End of day

Thoughts at the end of the day -
Long day, feel stretched, exhausted, spent. Preparing for the next day, rehearsing lines to be spoken at a meeting, looking up things on the internet, messaging colleagues, sharing a laugh, eating, talking a little with the family, thinking, planning the next day's breakfast, lunch, just the thought of waking up early.  Wondering about the ability of the body to push itself, the mind- does it push itself enough? Tired, heavy, sleepy, just want to shut down - thoughts go on and take time to shut down.

Staying alive, living

Drudgery of every day life. Cook and clean and cook again. Clean, put back, and put back again. Sometimes I wish dishes vanished once I ate my food. I have often wondered, how much I would cook if I were to stay all by myself.  May be I would also generate garbage that consists of take away food cartons. I read in the newspaper about this 60 year old woman who was found dead in her house in T Nagar, all alone. In a rather mundane report, with very little details and a hazy picture, there is mention about the fact that her house was filled with plastic bags and containers of food supplied by various hotels. There is a sentence saying that she used to buy her food from outside. Well, would that have a specific mention if the person who died was an old man? What is so surprising that a woman who lives alone chooses to buy food everyday from outside? I would love to have a community kitchen that can be paid for delivering food to all the old people who stay in the neighbourhood.

The indignities a woman has to face even after she is dead, no murdered. Details about her include her qualification, she is a B Com graduate and stayed alone after the death of her parents. There are many  more such old women who are probably staying alone, for various reasons. Are we still surprised that old people stay alone? The premium given to married life is still so high? Are we unable to think of people who are single who lead meaningful and purposeful lives? Is cooking and cleaning evidence that you live a meaningful life or that you are contented and satisfied ?

There are a number of old bunglows in Chennai around T Nagar and Mylapore, which look forlorn and unused, probably because it is so costly to refurbish and renovate an old building.  Walking down Radhakrishnan Salai, near the Yellow Pages building is the house that Dr Radhakrishnan lived. Its a beautiful old bunglow which receives a little attention every once in a while on Teachers Day. It otherwise looks unused, sleepy and probably has very old residents. On the same road, close to the Saravana Bhavan hotel are a couple of old Madras style bunglows, which have now been rented out to private Chartered Accountant firms. They don't look well kept either. It is said that the whole road had many such bunglows that belonged to Mylapore Advocates and Accountants.