For these senior citizens, age is just a number

PATNA: Age is just a number for these senior citizens as they are working in a manner that motivates and inspires the younger generation. Even in their late 70s and 80s, they are making significant contributions to society in their own way.
Shiv Vansh Pandey, 89, continues to read and write vigorously. His last book was published about six months ago. He attends the social, cultural and literary meetings regularly. Pandey serves as the principal secretary of Bihar Hindi Sahitya Sammelan and president of the cultural forum of Bihar Vidyapeeth. Besides, he has also been closely associated with several other organisations, including Bihar Sanskrit Sanjeevan Samaj and Rajendra Sahitya Parishad.
Talking about age, he said “The notion of age should be accepted in all its ugliness and glory. With age, we earn our wrinkles and get grey hairs. Our wisdom shines and smile becomes profound.” Pandey asserts that he would not die before his death. “I am an asset and not a burden to society,” he quipped.
Ramavatar Tiwary, 88, covers a distance of about 30km everyday selling ice creams in Patna. As he has been selling the ice cream of a particular brand for the last 65 years, the company has recently provided him with an e-rickshaw for moving from one corner to the other.
Tiwary, popularly called ‘Bhagat Singh’ owing to his look-alike makeup, is very popular among the youth, particularly among the students of Patna University. Hence, most VVIPs of the city, including chief minister Nitish Kumar, cine actors Shatrughan Sinha and Shekhar Suman, and top bureaucrats are quite familiar with him and often call him by his first name.
When asked about the secret of his hectic work at this ripe age, he said, “I never worry even in adverse circumstances. I have utmost faith in hard work and sincerity and this keeps me alive,” he said.
Dr Uday Krishna Jha, the 84-year-old orthopaedic surgeon, retired from the physical medicine and rehabilitation department of PMCH in 1995, but continues the work of medical consultancy, visits different hospitals and health centres from time to time and offers medical advice to all those who come to his residence seeking help. Dr Jha, who walks a lot every day, keeps himself physically fit and never uses any stick or other support during his walks. As the central zone president of the Indian Orthopaedic Association, he attends various medical conferences organised in different parts of the country regularly. “Growing older need not slow you down. You will remain young as long as you feel so and engage yourself in activities of your liking,” he said.
Work is worship for 84-year-old retired bureaucrat I C Kumar, who always keeps himself busy in social activities. After retirement from government service, he served as the vice-chancellor of Veer Kunwar Singh University for more than three years. He has been serving as the president of Bihar Pensioner Samaj since 1996 and fighting for the cause of retired personnel of the state. When asked about his engagements, Kumar said, “Service to others is the motto of my life. I have helped establish a number of educational institutions in rural areas by donating land and money and taking interest in their functioning. Besides, I have also written about a dozen books on different topics after my retirement and the last one was published just a few months back.”
It is never too late to start something afresh, said 77-year-old retired Patna University history teacher N K P Sinha, who learnt swimming at the age of 65. Later, at the age of 70, he also won the state-level swimming championship. Sinha is fond of travelling to different places of tourist interest by road in a self-driven car. Just three years ago, he along with his wife drove from Patna to Kanyakumari and back. He has covered a distance of more than 2 lakh kms by road to different places all alone. “Driving is my passion and I do not want to travel by rail,” he said and added: “Taking on new challenges and learning new things is not only fun, but rewarding, too, for an individual.”
A 79-year-old retired teacher of the erstwhile Bihar College of Engineering (now NIT, Patna), Santosh Kumar has written two books on river engineering and environmental engineering during the period of the pandemic as he had no other major assignments. He is still engaging classes of MSc students of PU environmental science department and coaches nearly 20 students of high school level, mostly from poor families, free of cost at his residence every day. “I have been inspired by my father, who passed his MA examination at the age of 98,” Kumar said.