I AM NOT OLD

During my childhood I always wondered how soon I would grow up and look like a man !

I used to see my young uncle who had strong built body and a big moustache and he became a model to me , I wanted to look exactly like him.

One day, I can remember, I drew a moustache with the help of a black pencil which my elder sister used to use on her eyebrows, looked at myself in the mirror and stood there for sometime.

‘Wow, don’t I look like a Man ?’ I asked my sister. She laughed and said “ You look funny and still a little boy”. I got angry and chased my sister who ran upstairs laughing loudly all the way and asked father for help.

My father listened to everything patiently , smiled and told me that my sister was absolutely right as to what she said. Then he said ‘ Look my son, I was a little boy like you years ago. Stay as you are , your time will also come oneday, you shouldn't be impatient.' My mother told me the same thing and so did my grandfather, uncle and all my elders.

I returned to my room feeling very unhappy , I just wanted to grow up fast !

My grandfather came and sat beside me on the bed. He laughed and tried to cheer me up. And then he said ‘ I wish I were a small boy like you ! ’

I laughed and knew that my Grandpa was kidding.

He looked at me and then said ‘Well then, tell me will you be happy if you are say 60 years old now ?’

‘ No Grandpa I don’t want to be 60 years, I want to be like uncle, 26.’

Years gone by and by the time I attained the age of 26 years I had grown moustache and got myself established in life. I was a ‘Man’ with good physique and I wanted to stay that way.

The fact that on each birthday I became one year older was something which bothered me a lot but then I considered that I would be called an old man when I became 60 years old. But later when I reached the age of 55 years I tried to think that I would be old at 70 years and so on but now at my presentage of 60 years I consider myself still young . Yes my hair is now grey but that does not mean that I have gone old.

I tell others ‘ Look all it depends how you feel, you can be old even at your age of say 25 years'.

Time seems to have flown fast, I am now physically not as strong as I was at the age of 25/26 years but mentally I feel young and I know that one way to keep myself physically fit is to take regular exercise, go for a walk , practice Yoga and keep myself busy and active all day and these things I am doing religiously and I feel fine. Also, most importantly, I try to mix with the young generations and have fun with them. There are some persons of my age who only talk about their past, some of their mistakes and failures and so on which irritate me a lot. This reminds me of a funny incident.

One day I met a gentleman for the first time on the road when I was returning from morning walk. He would be about 70 years. Wanted to know a lot about me from the very beginning - when did I move in this town, where I was before , how I spent my evenings etc etc and when I mentioned that I played badminton in the evening he said ‘ You play badminton at this age ? No No you must not. Running and jumping at this age is very risky . Why not join our ‘ Old Folks Club’ this evening , I can introduce you to many of my friends. We can play cards. ’

The name of the club itself was something which I did not like at all. No, surely I would not enter that Old Folks Club, I said to myself. The gentleman was looking at me awaiting a positive response but somehow I managed to change our conversation to some other important issues. What a relief it was, right at the time when I was about to find ways to escape, two young men, who I knew very well, came and handed over to me an Invitation Card.

‘ Uncle, this evening do please come to our Club, well its your club too. we will make you a member. Anyway, this evening we will all have a real great time, Food and drinks apart we will have Badminton competition and we are sure you will participate'.

I thanked them, promised I would.

The gentleman stood there listening to our conversation and slowly disappeared from there whilst I had good chat with these two young folks. Later in the evening I went to the club and had a very good time.

I try to spend more time with the younger generation, play with them , have fun with them, , hear their plans for the future and their efforts in attaining their goals and their positive attitudes make me feel happy and help me look at the bright side , positive side of life even at my age of 60 years – Yes at 60 years I feel young and this is the way I am. Some people may call me crazy but I don’t care. I would try my best to remain fit and young for many years to come , yes for many years to come.