‘Old’ folks have such a hard time suffering some common maladies – becoming forgetful, hearing impaired, eyesight dimming, sleeping disorders, chronic pains, BP and a general slowing down. Add to this society does not quite appreciate length of the rich experience of the retired. No matter how well you explain, Gen Zee will not consider your ideas the most inventive way of thinking. ‘People are not very kind to us’ is the general refrain of ‘senior log’. Agatha Christie’s lovable sleuth, Miss Marple, who’s elderly but very sharp, says ‘They Think we are stupid, but we Know that they are..’ !
Against this discontentment, some of us look at silver linings and find kindness in the younger lot in our daily lives as we try to keep pace with them. Some of us blessed with better health than contemporaries, find it irritating if we’re offered help in doing routine tasks as we wish to enjoy our freedom. My wife and I often use the Metro where possible and have found people getting up to offer us their seats. Helpful folks don’t mind us jumping queues if it’s long and auto-wallahs are relatively less rude to us. In my Bank, where I’d worked for decades, staff mostly is more courteous when I introduce myself as a Retiree. I try not to push the envelope, but Managers do listen to our special requests.
Outside of the Office set-up, what’s endearing is we are ‘Uncles’ (& Aunties) to almost the entire world in deference to our senior citizen’s status. This is quintessentially a ‘Mumbaikar’s’ form of address in keeping with the megacity’s cosmopolitan nature. In our younger days a friend’s parents were universally ‘Uncle-Aunty’ but now the roles have changed for us. Relationship building is vital in name-calling in Mumbai culture & the omni-present traffic cops are affably referred to as ‘Mama’ and lock-ups ‘Sasural’ ! However, in North India, generic ‘Uncle’ is more specific and if one looks elderly enough, he could be reverentially called ‘Chacha’ and a senior person would be ‘Bade bhai’. Moving on to the Punjabi-Haryanvi lingo, the elders get addressed as ‘Paji’ !
Some of us Seniors tend to withdraw into a shell, not wanting to share their loneliness or burden others with their difficulties. Yet many find their calling after hanging up their boots & take up creative and social activities which helps them to revive cognitive skills, maintain good health and remain youthful. It’s in this realm of a great ‘second innings’ they surprise the world with their innate talents blooming late like blog writing, poetry, music, singing, cooking, painting, adventure travel, sports coaching, marathons & so on. Many turn home-assets, surprising spouses with baby-sitting & house-keeping prowess.
I understood what ‘You Only Live Twice’ meant after I turned Sixty and retired from full time service, for as David Bowie aptly said ‘Aging is an extraordinary process where you become the person you always should have been’ ! Turn to ‘Personal Discovery’ Channel and try doing the things you always wanted to.
Working on Living 