AI generated symbolic image
'A long time ago'...is a favourite start of the stories old people tell. I have realized that I am using it quite a bit! In fact very often my train of thought fires up on this ignition. That does mean that I am getting old ; or does it ? What actually is getting old ? Can we assign a number to it? Who decides that number?
Averaged Data collated from various sources tell you that the life expectancy at birth for men of Indian decent is around 70 years. A few months back my youngest uncle passed suddenly and he was around that age. So there is some merit in that data and my uncle was not sick; ailing or that many years senior to me either.
Life has an uncanny habit of constant movement. Nothing remains static. Even death is not permanent according to our Indian wisdom. There is rebirth and birth again and again till one improves enough to be assimilated in to God and one never needs this mortal life again.
John Lennon said a very apt thing about life; "life is what happens when you are busy making other plans"! Somehow life never turns out to be exactly as one envisages. So many ifs and buts surround it. So many regrets adorn it and so many failures define it! One can however never stop aging! Never go back in time and never restart! Every moment lived is set in stone and you remain accountable for it forever!
One can start anew though! Colonel Sanders started KFC when he was 65 years of age. There are other late bloomers and later startup success stories but not too many and hardly anyone close to the good old colonel's age. I am similar to him only in age.... sadly! I am getting old!
What this means is that I have lived most of my life! Years behind me greatly outnumber years ahead of me. It means that my dreams; my hopes; my plans and my achievements are all in the past. Except my disappointments! This is what I would have preferred to have stayed behind but apparently they are loyal to one's last breath. So I will experience some loyalty at last! There is not a whole lot left to expect of the remaining time left. Life will move on constantly in a surprising direction that I may like or not; till it is time. Life will then continue on without me... it does not care.
So I am old. Once upon a time ; a long time ago I was young. I lived; I loved; I laughed; I cared; I dreamed; I trusted and collected disappointments. A whole lot of them.
Once upon a time; a long time ago........!
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