An inspiring account of the writer’s 94-year-old father who reinvented himself at the age of 75, proving to everyone around him that truly, age is just a number

My 94-year-old father Om Parkash Popli is our family’s Corona Warrior. He leads the battle against this deadly virus by keeping us updated on the disease and thus is well-informed and well-armed. My father is a virtual encyclopaedia on the disease, as he is abreast of what is happening around the world and advises us about the dos and don’ts in these Covid times. Even during pre-Covid times, my father kept himself busy and never felt a dull moment, confined as he is most often to the home. Now during the pandemic, he is busier.

My father is a testimony to the saying, ‘Age is just a number’. For his growing years has never been an impediment to doing what he likes. He has been a yogi all through his life. In the later part of his life, he has transformed himself into a karamyogi.

Since early childhood, we all three siblings, my elder sister, brother and I admired our mother Kailash, who was very intelligent, extremely lively and a jovial person. She was very popular among our relatives and at functions, she used to be the central figure, the life of the gathering, with people surrounding her as she held a captive audience.

Om Parkash Popli

In contrast, my father was quiet, simple, and very down-to-earth. In our home, he never craved for any attention, respect or care. He lived as if he were non-existent in this world. However, my mother and he shared a super special bond. He was dependent on my mother for everything and abided by all her choices on all matters. My mother left this world on the first day of the new millennium, January 1, 2000. A few days before her death, lying on a hospital bed with a serious heart ailment, she clenched my hand with teary eyes and said in her feeble voice: “Pinky, mere jane ke bad tum apne papa ka pura khayal rakhna. Woh bahut hi sidhe sadhe hai.” (Pinky, after I go, look after your father well. He is a very simple person.)

I assured her with a heavy heart, “Mumma aap bilkul bhi chinta na karo.”  (Mummy, please don’t worry at all.) But I felt something amiss within, as I was posted to a far-off place in my job, and was not in a position to take care of him personally. And I was also not sure how he would cope with the loss of his life partner. I was very worried about my father and sometimes felt that he might not survive for long as he also had a serious heart problem.

But, surprises after surprises lay in store for me. He not only came out of grief quickly, but also from the  shadows of the past. The process of transformation was fast. Every time, I spoke to him over the phone, I found myself talking to a new person with new traits and new aspects of his personality. He soon joined a shero-shyari group and also became a part of the local temple management committee. He made a routine of an early morning walk and doing light yoga in a park. He invested some of his savings in shares and mutual funds, all on his own. He became so extroverted that sometimes it required effort on my part to tone him down.

Rakesh Popli


In 2005, he had to undergo a heart bypass surgery at the age of 79, performed in an emergency situation at 1.00 am at night, but he survived through sheer will power! And when my brother died in 2016, I again felt concerned about him, but he proved to be a tough nut, gave emotional support to my brother’s family and is now supporting them as the head of the family, forgetting his personal grief altogether.

He is still going strong at the age of 94 years and hopes to score a century in life.

My father is an inspiration to me, my sister and to all our relatives. I would like to share with readers, the four most important life lessons that my father taught us.

1. The person who changes with the change, changes the change itself for good
2. Age is just a number
3. In the garden of life, late bloomers are especially beautiful
4. Last, his earlier subdued life also had strong qualities of detachment and selflessness.

He reinvented himself at the age of 75 and is an example of resilience. I feel proud to be the son of this great man! 

Rakesh Popli, a retired banker and blogger, writes about his observations of life. He lives in Sonipat.