For tutor, a fresh start at life

Manish Bharvesh once weighed 260 kg. He is now 110. For the 33-year-old commerce tutor, it’s a fresh chance at a fuller, richer life.

Manish Bharvesh once weighed 260 kg. He is now 110. For the 33-year-old commerce tutor, it’s a fresh chance at a fuller, richer life.

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He watched a movie in a cinema after 12 years, rejoined the chartered accountancy course he had abandoned six years ago, bought readymade clothes from a shop, and found a female student telling him she had a crush on him.

On June 22, 2006, he had a sleeve gastrectomy, a kind of obesity surgery.

He has lost 150 kg since, and is now said to be among the “biggest losers in India” — “only weight-wise”, he jokes.

He began putting on weight at age six and continued till he was bed-ridden.

“For 11 years, I tried Ayurveda, homeopathy and all sorts of diets; none of it worked,” he said.

“Even walking 2-3 steps would make me breathless; my legs were constantly swollen. People would make fun of me when I went out, so I just stayed home,” he said.

Surgery became imperative after Bharvesh developed diabetes and couldn’t control his blood sugar level.

In an hour-long procedure at Ruby Hospital, Pune, a team of doctors led by Dr Shashank Shah removed a part of his stomach that produces a hunger-stimulating hormone.