88. Scaling Heights

Thousand Full Moon: Shrimati Nina Jagannath Apte (81+)

Contributed By: Rohini

Shrimati Nina Apte was born in Ratnagiri, has an older brother and a sister. Talking about her early life she said, “My mother became one with nature when I was very young. My father took her place and became a father and a mother to me. My brother and sisters’ love and affection was like being wrapped in soft velvet. I left it all behind when I got married and came to Pune”. She had a long and happy married life and was supportive of her husband in all his decisions including the one where he decided to quit his job and start a business on his own. Talking about the loss of her husband a few years back she said, “a tornado came in my life and the chariot lost one of its wheels. I was powerless and had to accept the loss. But I pulled myself together and am going on because of my sons, granddaughter and daughter-in-law”.

Shrimati Apte has an artistic temperament. She used to sing well and had an exceptional skill of drawing Rangolis. She won many prizes in competitions not only when she was very young but also in her later years. The last one was when she won a first prize in a grain-Rangoli competition at Pune Festival at the age of 62!

Here is what she wants to share with the world, in her own words:

 

Some time back I was reading the horoscope section in the local newspaper. It said the stars were so aligned that the people of my sign would scale great heights. Even climb Mount Everest. I knew the Sanskrit Verse “Pangum Langhayate Girim” effectively saying that if He wishes, even those who cannot walk, can climb mountains…here I was in my eighties how was I to scale heights? But that evening my younger son gave me the news that he had stood first in the entire country in Apple’s Video Editing Exam. He had achieved something great. This made me very happy. I was on top of the world just as though I had climbed Mt. Everest!!!