A lot can happen in a week's time
I was away on a week-long vacation and see that so much has happened in my blogger world. On my blogger watch window, I see that some books have been reviewed, some nice pictures posted, some interesting notes listed, some new publications, some poetry, some short stories, and of course, some people have posted comments on my latest posts too.
One week of me not writing anything at all is so unbelievable according to me. One week of not opening my email box has not happened in a long time. In this one week, I realized that my world of emails, phone calls, people, and work have been playing an integral role in my life.
I happened to be the silent spectator ( Trust me on that, I really was a silent spectator for a while day before yesterday...) watching a group of old people's happy and cheerful greetings to each other.
They did not carry a mobile phone;they didn't know anything about Internet or email; they met only in gatherings; they needed someones support to help them sit on a chair and help them stand up or walk. One old lady called me over to her side and asked me if I knew her. That's a very common question that one gets asked in most South Indian functions. Over the years, I learnt to tackle it fairly well - Its important not to offend their confidence that they know you and its easy to say I don't know you at all. - So I said, " I do not remember your name, but surely, if you are from this place and know my grand mother, I would have heard about you." [ Totally satisfied with my answer.. as these questions are tougher than interview questions, where the interviewer is nobody to you and you do not have to worry about hurting the interviewer's attachment for you or your folks.]
As it happened, she knew my grand mother and my grand mother did tell me a lot about this lady, who was a very good friend of hers. I knew they used to meet in weddings and functions. When my grand mother passed away, word spread and this lady also came to know about the loss. They did not have orkut, face book, email or mobile phone to stay in touch.. they did write letters to each other till their hands were stable enough to hold a pen. Such letters were rare and very dear of course. But that was all...
It was so nice to see her at the gathering. My grand mother was not physically present there at the gathering, but I did see a lot of people of her generation, all of them talking to each other and glad at having been able to make it to the gathering...
One thing stood strong in my head.... For every function, we must ensure that old people are invited and if their health permits, they must be accompanied to the venue. They miss a circle and they miss their people and there is no way they can stay in touch; at least for most oldies it is like that... and they do not know when they will meet their folks and there is no promise of staying in touch..
The disconnect with the web world for a week made me write the title, A lot can happen in a week's time...for these old people who rarely get to meet their friends and relatives, wonder what their minds will say at every gathering when they get to meet their friends and relatives..... A lot can happen in life??!!!!??
I really wonder and I think we must make the best use of opportunities that today's world has given us to stay connected with family and friends... There will be a day when our eyes will not take any more of the computer monitor's brightness and ears wont co-operate on the phone and hands wont be able to write out the alphabet strokes - which practically means we cannot stay in touch unless someone comes to visit us or we go somewhere to meet someone. I did see such instances day before and I am convinced that a lot can happen in life!!! :-)
One week of me not writing anything at all is so unbelievable according to me. One week of not opening my email box has not happened in a long time. In this one week, I realized that my world of emails, phone calls, people, and work have been playing an integral role in my life.
I happened to be the silent spectator ( Trust me on that, I really was a silent spectator for a while day before yesterday...) watching a group of old people's happy and cheerful greetings to each other.
They did not carry a mobile phone;they didn't know anything about Internet or email; they met only in gatherings; they needed someones support to help them sit on a chair and help them stand up or walk. One old lady called me over to her side and asked me if I knew her. That's a very common question that one gets asked in most South Indian functions. Over the years, I learnt to tackle it fairly well - Its important not to offend their confidence that they know you and its easy to say I don't know you at all. - So I said, " I do not remember your name, but surely, if you are from this place and know my grand mother, I would have heard about you." [ Totally satisfied with my answer.. as these questions are tougher than interview questions, where the interviewer is nobody to you and you do not have to worry about hurting the interviewer's attachment for you or your folks.]
As it happened, she knew my grand mother and my grand mother did tell me a lot about this lady, who was a very good friend of hers. I knew they used to meet in weddings and functions. When my grand mother passed away, word spread and this lady also came to know about the loss. They did not have orkut, face book, email or mobile phone to stay in touch.. they did write letters to each other till their hands were stable enough to hold a pen. Such letters were rare and very dear of course. But that was all...
It was so nice to see her at the gathering. My grand mother was not physically present there at the gathering, but I did see a lot of people of her generation, all of them talking to each other and glad at having been able to make it to the gathering...
One thing stood strong in my head.... For every function, we must ensure that old people are invited and if their health permits, they must be accompanied to the venue. They miss a circle and they miss their people and there is no way they can stay in touch; at least for most oldies it is like that... and they do not know when they will meet their folks and there is no promise of staying in touch..
The disconnect with the web world for a week made me write the title, A lot can happen in a week's time...for these old people who rarely get to meet their friends and relatives, wonder what their minds will say at every gathering when they get to meet their friends and relatives..... A lot can happen in life??!!!!??
I really wonder and I think we must make the best use of opportunities that today's world has given us to stay connected with family and friends... There will be a day when our eyes will not take any more of the computer monitor's brightness and ears wont co-operate on the phone and hands wont be able to write out the alphabet strokes - which practically means we cannot stay in touch unless someone comes to visit us or we go somewhere to meet someone. I did see such instances day before and I am convinced that a lot can happen in life!!! :-)
Comments
Very nice observation about elderly people in indian functions.