Vision of Life; by Sanjay: Understanding Growing Up !

15th Dec 20

“Growing-up is, when you need not have to prove anything to anybody, not even to your own-self”...

Dear Dada & Chota & all younger brigades who is my main strength...

One more year is coming to an end & one more birthday for me! It’s very difficult for me to write to you both especially on this birthday as if the year has added some more wisdom in me then it has taken away a lot from you both! But then this is what I want to share with you as well the entire younger genre which actually is my energy source! Do you know, after a certain age celebrating birthdays isn’t a thing many people fancy about, especially when you cross the wrong side of the forties or fifties! Because in a way, age is a sword that it cuts you more by mind than body! Suddenly one fine morning you wake up & as usual look at yourself in the mirror & you realize you not in your 30’s & you notice the changed complexion of your skin, greying hair (not to forget patches of baldness which you try to hide), the dark circles around the eyes, a feel of incomplete sleep & all such signs reminds you that no more the mirror is your best friend! Every step you take while you jog & weight you lift in the gym makes you remember your age! Every small injury which now takes much longer time to heal makes you realize that you are getting weak by the day! You start worrying over the smallest of the things which you never even have noticed earlier & all this makes you afraid of your age & no more you want to celebrate an event where one more year has been reduced from you age, making you a sshade weaker on all fronts of the life! This is what the age does to most men & women too (more) & this is the biggest challenge which eventually every one of us has to face some day or other!

But that’s why I thought of the above quote (by myself) as due to all such bad aspects of ageing, most men or women start behaving (read as doing) in a way which others may feel weird as just to prove the world that they are not afraid of ageing or their age hasn’t done any damage to them! Suddenly some guy starts going to the gym & lifting weights which he wouldn’t have tried even in twenties wearing sleeveless (needless to say of best brand) or someone realizes he wanted to climb Mount Everest & starts doing tough trekking or there is a fellow who hasn’t ever paddled after leaving college now takes up cycling not as hobby but to travel to Delhi on the cycle & then there is fellow who was afraid to ride even a Scooty on Pune roads now buys a Harley Davidson & makes plan of making road trip to Goa on it & this list is as endless as Hanumanji ki Punch (ab ye mat pucho, what it means , it mean infinite). Oh, yes one thing more i.e. buying a fancy camera & click snaps of birds or tiger & get ourselves tagged as a birder or a wild lifer (this is in thing)! Well, women are also not behind in this age defeating game as most of them starts getting their hair coloured with streaks. One common factor followed by the most people is, dressing sense suddenly changes despite the gender & now the focus is how the clothes as well entire attire will make me look what I am not, i.e. younger! And yes, all these your achievements has to be posted on FB & Insta & Whatsap group & DP’s too or else how people will know what you are trying to prove about yourself & how successful you have been in winning the battle with this age named demon!

You all must be smiling after reading this start as you are lucky yet to be young (by age) & not required to do such things but that’s why I shared with you as if you don’t to do any of above such things you get tagged as weird, which I have been famous for, always! As never I was or am ever afraid or worried of my age & I may be having all the bad signs like baldness, tiredness, weakness, injuries, fitness but if the age has made me weak on physical fronts which I take as natural phenomenon then I look at my eyes & you will know what age has gifted to me! My eyes are a lot steady & calm & confident than they used to be & this comes by experience which is the outcome of my age only! That’s the wonderful gift age has gifted to you & then you realize the age is not your enemy but best friend actually, making you understand the real meaning of life! You realize now the journey onwards is outside in & that doesn’t need to show the outer world what you are capable of doing as well no more you are afraid of looking in the mirror neither you are needed to prove anything about yourself to others! Beta, if you can understand all of this looking at yourself in the mirror then only you have grown up or else you have aged, choice is yours what to take from the mirror, I have made my choice & you know what it is!

And yes one more thing, you now understand to be thankful for every aspect of life which has helped you to have courage to look in the mirror & make the right choice about yourself. No more you are interested in taking credit for your so called achievements but you are happy to let someone else take credit for them! All this doesn’t mean you have become inert or on way to becoming a Saint but it means you have understood the meaning of life & learning to live it! Agreed the list of tasks I mentined above which the ageing men (and women) took on, may not be necessarily to prove the world but it’s equally possible that our genre (those who are past mid forty) never had access to many things which has come to your genre naturally such as buying a bike or go for trekking or buying a camera types! And we didn't had much time, rather we didn’t know the time has to be carved for what you like to do & that’s why we take on such things now as we have money, time & access to things now! But then this also I have understood that if I am doing something for myself now then it’s strictly for myself & for my joy & not to prove what I can do, even to myself! This is what I think growing up & ageing in the right sense!

Well, the year has been hard rather on the scale of good & bad, it has been worst, taking away things closest to your heart & the damage isn’t reversible but that’s how the journey is, to become a man from boyhood! Beta, we all lose something or other on every passing day but then we gain also something, unfortunately most men think just about the losses & forgets to cherish the gains along. In the 2020, I lost not just some lives around but I lost childhood of my sons but I gained two fine young men & I am happy with the gain! This is also I have understood & may be that’s what kept me going. Lastly, to you both & to bhikya, ketki, rohit m, shruti, tanisha , siya & the younger lot, all I want to say is thanks for keeping me young as you all have been my company for not just animation or super hero movies but on paw bhaji parties too & gave opportunity to write letters to you, all of which made me able to see the world through a lot younger vision than what my age can see & that was my biggest gift! And yes, never restrain yourself from saying thanks to your parents & elder ones as trust me the biggest earning of any mom or dad is their son or daughter doing best in whatever he or she is doing & I am happy I have given that satisfaction to my parents in some extent (though Abbu will never accept it, is different part, lol)! And yes about two more personalities in your life, never stop caring & backing them; one is your sibling i.e. sister or brother & other is whom you call your friend! I am lucky on that front also & have realized, that’s something luck gives you but you only have to conserve the asset of the relationships!

So guys, Dilse Thank you all, for everything & my happily ageing! ...

Yours

Baba & Mama & Kaka & Sanjya & Sanjay!

Sanjay Deshpande

Sanjeevani Dev.

Please view my sharing about real estate in Pune at U-Tube link below..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4xX7eopH5o&t=5s

Please do visit my blogs to know about our philosophy at Sanjeevani ! (Click the links below)

https://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2020/06/a-good-home-is-good-deal.html

http://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/

Creating Togetherness; team Sanjeevani Way(Click link below)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/albums/72157627904681345

For any of your complaints about city, log in at link below

www.punecorporation.org

Take your issues to Hon PM at link below..