when we would be 80 year olds
last evening, niki and i gave a ride to an old couple who we met at a wedding. they're really far relatives of niki that she herself doesn't know. that's besides the point. they were so thankful to us that we were giving them a ride till their home since we were going in that area anyways. it felt good that we would get blessings of an old couple for being helpful to them.
throughout the drive, we spoke a little bit to the couple. we had a preliminary round of introductions amongst ourselves. you know how it is in the indian culture, especially with older people. they would love to know who your parents and grand parents are, which village in gujrat do you hail from, etc. that conversation is very predominant and common till one generation above us. we would never find ourselves talking to relatives or friends of like age about where their ancestors hail from.
the old lady kept re-iterating the point that relationships used to matter so much in their times and that now the value of relationships is completely deteriorating. she had a valid point, i thought. she went on to tell niki how niki's dad used to call her 'auntie' and that they used to frequent their grand parents quite often. later niki told me that the old lady had told the same thing to her twice before while they were waiting for me to pull the car and pick them up.
they also spoke about how they do not go for any social functions at this age. they just went for this one since it was a very close relation for them and it would not be good for them not to fulfil this social obligation.
i looked through my rareview mirror that the old lady slept through the rest of our journey while the old man looked out of the window all the while, probably thinking to himself how much things have changed around him in the city lately.
later in the night when niki and i were discussing the little conversation we had with the old couple, we both had that look on our faces that we would not be talking about such stuff to our friends or people of our age. quickly i asked her the question, "do you ever imagine what kind of things you and i would be talking about when we would be 80 year olds?"
throughout the drive, we spoke a little bit to the couple. we had a preliminary round of introductions amongst ourselves. you know how it is in the indian culture, especially with older people. they would love to know who your parents and grand parents are, which village in gujrat do you hail from, etc. that conversation is very predominant and common till one generation above us. we would never find ourselves talking to relatives or friends of like age about where their ancestors hail from.
the old lady kept re-iterating the point that relationships used to matter so much in their times and that now the value of relationships is completely deteriorating. she had a valid point, i thought. she went on to tell niki how niki's dad used to call her 'auntie' and that they used to frequent their grand parents quite often. later niki told me that the old lady had told the same thing to her twice before while they were waiting for me to pull the car and pick them up.
they also spoke about how they do not go for any social functions at this age. they just went for this one since it was a very close relation for them and it would not be good for them not to fulfil this social obligation.
i looked through my rareview mirror that the old lady slept through the rest of our journey while the old man looked out of the window all the while, probably thinking to himself how much things have changed around him in the city lately.
later in the night when niki and i were discussing the little conversation we had with the old couple, we both had that look on our faces that we would not be talking about such stuff to our friends or people of our age. quickly i asked her the question, "do you ever imagine what kind of things you and i would be talking about when we would be 80 year olds?"
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