Indian Man Has Sights On Century of Fatherhood

From the files of Instant Noodles...

Charlie: An elderly Indian farmer has just fathered his 21st child at the age of 90. Nanu Ram Jogi is his name, and he lives in the western Indian state of Rajasthan with 109 members of his extended family. But the nonagenarian says he’s not done yet – he reckons he can keep on going up to 100.

Andrew: Keep on having kids, you mean?

Charlie: Yes, Jogi reckons there’s still fuel in the tank for more.

Andrew: Well what about his wife?

Charlie: Perhaps understandably, his wife Saburi is not so keen. She’s actually Nanu’s fourth wife and this week delivered him their thirteenth child together, a girl, at the age of 50.

Andrew: Wow – sounds to me like she’s the real trooper in this story.

Charlie: Indeed. And I bet the menopause can’t come quickly enough. Jogi attributes his vitality to “the miracle of camel milk.” Have you ever tried getting milk out of a camel?

Andrew: Be a miracle if you could!

Charlie: And also a largely meat-based diet, somewhat surprisingly - lamb, rabbit and chicken if I recall correctly. He fathered his first child in 1943 and now has altogether nine daughters and twelve sons.

Andrew: Enough for a cricket team then.

Charlie: Exactly. (harp music)


Nanu: Saburi, I have been doing some thinking. And I think it is about time we had another child.

Saburi: Oh Nanu, no, I’m exhausted!

Nanu: But we can’t stop now! I might only have another ten years left!

Saburi: Look, Nanu, when we got married you said you wanted me to give you a cricket team. And I have.

Nanu: Well, now I want a second eleven.

Saburi: What!

Nanu: We need squad cover in case of injuries. And for practice matches.

Saburi: Oh this is ridiculous.

Nanu: And! You still haven’t given me the slow left armer I asked for.

Saburi: See, now I don’t even know what you’re talking about.

Nanu: And that is precisely the problem! You don’t understand that I need to field a balanced bowling attack!

Saburi: And for another thing, even if we had another one, we’ve run out of names. We’ve used them all!

Nanu: What about Sachin?

Saburi: Got one.

Nanu: Er, Sourav.

Saburi: Yep, got him too.

Nanu: Rah-

Saburi: Rahul, Laxman, Virender – that’s the Indian national team. We used those first!

Nanu: Okay, what else is there?

Saburi: Well, we already have Ajay, Sanjay, Vijay-

Nanu: Bijay!

Saburi: I had him last summer. Your new wicket keeper, remember?

Nanu: Er, Tijay!

Saburi: Well, it doesn’t-

Nanu: We don’t have a Tijay, do we? We’ll call him Tijay!

Saburi: It doesn’t matter because I already said I’m not having any more. Nanu, do you ever even think about what I want?

Nanu: Okay, darling, what is it that you want?

Saburi: Well… I’ve always wanted to have my own hockey team.

Nanu: Okay, well how about this – you give me a slow left armer and we can try for a hockey team. Deal?

Saburi: Okay. Deal.

Nanu: Great! Well, we need to get started then – it’s only nine months til the new season!

Originally broadcast on Instant Noodles for RTI on September 6th, 2007. Listen to this week's show online at http://english.rti.org.tw/ - Listen - Thursday (15 mins in)