Perhaps chicken curry is the secret to long life if Bhagwanti Bhagwandin of Huist T'Dieren on the Essequibo Coast is anything to go by.

Born at Hibernia in 1904, she celebrated her 100th birthday on January 6.

Her favourite dishes are chicken curry with roti or rice or fried chicken and she says she had her fill for her birthday. While not in the best of health she can still get around the house unaided, her sight is not too bad and her voice remarkably strong.

She recalls that her mother Saroj and her father Samsundar both came from India as indentured labourers and that as a little girl she worked with them in the cane and rice fields.

When she was only thirteen she married husband, Bhagwandin and jokes she was married to him three times - first "under bamboo", then "sign married", then in the Presbyterian church. They had a son and a daughter both of whom died a long time ago.

Bhagwandin died over forty years ago leaving her to live alone in a small wooden house in Huist T'Dieren.

She recalls that former President Janet Jagan used to spend nights at her home in Hibernia while on the election campaign trial during the 50s

In the same yard live Latchmin Ramlall ak Junanamain (an 84-year-old in-law) Zulaikha Mohamed, Latchmin's niece and Seepersaud Jaggernauth, Zulaikha's husband. All three cook and wash for Bhagwanti.