Date:02/10/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/10/02/stories/2008100261301000.htm

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

A proud papa at the ripe age of 70!

S. Harpal Singh

Padwal Rathiram’s wife Savitribai, 50, delivers a healthy male baby

Young at heart: His demeanour notwithstanding, 70-year-old Rathiram is happy to be blessed with a son at the RIMS on Wednesday.

ADILABAD: While all others in the vicinity wondered about Rathiram siring at the rather ripe age of 70, he kept wondering whether this provided an apt reason for them to do so. Much like the average young person, he was happy to beget a son, his age notwithstanding.

Padwal Rathiram is from Eashwarnagar in Indervelli mandal while Savitrabai (50), is his second wife. They got married some 15 years ago.

Though she gave birth to the baby boy in what is known in medical parlance as normal delivery, not all of it was normal, the ages of both the parents for instance.

Becoming a mother at her age is not exactly a common phenomenon. The boy was born in the maternity ward of RIMS on Wednesday morning.

The septuagenarian from the sturdy Mathura community looks somewhat frail but is actually quite active. He eats thrice a day and the meals comprise of jawari ki roti and rice.

During his younger years he worked as labourer.

At present, he works as a watchman in Indervelli village.

Going down memory lane Rathiram said he got married for the second time because of the necessity born out of his status as a widower.

He needed a companion and hence he decided to marry Savitrabai who was a widow from Salewada in the same mandal. “I simply went to her mother and sought to marry her,” he recalls.

Third child

In due course, the family became bigger with the arrival of two daughters -- Devasari and Pallibai. The newborn will become the fifth member of the family.