My old age dilemma

 Reading and writing has become the most important objective in my life as though limited time is left to complete a voluminous task,  more and more time is spent for this purpose.  I used to sit for hours reading articles from the News paper,  taking notes from my favourite columnists and then re reading  through the old book collections.

My wife used to complain about less time being alloted for a fruitful dialogue.  She used to complain that I used to open my mouth only to grab whatever being served on the plate from time to time.  To this valid accusation a solution has to be found immediately.   We used to see  a passtime of common interest, that is spending an hour with her in solving daily Crossword puzzles from 'the Hindu'. She mastered the brain teaser within a short period as most of the solution to puzzles related to science which she imparted to her students for the past 30 years.  I also found some time to assist her in kitchen for cutting vegetables, of course buying provisions was my priority.  

 She still had lots of spare time and introducing her to the world of books was my next task. But she does not like books in English.  Tamil books  of her choice in the second hand book shops was tried on some occasions, but her choice of books was of  historical leaders, Tamil classics and self help books.

It was then a church mate, an old retired teacher mentioned about a library near Thiruvettiyur where  I have taken membership.  In this branch library we have access to Tamil books.  By  membership can have  any number of books by giving a reading fee of ₹30/ per book as deposit. Have given deposit and opted for four books at a time.  It was then I came across Tamil translation of many world classics and my first choice was Rabindra Nath Tagore's 'kora' a novel of 700 pages.  How can I complete the reading this voluminous book within 15 days?  But the challenge is taken, my baby step in Tamil without formal training in the language but having lived the life with a Tamil Teacher  for 42 years.  

I completed 250 pages in the book and consider this as a training to immerse in the pool and enjoy the summer heat in the winter of my life.  The next book I  come across is of Selma Lagerlof's 'Gesta berling Saga'./ The book was  awarded the first Nobel Prize in literature in 1909 looks like a treat in itself. In the preface of the book in Tamil the translator K N Subrahmanyam has confessed that he had read the original work for more than 50 times to by heart the inner vision the writer wanted to convey to her readers. This book I could complete only 300 pages in the two weeks time allotted to a beginner of this classic language.  I returned the book on time with a resolve to re read the same book from the on line version of printed version later on.  But I am satisfied with the speed in stepping to a language not literally competently trained.

I have a very good collection of English fictions which I have read and would like to re read whenever time permits.  But the reading and writing leaves my wife neglected during the time she is relaxed after completing her domestic chores like cooking cleaning washing and other daily upkeeps.  Allowing my wife to read books she likes is to fill the time from boredom.  I like to converse but now a days I find lack of putting coherent words; and my inability to connect my mind with suitable  words to make the listener attentive is lacking now a days.  Because recollection of incidents, name of a person does not appear from memory and the listener leaves to complete an interrupted mission while I will be still trying to recollect to complete the conversation.  Am I going to be an 'alzheimer' !