AGE OR
YEARS?
Sri K.V. Satyanarayana
Late Sri K. V Satyanarayana
Garu , was a Retired Head of the
department of Chemistry , A.N.R.
College
What
follows is not defiance of nature: it is anti defeatism.
Growing
old is not tantamount to growing in competent. In fact , years endow experience
and experience enhances expertise , stray Ramanujans not withstanding . And old
age is not invariably beset with disability.( It would probably be better to
use the term ‘ advanced age’ in place the usual old age.) It is neither necessary nor proper to wail
over advanced age. The notion that old people are yesterday’s vegetables should
be eschewed.
Do
not be obsessed with the unpalatable idea that as you grow old you
automatically grow in firm. So long as you are able to attend to your daily
chores with the usual ease and pleasure, do not be disheartened by customary
comments or condescending consolation.
The
fact that so many years have elapsed since you were born does not automatically
imply that you are proportionately getting unfit physically and intellectually.
Years do not hamper or hinder capabilities universally or uniformly. Leo
Tolstoy learned cycling when he was 70. Bertrand Russell and Churchill –and
near home Rajagopalachari and Gandhi Ji – were active physically and brilliant
intellectually even in their 80s and 90s. Your tastes and healthy desires need
not be jettisoned when you cross the prime of your life. Socrates, the Greek philosopher, was very
fond of music. Having been incarcerated by the Inquisition of his
‘revolutionary’ ideas and preparing for his sure death by consuming hemlock in
a few hours, he invited a musician who had been singing soft music from across
his confinement and learned the song from him. And at that time he was 71!
Aside from such famous personalities, there must be hundreds, thousands of
unknown and unsung people who belong in this category.
It
would perhaps be better to recon the years that have gone by since your birth
rather than pronounce that you are aged so many years – a subtle but sensible
difference.
A
few eminent writers have confessed that their sound health they enjoy in their
70s and 80s is at least partly due to the fact that they have not only not
given up sex completely but savored it like in their yester
years . To be sure, age undermines the
body to some extent- the ticking of the body clock falters but the mind, the intellect,
blossoms in inverse proportion.
And
it is the mind , the intellect – that is responsible for the world’s wonders.
It is defeatist to be dispirited at irresponsible jibes with derisive
undertones vis-a –vis old age. Here are the views of a couple of Indian
celebrities on old age:
Tagore
:- Do not remind me of my age by celebrating my birthdays. I refuse to believe that age has any thing to
do with my life which knows nothing but the immortal youthfulness in which I am
one with my – ‘jeevana datha’ – the God of my life.
And
Radhakrishnan :- Youth is not a period of life. . It is a state of mind, a
quality of emotions, a temple of the spirit. We do not grow old by living a
certain number of years. We grow old if we loose our ideals, if we become
immune to change. Years may wrinkle the skin: the soul is wrinkled if we give
up love and loyalty.
Whether
we are twenty or seventy, we are young as long as we have in our hearts the
spirit of wonder, of curiosity. The challenge to life and joy is
adventure. This is the meaning of the
saying that we are young as we feel.
To
sum up – Do not forget the universal truth that today’s oldsters were yesterday’s
youngsters and today’s youngsters will be tomorrow’s oldsters.
And
– not all youngsters are geniuses nor all oldsters dunces. Age and achievement
do not coexist.
******
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