Pedro, who turns 103 on Tuesday, is the kind of indomitable spirit that brings to life the pages of a Marquez or Llosa novel.
In the 70s, he narrowly escaped the brutal rule of Idi Amin in Uganda. He played football, tennis, badminton and billiards, loved his whiskey and loved his sweets.
He retired from gardening at the age of 99. Even now, beyond 100, he has survived three waves of the Covid-19 pandemic, and is in no mood to stop.
In all his years, ‘Lazarene Bhava’, as he is known in the coastal village, has spent a total of one day in the hospital. He still doesn’t like to have too many medical tests, but was among the first to get the jab, and is fully vaccinated.
He never drove a car or rode a motorcycle, but he didn’t let her inside the house. Till the age of 85, he cycled, and sometimes even at the age of 95, stepped out of the house to catch a bus to Margao. “Although we wouldn’t let him go, he would get ready and go to the bus stop, which is a hop, leave. And jump off our house, and return home by motorcycle pilot,” said his wife, Alice, 88. Told TOI.
However, despite his active lifestyle, his son Paul owes his long life to something else – his never-ending craving for material things, and his love for his grandchildren. “I have 15 grandchildren. They are happy with me, and when they ask me ‘How is Grandpa?’, I am really happy to hear their voices,” said Shatabdi. “Love and laugh forever That’s what I do until you die.”
Alice said that her long and healthy life also reflects the care she and the lifetime of care she has supported her. Pedro asks Alice to be his wife after presenting her a picture.
His day begins with oatmeal and coffee, and sometimes a papaya, followed by juice, and a little fish with a piece of rice for lunch. “He just munches on and doesn’t seem very hungry,” says Alice. “Biscuits and tea in the evening and soup with a piece of cheese for dinner and that’s done for the day,” she said.
Until recently, Pedro himself read newspapers with a magnifying glass. Now he can only read headlines. If there is anything that interests him, it is always Alice who reads the copy to her husband.
At his home in Varka, Pedro recounts his miraculous escape from East Africa. It was the year after 1972, when President Idi Amin ordered the expulsion of Uganda’s Asian minority. Pedro and his relatives were among 80,000 people of Indian origin living in the country.
Traveling in those days was dangerous. But against Alice’s advice, Pedro was traveling to visit his brother’s family. Unfortunately, the military personnel stopped their bus and took the Asians off and took them to a camp. By his luck, a military officer recognized him.
At home, Alice, who had endured an excruciating wait for three days, had to put on a brave face when a bus full of armed military men arrived at her home.
Pedro and Alice decide that they will leave at the first opportunity. In 1979, they left with some belongings. “When we returned we faced tough times in Goa. It took a lot of trouble to send six kids to college, but we managed, and somehow, they are all qualified and some are working abroad,” she said.
For the past few years, Pedro has been massaging himself with coconut and rock salt every day before bathing. “He sits on a stool and rubs it on himself to get better blood flow,” Paul said.
And just as if he were living a short and extraordinary life, Liataos would have a seaside birthday without any celebrations to celebrate an extraordinary life.
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