Sage Advice

My uncle - Jethu, as Bengalis call their father's elder brother - used to be a constant source of stories and advice. He had a huge stock of both. Many of the stories that I have narrated in this blog are from him.

One day, shortly before his death, when I went to him room - he was staying with my cousin in Jamshedpur - he appeared to be sleeping. I think he 80+ at that time. He spent most of his time sleeping. He had not been well for some time.
I sat next to him and he opened his eyes, looked at me and smiled.
I asked him, "What are you thinking, Jethu?"
He replied, "What can think tell me, baba? We old people do not have any future. We have only past. I am thinking of the past."
I do not think I have heard of anything more depressing in my whole life.

Anyways, coming to more cheerful memories.
His favourite - whenever I was in a dilemma to ask someone about something - was, "Go ahead and ask. He won't kill you, right?"
This was his version of "What is the worst that can happen?"
A very valuable advice, if you ask me.
Remember to be polite though.

Lost Time

It was getting dark. An old man bent low with age was making his way back to his his house. A group of young boys were hanging around the corner. As the old man passed them one of them called out, "Grand uncle, what are you searching? Lost something?" The group hooted in merriment. The hunchback stopped. Turned towards the boys, smiled and said in his gruff voice, "I am looking for the time I wasted in my youth. I must have lost it somewhere around here."