Life Positive

Karuna Waghmare

After a long, long time, Karuna Waghmare was in a fabulously chirpy mood today. It had obviously something to do with the weather. After raining in bits and spurts all night, the morning temperature had dipped considerably. “The weather is lovely-lovely,” she remarked by way of greeting her friends in the Garden.
For a change Karuna had landed ahead of time – a positive indication of her buoyant mood. Sure enough, she started to talk out of turn, often

Bijoy Gupta today waxes eloquent on the merits of tai chi exercises

interrupting the exercises by counting wrong and refusing to pay heed to Arun Patil’s barking orders to clam up.
She even came up with a new game, 'Ping-Pong', but nobody took her seriously. It did not matter though, as she was to relapse into singing to herself, “Aayega, aane wala, aayega…” soon changing that to “Intehaaaa ho gayi, intezaar ki!”
When Karuna is on a roll, she can be simply unstoppable. No matter what anybody might say, she would be on her own trip. She took pot shots

Hem Chand Jain

at people looking at the Garden Gate while the exercises were on. “Are you expecting your girlfriend?” she demanded cheekily. “Or is it a half-girlfriend?” If a male happened to turn up, she would quickly correct that to “half boyfriend”. And should two people turn up together, she would declare “double boyfriend” or “double girlfriend”-- as the case may be.
We were missing all this for quite some time as Karuna had been keeping indifferent health. Her visits to the Garden had become few and far between. She now requires a walking stick to move around. Her hands shake uncontrollably. (“Doctors say it is because of stress,” she says). She is still nursing an ugly sore after a stool fell on her feet. And yet, she manages to stay upbeat and put a smile on our faces.
In all this Hem Chand Jain made an appearance after what seemed like ages. He has pulled down a bit since we met him last. After all, he is 88 now and dealing with a severe kidney condition that requires dialysis every other day. Anybody in his position would have surrendered to fate -- confined to the bed and overpowering loneliness.
But here is a living example of triumph of the human spirit. Hem Chand Jain leads an incredibly active life as he shuttles between Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore (where he has business interests) and has just returned from a cross-country 'pleasure trip' across the United States. His very presence is an inspiration to all.
Lt Lol Angad Singh (retd):
It is our attitude to life that matters. Age is just a number and it means little. Persons like Hem Chand Jain will always be young and full of life. With all its problems and difficulties, life is always worth living - provided you keep yourself busy. Good luck to Hem Chand Jain and wishing him many more years of happiness and health.
Geeta Latte:
Life is the most difficult exam. Many people fail because they try to copy others, not realizing that everyone has a different question paper.