The Gentle Coach of Kashmir

After a childhood accident left him struggling to walk, a Srinagar Samaritan found his way to fitness. Today, he's helping young people in Kashmir find their own strength.

- Gowher Bhat

When Muzeen Firdous was a boy, he fell from a height and broke his leg badly. It was the kind of injury that can easily shape a person's entire life.

For years, he struggled to walk. People around him would look at him with helplessness. They thought his future was already written.

“People pitied me,” Muzeen said. “But even as a child, I made a promise to myself. I wasn't going to let this be the end of my story.”

Growing up in Shivpora, Srinagar, Muzeen didn’t plan to become a fitness coach. He studied Mechanical Engineering and followed what many would call a ‘safe’ path. But even then, his heart kept pulling him back to training.

He started working out at a small CRPF gym in 2009. There were no mirrors, no fancy machines, just old equipment, sweat, and steady effort.

Later, he joined another gym in Jawahar Nagar where he met Irfan Ali, the coach who changed everything for him.

“Irfan Sir didn’t just teach me how to lift weights,” Muzeen said. “He taught me how to be consistent, how to control my emotions. That's what really shaped me.”

But Muzeen's emotional strength didn't just come from the gym. It came from home.

His cousin, known to everyone as Pinka Bhai, became the person he leaned on the most.