Monday, December 28, 2015

50 Knowing when you’re ahead!

I frequently have been spouting the homily that if you’ve got two legs, two arms, and two eyes, you’re already well off and should have nothing to complain about, but should go ahead and enjoy using them. Well, I can confirm that this is no platitude, but one of the most profound verities of life. I can say this, because I’ve got a broken leg and can tell you it’s no fun to be hobbled!

 So if you feel hassled because you’ve got to go and do the shopping, I say, by God enjoy it! There’s nothing like the charm of wandering the aisles of a store, among all those comforting aromas of detergents and soaps and spices and bakery products and so on… why would you not enjoy it! Similarly, what a great thing to be able to go into the kitchen and fix a meal or a drink, whenever you feel like it! What a blessing to be up and about walking in the morning sun, or running up the stairs to your private library, or whatever! Or driving your kid to some place or picking up a friend from a bus station or airport! Or fixing your pet dog or cat its evening meal or rolling a ball for it!

On the other hand, there is not much use fretting when you are laid low by some such thing, and it may be better to do the best with what is left. I read a very nice article the other day about the books one has not yet read, and the realisation that perhaps you’ve got more books than you’re going to be able to read in the time left (and some of the great books of the world are actually so dreary that it’s probably a waste of time reading them in all their long-drawn out original). The author jokes that some books, like Proust’s Remembrance of Times Past, can be thought of only when one is really ill, or has broken a leg and is laid up! So I am using this time to read up on certain academic topics that  one wouldn’t normally think of.


We’ve all read the adage that no one ever regrets not having spent  more time at work, meaning that when you reach the end, you generally wish you had been closer and kinder with your family. So how does one feel when one’s mobility is compromised, perhaps in the long term (or what’s left of it)? Well, I don’t think I have too many regrets, except perhaps that I wish I had been attentive enough to document all my trips and visits to the field with photographs. Apart from this I could have a sense of regret that my pursuit of interests like music and academic writing couldn’t be pursued seriously. However, what I realize is that most people are unable to do more than one thing properly at a time: in my case, my job and career has more or less taken the centre, and I guess that’s nothing to complain about.

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