'You are walking faster than me'

After coming to the UK, one thing that changed one of my fundamental beliefs which I have inherited from my Indian roots is 'life after 60'. In India when our parents are nearing 60, there is always a constant thought that lingers in their mind, 'What now?' So most of our fathers look forward to starting a second innings in their careers and our mothers continue spending their time in kitchen. This phase continues for some time and then once they are truly retired, they have officially reached an 'old age' or  they become 'senior citizen' in every way. Every sentence almost starts with, 'But what is the use of doing this now?' or 'I don't think this is possible anymore' or 'now is the time for you all to enjoy' and many more such stereotyped sentences.

In the UK, I have found people who enjoy their life the most are the ones who have crossed their 60's. During summer time I found them playing outdoor games, biking across the country-side, riding their boats and going for long summer tours, eating, drinking, gardening and in short 'being merry'. Not only do they enjoy their life, they also make some contributions to the society by getting involved with NGOs, helping the community, keeping the city clean etc. I think because of their relatively pollution free environment, healthy eating habits as well as the necessity to do everything with their own hands people in general are extremely fit and energetic even when they reach their 60s. I am sure genetic build also is a reason that we cannot ignore. There have been many instances when someone almost double my age has put me to shame here. I thought of sharing one such amazing experience I had.

It was a wonderful summer evening and and the sun was shining brightly at 7 pm so we decided to go for a long evening walk across the Chester railway station towards the Northgate side. There are some wonderful cycling-walking-jogging trails in Chester which are scenic and away from the residential areas. These are called the 'brown-route', 'pink-route', 'scarlet-route' and more. One such trail is the 'green-route' which is a '3 mile' walk amidst great greenery. You will find beautiful trees fencing the narrow trail on both sides and around half-way through the walk there are some huge green meadows. While coming back from the walk we found an old lady wearing an old-fashioned skirt and blouse walking around 300 metres ahead of us. She had a bag in one hand and a plastic packet in another hand and looked to be returning home.

My husband mentioned in a playful tone, 'See the old lady, she might be double our age, so let us try and overtake her quickly'.  I smiled thinking that he is chiding me about my fitness and started walking faster. Surprisingly after going for a minute or two I realised that distance between us is increasing though she is walking at the same pace. I increased my pace and yet could not reduce the distance between us and both of us were a little surprised. The old lady, oblivious to the challenge she has created behind her, continued walking. I decided that my small legs are the main factor for this and decided to jog. After jogging for 2 minutes and then running, I finally stopped just behind her, panting and pretended to just walk past her with my husband next to me. The old lady looked at us as we greeted her while crossing and smiled, then she said in a surprised tone, 'You are walking faster than me'. We then realised that being overtaken in her walk was indeed very uncommon for this septuagenarian.

As we headed for our home we discussed that she was perhaps a professional sportsperson in her youth, maybe, an athlete, a competitor at the national or even international level, so that, 50 years after her prime, she had forced someone almost half her age to break into sweat while trying to catch up with her. We were surprised, but perhaps not as much as she was.