Aging is a process that culminates in life's end. Not all people have the luxury of enjoy aging. Geriatric maturity of skin, flesh, veins, blood and bones ---let alone hair, eyesight and hearing--- has its attendant ills. The thicker the blood is the slower the movement of body and reflex of mind. Then many elderly people have to live with a host of physical complaints---some with diabetes, other with arthritis, a few of them with both, still other with recurring lung, kidney and heart problems. But the worst to happen to the elderly people is when they are bed-ridden and cannot relieve themselves without others' help.
A pitiable human body in which life just flickers is the last stage of life. When it lingers, not even the rich and affluent families are at ease to deal with the highly vulnerable member of the family. In not-so-well-off families, a geriatric case of this order continues to hurt like a thorn in their side. In post-Covid time, this country witnessed a number of cases of flagrant neglect of parents. Sons and daughters dispose of their ailing parents in heartless manners not even fit for rogue animals. They were abandoned far away from homes in remote areas or even jungles. What a return for upbringing the next generation!
Although the prospect of sending elderly and lonely parents to old homes looks better but by no means can it be a replacement for the family ambience. Physically the senior citizens in old homes may be taken care of, but how can the bruised mind be restored to health? Even old homes are no panacea for old people when they are seriously ill. Men and women from affluent families are hospitalised, admitted to intensive care unit (ICU) or are left on life support when they go into coma. All these situations are neither welcome to persons who suffer the ailment or to their near and dear ones. This is why people in general wish to embrace the end without becoming a burden on their families, much like late Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, former president of India. It was his cherished desire to leave this mundane world while he was busy with his routine works---and no better way of doing so! He died while he was addressing students at the Indian Institute of Management, Shillong. Look at the subject of his speech, "Creating a Liveable Planet Earth"!
Not many are fortunate enough like APJ Kalam. But some certainly are. There are still people to whom age is just a number. When Shantanu Mitra, who directed the music of the film Mujib: Ekti Jatir Rupakar (Mujib: the Making of a Nation) and also heads the panel of judges at the reality music show "Sare, Ga, Ma, Pa" tells the audience there that his mother, an octogenarian, successfully completed her bungee jump, the full meaning of age as a number is driven home. On another level, the same theme is accentuated when a Virginia woman completes her graduation at the age of 102. But this is not all, another woman---a compatriot of her received her master's degree at the age of 105 from the prestigious Stanford Graduate School of Education.
These are the people who can declare, "Life and aging are the greatest gifts that we could possibly ever have" as Cicely Tyson puts it. Yes, aging thus becomes a way of fruitfully living it. Blessed are this happy-go-lucky bunch of mortals who drinks life's elixir at its full and at the very last moment to their heart's content. They seem to be people on another level but not quite. It is the mentality that makes them different from the rest. Those who consider retirement at the age of 60-65 the termination of their active life can only be pitied. That may be the beginning of a chapter of creative life for them if only they take enough preparation for it. Nirod C Chowdhury who died at the age of 102, was active in writing almost until his last years.
Even if this is not possible for all, people can live a disciplined life not to fall in the trap of recurring physical complications. After all, there is one life for everyone. Why abuse this precious gift? It is because of the elements of uncertainty, Shakespeare pronounces through Edgar in King Lear when Cordelia's forces start losing the battle, "Men must endure/Their going hence, even as their coming hither:/ Ripeness is all." A bit fatalistic but it also conveys a sense of positivism in the face of overwhelming odds.
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