Whispering Shadow

On my trip to Bangalore, I had gone out on a walk with my maternal grandfather, or Nana, as I lovingly call him. Most of the time he was feeling his way along the road. Feeling because he couldn't see. He developed Glaucoma a few years ago after a stroke and ever since his vision has kept degrading reaching a figure of 25% of normal this year. He was also not able to recognize the sound of approaching vehicles since he couldn't hear their engines rattle. He is deaf in one ear and partially deaf in the other. To illustrate, he would not know a truck is approaching him till it is around 10 feet away from him. Despite his health constraints, he has never missed his 5 KM morning walk in the past 23 years that I have known him. Of course, the walk I was on with him was not a morning walk since my morning happens a good four hours after his. It was just a stroll to the vegetable market. We reached a road crossing. It was a two way road with three lanes in each direction separated by ...

I usually don't upload factual stuff in this space, but then the mega-project by CERN is such an exciting innovation that I couldn't ignore it. I share with you a rap song which gives an ultra-simplified working of the World's Largest Particle accelerator: By the way, does any one know why did the Hindi news channels have to complicate a scientific experiment to such a level that it almost became a reason for the end of the world, the final apocalypse, in the minds of many? It is quite a rhetorical question, but then how did the move beyond TV seriels, Cricket, reality show updates, horoscopes and crime-fighting (rather sensationalising) and reach scientific frontiers?? I will call it progress at least for the time being. And thank goodness we are not an extinct planet just as yet. I won the bet with my grandfather.

I had only read about old people being stubborn and child-hearted at their age until I started living with my grandparents. Fifty years separate them and me and it is quite substantial for a generation gap. But the trouble is it is not about a late night party or a trip to Goa, it is about the most basic of basic issues, like taking medicine or not exerting. If you had to think for reasons for not taking a pill, what could they be? It is bitter. It is giving me loose motions. Or worst come worst, I just can't swallow them. But here I here reasons like: Wednesday is not a good day to take medicine. This pill will give me a haemorrhage. The gold drops recommended by xyz relative are working just fine. The doctor doesn't know his job. You can only win a debate if someone is willing to argue. If there are two parallel arguments without any common grounds it becomes impossible to even debate, forget winning. Age on their side gives them the edge of seniority. Seniority means they ca...