The Hindu Business Line : What's new is talk about the old

SUDERSHAN has asked for `new faces,' and that's making news. However, as a sign of age, he's been making an about-face on what he said -- which again is spicy stuff for the media. Now everybody is looking at each other's face, as if asking `what's new,' and asking questions about `what's old,' though answers are anything but new.

How old is old enough?

"You know you're getting old when you stoop to tie your shoelaces and wonder what else you could do while you're down there," is useful guidance from George Burns. But he also said, "Retirement at 65 is ridiculous. When I was 65, I still had pimples." Patrick Moore has a different idea: "At my age I do what Mark Twain did. I get my daily paper, look at the obituaries page and if I'm not there, I carry on as usual." Ministers in some states do something similar — check the day's paper to see if they haven't been axed and then go to work. Old politicians prefer asking, "Mirror, mirror ... "

Are we playing politics with age?

That's what Sud suddenly feels. What he said about `younger leadership' was a `generalised observation,' he says, after somebody told him his age. People, both young and old, began tearing his comments `out of context'; so Sud called up Addy and said, "Don't go, as long as you're fit as a fiddle." Then, Vajju sent him an SMS, `U2RSS?' so Sud rolled out a different statement with folded hands, "Old means not what I told."

Getting a new face isn't that tough, is it?

I agree; you need only an hour at the beauty parlour. For instance, Rita Rudner said, "I plan to have face-lifts until my ears meet," rather than `age gracefully.' However, what's more important than dyes and wigs is "to keep the heart unwrinkled, to be hopeful, kindly, cheerful, reverent" because that is "to triumph over old age," as Amos Bronson Alcott said. Successful succession planning involves identifying capable ones from within.

How to know if I'm old?

Andre Agassi said, "I feel old when I see mousse in my opponent's hair." But Muhammad Ali has a different view: "Age is whatever you think it is. You are as old as you think you are." Oliver Wendell Holmes believes old age is 15 years older than he is, but Victor Hugo plugs in numbers to help, "Forty is the old age of youth, fifty is the youth of old age." Francis Bacon has practical clues: "Wives are young men's mistresses, companions for middle age, and old men's nurses." It's not that the old don't know they're old; they refuse to accept the fact, that's all.

Why don't they simply go away!

It seems you're too angry and impatient. Let's face facts. Longevity has gone up because of better lifestyles and improved medical facilities, so we aren't dying as fast as earlier. To add to the problems of the youth, the old are able to walk and talk, see and sign, apart from many other things. They aren't going away, perhaps because they're afraid not only of how the young will manage affairs, but also of how to kill time after retirement. As a saying goes, you can't teach an old dog new tricks.

What can we tell Addy and other stubborn oldies?

Send them this quote of Confucius, since they're all so confused: "Old age, believe me, is a good and pleasant thing. It is true you are gently shouldered off the stage, but then you are given such a comfortable front stall as spectator." But Sud may be upset that Confucius is quoted `out of context.'

SayCheek@TheHindu.co.in

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