100 Happy Days: Day 86 Back Home

Happiness is heading back home.

I had a wonderful time with my family in Pune, but, like all good things must come to an end, after 3 days of stay, I am now back home.

So what did I do in Pune? Actually nothing much. Just chilled with family during lunches and dinners. Wanted to go around the city to explore the heritage sites of Pune. My nephew offered to take me around but the weather was too warm and I preferred to spent time in coziness.

My cousin has a large luxurious home with great interiors very tastefully done. The bed so soft that you sink into cotton puffs, but still, when I entered my humble home, my happiness knew no bounds.

Happy to be back home.

So here I am, with the project of ‘100 Happy Days’I am posting pictures each day here on my blog then sharing the link on my page on FB too. You can enjoy my work either here or on my page at FB at Pushee’s World

100 Happy Days: Day 49 Senior Citizen Home.

Happiness is spending some time with senior citizens.

While in Lonavala, I visited ‘Senior Citizen Home’ at Varsoli Village off old Mumbai-Poona road managed by Swami Ramanand Shastri Charitable Trust. Stretched over 12500sq meters, surrounded by scenic beauty on all four sides, with birds chirping away, the home for senior citizens at Lonavala is a beautiful place to be.

 Several times I have considered an old age home for myself too, when I reach that ripe old age. I always romanticized on an idea that if you pay the rent of a posh room, be in the company of like-minded-people of same age and have cooking and cleaning out of way, life could be easy.

But I think it is easily said than done. I am not sure I want to be there.

The environment can be created taking into consideration the interests of the group. For example, many senior people are inclined towards religion, so there was a small temple in the campus of the home.

 The rooms were large with two beds per room, an attached bathroom, and a small pantry in the balcony. There was a small cushioned bench outside every room where they could interact with their neighbors. A large park and a walking tract dominated the campus. A community kitchen and a gym situated at the further end of the building were clean and spacious.

 The management has made their uttermost effort to make their stay as comfortable as possible. On the day I visited, most of the seniors had gone out for one-day picnic to a tourist spot. There are regular eye-camps held and they are well looked after. They are even allowed visitors to come and spend few days with them, but still, I didn’t see 100% contentment in their faces. When I spoke to some of the sweet old women at the home, I realized that they miss their family a lot. I got the feeling that it’s the compromise they have made by coming and living away from their family.

 When senior citizens are in the midst of their family, they get involved in all the activities; they have an opinion in family decisions and are surrounded by their grandchildren and relatives.

Indians are used to community living and they like to stay in familiar setting. Young children want to take care of their parents, but sometimes it becomes difficult because of other pressing priorities. Moreover, there is stigma attached to the home, that makes it difficult for young people to sent their parents to 'Senior Citizen Home'. Parents also feel unwanted and rejected if they are sent away from the family.

Nevertheless if senior people need a secure home, a place where they don’t have to worry about cooking meals, a place where there are professional doctors and counselors to look after their needs, a place where they don’t have to worry about anti-social elements that is prevalent in the society, a home for senior citizen is a perfect choice.

So here I am, with the project of ‘100 Happy Days’I am posting pictures each day here on my blog then sharing the link on my page on FB too. You can enjoy my work either here or on my page at FB at Pushee’s World

My Most beautiful Thing – Home Sweet Home

It has been a tiring day. Mumbai heat can be kill you sometimes.

If I could help it, I would rather stay at home but sometimes it becomes important to go out to complete some chores. But the most beautiful thing is coming back home.

My happiness begins the minute I enter the gates of my building.  My building is surrounded by flowering trees and plants on all sides There are three plastic chairs just few steps away from the gate. I normally sit by the gate before climbing upstairs to my house. I live on the second floor and have no lift in my building; therefore it becomes important for me to rest for sometime before climbing up the stairs.

But while I am sitting there, the two vacant seats next to me always get filled up by somebody who sees me sitting alone. My neighbors are like my one large family, always have warmth in them and willing to keep me company. Time passes quickly as we share notes on daily events and sometimes laugh on regular jokes. Sometimes I share with them the forwards that friends keep posting on my mobile. On the evenings when the hawkers comes selling Bhel Puri and Pani Puri, we sit there munching on those delicacies, not minding our weight problems as we share and overeat. Sometimes we sit at the back side of the building where there is an open compound. All the children from other buildings assemble here and play all sort of outdoor games.  This is the compound where I have spend my growing up years, we have broken glass window with Frisbees, played hide-n-seek and many creative games. This is the compound where I have cemented the friendship with my neighbors. Now we watch and enjoy the kids who regularly come every evening and play different games.

Having rested for more time than I had planned, I get ready to climb up two floors to my house. I pass through an enclosed courtyard separating the wingA from wingB before reaching the stairs. This courtyard is surrounded by kitchens from all the apartments. Thus we have 24 kitchens facing the courtyard.  The aroma from every kitchen envelops you as you pass through this courtyard, during lunch time and dinner time, it is impossible to walk on an empty stomach, the hunger pangs increase tenfold.

I walk slowly up the stairs, holding on to steel rod for support. The minute I turn the key and enter the house, positive vibrations in my house hug me, welcoming me back home, there is a peculiar fragrance in my house which makes me comfortable at once.

It’s my house, and I love it. I am comfortable in every space of my house. By the couch in the living room where I stretch my feet while watching TV, at my computer chair in my bedroom where I meet my online virtual community, in my balcony, where I sit and sip my evening cup of tea while watching the sun set and enjoying the cool breeze and also in my kitchen, where I am most at ease, cooking up various dishes when family and friends come visiting. Every wall in my house is adorned with my art work that I have created in my spare time.

Home sweet home- the most beautiful thing in my life, where I have lived for many years, which I missed even when I lived abroad like a stranger, migrating from one country to another, from Surinam, to Spain, but never finding happiness like I did back here in Mumbai. All along, I wanted to come back home, to my own house- to my very own home. I have never known happiness like I do here, right now.

But soon…my house will be demolished. The builders have come knocking on our doors with their redevelopment plans to destroy my 50 years old building and make a new one instead. They tell me that my building is old and beyond repairs. the walls are chipping, there is leakage problem in every house, it needs a new outlook, They have offered me a bigger house, with modular kitchen, aesthetically designed structure.  They even offer me money for the inconveniences it will cause while the redevelopment takes place.

Should I be happy? I am not sure.

Agreed, I will have a shiny house with granite floor in all rooms, a lift to spare me the agony of climbing up the stairs, a big lobby at the entrance of my building, a better security, more new members, a bigger community, a larger family.

But, will there be the same warmth that I have developed over the years with my neighborhood? Will there be Bhel Puri hawker outside my gate? Will there be three plastic chairs near the gate? Will I get the aroma of different food when I enter my building? Will the beauty of my building remain intact?

Perhaps I might live in a plastic world…I am not sure..perhaps that beauty might get lost forever……

This is a Blogsplash. Today, Tuesday April 24th, bloggers around the world are blogging about their ‘most beautiful thing’, to celebrate the birth of Fiona Robyn’s new novel, The Most Beautiful Thing.  On Tuesday 24th and Wednesday 25th April, you can download a copy free to your kindle, pc or phone, or win a free paperback. Click on the link for instructions.