Age is just a number! An 85-year-old woman is winning hearts with her fabulous stick swinging skills. Meet Pune's Shantabai Pawar, who is fondly known as Ajji Maa, has mastered the traditional art form of 'Lathi Kathi'.
A video in which the old woman Shantabai Pawar is seen faultlessly acing the years-old tradition of Lathi Kathi art. Setting up a brave show on a street, she left netizens speechless.
Later, enquiries revealed that Shantabai had learnt her 'lathi-kathi' skills at the age of eight and continues to be an expert even after eight decades, displaying them with practised perfection on roads to earn a living, and touching scenes of her saga were recorded on social media.
Many more have rushed financial and material support as the woman, who has even worked with the late actress Sridevi as a background artist, is known to support several orphan kids as her own family members.
While Home Minister of the state Anil Deshmukh on Saturday greeted her folded hands, complimented her on her talents and offered her Rs 100,000 plus a set of clothes, the Pune police's 'Bharosa Cell' has also extended monetary assistance.
A resident of Hadapsar, Shantabai Balu Pawar was happy at the encounter with the minister near her modest home and even performed a few martial arts tricks, leaving Deshmukh visibly impressed, while a large crowd including MLA Chetan V Tupe and others applauded her impromptu performance.
Talking to news agency ANI, she said, "I'm doing it since I was 8. My father taught me to work hard. People mostly remain indoors due to #COVID, so I clang utensil to alert them when I perform.”
As the video went viral on social media, Bollywood actor Riteish Deshmukh came forward to offer help to the elderly performer. Sharing her video, Deshmukh wrote, “Warrior Aaaji Maa...Can someone please get me the contact details of her...”
Actors Sonu Sood and Randeep Hooda also joined the bandwagon by praising the grandmother.
The Dabbang actor already did a noble cause of helping stranded workers reach home accessible to open a training school for women under the aaji’s guidance. Sonu Sood said, “Can I get her details please. Wanna open a small training school with her where she can train women of our country with some self-defence techniques.”
(With inputs from IANS)
