-By Kalpana-
Sunset years
I gazed at the grace, elegance, dignity of our ancestors starkly evident, in their direct, proud gaze in the black and white photos or their portraits. Attractive, polite behaviours, honour, were the credit of their existence, their graceful presence must have filled a room, attracting awe inspiring attention.
The hippie, carefree, casual, exhibiting reluctant, resentful, self obsessed, myopic attitude defy the birth of dignity that a persona can exhibit. As the grown ups act more teenagey, the age of grace is vanishing. Hand in hand with the youth, the age-is-just-a-number generation rocks and rolls through, digging a dignity grave. In constant denial of age, in an ageing life, they embrace the allure of youth.
Live life to the fullest. It’s an idiom I adhere to, too. But, does that mean we need to make a U-turn towards teenage? We can perhaps live with more candour, stronger, wiser, clearer vigour, calmer mindset, patient and stoic. Unshaken like a grand oaktree. Replenished with sturdy, woody sternness, yet, gregarious as shade and security providing refuge to the younger generation.
‘Some day we will be old enough to read fairy tales again’. And we sure will have a contrasting take when we read it at that age. Fairy tales, are dreams that we dreamt about in childhood.
As life matured us into a ripened fruit of wisdom, one thing is for sure. We can laugh loudly at these fairy tales that dream walked our life to fairly realistic reality. Now we turn a full circle, we read those fairy tales with a different take with indulgent shake of head.
Dusk of life, let’s indulge in the wisdom earned. After all, ‘Youth is work of nature, old age is work of art’.
Happy ageing!!!
-By Kalpana-
The Writers Room 