Shanta Balu Pawar
The woman, Shanta Balu Pawar, an 85-year-old from Pune, has been performing on the streets during the lockdown as she “cannot beg people to help”. A video in which an elderly woman is twirling two sticks at once in a performance of unusual dexterity went viral. Social media named her ‘Warrior Aaji’, or ‘Warrior Grandmother’. “Walking the tightrope, balancing on a bottle or the Lathi-Kathi is my family’s legacy”- says Shanta. Shanta Balu Pawar learnt the skills from her father when she was eight, and that is something she has taken forward and this is her family’s source of bread and butter. After Pawar father passed away, she inherited the lathis and even today, they are with her whenever she goes out for work.
