Wisdom by Hindsight
I had published this image shared with me by Nandu in my post I am not my story.
Nandu in his comments on the post said “I have emailed a pic to you ( since I can’t post here ) . You have answered the question asked in it!”
And I responded with “And a lovely picture it is too. I am saving it for another story some day!”
The time to publish that image is now here and here it is.
Do you relate to it?
I had an occasion to attend a religious ceremony recently. It was more or less obligatory for me to attend, being the senior most elder from the father’s side, in a position to attend.
There were a number of things that happened there that needs to be recorded for posterity.
On the way to the venue, about 125 Kms away, I stopped for some coffee at a halfway food court. The place was unusually crowded due to three bus loads of school girls on a picnic who had stopped there for breakfast. Some of these girls were so solicitous seeing me walking with my crutches, that they decided to adopt me and mollycoddle me. I basked in all the attention and the consideration shown by this young girls.
When I entered the venue where the ceremony was being held, all the other invitees were already present. Almost all of them about or above my age. Here, the perception was different. I could feel completely different vibes. The vibes said, with a sighs, “But for the grace of God, there go I”.
I went and sat down next to another senior citizen, my cousin, not in the best of form, and engaged in some conversation with her, much to her delight and joy.
Then came the time for the elders to get up, go near the altar to bless the child and his parents, and I saw some remarkably unfit senior citizens, not being able to walk unaided, but who were not using crutches or canes or walkers.
I went “But for the grace of God go I.”
We are funny.
“Always laugh when you can. It is cheap medicine.” ~Lord Byron
I was at the local bank where there is an alcove with two desks, one each for Privileged Customers and Senior Citizens. I suppose that I qualify for both as whenever I enter that alcove, either desk’s occupant immediately extends service to me.
Today, I was fortunate to be served at the Privileged desk. While the
executive had gone somewhere to get a photocopy of a document for me, a
lady, may be around 40 came in and sat at the other desk. I smiled at her,
and told her that she was at the wrong place. She got quite annoyed and
said, this is the XXXXBank. I simply pointed out the board hanging over her
head that said “Senior Citizens” and said that she looked like Sub Junior to
me. She shot out of the chair and came alarmingly close to me and said, “In
that case, I shall sit on your lap!” By the time both the executives had
also returned and there was laughter all around, and this is the funnier part, people outside the alcove not even knowing the background had grinning faces as I came out.
Were they all laughing with me or at me? Does it make a difference?
I subscribe to two weekly magazines, and eleven monthly magazines, all in English and have subscribed to one weekly and two monthly magazines for my father, all in Tamil.
While I can read and write Tamil, I find the Tamil magazines of no interest to me, as they are Tamil Nadu specific and write about matters that are of interest to my father but not to me. The English ones are all of national or international interest and are of interest to both except one which is on Indian Management which my father does not particularly care to read.
Being the dutiful son that I am, all the magazines are given to my father to read first and after he finishes reading them, they come to me for my perusal.
There is one particuar magazine in English, Harmony, which is aimed at Senior Citizens of India.
I have been noticing the past three months that this particular magazine Harmony, does not leave my father’s room for me to read after he has read it. On the last two occasions, I had to retrieve them from the pile of magazines that we keep for recycling purposes after reading.
This time around, I specifically asked him for it, two days after I had given it to him and he promptly produced it for me. He said that he had not given it to me because it was for Senior Citizens!
While I was taken aback, I realized that for him, I will always be a child! Warmed the cockles of my heart, that.
Anu, Ashok, Elly and Sandeep, (strictly in alphabetical order) this cartoon here is specifically for the four of you. Take care and don’t forget.
My blogworld friend Diane decided that it was time that I had some humour in my life. This followed by my blogworld friend Tikno commenting that it was nice to see a humorous post from me, when I posted about the light at the end of the tunnel, has pushed me into thinking that perhaps I need an image make over. May be I have been presenting either a grim or serious image of me, despite Conrad regularly implying that the glint in my eye may just mean that I can be wicked.
What better way to start off the image make over than reproducing here, what Diane had sent me in an email. While the younger lot of my readers may just find it amusing, I am sure that this is likely to lead to some serious introspection among the senior citizens of the webworld, Conrad included, whether he likes it or not.
Just in case you weren’t feeling too old today.
The people who are starting college this fall were born in 1989.
They are too young to remember the space shuttle blowing up.
Their lifetime has always included AIDS.
The CD was introduced two years before they were born.
They have always had an answering machine.
They have always had cable..
Jay Leno has always been on the Tonight Show.
Popcorn has always been microwaved.
They never took a swim and thought about Jaws.
They don’t know who Mork was or where he was from.
They never heard: ‘Where’s the Beef?’, ‘I’d walk a mile for a Camel ‘, or ‘de plane Boss, de plane’.
McDonald’s never came in Styrofoam containers.
They don’t have a clue how to use a typewriter.
Pass this on to the other old fogies on your list.
Notice the larger type?
That’s for those of us who have trouble reading.
P.S. Save the earth.. It’s the only planet with chocolate.
There are a number of people who read my blog who will, I am sure, be happy to read a very nice article that I read today during my surfing period. Please spare some time and read it. You will not regret it.
This is a poignant and moving reflections about a columnist’s visit to her home town.
There are many old men on the porch in my life, some still there and some gone away, but seeing them has always evoked peculiar feelings in me. When I was younger, I used to long to be able to do that and watch the world go by instead of being in a rat race. Now that I am the old man on the porch, only we call it veranda here, I can sit for hours and muse about so many things. The musings are indeed very therapeutic as the writer suggests.
The difference is that I rarely sit alone. My wife sits besides me and we exchange some comments now and then and the world really stands still. Early mornings are best when there are people walking or jogging for exercise. Most regulars by now must be wondering about us, I am sure. Some, who have not met us formally simply wave or pass the time of the day and it is wonderful.
I intend contacting the writer and complimenting her on an article that has touched me. I hope that some of you do too.
Do you sit on your porches or verandas or whatever and watch the world go by? It would be nice to hear from those who do.