NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN

First of all I must clarify one thing. A lot of people have told me that my writing domain has shifted from the humour genre to that of more sensitivity and thought-provoking. Let me tell you that this decision has not been a conscious one. It is something that is involuntary and has taken place of its own accord. Having said that I do intend to come up with another one in the Bihari Potter series and another post which will feature my take on the se7en deadly sins. Watch this space for more..

The other day while I was sitting in the mess cursing the food for the n-th time( no relation with the moronic band The N-th Degree) I saw one of the oldest mess workers being ill-treated. This particular person is responsible for making us sit in an orderly fashion so that the mess works in an efficient manner. However most people were giving him such a rude treatment that I was surprised. Leave alone reasoning with him, people were shouting and occasionaly abusing the poor ol' chap. This brought forward a very sensitive question in my mind. When I get old, will the generation younger to me treat me in the same apathetic way? Will they shout at me telling me that my usefulness is over and I better hasten the process of approaching my grave? The very thought gives me shudders running through my spine. But the sheer inevitabilityof the proposition is overwhelming. We see countless incidents of old people being denied their rightful share of respect and being manhandled. We turn a blind eye to all such incidents and move along on the path of achieving something spectacular in life. Blindly ambitious, we hardly care about anything other than carving a niche for ourselves. But what we forget is the fact that no matter how high a pedestal we reach in life, one day we will all fall to the ultimate conqueror- old age. And then we will lose all our respectability just because our tangible contributions will become negligible. People will forget what we have done in the past. People will forget that we were the ones who worked hard to afford them their own state of luxury. And we will fade ungracefully to oblivion. Are my concerns unfounded and a result of over-anxiousness. Am I making a mountain out of a mole-hill? Maybe.. But what I must warn everyone of is the fact that the present scenario has all the makings of a catastrophe. Our ignorance of the old people's needs and their rights of being acknowledged will ultimately translate to a total breakdown of respect in the future generations. And then we will cry but our cries will be to no avail and we will remember wistfully how once we treated our elders with disdain. But then it will be late...too late....................