In his latest book, "Another Day in Landour: Looking Out from my Window", released on Saturday (19 April 2025), The ace raconteur, Ruskin Bond asserts that after turning 70, one should let go of any sense of entitlement.
"Every time I complete a year of my life. I feel as though it's been a victory. This has been the case ever since I got into the seventies. Before that I didn't pay as much attention to the passing of the years; they were something to which I feel entitled. But after seventy you are not entitled to anything," Bond writes in the book.
Bond reflects in the book that women manage old age better than men.
"My grandmother (Dehra granny) lived on her own for a number of years after my grandfather died...It's the single men, or widowers, who are often quite helpless when the knees begin to give way and the eyesight dims. We weren't really built to live too long, But life is precious, wonderful at times, and we cling to it like limpets."
In the end the celebrated writer shares that "after 80, every day is a bonus" and advises his readers to savour the moment and make it count.
"Read a little, write a little. Listen to music. Take a short walk. And if walking is difficult, go for a drive. If you can't do that, open the window and look at the birds, the trees, the cats, the dogs, the mules, the monkeys...look at the people, no two of them the same." he concludes.
.Respects to Mr Ruskin Bond and thanks to Mr Vijay Mishra and Facebook
