Prisoners of Children

By Kali Hawa

It was early morning; the Sun had just come up shining over the Semal Tree. I was strolling near the Semal tree, soaking in the earthy aroma of pleasant morning when a thought occurred to me. This Semal tree fascinates me, why not sit under it and mediate. May be Buddha like awakening awaits me, so, on instinct, I sat down on the ‘Chabutra’ in ‘padmason’ pose, closed my eyes.  

Several thoughts passed through my mind. What derives the world; is it self-interest, our ego, peer pressure, emotional pressure etc. Then a strange notion occurred to me, as elder citizens we are prisoners of our children. Early in life we made our parents responsible for us, rear us and provide best they could afford to make a success of our lives. May be there was an underlying idea that in their later lives we could become anchor for them which is largely true ( barring a few exceptions which are trumpeted vociferously and wrongly to make us insecure) but mostly it was the done thing, it was the way of life. Most of us are conformists; we like to go through the motion unless there is imminent reason to do otherwise.  As senior citizens we have a limited life remaining and all those who are adequately provided for must make the best of it and yet we are governed by our children. We are not much use to them and yet they have this strange notion that we are required and be preserved. All I can see is that the only inputs we provide are about the traditional rituals such as marriages, funerals etc. all other advices are promptly rejected and rightly so.

I say do your thing, there is little wine left in the bottle you can either save it, later to be thrown away or drink it.