I was talking to a couple in "Jeeva Nilaya" on the Whitefield Road in Bangalore. The man was 77 years old and the woman was 69. The woman looked on as the man was taking care of a flower plant. Her eys were moist and in Kannada she said that she pines to see her son and grand-daughter. Her grand-daughter, named Daffodil, was in the US. The man didn't say anything. I asked him the name of the flower he was taking care of with so much concern. He smiles at me and says, 'If her son thinks itsokay to be away from her, this flower is better to take care of. I dunno its name, but we both have named it Daffodil'.
The flower was a Chrysanthemum.
I took them to Lal Bagh to show them a feast of colorful flowers. For almost one hour, you could see both of them running around with butterflies. This was five months ago. The old man now is an advisor for the garden maintenance of a huge IT company at Whitefield. He specializes in Landscapes and his job is to just shout at the fellows doing work on the stones and the soil in the garden. He has conceived a Japanese garden from left out construction material. And one of his old friends also gives him company while he shouts!
The old lady is now dead.
Some people are too afraid to be alone. And some are too happy to be alone. Both these categories need more love in their lives and need to look beyond what is in their immediate surroundings.
This world had two distinct groups for ourselves. One is the one which we consider our family. The other is the rest of the world. It is difficult to demarcate a line between the two but it is very common that family is what we consider our immediate relatives.
When we look beyond, beyond the boundaries of relatives, we can relate with so many families that the concept of "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam" (The Universe is my Family) seems relatively true. A wise person has family as first priority but beyond a certain age, when the children have their own families, (s)he should expand her family.
The story is the same. But the ending can be made different.
