerable times,but still don’t find many using the belt.” If Kashikarji didn’t come to our house for a few days, I would be worried but was afraid that he would definitely ask.”How is your blood pressure? Are you practicing yoga like I taught you to?. My dilemma was that my tongue would stumble while lying and I would feel shy while telling the truth because I had not exercised. But still would come when we called without getting angry and today the physiotherapist was also supposed to come.
As per Kashikarji’s advice I tried to tie the belt many times, but couldn’t do it properly. So , we decided that the physiotherapist would tie the belt to Tirthali Saheb, after his sessions. That is why I had called the physiotherapist today. Renisa, the therapist, was always interested in learning new techniques.
Kashirkarji entered while we were wondering why he hadn’t yet come. He froze the moment he entered. We were unaware that he had begun freezing. By freezing, we mean that the person becomes a statue, unable to move for a few moments. Many a times, patients of Parkinsons suffer from this. At such times the person becomes flummoxed. But, not Kashikarji. He motioned me to wait and with the help of an assistant in the clinic sat on the chair. Feeling guilty I said, “Kashikarji, had you informed us about your health, we would have come to you.” Once before we had gone to his house to learn the art of tying the belt. He replied, “It is not a big issue. Actually I was waiting for the auto rickshaw for a long time. But was not able to find one. Fortunately my son was driving to the airport he dropped me here. I apologize for being late in reaching here.” I was troubled hearing this. He could have messaged saying that he was unable to come, it would have been okay. But he still came as he was excited to teach the art of tying the belt. I was teary eyed thinking of the effort he took to come and teach.
But, Kashikarji was at peace. He had a head ache due to the freezing episode. After doing some procedure to stop the pain, he was able to become a little better. Then he taught Renisa how to tie the belt. I was surprised at his dedication to teach. If it was someone else, they would have avoided going out in such a situation, but not Kashikarji and he never made a big deal of this.
Renisa also liked him a lot. She also agreed that the art of tying the belt was beneficial. She begun tying the belt after Tirthali Saheb was done with his physiotherapy. This belt was very comfortable even after being worn for the whole day. It was very surprising that I wasn’t able to tie the belt even after learning so many times, but Kashikarji was able to tie it to himself. He would announce that he was wearing the belt when he came for the meetings. It was surprising for me.
Kashikarji told Renisa, “At present, we are tying these belts to prevent the waist from bending, but we can use it for many other things also. When I learnt this, I made different types of sketches and wrote 400 pages of notes. I have all this ready, I am willing to teach anyone interested in learning. Renisa promised to come and learn along with a teacher. After that Kashikarji would always ask when the physiotherapist would come to learn, I in turn would ask Renisa the same. But she was so busy that though interested she couldnot go to learn. What should I tell Kashikarji, this gradually became a big question for me. I could understand his yearning to pass on his knowledge to others. Many students of physiotherapy and engineering keep coming to the Mitrmandal for purposes of research. Kashikarji helped them in every way he could. He himself being a researcher would get upset when he saw that the students were not very serious about the same.
At present, his Parkinsons is advancing and the freezing episodes have also increased. I called him up in the month of January, to speak about two things. Firstly, it is his birthday in that month and also the meetings of the mandal began with a prayer by Kashikarji. I wanted to know if he was coming. He replied, “I will be unable to come this time as I am feeling too weak. But I promise to come the next time. These days I am writing a brochure on what exercises a Parkinson’s patient should do and how to do them, which is almost ready with diagrams. Can we print a booklet so that it reaches the people? Hearing this all I could say was “Hats off to you, sir.” We will print the booklet once his research is done and distribute it amongst people. On behalf of Kashikarji, I would request people to honor the enthusiastic people around us who are filling us with positive energy and because of them are able to witness many emotional moments in our life.
On behalf of Parkinson’s mitrmandal I pray that Kashikarji is always around us to guide us.