'Pocket Hercules' Monohar Aich always recalled his childhood in Bangladesh

Monohar Aich, the 1952 Mr Universe, could never get over his childhood memories in Bangladesh.

Even on his deathbed, he told family members his last wish of visiting his native village in Comilla’s Daudkandi has remained unfulfilled.

When he breathed his last on Sunday at his north Kolkata home, Aich was 104.

Family members said that though he was confined to bed for the last one year, he would talk continuously about his early days in Comilla, his joining the Royal Air Force during the World War 2 at a recruitment centre in Narayanganj.

“Amare tomra ekbar deshe niye gelana (Won’t you take me to my ancestral place once),” was his constant request.

Even after he crossed 100, Aich would regularly go to his Studio De Physique gym and have a workout.

Age finally caught up with him a year ago and forced him to bed—something that he hated the most.

Aich believed that Bengali food, especially rice, dal (lentils), vegetables and fish (especially fish head which he said had growth hormones) was the best suited for bodybuilding.

"I hate steroids and all these supplements. Natural food is best," he would tell younger body builders like Mr India Tushar Sil and Khitish Chatterjee.

Aich introduced power bodybuilding to India and trained a whole new generation of body builders in the country, some of whom won major Asian tournament.

The West Bengal government honoured him withe the title 'Banga Bibhusan'.

Aich joined the Royal Air Force in 1942 and got embroiled in the Naval Mutiny in 1946, when he beat up several British officers. That landed him in jail for four years until India became a Republic.

He continued his workouts in jail and became Mr Universe within two years of his release.