Sheddding one more leaf

Shedding one more leaf

In a few weeks, I will turn 70. Indians are living longer now than ever so it is not a big deal. But in a family tree coming down from a common great grandfather, we have lost far too many males below 50 and 60. So crossing 50 had been a blessing, it is a bonus crossing 60 and positively enthralling attaining 70.

I have stopped drawing a balance sheet of life for a long time now. When I did, I was skeptical enough to miss out on adding all my blessings of life on the credit side. Now it does not matter though I have learned my lessons.

Where does one go post 70? Really nowhere but go on living. Isn't that the purpose of life? To go on living? or living well? That is what I plan to do.

I no longer make a to-do list and have never had the luxury of making a bucket list. I do not plan to make them anymore. A bit of drifting is an exciting way of doing things.

My wife & I have made Mumbai our home and we will not trade this for anything. The thrill of living in a suburb of Bandra is indescribable.

I will go on traveling. More so to the places where I have been but my wife has not. In the last 3 years, with this resolve, we have covered Amritsar, Jaipur, Udaipur, Deogarh, Bhopal, Indore, Goa, Chiplun, Madras, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Dubai, Edinborough, and London.

We are due for the next visit to the USA & Canada where we went together last in 2012.

Our few close relatives live in a range of 10 - 1000 km and we will make it a point to visit them as many times as we can make it.

Until recently, I was desperate to cultivate a new hobby or a skill. Then I realized that such a plan requires passion and commitment, both of which are at the depleted level at this stage of my life. I will be lucky to sustain my existing hobbies, that of reading, listening to music, watching movies, and having fun while coaching & mentoring young persons.

My two friends -of 50 years vintage- and I have an institutionalized annual reunion for a week. This shall continue.

I have a lunch group and a drinking group and then another drink group; varying in age from 32 to 82. I will not give these up.

Let me tell you that growing old does not suck. I am now in a happy space where I no longer worry or regret about my career, future, money, and security. These deeds are done, these ships sailed, forever.

Understanding the futility of these aspects of life has made me sad but also wise. I realize that for each of these things, my take in life would be different if I was allowed a fresh start.

A realization dawns on me that no single event signified or influenced my life. Life has been a chain of events, a complex web. One single event does not bother me now. And in any case & understanding, the complex web of life is beyond me.

Honestly, I had never thought that I’d survive this long what with the rough and tumble of my life.  But, damn it all, I find that I’ve Increased the score to one year more And now, as Frank Buxton, once editor of Bostom Herald said, even one full century need not be necessarily a real impossibility."  

On the other hand, Mahabharata cautions not to look beyond the obvious least one may find something one did not want.

So I am avoiding looking beyond today. Let us leave it at that.

So until then, and till I write my epitaph, enjoy my blogs.