Do you feel amused by the title? It’s funny you will say, no? All my life I was very conscious to keep fit without any bulge or love handles. It’s after the demise of my wife in 2015 I became self-quarantined. I remained confined in a room with my laptop throughout the day minus the time taken for washing, eating and sleeping. I never peeped out of my room. The day the maid or food giver doesn’t come I don’t see any human face. I remained busy in writing blogs on different topics or researching for relevant information I needed. It continued for over three years at a stretch. I never felt lonely.

But sadly I was unaware of its harmful effect on my physical activity. I lost the power of walking. Going out on some urgent piece of work became very difficult. Still I used to manage somehow.

In January 2020 I had a severe fall due to slipping on the marble floor while coming out of the bathroom with wet feet. That inflicted a fracture on my right wrist. My right hand became useless. Hardly had I recovered from the damage, I had a second fall by repeating the same mistake in April 2020. This time it was the left wrist, which got twisted   very badly. It’s more than a year now; I’m yet to get fully well from the injury.

Stealthy deterioration continued unabated, still I didn’t care about it. One day suddenly I discovered, I cannot stand up without aid from a chair or bed anymore, not to talk of walking at all. I was dismayed; worried what to do now. People called it age effect. I was ambivalent about swallowing the inevitable truth. I took it as a challenge. My ambition is humble: to be able to get up independently, and walk from one room to another without any aid.

People called me crazy. I too was skeptical to believe it can be done at this age. But what is the harm if I try it? It’s after all fun, I don’t lose anything. I bought a wheelchair and a walker with front wheels. It was not easy to walk with the walker too. Undaunted, I started practicing getting up on two feet from the wheelchair and walking a few steps with the walker. You will be glad to learn that it’s progressing at an amazing speed of a snail. Yet it’s improving without any doubt. I can now stand up without any help and walk freely with the walker. I’m hopeful my ambition will be fulfilled sooner or later.

Don’t you think I’m a funny guy? I take it as pure fun, unmindful about looming death at any instant.