Ripeness is All
As one grows older, it is prudent to age gracefully- which means being
less judgemental, less gushing forth on the great life we had lived in ‘those’
days, willing to yield place to the new generation whose outlook on life is
vastly different from our generation and accepting the folly and irrelevance of
insisting on living life in the past and not in the fast and present mode. It
is a fact that all of us age and are not Markandeyas
(immortals), all of us have to retire one day and all of us know at our
heart of hearts the silence of wisdom while crossing life’s last hurdle before finishing
the race. Yet very few of us live by these precepts that are commonsensical
because they conflict with the convictions that we had held for almost five to six decades.
Two striking events last week
jolted me out of my self induced complacency and they followed in quick
succession. The first was watching and enjoying a lovely dance debut by a
twelve year old that was performed to perfection. The footwork, the hand
gestures, the body stretches of the young dancer had a fluid movement, well
coordinated and performed without a flaw to the beats of the dance syllables.
She was small and slightly built and covered the large stage with graceful and
fascinating movements. In addition to Bharatanatyam, she was formally
undergoing training in the other two classical dance forms of- Odissi and
Kuchipudi besides learning classical music from the Bhatkhande school. Her love of dance extended further for her to be
trained in contemporary dance forms. It
was amazing how a school going kid could find time to pursue her passion for
music and dance that demanded many hours of practice to attain perfection that
was on display that evening. Bhatratnatyam- for that matter all Indian
classical dance forms comprise three elements- Nritta(pure movement), Nritya(expressive
of the theme) and Natyam(incorporating
both movement and spiritual themes as in a play). The lithesome young girl was
splendid in Nritta , but was too young in age to experience and communicate Nrithya
and Natyam. It is just not possible or even to expect the girl to understand
and display feelings of love and awe towards the Lord or a lover about whom all
the songs are composed. She was far too young to grasp the essence of “feelings
and thoughts that lie too deep for tears.”. This is one of the basic flaws in
our schools of dance where training very young dancers to perform to perfection
is nothing but a raining in the exercise of memory on sequential movements
without experiencing the ecstasy of dance.
This young dancer is the typical kid of the present age when parents
want their children to learn multiple arts and disciplines without compromising
on academics. This is the insta- age and there is a mad hurry to learn things
fast and in advance of mature years. The earlier concept of allowing time to
ripen and mature is no longer valid. The after school hours schedule is far
more punishing than the school schedule of classes and home work. Swimming,
horse riding, cricket, tennis, badminton, rock climbing, theatre, music, dance
are some of the activities they learn at a fast and furious pace. By the time,
they are adolescents, there is nothing new to learn, nothing new to excite
them. The burnt-out syndrome starts far too early in the children. They hardly
get time to have fun and enjoyment as they are driven from one activity to
another.
The next morning I found an interesting article in the Sunday newspaper
on the millennials, the new group of young
professionals under forty, who follow
the motto of FIRE(Financial Independence, Retire Early). These are the new generation successful
professionals who work 24x7 for almost 15 years( assuming they graduate when
they are 23) to secure financial independence for the rest of their lives- from
40 to+++… They do not want to be in the rat
race after 40 and want to lead a leisurely life, doing what they like to do
without any constraint of competitiveness, one upman-ship, or continual racing
after goals beyond their reach. For them Robert Browning’s wisdom “Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp” has no meaning. They claim that following FIRE, they have
learnt to strike a work-life balance and to move away from earn and spend
strategy and give up a luxurious life style.
Sounds great, coming from these 40+ professionals who carry their
mighty philosophic heads on their young shoulders. They had lived life at the
highest speed possible and so now seek to replace the burnt-out syndrome by
giving up on all the training, experience, talent and passion they had acquired
over twenty years . This is happening to all our bright and talented children
who are trained in multiple activities at an age when the finer aesthetic and
emotional sensibilities have yet to ripen. The blossoms that appear on a tree
are not an overnight phenomenon. The seed takes root, the plant grows tall, the
leaves come out, buds are formed and then come the blossoms in all their
resplendent colours. What ripens before time falls off.
I belong to that generation which never believed in retirement. We were
nervous and apprehensive when the day of retirement approached. With all our
mental and physical faculties in shape-thanks to modern healthcare systems and
better living conditions- what was in store for us in the next twenty years or
more seemed bewildering and frightening. We would rather be FIRED than follow
the FIRE motto of our young millennials. I do not
say this is better or that was better, but even at the cost of being criticized
for not observing the golden precept of
silence of the oldies, I venture to say that with age one’s mental faculties
get sharper and more focused. It is a well known fact( with certain exceptions)
that we feel embarrassed to read our doctoral dissertations written when we
were 30 as the content, thought and language of the latter years take a greater
sheen, moulded by experience, vaster reading and deeper reflections. It is a
pity we academics are retired at 65, precisely when our lectures gain greater
depth and scholarship, shaped by years of study and research. This is true of
administrators who are made to retire at 60 when long years of administration had
given them experience and the right perspective in matters of governance.
But the FIRE motto deprives the young millennials the experience of
twenty years(if not more). Secondly you don’t run a marathon by sprinting the
first few miles or the first few kms. There is no point in saying you are fed
up with rat race while the desire to be financially independent cannot be
fulfilled without being a part of the rat race. How can one earn enough money
for the rest of one’s life by working one’s bones for twenty odd years? If
inflation is taken into account, the value of money goes down with the passing
of years. In economics, what goes up never comes down. So the money one lays
aside when one is forty cannot last forever.
All the philosophic approach to life of not wanting luxuries and
striking a balance between life and work can as well be implemented from day
one instead of waiting for retirement at forty. Do the millennials say that
such wisdom dawns only after 40?
It is easy to say that once retired we will do what pleases us. A
healthy living depends on time management and a disciplined approach to life.
The young millennials think the first twenty years into professional life are
enough to focus on work to the detriment of all youthful enjoyment. 20-40 is
the period when one’s physical energy is at its peak. This is a time to channelize
and diversify that energy into work, enjoyment, development of aesthetic tastes
and activities of body and mind. God forbid one does not fall sick at the end
of the youthful period. Then all the investments made feverishly will go
towards medical expenses. The young dancer and the new millennials seem to burn
out their energies too fast to live a distant and imponderable future .
What is needed is moderation. Epicurus says : “Be moderate in order to taste
the joys of life in abundance.” The
experience of seventy odd years make me say ( against my conviction not to
speak about those years) that we should live life not King size for a few years
but live life Full size for all times to come. Isn’t this what the bard of Avon
said:
"Men must endure their going hence, even as
their coming hither: Ripeness is all."
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