Since when did I get old?

Even after reaching 100 years of age, some people don't take a stick. An example of this was Shatabdi Purusha Satyamohan Joshi. That being said, we should not forget the importance of the stick. If you find it difficult to hold your body with your own knees, you should take a stick, don't be ashamed.

To determine the service period of working life, the practice of retiring after the age of 60 and living a retired life has been going on. When my father and uncles retired from their active daily life saying 'I have grown old' and walking around with white hair, his contemporaries, especially shopkeepers, merchants, carpenters, carpenters, goldsmiths, silversmiths and people from farming families He was confident in business. I did not know that sixty years of age make them old.

In our working family, the mother and aunts were active in their household business when the father became old. Therefore, old age is not a result of numbers or mathematics, but after death, there is a change in the strength of the body and over time the body and mind become old. Aging is a gradual process. It varies from person to person.

Based on our traditional social conditions, people's lives are divided into four varnashrams- Brahmachari, Grihastha, Vanaprastha and Sannyasi! The census divides the population into three groups – childhood for those under 14, youth for those aged 15 to 64, and old age for those over 65. There are many examples in my own life and that of my close friends who after retiring from government service joined various NGOs and consultancy services and managed to reach new heights of success. Many have made significant contributions in various fields of literature, art and culture. In that sense, the period from 58 years to 75 years can be considered as the productive stage of experienced, ripe and mature. Modern gerontology has begun to name that condition as 'young-elderly'. After that, the age up to 85 years has been recognized as 'middle-senior' and above 85 years as 'elderly-senior'. According to our traditional beliefs, it would be appropriate to consider it as 'sannyasi varna'.

Regardless of one's belief in the division of life, one should always be aware of living an active and quality long life. With the development of science and technology, there are many ways and tools to add life to our life. If it was not for the invention of glasses for the eyes, there would be no condition to be active after the age of 60. With the success of medical science, the average life expectancy at birth has also increased significantly, and the development of physical facilities and communication technology has begun to provide special services and support to the physically challenged. As a matter of fact, the problems of old age have reduced and limited the way of life and the restraint of the state of mind.

My daily life

Many of my new and old friends are curious about my daily life and I want to know more about them.

Around 5 am I wake up from sleep. I wake up at 4 o'clock if I want to read some creative work. The 4 am to 7 am session has proven to be particularly productive for me. Then I do a little meditation, but I can't do it constantly. However, I try to confirm my three conditions once. First I am alive and my health system is working. Second, I am safe and not afraid, everything is under control. And, thirdly, where I am now, this is the right place for me.

In the morning, I walk the streets and alleys of Sanepa-Jhamsikhel for about 45 minutes as a 'morning walk' with my wife to visit temples. I pray a little to the idols of Buddha and Ganesha, Surya, Narayan, Bhagwati, Shiva and Saraswati. The importance of idols to bring the mind to concentration is different. The mind is restless. Worship of God helps to stabilize it.

Some time in the morning is spent on radio news and newspapers. For breakfast, i.e. 'break-fast', I eat breadcrumbs or musti, i.e. corn flakes. As I have been taking blood pressure and sugar medication for years, I have been embracing 'low carb' i.e. low carb food. I have given up sugar or candy. Green tea and black coffee are habitual.

I have made a habit of eating a little rice and a lot of vegetables or pulses for lunch. While cooking rice, we have mixed about 30% of carrot and banana bhujuri with rice. We usually have our main meal at midday. I take a little brandy (about 90ml) with warm water in the evening after having some biscuits and tea in the afternoon. I have eaten mula, carrot or almonds, cashews with it.

It is a habit to cook meat dishes for dinner by yourself. Spending about an hour and a half in the kitchen with Chulochouka and Noon masala is a special pleasure. At around 7:30, after eating, I try to watch some interesting television programs.

The most important moment of the evening is a mobile conversation with a daughter or son living in America. It has been decades since our children went abroad. We had the privilege of caring for our mother until she was 103 years old. Now there is a majority of single couple families. The old age of most of the neighborhood and relatives is like this. We are forced to live in the conditions that we can handle ourselves. The gulf of transmigration is as wide as the seven seas. We are forced to adopt a lifestyle of keeping our pain in our own cage.

I usually go to bed at 9 o'clock in the evening. Before that, I prefer to listen to the radio news of 'BBC Nepali Service'. I fall asleep easily, but wake up 2/3 times during the night to list. Anxiety begins to surround you when you don't sleep. Sometimes I read a poem to concentrate my restless mind, sometimes I start reciting prayer verses, sometimes I start counting from one hundred to one in reverse order. Often sleepy. Aim for eight hours of sleep.

Today's pain

One of the new challenges of present day Nepal is managing the future of senior citizens. Their joint family is now in tatters. The era of the single generation has arrived. Senior citizens also have to live alone. The pains of the parents of the children who fled abroad during that time are indescribable. I am seeing that children who have gone abroad are returning to Nepal and doing rituals such as marriage, fasting, Ihi-Barha, Gunyuncholo etc. The suddenness is unusual, but after a few days, the nest is empty again like a bird flies away - 'And Deurali cries.' The example of many parents waiting for their children to come back is not new. On the other hand, another irony has started to be created by the scene of people who flew away in search of income and employment and returned to the 'coffin box' as corpses.

These pains are not only in the context of foreign migration but also within our own country. The stories of children migrating from the village to the city and the old people who have to stay to take care of the village are no longer new.

! I am old.

The pain of growing old is in its own place, but the country has grown old, the nation has started to suffer. The youth generation is also thinning in the Himals, Hills, Madhesh, Terai and Bhot provinces. Khoria digging hands are starting to go to Korea. The crowds of the youth generation are seen in the departure hall of the airport, not in the factories, industries or farms. They are found in the offices of brokers of foreign employers. At the convocation ceremony of an educational institution, young people jump for joy as they share their dreams of going abroad. There is no one who shows the future in Nepal. No one has time to listen to the stories of senior citizens. No one is worried about the short future of senior citizens.

Many people have many opinions about the art of living life late in life. However, everyone should consider their own health. Even if the body is healthy and healthy, if the mental health is not controlled, the rest of the life will be painful. Medicines and medical services prolong life. Adding life to that age is possible only by yourself.