KHUSHWANT SINGH

Khushwant Singh - Author & Columnist

Age 87

"Driving ambition to do something" has kept him active and agile. "I want to keep writing and I am very disciplined about it .. I enjoy a drink or two but I have never been drunk. And if I think a lady is beautiful I say it on her face regardless of who is hearing. Beyond that I have time neither for women nor for getting drunk."

At 87 Khushwant feels that it is the " Driving ambition to do something", that has kept him so active. He says, " I work steadily from five to seven in the morning. I want to keep writing and I am very disciplined about it." However he adds he is disciplined in everything he does. Including in his food and rest habits in which he brooks no interference from anyone.

Khushwant adds, " I do not eat Punjabi or Mughlai food. I prefer light European food, lunch is only a bowl of soup or dal. I only eat dinner. I never allow my guests to stay after nine o'clock. I play tennis every morning for an hour."

His day starts in the wee hours of the morning. Exactly at 4:30 a.m. he is on his favourite chair in his living room legs stretched out on a coir mooda. That's when he does much of his writing. By 7.30 a.m. he's ready for his morning walk or an occasional dip at the Gymkhana swimming pool. After a shower and breakfast and a browsing through the day's papers it's back to work to meet those unforgiving deadlines. A quiet nap in the afternoon followed by some more work and then it's time to relax with friends, with books or simply with good music.

In the evening he enjoys his two chhotas and has a self-confessed glad eye for beauty. But beyond that it's all an image which he has built around himself and he likes to live upto that image. " I enjoy a drink or two but I have never been drunk. And if I think a lady is beautiful I say it on her face regardless of who is hearing. Beyond that I have time neither for women nor for getting drunk."

In fact the writer reveals that the secret of vitality in any human being, including in him, is the desire to do something creative in life. He explains, " It has become a habit to be active, to be occupied in some fruitful pursuit. I am never idle. Always looking to the future. There is still so much to do and that keeps me on my toes all the time." According to him, it is the desire to look into the future and to be able to chart out a course towards the stars that really makes a person forget any bodily ailment he might have.

RAI BAHADUR MOHAN SINGH OBEROI 

RAI BAHADUR MOHAN SINGH OBEROI - Hotelier

Age 101

"What actually keeps me going is the fact that my mind is always occupied. I am a firm believer in the fact that as long as you are mentally alert you will live a healthy life."

At 101, no one can blame Rai Bahadur Mohan Singh Oberoi for being a recluse. He stays in his sprawling farmhouse---perhaps the best in the country---in Bijwasan near Delhi. He has a retinue of people that include personal staff and doctors.

The grand old man of Indian hotel industry and Newsweek Person of the Year awardee, says that he has always kept himself busy and that’s what keeps him going. " My life has been achievement-oriented. I started off as a coal clerk at the Cecil Hotel in Simla. But I always had dreams and I worked my way at fulfilling those dreams."

Not just fulfilling personal dreams, Oberoi went on to change the face of the hospitality industry and become India's first and best multinational even before anyone knew what MNCs were all about. The man who began his career as a clerk at the Cecil Hotel in Shimla with a salary of Rs 50 a month now owns one of the biggest hotel chains in the world.

Even now, the centurion doesn’t sit idle. Though his son now looks after the empire, the grand old man too is actively involved though from his farmhouse. He rarely likes to travel out.

" I am very careful of what I eat and drink and have regular medical check ups. I walk around the farm and do some light exercises. But what actually keeps me going is the fact that my mind is always occupied. I am a firm believer in the fact that as long as you are mentally alert you will live a healthy life."

RAUNAQ SINGH

Raunaq Singh - Industrialist (Raunaq Industries, Apollo Tyres and more)

Age 84

Hard work and keep-fit regimen high on agenda.

The founder of the Raunaq Group, is still full of joi de vivre and, despite being 84, he is fit and agile. He attributes this to a gruelling schedule for the past so many years. Most of his time has been spent building up his group. In his daily routine keeping fit is the highest on his agenda.

" I do work-outs on the treadmill for 15 minutes a day. I also walk for about half an hour. Twice a week I get a massage."

Having finished his morning routines, Raunaq is in his office dot at 9 a.m. " I stay through the day till six in the evening. We are expanding so much, that I have to work very hard to complete all the pending jobs."

Raunaq Singh avoids late nights and he is very careful about his diet. He says, " I have virtually turned vegetarian now, though I have chicken sometimes. When I was younger, I could eat anything without worrying about how it would effect my health. But with age, one has to work a bit harder. Though meditation and yoga are excellent I frankly can't find the time for these."

Raunaq Singh is a strong believer in God. He reveals that he spends a lot of time in the Gurudwara usually during weekends. " I thank God for giving me whatever I could have desired. Now all I want is to be able to help people and generate as many jobs as possible. If you give one person a job, you feed six mouths. That is the way I look at it. It is this desire to do something good that has kept me so active way past the age a normal man would have retired."