You are getting
old and so what
Recreated from
Tamil essay,
P.R.Ramachander
( I am a great admirer
of Tamil writer Sujatha and he
wrote a Tamil essay “For
seniors Sujatha” .I have rewritten it in my own way .,Hope Sujatha who is in heaven will pardon me)
Within another
few days I will be 80,
So when I go to the park , for a walk,
Or when I wish
birthday to my face book friends,
I see that most of them are
younger to me.
One day I saw a
person older than me ,
Sitting on the
park bench and he asked me,
Can you guess how
old I am and with a smile,
I shook my head
up and down as I was in south.
Then I asked the
old man, can you touch,
Your nose with your middle finger and he did ,
And I asked him to shake
other fingers to and fro,
And he did and I told him , “You are 84 years
3 months”
He was taken
aback and asked me , “ How?”
And I told him,
for past two days daily
,
I am asking you, “How
old are you?”
And you told me 84 years
, 3 months”
“I realize that
I am also walking in the same path,
As that Thatha but not
as bad as him,When I see,
Some one on the
road I feel I have seen him,
But I am not able
to know his name , nor as to who
he is?”
“Suppose I am
reading a name of some thing in English,
I am not able to say
what it is? Suppose I am in front seat,
Of a music concert, I feel I have heard
him some where,
And when I asked
as old man sitting next, he scoffed at
me.”
“But I was able to
remember what Jaya Prakash Narayan,
Told in a meeting at Hyderabad which I attended when,
I was five along with my father and I remember,
How I used to be teased by by parents when I was seven”
“I used to remember
how P.U.Chinnappa played,
Mridangam in Jagathala
prathapan and how THyagaraja,
BHagawathar used
to sing in Shiva Kavi and what
,
My mother fed me
when I came back from School.”
Slowly I am not
jealous on any one else , nor am I,
Chide any way
side child and when reading Obituary,
In face book, I first check whether
he is younger or elder to me,
If he is elder, we feel
we have escaped and if older, we count
how many days more”
When I was
young , I used to have
very difficult ambitions,
But now, if I am
able to answer natures calls in
the morning,
Without
difficulty , I become elated and I feel that life,
Consists of
series of progressive compromises.
You may ask, What
do you want now and I will say,
Average health of mind and body, being able to live ,
Without troubling others, not boating too much of my old days,
Not hurting others, ability to talk
sweetly, Having pity on others,
A sense of humour,
ability to do minor helps to children,
Not getting upset of not getting the food
which your wife used to give ,
Not getting
upset when our children not telling
everything in their life,
And so on and so
on but
these appear to be a senseless dreams
