India, Aug. 15 -- Independence was won not just by stalwarts but also ordinary people, 13,212 of whom are still alive today.

HT profiles some of them.

P Vasu might be 102 but still moves about his house in Cheruvannur in Kerala's Kozhikode district with the help of a walker, reads at least two newspapers a day, and watches television news with great intent, trying to keep himself informed of what's happening in the country.

Born in January 1923, Vasu got a whiff of nationalistic sentiments early when his father took him to hear Mahatma Gandhi when the latter visited Kozhikode in 1934. He was just 11 then, but by the time he was in his late-teens in 1942, Vasu found himself leading an agitation by the Congress in his native Cheruvannur ...