Pune: 81 Forts Covered In One Year For His 81st Birthday! Story Of Arvind Dixit’s Persistence
Pune, 3rd November 2022: At the age of 80, he made a dream in his mind, to climb and see 81 forts of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in the next year. He started this campaign on October 31 last year at Shivneri fort and after climbing each fort he made his dream of ’81 forts in 81 years’ come true by bowing his head at Raigad on October 30 on his 81st birthday. Arvind Dixit, an 81-year-old ‘young man’ from Pune achieved his dream.
Dixit, a retired officer of the Indian Navy and a retired professor of Vishwavidyalaya, Delhi, was fond of reading, writing, travelling, exercising, films, drama, music, and various sports from early on. Along with walking, swimming, cycling, trekking in Sahyadri and the Himalayas are his favourite pastimes. From all this, he has gained energy and fitness in both body and mind.
Intending to connect the surrounding society with the positivity of this lifestyle, he started a different activity at the age of 75. Every year his birthday is celebrated with an activity that conveys the message of fitness of body and mind and also sows enthusiasm and energy in the surrounding community.
Walking 75 km at 75, doing 76 different exercises at 76, and cycling the same distance at 77. Further, on the threshold of 80, he climbed all the steps of the building in his complex 80 times in one go after the disruption due to Covid-19. Every year’s birthday came with such an aspect.
In this series, he made a dream to climb and see as many as 81 forts in one year on his 81st birthday this year. Considering his age and the resolution of 81 forts in a year, many climbers also expressed scepticism about the challenge.
Dixit started this campaign on October 31, the second day of his 80th birthday by listing the forts, order, timing, and preparation. The starting point of this campaign was built on Shivneri, the birthplace of Chhatrapati Shivaji, and little by little, every fort went up. He completed his resolution by bowing his head down at Raigad on October 30 this year by climbing forts namely Sinhagad, Purandar, Torna, Rajgad, Lohgad, Visapur, Rajmachi, Tung, Tikona, Sajjangad, Ajinkyatara, Panhala, Gopalgad, Kolaba, Arnala, etc.
During this dream fulfilment, he climbed the fort along with friends, relatives, climbers and fort lovers who came to visit the fort. Announcements were made as soon as he bowed down at the opening gate of Raigad. Further, Dixit hoisted both the national flag and saffron flag and showered flowers on the Maharaja’s statue on the fort and completed his goal.
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