How an 82-year-old Pune homemaker became an unstoppable runner

In the evenings, one can find Dighe in the community centre of her housing complex. She is taking around 30 middle-aged to older women through the rigours of pranayam, surya namaskar, and asanas. Dighe doesn’t charge anything, but she is very disciplined and strict. “If you do not attend classes for two days in a row, you will be removed from the WhatsApp group. Yoga class ki keemat sirf paiso mein nahin hai (The value of a yoga class cannot be calculated in money). Only if you practise regularly will you get many benefits,” she says.

Dighe wasn’t always a fitness expert or juggling multiple identities. Until her husband passed away in 2011, she had been a homemaker. “My father used to have breakfast, lunch, and dinner on time. His schedule was fixed, and no one could change the timings. Mummy had to cook for him and give him food. All her life, she was guided by the clock. She was living only for him,” says Ashwini Giri, Dighe’s daughter and a theatre actor.

It was after her husband passed away that Dighe encountered emptiness for the first time. As loneliness set in, Dighe found herself battling inner and outer voids.

It was her daughter and her granddaughter who urged her to try out running. They were runners. When the running academy, Jayanagar Jaguars, started a branch in Pune, Dighe reluctantly went there. She does not recall what changed in her and made her keep attending the running sessions. She also started focusing on a yoga class in the neighbourhood. Her body was stiff, for sure, but her mind was agile.

The familiar hard work and determination of all homemakers was, for Dighe, now being channeled into running and exercise. “I used to only wear saris earlier. Subah, din, raat sari pehnna padta tha (Day and night, we had to wear saris). That was the condition. Ghar ki aurat sari pehnengi. (The woman of the house must wear a sari.) I was embarrassed when getting into a T-shirt and track pants. But, slowly, I shed my inhibitions. I still wear a bindi with my running gear, though,” she says.

Dighe also did the ‘impossible’ task of stepping out alone early in the mornings to make it to her running and yoga classes. “The youngsters used to run, but I kept my own pace. At first, I walked, and then, I increased my speed,” she says.

After a particularly challenging run a couple of years ago, the Jayanagar Jaguars applauded by posting, “Age is just a number, and Anuradha Dighe proves it. At 79, she did what most only dream of – slicing 5 minutes off her 10 K timing at the Master National Meet, finishing at an incredible 1:35:17. Her journey shows us that it’s never too late to push harder, dream bigger, and achieve more.”

Dighe decided to take an exam from Patanjali to certify as a yoga trainer. She was 75 years old when she passed the teachers’ training course in yoga. Her mission was to teach women. “My students are mostly from joint families and don’t really have their own space. Like I was, they are also dependent on their husbands and children. They are busy with household work, but they take one-and-a-half hours from their busy schedules to come for yoga,” she says.

Word-of-mouth publicity

Her class has grown by word-of-mouth publicity. “A lot of women come to the class wearing saris and, then, change into their leggings and t-shirts. They have demanded that we keep Fridays for Zumba because they want to dance,” she says.

Dighe relates to their condition. Born in Ahmednagar to a wealthy Brahmin family, she studied till Class 12 and had a love-cum-arranged marriage at 22. “My father lived in a joint family, which ate fish, chicken, and meat. My vegetarian mother accepted this. She set aside her feelings and learned to cook non-vegetarian dishes. This was a really hard transition,” says Giri.

Dighe is planning to run farther and bigger. It is her message to other elderly people. “You should take care of your health. Your fitness is your responsibility,” she says. So, put on your running shoes.