Old Age...

Fact of Life? Reality? Or wish we never reach there.

We all have some one who is senior, old, fragile in our families. Either immediate, or close by or at times, far off. Aunt, Grand Mom, Mom's Mom, Dad's Aunt.. the combinations are endless. Point being, we all know some one who is in that stage of an Age, where there is no difference between a 1 year old and a 90 year old.

Truly said that a human being is helpless at two points of his / her life. Being a child, totally dependent on the parents, being old and fragile, dependent on one's children or on the support of outsiders. No sense of being, no sense of belonging, but just being there.

Man or woman in all their splendour for years, all their power and grandeur, one fine day, all down to dust. The good looks all gone, the majestic walk, reduced to a crawl, the booming voice, a whimper, the icy glare, now a flickering of eyes, hardly in a state to remain open for more than five minutes.

The time when one dressed, people were in awe, today, there is no difference between a dress that hardly fits, or is too tight. A dot on a shirt never tolerated, a glass of spilt milk or water would have driven frowns and anger tantrums, today, we are not in a state to know that we keep on spilling food on ourselves and have no clue.

Never one to accept help from any one, never would we accept favours, today, the very thought of even standing up on our two feet is a dream. A jump from a table or five stairs was nothing, today, while walking if we sprain our foot, it may break the bones.

The time and money spent on building our empires, our dynasties, our legacies, today, they may or may not exist. All the dynasties that we built, are busy building their own. All the possessions that we so fondly collected and built over the decades, we have no clue whether they exist and even if they do, we don't recognize them.

At the end, it is simply a matter of a bed, that we lie on, helpless, groaning, moaning, waiting, biding for our time, which also we have no acknowledgement of. Are we living or are we dead, that in itself is a mystery.

Of course, our generations take care of us, our children do care for us when we fall and lift us up, they do get worried, if some thing happens to us. But surely at the same time, some one would also be hurting along with us, as we suffer life, not knowing, if this is due to some past deeds of previous lives or of the current life.

Why this post? Nothing specific, but for sure, looking at the people around, as they grow old and as they struggle with the very basic tenets of life and seeing people around pass sympathetic comments and not empathetic, a thought did come across my mind..

Would I want to live until 90 or a 100? For sure not. Would like to go at a happy age, where I remember every thing and every one and knowing who the hell am I abusing and for what.

Also, I guess the same as, would I want Arthritis or Alzheimer? With Arthritis, at least I know where my booze is. You?