Chennai: Nandini Voice for the Deprived, a Chennai-based not-for-profit organisation, held an essay competition for senior citizens on ‘My thought process after 60 years’.
According to a note from the NGO, a number of men and women participated and narrated their experience, stated their own level of satisfaction or otherwise about the life they had led so far and their views and recommendations on how senior citizens should move on with the rest of their life.
“The views of the senior citizens make interesting reading, as they are based on their real life time experience and their present thought process,” said trustee N S Venkataraman who organised the contest.
Three women, Radha Subbier, Manimegalai Ganesan and B Jayalakshmi, and two men, V Seshadri and R Annamalai, were adjudged the winners.
Going through the various essays, Venkataraman found some common meeting points among the senior citizens:
GAINING DETACHMENT
As an individual becomes a senior citizen s/he sees events around with a certain level of detachment. This is because they realise that while there are many hits and misses in life, there is no predictable rhythm or logic in the movement of life. Every good and bad event of life would get buried in memory with the passage of time, said most senior citizens.
BEST IS YET TO BE
Every stage in life has its own charm, said some seniors. Whatever may be the age, if one can have the wisdom to see the charm in every age , then life would become richer. The capability to see the charm of life is better for senior citizens who have seen it all and experienced it all. ‘Life is yet to be’, whatever be the age of a person.
AS IT COMES
The experiences of a senior citizen promotes in him/ her an attitude of reconciliation to the state of things. Such a mental state enables the senior citizen to take things as they come and lead a less stressful life.
LEAP OF FAITH
Most senior citizens believe in God and spend considerable time praying, in meditation and reading scriptures. There are other senior citizens who think they should continue to work as a form of worship.
HEALTH DISCOMFORTS
As one ages, various faculties of the body inevitably deteriorate. Many senior citizens get mentally stressed due to such physical ailments. This can be avoided if one would banish ill-will from the mind and develop love.
Love not only for family and friends but also for everyone around including the poor and differently-abled. Venkataraman concludes that this would generate enormous mental strength to face the physical discomforts caused by the ageing process, as propounded by some of the senior citizens.