A 94-year-old man, NK Mahajan, in India is putting much younger people to shame by being the oldest amongst those to trek Singhagad Fort in Pune, India. Not only a climber, he has also participated in parasailing, rock climbing, and other adventures in places like Western Ghats, the Himalayas, Tibet, Leh and Ladakh.
He is very well known for being seen climbing the Singhagad Fort nearly every Sunday and has been doing so for many years. Despite his age of 94, NK Mahajan keeps on trekking and having the time of his life as he has one adventure after another all over the world.
Mahajan says he loves nature and has learned a lot about life in general by going on treks and not staying inside all the time. He says he feels young and still has lots of energy and zest for life and believes everyone should get some exercise by joining a sport or doing something else to stay active.
He is also the founder and past principal at the Nagarwala School in Kalyani Nagar. He says that during his time there as the principal he would often play outside with the students and attributes that to helping to keep him feeling young. Limca Book of Records registers Mahajan as the oldest person to be a parasailer, as well as the record for trekking across the valley in between the Duke’s Nose and the Duchess Pinnacle in Khandala. He did it in only five minutes by means of a rock climbing technique. He says that he sets records like these in order to show others that anyone can do it and nothing is impossible.
How does he manage to stay in such good shape? Mahajan says that part of it involves eating half as much, drinking twice as much water, exercising three times more and laughing four times more than others.
He has been featured in an episode of Amir Khan’s talk show, Satyamev Jayate, because of the way he inspires youngsters and oldsters.
In addition, as part of his quest to stay healthy and active so he can continue to trek and travel around the world, he gets up at 4 AM, walks for ten kilometers and does stretching exercises.
Mahajan also founded the Pune Mountaineering group, and has traveled to many new places with the group. They make plans to visit a new place to travel to every year. When he isn’t travelling the world with his group, he says he will keep on climbing the fort in his hometown to stay in shape, because as he says, it’s important for people to keep a young heart, be active at all times and keep setting goals for their life.
