AN INSPIRING & COURAGEOUS WOMEN TAUGHT ME A LESSON FOR A LIFE TIME

 "As I'm cheerful always, no body believes that I too have many age related complications and I'm  a super senior too" says sumukhi aunty, an 82 year old lady , my new neighbour.

I was stunned to hear these words because I never thought that she would  be of that age. The way she carries herself and the work she does on  a daily basis doesn't give you a hint of her age.. She simply recollects many of her experiences and fond memories and shares with her neighbours.  She herself credits her as talkative and she has a special  bonding with everyone.. I'm one of her neighbours.  She and her  90 year old husband  reside in an apartment next to us. One of her son lives in the near by south Indian state and the other one in United states.

In this two months of acquaintance  I noticed that she never complains  and make sure not to talk bad of others. In our friendly conversations she shared about her interests in cooking, gardening, painting and stitching.  She showed me the photograph of  the snake gourd grown in her terrace garden. Many flower pots decorate her balcony and specifically SHANKAPUSHPAM, which she plucks everyday and ties it into a garland and offered to Lord Ganesh in her Puja room. This flower comes in two variants blue &white. Many crotons too add beauty to her home as well as to her terrace. She spends her evenings there.

Her day starts by 5.30am and she rests by 10,30pm. She points out that she never sleeps in the afternoon. One way or the other she keeps herself engaged. She is well equipped with Tanjore paintings, she showed me her Tanjore painting of Goddess Saraswathi. I stood spell bound. On a leisurely afternoons she repaints her old dolls made of clay.

Coming to kitchen, she showed me variety of stainless steel vessels in different shapes &sizes. What  a collection it was ! She is specific to use them in rounds and allotted  a vessel for  a particular dish. She provides breakfast and lunch to her maid. It is not mandatory but its good to serve food for the needy know! She exclaims with happiness. She is good at preparing various cuisines and offers to friends & neighbours and laughs happily speaking of their comments.

She has got  a maid to  sweep, clean &mop the house, to wash clothes and with pride she said "I had  a washing machine that worked for 30 years.  If we handle & maintain properly, everything works well" 

  These days I'm very much impressed and inspired a lot from her and that made me to dedicated a blogpost for her and at the same time I thought to share about a living example of courageous and self confident women with my fellow bloggers.

You may think what is there about courage here? Living independently in a city at this age itself demands a lot of courage. Moreover on the day of Deepavali her husband fell down after doing Puja. It happened due to a skid which made him to lay flat on the floor and his head under the dinning table chair. At first the sound of his fall was not heard by her. His shout made her to run towards him and unable to lift him, she dragged his leg till his head is out of the chair. Then she went down to call the security and he made him to sit in the chair. Then she checked for any injuries, cut and bleed. He had some pain and he was  lucky enough to escape without any injury.

After finishing all the routine works she dressed herself in the Deepavali outfit and started to distribute sweets to her friends & neighbours. She visited us by the afternoon with  a sweet box for deepavali and she shared about this incident for her delayed visit to our house. I was really shocked to hear all this. Then I immediately questioned her that why you didn't called any of us?

She replied that it was a festive day and I don't want to disturb you in between your celebrations. In continuation to this she thanked God and told to take it positively that her husband is fine and God gave her the strength &energy to handle the situation. "Faith is all that matters" she concludes.

 She insists that we should be thankful for all that we have and spread joy and happiness as far as possible.  An accident has happened no doubt, but its over and got out of it successfully. Then enjoy the rest of the day rather being worried about the accident through out the day. Then you will lose a day in your life without utilize the given opportunity to be happy.