#68 Effervescence
There are some whose zest for living cocks a snook at their age. For the others, the challenge is to keep up!
Question: How many ninety-year-olds do you know who answer to “How are you?” with a robust, cheery “Never better!” I am guessing your answer is none. I know just one. An amazing lady who lives in the beautiful seaside city of Kochi. She has outlived her husband by many years, her only child lives overseas, several thousand miles away.
She lives alone with a sunny lady caregiver, in a rambling house built on land her husband bought. He was a champion of workers’ rights, much feared by dodgy managements. Getting workers a fair deal was his raison d’être, which brought him much affection and goodwill.
Despite her hearty response and ebullient body language, there still are those who are not convinced. It is as if they cannot accept that “never better” could actually be true at her age. So they make the all too predictable mistake of probing further. Solicitously: “your health has been good?” To which her unchanging answer is: “as good as it can be for someone my age!” That takes care of even the most intrepid questioner.
She lives joie de vivre. She enjoys life, indeed exults in it. Hers is a free spirit that rebels against shackles. Live and let live … and while at it, joyfully, seems her unstated philosophy. She never stops to explain why she does what she does. Not the past, nor the future, the present moment is all. Carpe diem, seize the day, said Horace. What she does is carpe the moment!
Joie de vivre is an attitude. It’s an invitation to this dance called life. All you have to do is leave the door slightly ajar and listen for the music. — Jamie Cat Callan
Get S M Menon’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
She has enviable enthusiasm fuelled by energy appropriate for someone a third her age. Or maybe it’s the other way round … that her boundless energy finds expression in enthusiasm that would do a much younger person proud. A fabulous original who revels in the joy of being herself, she defies accurate description — the closest I can get is effervescence. She’s like fine wine … rich, sparkling, gently yet unceasingly bubbling.
A spontaneous person, she is happiest being on the go, doing stuff rather than thinking things through to the last detail. Blessed with so much confidence, it never crosses her mind that she might find herself in a tight spot ever; for sure there have been some, and later, they are the subject of many an engaging tale! Vivacious, independent, she does not seek or expect approval from anyone. As she chuckles, they are all much younger — and so have many reasons why I shouldn’t do something.
When she was eighty-five, accompanied by a friend ten years younger, she took off on a six-week long trip that took them across South East Asia and from there to America which they did coast to coast! Returning with several gigabytes of photographs, we could only marvel at her completely inadvisable, dizzying list of adventures. Asked how she liked the whole experience, she said: “I just want to do it all again!”
My wife and I were at Kochi for a wedding, a couple of years back. We had a free day between the various wedding-related functions. She offered to give us a day’s walking tour of Fort Kochi, the area where she had grown up. Fort Kochi today is a heady mix of colonial architecture, heritage landmarks, quaint shops, upscale restaurants and chic cafes.
We arrived at her house to find her in dark glasses, a light silk sari, a colourful scarf over her head, a cloth shoulder bag with two bottles of drinking water, feet in trekking sandals. We started off at 9am as planned. Joining the tour party were her brother and sister, both younger to her.
I remember asking her brother if she would hold up to being out all day in humid weather. He grinned and told me “don’t worry about her, you worry about keeping up!” He was spot on … she was ahead of us right through, occasionally slowing down to let us catch up. The sky was turning to burnt sienna when we told her we were done for the day. Believe me, she was disappointed with the lot of us!
Italian litterateur Cesare Pavese said “We do not remember days, we remember moments” — and so it is with her. She embraces life, gives it her trademark thumbs up and lets the good times roll! She truly has a ravenous appetite … for life.
