My
inquisitiveness always lands me somewhere I need to experience something new.
I
had planned it pre-hand that in this visit to my village, I would meet all old
people above 90 years old… I found them…. many of them are 100 years old. In my
village and in five villages around us I found eight people who are 100 years
of age or above.
Six
of them are in good shape. I also listed 16 people who are 90 or above.
Talking
to them about the lost species of flora and fauna in our villages, it struck to
me that they too are the endangered species of humanity.
It
clicked to me that I should write a book on them. I thought, this book would
not contain their views on the secret of longevity.
This
book will have ideas and mental picture of how life was when they were young
and how it is when we are in the same age.
I
could not help but cry when I heard from the 100 year olds how they lived their
lives in utmost miseries. There were regular floods, famines, fire and
epidemics and they would lose everything, including their dear ones,
repeatedly.
But
still, they survived and prospered as there was love and compassion,
camaraderie and brotherhood and above all, the firm faith in the ultimate
justice of the almighty, the unflinching trust that good things would return in
their lives.
The
central idea was, “if good things happen, it is good… if bad happens, it is
better as this indicates, God has something better planned for us…”
We
put these with what our media shows in our popular soaps about our contemporary
families and society, we feel what we have lost in the short but decisive march
of civilization.
I
was very happy. I was able to pick up what I wanted.
A
day before leaving the village, I asked a 102-year-old man in my village, who
is still active, what he believed was the true joy of life?
You
know what he said?
He
said, “enjoying a meal together with those whom you love and call as your own
is the real joy of life”.
I
asked him was he sure that life’s goodness was as simple as he made it to be?
He smiled and replied, “All good things in life are simple. The trouble of
humanity is that the goodness is so simple that most people believe it cannot
be good if it is this simple and available so easily; almost gratuitously”.
… back home, I was very
sure…. I could never write a book on them, as I had originally thought… the
wisdom of my words can never reach such heights to map the depth of the
feelings that I carried home… some things are better off unspoken and
unwritten…
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