I was quite pleased with the response I got for FC 183 despite it being a travelogue.
Tarun Kunzru posted a one-liner: “Blessed are those busy mostly doing what they enjoy and love. Pras, you seem to have got that right.”
Lakshmi Raman says: “Ha, ha, ha! Your post this Sunday is delightful. Sometimes we are busy. Sometimes it's just our mind space that is crammed. Regarding your FC posts, some are just delightful, which is as good as informative and delightful! And I enjoyed the joke about the man and the dog.”
Rita Kapur connected with the reference to freemasonry and commented: “Great read this one, and thanks for sharing your travel adventures. You are a Freemason I note, great! …and the link that you provided led me to explore more. Both my grandfathers were Freemasons, and they spoke very little about their activities. But let me tell you they were gems of a character…each one…dedicated and strong and people in control of themselves. I still remember when one of my grandfathers passed away in Delhi in the 60s, my 2 teenage aunts used to get some funding from the HO in the UK for their education in Delhi for several years. This was facilitated by one of my grandfather's freemason friends, who said they do help out. Further, my grandfathers first met at the lodge in Rawalpindi in the early 40s, and they soon shook hands and fixed the engagement of my parents without even asking the boy or girl. I must admit I could not read your earlier Sunday filter coffee for some reason and told myself I would read it in peace at a calmer time… Finally, I have read them all, thanks again for keeping us all engaged in reading.”
S N Viswanathan says: “Busybee was the acronym used by Behram Contractor to write the column ‘Round About’. He started his columns in Evening News, then shifted to Midday and finally edited and published his newspaper called Afternoon Despatch and Courier (don't know what it meant). He had created iconic characters like Bolshoi the boxer (his Russian dog), the Man on the 21st Floor (who was so filthy rich that he could acquire anything), his Mother-in-law, his two sons etc. He was my favourite, and you reminded me of him. Morning Cuppa with RK Laxman and evening cutting with Busybee were a must while growing up. Miss such humour nowadays.”
[SNV: To add to what you say, ‘The Afternoon Despatch and Courier,’ the Mumbai afternoon newspaper launched by Contractor in 1985, announced its closure on July 20, 2019.]
👶👴 The Child in Us
I attended a Valentine's Day event organised by Silver Talkies (ST), which is an inclusive community celebrating diversity and welcoming everyone 55 and above, irrespective of gender, caste, religion or education. ST offers a social networking forum and an engagement and opportunities platform catering to older adults' diverse interests and needs.
Happiness often comes from the community around us, but social isolation and loneliness can lessen our connections as we age. ST makes them a thing of the past. ST is founded on the belief that the older years are an opportunity to rediscover hobbies, pursue long-held and new interests and find new connections. ST is an enabling organisation. If you are keen to become a member (just as I have) please send an email to 🔗connect@silvertalkies.com. You can be a member regardless of your location.
Three years ago, in 🔗FC 33, I wrote about Valentine's Day, a day for celebrating love. The Catholic Church recognizes at least three saints named Valentine or Valentinus, all with a different backstory.
One legend contends that Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men. Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine’s actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death.
Other stories suggest that Valentine may have been killed for attempting to help Christians escape harsh Roman prisons, where they were often beaten and tortured. According to one legend, an imprisoned Valentine sent the first “valentine” greeting himself after he fell in love with a young girl—possibly his jailor’s daughter—who visited him during his confinement. Before his death, it is alleged that he wrote her a letter signed “From your Valentine,” an expression that is still in use today.
Although the truth behind the Valentine legends is murky, the stories all emphasize his appeal as a sympathetic, heroic and — most importantly — romantic figure. Some people believe we celebrate Valentine's Day on February 14th to coincide with the anniversary of Saint Valentine's death or burial.
Valentine's Day celebrations caught on in India around 1992. The holiday became popular thanks to programs on commercial TV channels, dedicated radio programs, and love letter competitions, in addition to an economic liberalization that allowed the explosion of the Valentine card industry. The celebration has caused a sharp change in how people have been displaying their affection in public since the Middle Ages. Conservatives of all kinds consider Valentine’s Day a cultural contamination.
It is conservatively estimated that the Valentine's cards and gifts industry garners around 30 to 40 billion dollars the world over.
With the advent of social media and messaging services, the joy of holding a V-Day card is denied to a considerable extent.
Let me talk about the V-Day event of ST. We were all seniors of different age groups, backgrounds and many other differences. But all of us transformed ourselves as kids, looking forward to fun and games. The fun part of one of the games was to guess the name of the person whose occupation or vocation was mentioned in the grid on an A4 sheet. It was a novel way of ensuring that each one meets all those present.
The child in each one of us came alive (my wife thinks I am one, perpetually) when we played the variant of the game ‘passing the parcel’. I say variant because we did not have a parcel, instead a book to pass around. I thought it was funny, because each one of us was passing the book, as if it were a hot brick, so as not to be left holding the book when the music stopped—it was more like passing the buck. The person caught holding the book acted out something dictated by a slip picked from a bowl. It was such a wonderful experience when all the participants took part without any inhibition. Like I got a slip which said “Dance with the person opposite you” and we did a jig much to everyone’s amusement.
The most important thing that we should never forget is the child in us. It reminds us of the innocence and purity that resides within each of us, despite the complexities and challenges of adulthood. It serves as a reminder to reconnect with our inner child, to embrace the simplicity and joy that often gets lost in the busyness of life. It represents the notion that no matter how old we become, there is always a part of us that longs for childlike simplicity, curiosity, and unfiltered joy.
When we all learnt how to use the smartphone, it was our childlike curiosity that helped us. Even today, I am fascinated by the toys that my granddaughter plays with. If you want to experience what I am saying, just spend one hour walking through Hamley’s and trying out the newest toys. I used my elder granddaughter as an excuse to go to Disney World and quietly went on a Harry Potter ride and listened to the kid in me screaming!
This quote sums up the sentiment nicely:
“There’s nothing sadder in this world than to awake Christmas morning and not be a child.”
- Erma Bombeck [American Humorist]
Age is a number, and we have the choice to keep it a single digit. You don’t need a grandchild to act like a child. You just have to nurture that childlike curiosity to keep learning new things and never lose your sense of wonder! Don’t suppress the naughtiness that’s within you. When you are among teenagers, be a seenager (senior teenager). Remember, elderly people who refuse to act their age are called the youthful rebels! Be such a rebel!
I would like to share with you a beautiful song ‘Child in Us’ by Enigma, a German musical project founded in 1990 by Romanian-German musician and producer Michael Cretu.
Please view this video and read the lyrics which start with a Sanskrit hymn: 🔗ENIGMA The Child In Us (+lyrics)
These are for your inner child:
Knock, Knock
Who’s there?
Nobel.
Nobel who?
Nobel…that’s why I knocked!
Q: What did the boy squirrel say to the girl squirrel on Valentine's Day?
A: “I am nuts about you”
I hope this post awakens the child in you 😀
Take care. Until next week, Ciao.
The child in each one of us never grows old. Priorities change, the child in us shifts backstage, retaining the same purity and eagerness to live again. The child in us comes back to life when you meet a childhood friend, (even more exciting if you were partners in crime) visit your old school, meet your KG teacher, you are a child again and want the moment to last forever. Reality sends the child back to where it belonged to remain waiting for the next time to come out and dance again !
It's a lot of peer pressure and overwhelming impact of the Valentine industry that forces normal emotions into excessive demonstration bordering on fakeness. I personally choose not to join this bandwagon.
One thing which happens overtime - Valentino converts to Valentine!!