Jalandhar: Kin seek world record for 124-yr-old woman
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, July 22
“I have lost my husband and five of nine children. I have even lost my eyesight but perhaps God has forgotten to take me back from this world,” says Basant Kaur of Sabuwal village near Lohian here, whose family claims she is 132 years old.
The documents of the elderly woman, however, show her age as 124 years. Her voter ID card says her age, as of January 1, 1995, is 98 years. Hard of hearing, Basant Kaur has to be conveyed all queries through her daughter-in-law Kulwant Kaur, who maintains that she is 132 years old and a proper age entry could not be made in the ID proof. Her great grandson Varinder Singh (27), who resides in Kapurthala, demands that her name be entered in the world record as the oldest woman on Earth.
Basant Kaur says she has seen three centuries and is happily watching kids of her fifth generation grow. Her great great granddaughter Jasleen Kaur is two years old. “I had nine children, five of whom have already passed away. One of them died at 94,” she says. She proudly tells that she is free from any ailment. “My only problem is that I cannot see and I am a little hard of hearing. I enjoy taking sweets in all my meals. I take two chapattis along with a vegetable and curd. I am not taking any medicine even at this age,” she laughs with the number of wrinkles on her face doubling up and her eyes getting even more sunken. Well verse of the current situation, she talks about the prevailing Covid infection. She can even walk about her home with some support. Neighbour Aman Panesar says he enjoys listening to the stories of pre-Independence era from Basant Kaur.
