60 saal ke buddhe ya 60 saal ke jawan


It was New Years Eve & most people were getting ready to welcome 2005. My colleagues & I were slogging away in the office till 7 PM in our Kolkata office. We came home by 8 and by 10:30 PM we had dropped off to sleep. We were woken up around 1:30 AM when our Landlords came back from their New Year bash.

Our landlord is a retired Calcutta High Court judge & his wife had retired as a college lecturer. The elderly couples are all in their late 70s & celebrate each New Year with their classmates!! Whether outside India or any location in India each year they would all get together, have a potluck dinner & party the New Year in.

Did you ever get the feeling that despite having no TV/radio/cable your grandparents generation may have had the last laugh? They got the unique opportunity to fight for the country’s independence, chart the future for the country and still have time to play, party & have fun. With our jet setting lifestyle, long working hours sometimes I feel that life is sadly passing us by. Never before had I felt that these few lines of a poem I learnt in the fourth grade were more applicable to me:

What is this life, so full of care?
We have no time to stand and stare