Following DePonti's example. :-) -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: [silk] Human Manual Date: Thu, 13 Oct 2011 13:25:22 +0530 From: Venkat Mangudi <[email protected]> To: Deepa Mohan <[email protected]>
On Thursday 13 October 2011 01:12 PM, Deepa Mohan wrote: > > > On Thu, Oct 13, 2011 at 12:41 PM, Venkat Mangudi <[email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: > > Damn, 40 years old already. :-) > > Venkat, if you are going to swear at being 40...what are you going to do > when you cross 50 or 60? I find that as long as one has good health I probably will swear every 10 years. But not in disgust or unhappiness. Just that time flies and where did 10 years go. :-) > (alas, this is not always under one's control), one can grow older > without growing "old". In fact, as my family "duties" and "obligations" > are done, I have found myself free to learn a lot of things that > interest me....lead a life without worry, for the most part....and enjoy > my life in a way I certainly did not, when restricted to being a wife > and mother, and playing all the "social" roles of a TamBram Mami. I do > exactly as I please now (don't get into the vethalai pakku circuit any > more, for example!)...and life is just wonderful. I envy you in many ways. But then I treasure my life in as many ways. I envy you because your kids are adults and you don’t go through the early morning rush to get them to school etc. But I treasure mine for the same reasons. My kids are teaching me so much, and giving me so much joy, I don't want them to grow up. > > I've never had a full-time job, being content with either part-time > ones, or voluntary work (again, I kept changing my field of work...from > animal rescue to spastic children to blind children to wildlife to > children again)....I've led, and continue to lead, a very happy (I'd > say, near-ideally happy!) life. I've been lucky that one person's > earnings have been enough for both of us; since our financial and > physical health has weathered the storms, we've managed. I've been lucky enough to have gone through many phases in life, financially and socially. I've been bullied, am a single child who needs friends, been top of the class, failed a few subjects later in life, worked terribly hard to earn Rs 50, spent without thinking (still do sometime), gotten drunk, drink now to enjoy taste and not get high... I could go on with the variety of experiences I have had and I enjoyed every single one of them. Your email has really got me thinking. And as you probably notice, I am answering in parts and jumping back and forth every time a new thought comes to mind. My next sentence might be somewhere else in this email. THANK YOU for provoking this through process in me. > > What makes you swear? Is it the thought of what *else* you could have > done with your life? Or the worry that what's left may not be another 40 > years of productive life? One is past, the other is unknown. So...enjoy > every moment that you have. Yes, my faculties may dim, my life may be > cut short, or sink in pain or suffering...but who knows? I swore because time flies. :-) I see now, how I should have explained why I swore. I also swore, maybe -this is an after thought - because I have largely been doing things to keep my family happy. I realize that I have not given anything back to the world that I grew up in. Nor have I been sensible enough to be nice to it. I have done my share of selfish deeds and things that I regret. > > We all seem to be falling into this trap of venerating youth. Healthy > and active middle age/old age is just as wonderful, I happen to think. I > don't hark back to the "old days" because the "new days" are just as good! I don't want to be young. I am ok with being 40 years. Or when it comes to it, 50 or 60. Hopefully, I will learn to be better at living *with* nature. > > Yeuggh...sounds AWFUL, so I'm taking this off-list. Thank you taking this offlist. I would have not minded much on list, except for the drifts that this email can trigger. > > So...please...don't damn any number, in years, that you've reached... > the alternative is a state of being, or non-being, that one cannot > visualize! Point noted, will not damn any number. But I did not really see anything else that would have been suitable then. Maybe I will find out when I find out. Cheers...
