When does Life begin????....or end????

This week I say
"Hats off" ......
To one of my oldest friends...
Oldest..both in terms of age and acquaintance...
As she steps off a Cruise down the Nile..
And looks the Spinz in the eye..
A sprightly 70 plus..

Still looking for adventure..
For that Road to Machu Picchu.....
In geographical space..
And in her mind...

Two years ago, she did Angkor Wat..
Climbed up those forbiddingly steep steps..
While the rest of her Gang of Four gals..
Trailed behind...

She inspires me...and makes me wonder???
When does life begin? or end?...

Sweatshop comments and conversation would have me believe that it has ended already ....for me..
At least...two decades ago!!!!
Funny!!!...... considering that several of my co-workers are trailing..... close on my heels.....
But then ....

As I get on in life..I find that age matters most to the young...
And the muddled...and the insecure...
They gloat and exult in it...
Comparison with those older makes them feel good....
I guess..

But age has never really mattered to my friend...and
My mother's best friend...then and now...

I met her first...when she was in her mid 20's...to my 8 or 9...
Playing a now defunct game called L-O-N-D-O-N
With her landlady's children!!!!
The first time I had ever seen an adult play with children!!! And enjoy it as well!!!
I see the same interest..when she bonds with Ash...my 12 year old niece...and checks out Ash's nail polish collection!!!!

She and my mother took us for long walks in the evening...
Down to the sea...in Waltair....

So many memories..
Scrambling over the sticky sandy beach..
Chasing the waves...
Jumping up high.....when the breakers turned and rushed back at us........
The sea....so dangerous...and alluring...
And then hailing a bus at dusk..in a township which had no bus stops..just unscheduled stops at the door step of its passengers...

Each of our outings were tinged with adventure....
New thoughts...new experiences...new feelings...
It felt as it we were on to something every time we set out with her...
A Julie Andrews-Mary Poppins type of quest..

Who knows what the next bend in the road will bring???...
A goblin?? No ..only a lone cyclist bent over as he cycles up the incline...but maybe next time...

She was studying to become a librarian...
And wrote middles and stories in women's magazines...
It was her description of the sea from our house that first drew my attention to Nature..made me notice the world ...out there...

We lived then in a house...
Atop a little hillock..
Overlooking the sea...
Redlands...it was called...

All that land around and under it had once been under the sea..
And when it receded.. the sea left its mark..in the peaks and crevices...in the undulations...the contours.... scooped out of the red sand...

At night, the jackals howled...in the dunes ...nearby..
And later still we heard the half chuckle of a family of hyenas that gazed at our lawn...from the other side of the fence..
Saw their beady eyes glisten in the dark.... feeling safe behind our glass doors!!!

The article she had written described the scenery we saw every day..
From the huge bay windows in each bedroom...
Yes......the sea....so many shades of blue...
As the waves kept coming...
Crashing over the bottoms of the two capsized ships on the Naval Base side of the Bay..
And washing up on the boulders at the base of Dolphin's Nose..then a huge uninhabited rocky hillock jutting out into the sea...now the site of luxury resorts!!!!

Such a beautiful place...and she first made me notice it...and then it became a habit..

She never married...there were family tragedies...her career as a librarian at a leading University kept her going...
She went riding every day..played tennis..and kept tabs on her Mother in Coorg..just a few hours away...

Over the years, she kept visiting my parents..
In times of joy...and in times of pain..
We holidayed together...as a family...
We did Jammu and Kashmir..
And then Nepal...Gauhati and Shillong...
Delhi..
Rajasthan...

And now..
She is family..
Not bound to us by bonds of blood..
The bonds we have forged are deeper still..

Perhaps Winner sensed that when he bowed to touch her feet and take her blessings ....the last time she was here..
It made me feel happy and proud...

Our lives are so moulded by those around us...
And..
We need to be inspired...to just get a move on......

She inspires me..
To believe that life never really ends...no matter the number of years that slip by...
For those touched by the Spirit of Adventure....
The best is always yet to be....
Only when Interest in the world around us dies...does one really die..

So do take a leaf out of my friend's book...
And believe that Life will keep surprising you...sometimes when you least expect it to..
Here's to Life and Living!!!
And three Cheers to my friend!!!!..

Even the longest life will seem short...in the end!!!
So let's just plunge in and live life to the fullest...
Whaddya say?????