Pune: 85-year-old grandmom inspiring millions of people around the globe

Mehab Qureshi

Pune, July 24, 2020: An elderly woman’s lathi martial arts skills have spread on the internet like a wildfire since yesterday. The video was shot by Aishwarya Kale, a resident of Salunke Vihar, which she later forwarded it to WhatsApp groups and shared on her Facebook page.

The 85-years-old old woman is Shanta Balu Pawar, a resident of Vaiduwadi of Hadapsar. She is seen performing with sticks on the streets of Salunke Vihar to support her nine family members financially amid the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

Seeing, the viral video, Nandini Jadhav, who volunteers for NGO Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS), started to hunt her to help her with ration food supplies.

“After the video got viral, I started looking out for aaji. Still, nobody had the contact information, but I was on my journey with a ration kit to meet aaji, and after several hours I could establish contact with her. I met her, spoke to her, and shot this video of her talking about her financial condition. Indeed, the stringent lockdown has affected everyone, but people like this who work for daily wages have been affected the most. So, all of us need to help her financially and with ration kits as much as we can”, said Nandini told Punekarnews.in.

The viral video hit more than 1.1 million views on Twitter, and the video reached the B-town as well. Ritesh Deshmukh, after seeing the video, was genuinely impressed and contacted the elderly woman.”Thank you so much. We have connected with this inspiring warrior Aaji MAA-incredible story”, tweeted Ritesh Deshmukh.

This resulted in a series of tweets about the aaji maa. Commissioner of Police(CP) Dr K Venkatesham on his Twitter handle also tweeted the viral video stating, “Talent has no boundaries.” He also asked his team to reach out to her.

Senior Police Inspector Ramesh Sathe, in-charge of Hadapsar police station, said that one-month ration kit for the family has been provided to her today morning.

Shanta said, “I am only doing this for my family members and especially my grandkids. I don’t want them to end up like me. I want them to be educated so that they can have a better lifestyle. I am not afraid of getting infected by the Coronavirus because even if I do, I will die, but I won’t let my grandkids sleep hungry.”

To Donate/help Shanta Pawar, you can directly donate to her bank account. The credentials are as follows:

Bank name-Bank of Maharashtra
Account no-60163754342
IFSC code- MAHB0000081
Branch-Hadapsar

All the donations will be sent to her bank account directly.