How to keep yourself busy: Read up anything you can lay your hands on

How to keep yourself busy: Read up anything you can lay your hands on

Are you the one who will read any scrap of paper lying around? I know some who do. This includes my father-in-law. He felt so lonely that to while away time, besides peering through every page of three newspapers we used to subscribe, he would pick up any scrap of paper and start reading. Newspaper inserts, handbills, invitations etc don't miss his eyes.

Many years ago, grocery shops in neighborhood used to sell things wrapped in old newspaper. It was a skillful job those days to transfer dal, rice, sugar, rava and the like to a piece of rectangular scrap paper and fold it such that nothing further, like stapling, tying with thread / twine / suthli etc is needed. The folding itself would be sufficient to provide stability to keep stuff stay put in the packet.   Some vendors used to make a paper one of sorts, fold a tiny bit at the bottom of the cone, put grocery item into it and seal it at the top without glue – just the fold would hold it fine. In the case of cone packings jute thread may be used. In my school days, paper scrap recovered from such grocery packets would be used for other purposes and re-cycled. I don't know if some of you remember we used such scraps of paper for swiping shit off a toddler's butt.

Chennai publishes a Tamil weekly called Kumudham. In my college days Kumudham used to publish a column called 'pottalam'. The author of this column depended on newspaper scrap scavenged from grocery stores deliveries for his content-inspirations. He will refer to something he chanced to read and comment on it. I liked his innovative sourcing of subjects to write about and the outcome as well.

By now you would have realized what I am coming to. I am advising senior citizens not to while away whining all the time about being lonely. Read up any scrap you can grab. There could be a treasure of your lifetime, if you are lucky. You will at least discover that many you never knew have died, if what you are looking at is obituary part.

Dr P Vyasamoorthy
30 Gruhalakshmi Colony, Secunderabad 500015 Telangana
LL 040-27846631 / Mobile: 9490804278

His capacity to understand simple things is so abysmally low that I am  exasperated and exhausted every time I write to him

Loneliness among Senior citizens

You would feel lonely when

you have no one to talk to

on a soul to soul basis.

You would feel lonely when

you are sick and no one comes to see you

and say "How are you, Are you getting better?'

You would feel lonely when

your spouse is dead and gone

perhaps making you feel guilty

that you ought to have known her / him better

You would feel lonely when

you have nothing specific to do

Or are not in a mood to do anything worthwhile

despite having enormous things to do.

You would feel lonely when

someone you have known intimately for years

a friend, spouse, neighbor, guru or relative

is no more nor near to share your thoughts & fears

All these types of loneliness described

are external to you:

you are dependent for the cure

on others I am terribly sure.

You will not feel lonely if and only if

you turn inward and know:

I am whole, pure, full and never void

You will will not feel lonely if and only if

you realize that everything is as it should be

and there is nothing at all for you to do

You will not feel lonely if and only if

you surrender to HIM and ask:

Lonely? Me? Who is that 'me'?

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How can you help lonely senior citizens?

How can we help lonely Senior Citizens?

Have you seen senior citizens lonely and forlorn in parks? Their vacant staring into nothing in particular betrays a number of sad stories. May be they are thinking of their hazy past or insipid future, mulling over the ever gnawing problem – how to keep oneself occupied and getting rid of perpetual boredom haunting them all the time. Instead of just pitying them, can we do something to alleviate their loneliness? Top three tips that come off the cuff are given below:

If the senior citizens you know of are computer savvy having a PC and Internet connection at home, you may enthuse them to become members of some discussion group or the other. There are some Internet spaces where senior citizens can meet and discuss their problems virtually, just remaining in their own houses. They can share a joke, tell a story, read news, get advice on personal issues, find a safe bank scheme to invest money – the list of things they may discuss is endless. One such group on Yahoo is called ‘sss-global’ and to enroll as member (free of course) you may suggest they may contact the author.

Do they prefer to have company of an escort? Such an escort may keep company and take them out for shopping, cinema, restaurant, theater, concert or some exhibition. Membership in clubs organized by Harmony Foundation or the Dignity Foundation in Mumbai or the Heritage seniors Club in Hyderabad are good examples offering such services. This may involve annual subscription and payment of ad-hoc fees.

Senior citizens want to talk. But they get no one to listen to them. This is utterly pathetic. How about entertaining them over phone and offer to listen to them patiently? I am talking of passive listening. No advice or counseling. Just simply listen to what the old man has to say. Say for about an hour on the phone. He may simply want to say how he likes the Cricket match or how his DIL quarreled. Lend him your ears, patience, understanding and some time. You will make him happy and he may sleep peacefully. Society for Serving Seniors, a Hyderabad based NGO has a list of volunteer listeners who listen to seniors for free.

Do you have any suggestions of your own to fight loneliness of oldies? Let me hear from you.

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