Growing older is a chance to create the magnum opus of our lives-it is the time when it is time to enlarge the canvas of life.
It’s never too late to achieve more of your dreams.’ We could not only take this adage to heart but also remind our parents and children to live by it. Age is no bar to producing great art or telling tales sealed in their hearts as they went through daily chores. Life offers us a chance to reinvent ourselves at every stage, and there are plenty of reasons to do what we always wanted to even in our 80s or 90s.
Take, for instance, the Hollywood movie The Intern. At 70, Ben Whittaker (Robert De Niro) takes up an internship at a fast-growing online fashion company. A widower who once worked at a phone-book company, a business the world no longer needs, he uses his experience to guide his much younger boss, Jules Ostin. Growing old doesn’t have to be boring; it can be full of excitement for a new innings.
Pablo Picasso remained productive until his death at 91 and painted many works in his 70s and 80s, including portraits of his second wife, Jacqueline Roque, who became his muse. He increased his canvas size to create the work he loved.
Closer to home, Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore began painting at 67 and produced 2,000 or more works, helping shape modern Indian art. In his final days, at 80, he dictated some of the poems that were published as Sesha Lekha.
Journalist and author Khushwant Singh continued to write well into his 90s, publishing Khushwantnama: The Lessons of My Life at 98.
Many editors, when they retire, take up writing fiction or non-fiction, and some may take up painting. A few might even pick up precision knives to create paper art. While some may prefer writing or painting; others may not; they may just want to start running.
Fauja Singh, nicknamed ‘Turbaned Tornado’, took up running at 81. He completed his last full marathon in Toronto at 100 and retired from competition at 101 after a 10-km race in Hong Kong.
His story shows that seniors can pursue whatever they wish at any age, even something as demanding as a marathon. While some may find solace in physical activity, others might wish to become full-time entrepreneurs.
Harbhajan Kaur, also known as ‘entrepreneur dadi’, launched a homemade sweets and pickles brand from her home at the age of 90. In Ahmedabad, Prabhavati Nani started selling homemade Gujarati snacks at 91.
In Japan, the elderly are called koreisha, and many remain a vital part of the ‘silver economy’. They stay socially active, take part in community activities. Many continue to find ikigai, a sense of purpose that makes life worth waking up every single day.
This proves that growing older is not a prison sentence; it is a chance to create the magnum opus of our lives. Each act of creativity or enterprise is another way to connect with the Self, a silent witness, and by connecting with the Self through a creative meditation, we not only find ikigai but also enlarge the canvas of our lives. - THE SPEAKING TREE.
Grateful for Your Prayers, Blessings, Best Wishes and Goodwill.
With Regards and Best Wishes,
D.R. Kaarthikeyan
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D.R.Kaarthikeyan IPS (R)
Padma Shri Awardee
President: Foundation for Peace, Harmony and Good Governance
Former :
Director, Central Bureau of Investigation
Director General, National Human Rights Commission
Director General, Central Reserve Police Force
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