Time

A couple days ago my parents came to live with us. They have now hopefully permanently shifted their base to our house. We all felt that this was for the best since Dad will be on regular dialysis now and he would be a lot more comfortable staying with us than on their own.

But the woes of living in Mumbai include having a finite space to live in. We do have a comfortable 3 bedroom flat but as always all the cupboard space was fully occupied. So to make place for my parents, a lot of our stuff had to be junked.

The most voluminous things to go were the soft toys of the children along with a lot of their board games and other ancillary kiddie stuff. It did make a lot of space available and anyway the kids had outgrown using these so it made sense to donate all of this.

But this whole interaction made me think about the unavoidable passage of time. Parents getting old and needing care thus moving in. And to make space for that, the moving out of some childhood - never to return. I guess this is the inevitabiliy of age catching up at all the levels.

But at the same time, came the realisation that in a strange way time is really more circular than linear. Though the kids are growing up and getting independent, the parents are growing old and getting dependent. Guess it still is about looking after the ones you love, whatever their age. That will always stay constant, however much time passes through.

-- Post From My iPhone