Old Is Gold & Old Is Bold

Swati Karve

I am very lucky and proud to celebrate the 99th birthday of Shri Gopal Chintaman Nerlekar, my maternal uncle (Mama Ji).

He has entered hundredth year. Oh! what a great moment. There are many people who live that long life but very important fact is to lead life remaining healthy and lively.

The story of Shri Nerlekar, is the best example of living happily and boldly.

He was born on 9th March 1921 and he did his schooling in Khandala, Maharshtra. He is very intelligent from childhood and stood first in higher secondary school. He lost his father at an early age and joined defense services in 1940 and retired in 1980. Even at this age, he gives an enjoyable company to all his children, grand-children, son-in-laws, daugther-in-laws, friends.

He lost his wife 20 years ago, and he is staying in a bungalow all alone in Pune. His wonderful, happy, jolly and handsome personality and healthy disciplined lifestyle is very adorable. His daughter, Jaya and son-in-law Ramesh, take good care of him as and when needed. He is self-sufficient and can use social networking apps viz. Whatsapp, Facebook, etc. to keep himself updated. His son is a doctor by profession  and settled in Melbourne, Australia.

His starts his daily routine at 5:30 am. He has a maid who comes at 12 at noon only for 4 hours and rest of the time he is all alone. He is busy with newspaper, word puzzles and TV to keep himself abreast about happening all around.

He is a very welcoming person, with a jolly nature, which earns him a big friend-circle. He has neither any grudge against anybody nor with his health issues.

The story does not end here. The most courageous example is the incidence narrated below.

On 2nd June 2020, due to heavy rains in Pune, the Katraj Lake which is in nearby vicinity of his bungalow, was flooded and that was 2 AM very early morning. The water started entering the house, breaking the boundary wall. The house-hold things e.g. fridge, utensil, etc. started filling due to excessive water pressure. He was quick to realize that the house was flooded. Exit of his house was blocked due to excessive flooding. Yet, with the help of mobile he took his money bag and managed to come out of his house from rear side, by climbing over the kitchen platform. He used open iron stair case to reach his terrace. Alone he dared to remain there for four hours while it was raining heavily. It was enough time for whole sludge, dangerous and dirty animals like snakes etc. to float around the entire freely.

 In the meanwhile, his son in Melbourne and his daughter Jaya to rescue him could connect him on mobile. Though, they tried to reach him through the local administration, but none was allowed to enter this area submerged in a dangerously high water level.

Slowly, after sunrise, people could see him sitting on the terrace and calling out for help. People all around the area, knew him very well, so they requested police to rescue him. Finally, with the help of young crowd and police, he was rescued with a big rope, guiding him to come down slowly through sludge (having lots of snakes and dead and alive animals). Finally, his son-in-law and grandson could get him in the car. This was very courageous incident he faced while he was running in 98^th year of his life. Without getting he reached his daughter's place wrapped up in a single towel.

What a horrifying incidence it was to face alone at this age. Important message for all of us is that Old is Gold but Old is Bold too. It is important in life to face adversities boldly with alertness. Panic only aggravates adversities. These are the lessons we learn whenever we meet him.

We are inspired to celebrate his birthday and his entry into 100^th year of life and some of the pictures are shared here.

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