This story is from February 16, 2020

Maharashtra: 40 surya namaskars a day keep ‘101-year-old’ granny fit

Laxmibai Damle says she believes in keeping fit. For this the woman from Ratnagiri, who her family members claim is a 101 years old, does at least 40 surya namaskar every morning.
Maharashtra: 40 surya namaskars a day keep ‘101-year-old’ granny fit
Laxmi Damle recently taught 10,000 schoolchildren surya namaskar
MUMBAI: Laxmibai Damle says she believes in keeping fit. For this the woman from Ratnagiri, who her family members claim is a 101 years old, does at least 40 surya namaskar every morning.
Days after she taught 10,000-plus Kalyan school kids surya namaskar, TOI met her at a relative’s home in Borivli. The petite woman was attired in a nine-yard blue saree and red blouse, her silver-grey hair was rolled into a neat bun.
She has no teeth but her wrinkled skin glows. As Laxmibai is hard of hearing, her niece, Sulakshana Bodas, and husband Sarvottam, whose residence Laxmibai was visiting, played interpreter.
The day TOI met her this past week, she had already done 40 surya namaskar for the day earlier in the morning.
Asked if she would do a few more, Laxmibai readily agreed. Sitting ramrod straight on the floor, she crossed her legs and stretched her palms upwards. Adjusting the folds of her nine-yard saree, she tucked the loose end of her pallu around the midriff, bent forward to touch her feet, her red glass bangles cling-clanging. And then, in one fell swoop, she lunged forward and the next moment her body was in the plank position—parallel to the floor. All along, Laxmibai kept chanting ‘Om Surya Namaha’.
“Whenever we look at her, she’s doing the surya namaskar, especially when she feels a bit uneasy,” says Sarvottam Bodas. Days earlier, when he woke up in the middle of the night, he found her busy at her fitness mantra at that unearthly hour.
Laxmibai, who hails from Kolamabe village, says she learnt to do the surya namaskar when she was in school. “It was a Christian teacher at Agashe Kanya Shala in Ratnagiri who taught me the namaskar,” she says, admitting that she is not too educated.

Married at the age 13, her husband and his family never objected to her penchant for exercise. A light eater, Laxmibai has a weakenss for sweets. “But I have no ailments at all. Till today, I haven’t popped pills for any sickness. The surya namaskar is my medicine,” she says.
Even today, she helps with household chores, including shredding vegetables and preparing buttermilk with churner. “Just for timepass,” she says. Earlier, when she could hear properly, she loved watching Marathi serials on television, says Sulakshana.
“But she hates watching movies in cinema halls as she does not like to sit in the AC. She is not too fond of Hindi serials on TV either as she does not know the language,” Sulakshana adds.
Overall, Laxmibai is content with her life. “My family members take good care of me,” she says, still sitting ramrod straight. “At my age, there’s nothing I need, nothing I long for.”
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