Sant Kaur Bajwa, world's second oldest living woman and the oldest in Britain, has died in West London aged 115 years and 199 days last Friday.
She was born in 1898 in Sialkote, Punjab, which is now in Pakistan.
She saw the world before inventions such as the aircraft or radio transmission or the discovery of Penicillin!
During her life spanning three centuries, she witnessed history in the form of two World Wars, the industrial and technical revolutions, outlived six British monarchs and 27 prime ministers!
She was married off at the age of 16 to farmer Munsha Singh in 1914 and gave birth to four children. However, she became a widow just six years after her marriage.
After India's Independence in 1947, she managed to reach Indian Punjab. She learnt to stitch and sell clothes and with financial support from a brother, managed to educate her children.
In 1966, she migrated to Southall in London to live with daughter and her son-in-law.
Barely six years later, her daughter was diagnosed with kidney failure and died in 1972. At the age of 74, Bajwa now had to raise her four grandchildren.
After overcoming so many personal tragedies and challenges, years later, when she turned a healthy hundred in 1998, she was a little amused to see the world worried about issues like a new millennium and the Y2K threats!
Jim and Bob, her grandchildren fondly remember her.
"Through her life, it was her resolute belief in Sikhism and God that encourage her will to live, she was a religious activist visiting a Gurdwara daily and chanting 'Waheguru' for her own tranquility," said Jim in a statement.
Bajwa who died of natural age-related factors, leaves behind her 12 grandchildren and 28 great-grandchildren who treated her funeral as "a celebration and reflection of her incredible life.
Here is a 'Dil Se' tribute for this formidable woman! May she rest in peace!
