By Aparna Srinivas The old woman, Meena, ninety years old, was sprightly and alert. She came from a well-to-do family and had nurtured the wealth well. She did not have to wonder about her wants. After Covid she had slowed down. She was restricted to her bed, needing nursing care. She lived with her daughter,…
By Devika Khandelwal At a time when tradition held women’s dreams tightly in its grasp, one woman dared to break free. Ms Sunita Khandelwal, her name synonymous with defiance, defied the age-old boundaries that kept women from education. Her story is a testament to the unwavering spirit that can rise even in the face of…
BY ANOUSHKA SAXENA We often associate some of the most cherished memories from our childhood days with the engaging bedtime stories our grandmothers would narrate to us, every day, at night so we could sink into a deep slumber and wake up all fresh and beaming with energy the next morning to go to school….
By Shubha Sharma This is a story from a time the world had shut down – the COVID-19 lockdown. My father rekindled his passion for music through the violin, which he had not touched for over two decades. The teacher was 82 years old, her student was then 77. She was in North Carolina, and…
By Ranjana Sunil I turned to ChatGPT this morning to write a poem on an elderly man who has turned 80 and is preparing to meet death’s gentle face. ChatGPT surprised me by writing two poems instead of one. Both poems were pure nostalgia and a joy to read. The following prompt was used to…
By Sunil Saxena When I look at the mirror, I am sometimes reminded of this quote from Terry Pratchett, an English fantasy author: “Inside Every Older Person is a Younger Person Wondering What Happened.” My face is no longer young; it has started showing unmistakable signs of ageing. My hair and my beard have turned…
By Sunil Saxena The business of predicting death has found a new merchant: AI. So far, astrologers had a monopoly on death predictions. Armed with astrological charts and planetary positions they made death predictions for all mortals who wanted to know when they will die. Then came the algorithms. In 2006 The Death Clock made…
By Sunil Saxena I am on the wrong side of sixties now. Old age did not worry me so far. But for the first time now ageing fears have started to haunt me. I often wake up in the night. For hours I lie awake in the bed or pace up and down in the…
By Kavya Karnatac Main unhe pyaar se Ija bulati hoon, and honestly, I feel I’ve learned more from her than I did from school and college combined. Akele raho aur sab khud figure out karo When I moved out at 21, it was a big change. My parents were understandably worried, but my dadi had…