CEDRIC SERPES feels inspired by centenarian Sharada Chellam, though he finds it difficult to pinpoint any one-reason for the longevity of this multifaceted, multitalented woman of substance
Sharada Chellam turned 100 on November 16, 2024. Her turning 100 so effortlessly, so gracefully, wasn’t really a cause for celebration, because we all had expected it anyway. There’s that zest for living in Sharada, which people decades younger than her can’t match.
What’s more is the love in her heart for people and things around her, which is so infectious that it brings a smile on the face of the saddest of persons. When I think about her, I can find more than a hundred reasons to love her! She’s always made me feel so special, so loved. But that’s not only with me. Even a casual acquaintance or someone who has met her for the first time, returns home with a heart full of joy and fond memories of the grandest woman she/he has ever met.
Everyone has been asking her, “What’s the secret to your longevity?” In answer, she just smiles enigmatically. It’s difficult to give one, simple answer to that question. But I will nevertheless try, because Sharada loves a person who never gives up. So, let’s find the secret of her long, fruitful life and look at her spectacular character traits.
She’s open-minded about everything, both the big and small things in life. She’s more active than people half her age.
A voracious reader in four languages — Hindi, Marathi, English and Tamil — she has a blog in Marathi. She plays the Dilruba (a type of bowed sitar). She knits, crochets, tats, and does jigsaw puzzles with ease.
The ease and speed with which she posts pictures and answers all her Facebook posts would give any youngster a complex. She’s also active on Instagram and WhatsApp and writes messages in the four languages she knows. She’s an avid student on Coursera.
Always positive in her outlook, she does not imagine multiple negative outcomes in day-to-day events, but lives in the present moment. She has a phenomenal memory of events past, of people, she met. But she never nurses a grudge and forgives easily, instantly and moves on.
She is kind, soft spoken, disciplined and agile. She ran her first 100 metres race when she was 94. She swam until five years ago — she’d still do it, if there was a pool she could access.
She chooses to never suffer an illness; instead, she hunkers down and lets it pass. Once, when I cautioned her to be careful on the staircase, because of her age, she stopped, looked at me with her characteristic twinkle in her eyes and said “Budda hoga tera Baap!” That has now become my philosophy too!
She is the mother of my wife, my dear, young mother-in-law. Sometimes I call her Amma ji when I want to tease her. To that she typically responds “Haan ji, Cedric ji!”
Featured Image: Sharada Chellam
Ad guru Cedric Serpes is part of the visiting faculty of several top management institutes and colleges in India and the Gulf