The Elderlies of India

 

‘The young man knows the rules, but the old man knows about the exceptions.’    

So, what do you know about elderlies? I am pretty sure you call them old people or buddhe log, in Hindi. Many of you may even have grandparents. But, do we realize how much they are taken for granted? Of course, we all love our grandparents, but you have to admit that we do not give enough importance to their wisdom. Rather, we take it as nonsense and do what we want.  We do not realize their prudence and condition until we are of the same age. We realize their resilience much later and think, being old is hard! I also think that listening to our grandparents’ stories, the old classics have become something that we think listening to makes us appear childish and we think, I’d rather watch stories on Youtube. But, we also regret this when we no longer have them. Yes, they are old fashioned and some are too much immersed in rituals and puja of god, but we should understand that they are doing it for us only, not themselves. Aging, I imagine is extremely tiring and hard, affecting both our mental health and our physical health. I think we all need to realize, that in such a process getting cranky is easy and leaving our own old habits is hard, still, they remain calm and try to change, for all of our protests. And, I am sure so much to do with a weak body and old mind saps on their health greatly. Also, I think that we are neglecting their role in our society. We fail to realize that they are the roots of the India we are living in. So, of course they know more than us and know what is better for us and I think that is why we fail to realize their wisdom because we ignore that they are the roots of India. For example one time my grandfather told me that what goes around comes around. I did not believe this but one day I saw that someone had dropped their id-card and tracked them down to give it. He thanked me and promised to return my kind act. One day, I lost my favourite pen, gifted to me by my parents. I was extremely sad and couldn’t find it but suddenly that same child came up to me holding my pen saying, “I found it on the floor and wanted to return your act” .That day I realized that by grandfather had been right bout he quote. After this true story I hope that you understand our grandparents’ wisdom. I think that we should stop irritating them and neglecting the fact that we are far more naïve and foolish that we think they are. I hope that some respect and love for these people who love us as much as our parents will rise in you and this will lighten up their day. I would like to conclude with a wonderful quote, “Listen to your elders’ advice not because they are always right but because they have more experiences of being wrong.”

 

 

-Atharv Kasera.