ASTHA (MP): Shankar Singh looks at you with amused eyes. “Ek sau do(102),” he replies — and the twinkle in his eyes says he got the reaction he wanted. Then, as you try some mental calculations, he helps out with the maths: “I was 31 at Independence and voted in the very first election. I’m sure the next one won’t be the last.”
As you gape at him, he continues, “I have friends from back then. Have you met them?” Then he gets up from the charpoy rather breezily for a man of 102 summers.
Shankar isn’t the only centenarian in Dhingakhedi, and certainly not the oldest. This small forest hamlet in MP’s Sehore district has at least seven centenarian voters, and five others who say they have crossed 100 but can’t be bothered to prove it.
They aren’t bothered about much, anyway. And that’s perhaps one of the secrets of their longevity.
So, how did living beyond 100 years become something of a tradition in this village of less than 500? Quite out of curiosity, what do they eat? “Plain dal-roti, or doodh-roti. That’s all they ever have. They have simple wants, really,” says Jitendra, grandson of 102-year-old Kanchan Bai.
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