She may be the mother of one of India’s fittest model-turned-actor and marathon-crusaders but when at 78, Milind Soman’s mother Usha Soman gives a tough challenge to a 20-something in doing non-stop push-ups, all eyes are on her. In her case, it is right to believe that age is just a number. She was in the news for completing a 100km walk in 41 hours for the Oxfam Trailwalk event and for a recent video of hers planking for more than a minute in a sari that went viral.
The retired professor of biochemistry started trekking at the age of 16. In recent years, she scaled the base camp of Mt. Everest and the highest mountain in Africa Mt. Kilimanjaro.
Ask her from where the fitness obsession came from, she simply replies: “I never had any idea about fitness. Being physically active was just a way of life. I always used to walk a lot. Back then, we didn’t have the luxury of cars or cabs. Technology, today, has made lifestyles sedentary,” she says.
Her daily routine is simple and effective and includes a 5 km walk every morning. “I keep myself occupied,” she adds. Earlier this year, Usha did the unimaginable by running in a sari and barefoot when she joined Milind in the last leg of his two-week-long marathon between Ahmedabad and Mumbai.
Within a day of being posted, it was viewed nearly 3.5 lakh times, with close to 5,000 shares.
Usha Soman is what we all want to be when we age. She eats everything healthy, walks daily, works on keeping a positive frame of mind and doesn’t allow technology to rule her life. “I don’t believe in these fads about having high protein diet with specific amount of carbobohydrates and all. If you really think about it, our traditional food was absolutely balanced. I just stick to that,” says the friendly septuagenarian.
“Now the whole lifestyle has changed. Everybody just aspires to have more. They all go after their “wants” and not stick to their needs. If you just stick to your needs and do only that much, keep yourself busy and happy, think positive all the time – that’s enough,” she says.
What does fitness mean to her? “Fitness is also not just restricted to the physical realms. Your mind must be fit too. It’s the mind that drives you.
If you believe you will be able to do something, your mind will help you,” she says.
(Milind and Usha Soman are in Vizag to participate in the third edition of ‘Vizag Going Pink’ to be held on January 7)
