Accepting the Passing of Time

I met a gentleman in his 90s. Father-in-law of a relative. I have known him personally for a few years. He is the only person I have met who has lived to this extent and he is still well.



He walks and talks around without any problems and looks much younger than his age. I never actually asked him how he managed to live so well at such an age, but I have followed my observation and the small talks that float in the air.



What I have understood is that he follows a schedule (likely fixed by his daughter-in-law) and sticks to it every day. His walks, exercises, medicines and everything he eats is planned. Every alternate day a massage therapist comes to give him a massage and sometimes he comes every day when required.



When I speak to him, I always find him quite motivated to talk and share things, mainly his experiences from his days working in the railways for which he had to do a lot of travelling.



“In my younger days I used to walk to the main railway station in the morning and walk back from it at the end of the day. Nowadays people cannot move anywhere without a vehicle,” he told me one day and I searched online, the main railway station was 16.3 kilometres by the road that had come up much later but in his time by the old road it was around 22 kilometres. It was quite a long walk and since then I have wondered if the walk had something to do with his long healthy life.



However, that is one case and I have met quite many people in my life, especially old people with whom for some reason I feel the most comfort being with and I have never seen another person live up to 90.



I have observed something else as well, people are quite afraid of a long life, as my maternal grandmother used to say, “don’t wish long life for people, you never know how it is going to turn out. There isn’t a lot of positive feeling associated with getting old and not many people have enough motivation to continue on with a smile.”



She was right I have seen people suffering quite a lot while getting older, not so much physically but more so mentally, the loss of the ability to things that they once used to is not acceptable for all, friends and family around the age dying, loneliness spreading and for those with a family less caring and understanding, things are even worse.



I think the allure of a long life is dependent upon multiple factors, factors which can very easily be absent or turn to the opposite. It is quite a naive thing to wish for while you are young, who wouldn’t want to at that age, but how many will still wish to have it when the reality dawns upon them is a good question, but for those who can enjoy every bit of it till the last, they have or had truly discovered the best treasure any person can.

Written by Anuran Chatterji

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