Patna: A 92-year-old man from Patna had pledged to give up what is to most of the world, one of the most important culinary ingredients - salt.
Tunni Mahato, a staunch follower of Mahatma Gandhi, made the pledge as a part of India's independence struggle in the 1930s.
Mahatma Gandhi had then launched the Dandi March, a movement that defied
the British salt tax and was seen as an open declaration that the British
could not control the fate of millions of Indians.
Mahato, who grew up seeing his uncles join the fiery freedom movement, pledged never to consume salt the day Mahatma Gandhi launched Dandi March, as part of the Civil Disobedience Movement March 12, 1930.
The man has since then struck on to his pledge-a matter of principle, as he puts it.
"In the year 1930, I was studying in the third standard. At that time everything that Mahatma Gandhi did used to be follwoed by the public. Heavy taxes were imposed by the British government and there were protests against them. I have follwoed my principles from those days and have not touched salt till date," says Mahato.
Mahato was born in a poor family and lost his father at a tender age. He
finished his studies in Sanskrit with the help of his uncle and later taught
Sanskrit in a school in Patna from 1940 to 1982.
Apart from sacrificing salt, he maintains a strict diet and stresses the
need to be vegetarian. His family members are compelled to add salt separately as he does not even touch the food that has salt added in it.
"Ever since I remember, my father has not touched salt. He still instructs us to be vegetarian, eat fruits and drink lots of milk to stay healthy," says Mahato's son Shyam Nandan Prasad.
Even though Mahato has not tasted salt for the last 76 years, he is in great shape, with all his faculties in perfect condition.
"He is hundred per cent normal and is in perfect health. All his systems are fine - cardio vascular system, respiratory system, kidney system, gastro intestinal system - every thing is normal," said Mahato's family doctor Binay Prasad says.
According to medical experts, a person can survive without consuming added salts, as the food and vegetables themselves contain the requisite salts.
Even though the later generations have forgotten the teaching of Mahatma Gandhi, Tunni Mahato has followed
Bapu's teachings for over seven decades now.
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