INDIA: Life begins at 75

A youthful zest for life was in ample evidence at an old-age home.

Radha Nair

PUNE, Maharashtra (Hindustan Times), November 7, 2007:

On the invitation of a friend 75 years young, on a crisp October morning, I went to Athasree. I was prepared for knots of elderly people in chairs lined against walls, clinging to each other for comfort from the cruel vacuum created by their twilight years.

Instead, I came away feeling older than all of them put together!

The best thing about Athasree, a home for senior citizens, is that it has the necessary peace and tranquility, along with a certain air of liveliness created by its residents. They eagerly dress up for special evenings set aside for poetry readings. They love their musical soirees and only expect dance recitals under a star studded sky in their own amphitheatre.

For rainy days they have the choice of a game of snooker or Bridge Lunch I found was delicious, with lots of nutritious, tasty food cooked the Maharashtrian way. Looking across the tables, I found the hearty way they balanced food and murmured appreciation of this and that, clearly gave away their contentment.

I also noticed the natural way, a gentleman excused himself from his jolly, allmale group, to join a lady having her lunch alone. Soon her meal was something else, enlivened by agreeable companionship. Never did I think that spontaneity of this kind could give a glow to an ordinary afternoon. In fact that gesture of care made them young once again.

Cheery laughter drew us to Athasree's vegetable patch... Friendly teasing blended with conviviality as arthritic hands tended individual patches

After lunch there were those, who took out from a pocket or purse, boiled sweets which went round in handfuls. Some left for their rooms for their forty winks. Others drifted to a library, with its much thumbed collection of books of all the residents. The tiny room had a little balcony, commanding an unexpected view of rustic charm. The chairs in the library were deliberately placed to encourage, as much the pleasure of reading as also lively debate.

After tea in my friend's flat, we decided to go down. Cheery laughter drew us to Athasree's vegetable patch. "Look at my brinjals, real beauties are they not? Arrey what has happened to your sad tomato patch?" Friendly teasing blended with lots of conviviality, as arthritic hands tended individual patches.

Evening constitutionals in the flower-scented lawns included the special pause on the benches, invitingly placed to view the blue hills and listen to "the drone of the beetle.

Turning a corner just before I left, I saw a bunch of men in their mid-sixties, become boys of ten. The most satisfying thing they found was a bet of Rs 10, for anyone who dared to sit on top of a pile of chairs. Without hesitation, one of them sprang up to a round of hearty applause.

At Athasree, their zest for life is as inspirational as these lines: "The woods are lovely, dark and deep, And I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep."

Radha Nair is a Pune-based writer
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