Dealing with Age

Karuna Waghmare (foreground) with her new walking-stick

Karuna Waghmare today presented a pretty picture when she entered the Garden, walking-stick in hand. This was the first time we were seeing her requiring support to walk. “What to do?” she chirruped nonchalantly. “I have no control over my legs now. I tend to lose balance and fall down. I am getting old after all.”
Minutes earlier, Santosh Tyagi had rebuked Shekhawat for teasing her on the way she limps about these days – slowly, with measured steps. He launched into his favorite Rajasthani refrain, “Ayo budhapa…” only to be cut short by Santosh: “Budhdha hoga tera baap!”
She however, conceded that she has turned increasingly unsure of herself and does not risk walking up to the Garden these days. “I take a rickshaw instead,” she said. “My knees have betrayed me. I feel weak and unsteady. My B.P. keeps fluctuating... God knows what is happening to me."
Surely, nobody is getting any younger. A cursory glance at the photographs in this blog over the years would reveal how time has taken its toll on us.

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Even Shekhawat, for all his childish pranks and constant tomfoolery, is no longer the rugged Charles Bronson persona we had known him for barely a decade back.
Physical appearances apart, what is of real concern to the Club are the many disabilities showing up. Without naming names, most of us today are victims of one ailment or the other -- from forgetfulness to hearing loss, not to mention incontinence, diabetes, breathlessness, dental issues, back ache and so on. As Arun Patil put it: “Very soon we shall become a club of handicapped people.”
Of course, we can draw comfort from the fact that things would have been worse. That we meet religiously to exercise every morning, come what may, has surely helped avert many life-threatening conditions. The bonding we have forged within the ‘family’ (outside family) has also kept us upbeat. We celebrate birthdays, go on picnics and cross-country tours, rejoice at every happy turn, get into squabbles, even catfights… all of it has strengthened the bonding.
The biggest blessing though are the inspirational talks every week-end in the China Hut, thanks to Dr Muhammed Farooq Khan and Karun Sharma. One takes care of our physical concerns and the other, mental. Together, they are making us better equipped to deal with the march of time.
Bihari Milwani:
We may have physically grown old but our love for the club is still young and every passing day it is becoming stronger and younger.