Celebrations of youthful wisdom
Last week we attended the 80th birthday celebrations of a gentleman whom I regard as my lifestyle guru and invariably refer to as the "Calcutta Connoisseur". The invitation card, however, invited us for his "18th" birthday. It was an ode to his evergreen spirt and indefatigable zest for life-and living it well. Not for him the cold comfort of age-related relaxation and abdication of joy but rather, a recalibration of his mode of participation.Indeed, the news of a champagne brand just launched by an Indian elicited the same piercing questions last week that he used to throw at me decades ago to see if I knew "my onions". And with his trademark impish grin he challenged me to guess who the chef was for his birthday-eve dinner at home just by tasting the canapes. Which shishya would not be intimidated by a guru's impromptu test? A familiar face at dinner indicated I had guessed right; if only I had the gumption to say so!
A few days later at another megapolis at the other end of India, I had the pleasure of meeting a lady who is nearly a decade older than that "18 year old" and whose mobility is somewhat restricted by age-related wear and tear, but whose mind and wit is razor sharp and as agile as the Calcutta Connoisseur's. My schoolfriend's mother in law is truly a grande dame of a "Bombay" that now only survives in secluded pockets amid the raucous political and financial din of Mumbai.
In the course of a delightful conversation over nimboo-pani that continued over a light lunch in the spacious family flat overlooking the Cricket Club of India, I was transported to Karachi of the 1940s and the final move of her prosperous Kutchi Hindu clan to the city where they used to come during the holidays-Bombay- which became their new home and sanctuary. Among the precious mementos they brought from Karachi were, intriguingly, a grandfather clock and a carved wooden elephant. Her fond reminiscences about life in Karachi were interspersed with searching questions about today's India, including changing perceptions of the heroes of the freedom struggle and the early decades of Independence. She was also amazed and amused by the divergent paths of two "siblings" separated in 1947- no bitterness, just a deep interest. If only younger Indians - a billion of our current 1.4 billion people were born after Partition after all-had the same equanimity!
In many ways this elegant and articulate Bombay matriarch reminded me of my 101-year-old uncle in Kolkata whose curiosity about the world around him - from politics and world affairs to culture, sport and personalities - increases with every parikrama of the Sun. Even this time in Kolkata he couldn't wait to discuss the Trump-Musk fallout and why the US seems to be once again backing Pakistan after Operation Sindoor. Their happy engagement with the present complimented by their experience of the past reminded me of an observation by a younger friend of the Calcutta Connoisseur while wishing him on his "18th" birthday. Expanding on the well known aphorism "We don't stop playing because we get old; we get old because we stop playing," he remarked that teen years are the best companions for wisdom as youth is wasted on the young, and wisdom is wasted on the old. Here's wishing more people will be also blessed with both simultaneously.
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