Health and Happiness This Diwali - The Secret of Living Long

A few thoughts on Diwali. It's the festival of lights and I enjoy the view from the terrace, the resplendent lights, the bombs, the small crackers, the sparklers, the rockets. They swoosh and they tringg and they go plop over my head. I won't crib about how much money has been spent because man also needs a way to give vent to his/her joy and happiness. So it's good and in the fitness of things that a good time should be had by all.

 

There are these rules made by the authorities (meaning police, who else?) that bombs, what are called rassi bombs in particular, are banned. But the use of these bombs are omnipresent in our metropolis. On my walk I find that half the detritus of the crackers that have been burst are bombs. How come? How come they are sold if they are banned? Have we no consideration for the old who may go deaf with the noise?

 

Ah, well.

 

If we have any consideration for the old! Two days ago I and wifey were travelling to a friends place and an old couple (in their sixties, I might add) was our only co-passengers. The way the bus lurched when they entered leaving the man and woman holding on for dear life I had a rather fearsome premonition of what might happen to us after ten years or so. How can they be so thoughtless? How can they not think about old people who would be travelling by bus?

 

An uncle who was a train driver dropped in at home on Sundays. He is in his eighties and his health is something to be admired. He hasn't lost one tooth. He goes to bed at 10 p.m. and wakes up at 6 a.m. He is my mother's cousin, but mother lost all her teeth in her sixties. Shows how we can maintain ourself if we try. Uncle travels by train and by bus and even went to the U.S. all alone and travelled extensively throughout the country. I was a little heartened by his health and well being. These days vague fears are playing in my mind. Fears of life, mortality, financial stability, et cetera, especially after the spate of death I have witnessed recently.

 

Ah, if uncle can live so long and be healthy, so can I.

I am @johnwriter on Twitter and John.Matthew on Facebook. I blog here.