On Boxing Day, 4-year-old child prodigy turns Santa Claus for elderlies at Old Age Home

BHOPAL: A 4-year-old child prodigy Palaksh Oswal, who is perhaps the youngest professional brand ambassador in Asia and youngest COVID-19 educator-motivator turned Santa Claus for elderlies abandoned by their families in native Mandsaur district of Madhya Pradesh.

Abandoned by their children and subsequently living at an Old Age Home in Mandsaur town, the aged lot were in for a pleasant surprise on the Boxing Day (December 26), as the LKG student accompanied by father Arpit Oswal and grandfather Ashok Jain gifted the elderlies radio sets and ear-phones – all funded by his income generated for being the brand ambassador for a children’s news portal.

Seven radio sets and ear-phones were gifted by Palaksh to the Old Age Home residents and the gesture was enough to trigger tears of joy from the eyes of the elderlies, who are no longer visited by their children and grandchildren.

Overwhelmed by the little Santa Claus’s gift 75-year-old Manohari Bai had tears in eyes, “It’s been two since I was ousted by my daughter-in-law and my son dropped me here, never to return for enquiring about my well-being. This is the first gift I’ve received since then. May god give long life and bright future to this little boy who has gifted us joy from his income. I pray that he becomes a district collector one day,” the septuagenarian said.

According to Palaksh’s Vastu consultant father, Aprit Oswal, “it’s unimaginable that at an age when kids find it hard even to communicate with others, my son through his income totalling around Rs 10,000 has brought joy in the lives of Old Age Home elderlies, who have been living a lonely life and our gift will connect them again with the outside world and their choicest music.”

Importantly, when Palaksh was aged just two and half years, he started his youtube channel of fun videos ‘Monty Dada ki Vines.’ Just a year later, when the world was hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, Palaksh launched another youtube channel ‘Apka Palaksh’ on which he uploaded two videos alerting the world about the COVID-19 pandemic and ways to prevent it.

“In one of the COVID-19 awareness viral videos, Palaksh was seen expressing solidarity with the COVID-19 hit US and telling that entire India stood with the US in these troubled times. The video was re-tweeted by several Indians living in the US, besides by a senior Indian diplomat in the US as well as the official Twitter handle of the Consulate General of India, New York,” informed Palaksh’s father.  

The little wonder also featured in a COVID-19 awareness video with Mandsaur’s local MLA and district collector in COVID-19 educative program, besides making posters for boosting the spirit of COVID-19 warriors.

Coming to know about his exceptional talent, a national kids’ newspaper ‘Kids Age’ requested him to review their product and impressed by his review, the newspaper management appointed him their official brand ambassador in October 2020.