Gizmo collectors!

Originally Posted by Jananikrithsan

Dear Sri,
I too have all the cutting and chopping gizmos possible but nothing like having an elder doing it for you, you pay fo the gizmo there is no way you cdan express your joy in having your mom, grandmom doing it for you.
Great thought, you are lucky!!!!

Dear Janani
The great joy is two fold. I feel happy that the loving hands of my mum could touch what I eat and my mum feels happy that she continues to play a role in her loved ones' lives that make her world.
Sri

Sure enough. Why deny her the simplest of pleasures by hiring a robot to look after her? And you know, this gadget thing can sometimes make your heart shrink in fear. I was once presented a gadget that would open envelopes for me! I had to insert one end of the envelope into a horizontal socket and the machine would automatically slide the envelope over to its other end, smoothly slicing off a thin edge from the top. Letter reading is so much easier this way isn't it??? :)

Originally Posted by ojaantrik

Sure enough. Why deny her the simplest of pleasures by hiring a robot to look after her? And you know, this gadget thing can sometimes make your heart shrink in fear. I was once presented a gadget that would open envelopes for me! I had to insert one end of the envelope into a horizontal socket and the machine would automatically slide the envelope over to its other end, smoothly slicing off a thin edge from the top. Letter reading is so much easier this way isn't it??? :)

Dear OJ
You said it right. I never tire of watching these envelope slitters in action. My daughter bought me an apple slicer recently. You just position the gadget on top of the apple and press it down and the fruit gets neatly sliced with the tough seedy central portion coming out as waste! Before the advent of this gadget, I have given up many a succulent apple due to my laziness to combat the central portion.
Now I eat one every day and my physician must be wondering why I have not put an appearance at his clinic for quite some time!
Sri

Dear Sri:

I read this post once again today and feel like commenting once again.

These are well expressed sentiments in your inimitable style. And yes, the captain surely deserves her due.

For a reason I can't quite figure out, your post reminded me of my mil. She loved me like a son, though she had three of her own. Could have had something to do with my wife being the youngest of her children and the only daughter she had.

She was one great captain that I happen to have interacted with. Here education was close to zero and are captaincy quality literally limitless. The whole family depended on her as though she were the only adult in the household. She was a super gadget, always ready to solve every little problem that came up and solve them in true style.

Well, like all gadgets, one day she finally began to malfunction and no one knew how to repair the machine. Alzheimer's. It was strange really, because deep inside her subconscious, she remembered the sil she doted on. We went to see her and she smiled. They asked her if she knew who I was. She smiled even more pleasantly and said -- "Dipankar", a name by which she never addressed me. She would usually call me by my nick name! I knew she had recognized me and yet she had not.

We stayed with her for a few days. One morning she approached me with a question. "This woman who is visiting us with you ... appears to be your wife ... is she from thse parts?"

I stared at this once perfect machine for a while, overpowered by compassion. Then I asked her softly, "Don't you know how this woman is related to you?"

"How indeed ...?" she faltered.

"She is your daughter, don't you know?"

"Oh yes," she said. "Of course, that's the way it is."

I knew she had no idea at all who this woman was and she knew only vaguely who I might be.

The most powerful of gadgets, God's supreme creation, fails in the end.

Oh God, OJ! What have you done to me?
It is nearly an hour since I read your FB but I still can't read my monitor or my key board as my eyes continue to brim with tears. I have come across quite a few instances of Alzheimer's but the way you have brought it out has made me feel highly emotional. Her question about her daughter, " This woman who is visiting us with you ... appears to be your wife ... is she from thse parts?" is still haunting me. I never knew Alzheimer's could be as cruel as this. And your summing up, "I knew she had no idea at all who this woman was and she knew only vaguely who I might be." made me understand the extreme frailty of all life on earth and elsewhere.

You started off calling her a super gadget that makes your concluding sentence heart-wrenching
Sri

Dear Sri,

Welcome to IL.This seems to be one of yr first few blogs and a really good one at that.

I too was introduced here by Sunkan, and i thank her a lot for it.

Well even i am allergic to all the gizmos of thje present age.I was given a new mobile by my brother and bhabhi this Diwali, and i did not want it, as the old one was workinmg perfectly, and i had to learn the functions of the new one once again, which i find a pain.

For m,e, old is gold.I use a thing till a point whre it stops working and is obselete and cannot be repaired at all,then i go and buy another new one.

When i have stuck with my better half for 30 years, and not changed the model, how do u expect me to change now.Big Laugh

good one, and i suspect OJ must have revived this one from the dusty past, he is a big fan of yours, as i am too.

Regards

kamal

Dear Cheeniya Sir

I also agree with Kamalji that this is a good blog. I think olden days people are the same everywhere. My husband also believes old is gold and does not go for any new gizmos. In our house just like us everything is old and valuable also. A mother always likes to make for her children by herself and give to them and they enjoy being with them and do anything for them. For her , her children are always like a child to them. They never think they have grown old.

Sir I am not able to put my feelings in words. Though I have so much to convey.

with regards
viji

Dear Cheeniya sir,

thanks to Oj da reviving this thread, I got to read this lovely post.
While my grandmother in her seventees lived with us, my mother used to assign her the job of kneading dough for rotis. She was good at that and would take her time doing it while recollecting some past events to share with us. I agree with you that the elderly have to be given some manageable tasks to make them feel wanted. But in the superfast days that we face, we need all these gizmos to minimize preparation time.

I just finished "New Earth" by Eckhart Tolle wherein he reasons why old is considered useless. Because in old age, the emphasis shifts from doing to Being, and our civilization which is lost in doing, knows nothing of Being.Your post reminded me of these lines.

I was moved reading Oj da's post. I loved Kamalji's post too.

Dear Kamal
God bless Sunkan! But for her introducing me to IL, I would be twiddling my thumbs not knowing what to do in the evening of my life! This is a phase of life that can be either very rewarding or weigh us down like a ton of bricks! In the absence of anything worthwhile to do, it is in this phase that a man can become intensely reflective of his past and if that past contains more to feel sorry than happy, he can become a wreck!

Sunkan pointed out a glorious rainbow called IndusLadies precisely at the moment when I was bracing myself for a long and arduous evening. I did not even notice thereafter the darkening sky as I stood transfixed at the glorious stars emerging out one after another. How many stars are there in IL each vying with the other in gladdening my heart!

How right you are when you say that old is gold. I can see that effectively in the way I am being treated by my young friends of IL!
Sri

Dear Viji
In the olden days, there used to be no kitchen gadgets whatsoever. Every one used a sharp blade fixed to a wooden base with a fan-like crown. While the blade was used for cutting and slicing vegetables, the crown took care of shredding of coconuts. The wooden base was kept pressed down under one knee so that the blade would not move while cutting and slicing. It was called 'Aruvamanai' in Tamil. I used to sit watching my mum doing her daily vegetable slicing chore with such amazing speed. She would be looking at us and talking to us while doing this job without slicing her finger!

It is a pity that even the sexagenarian ladies have bidden a good bye to such time honoured methods and are talking of mechanisation of cooking all the time!
Sri