I feel sad and uneasy when I catch sight of my old walking stick in a corner in my bedroom. It wears a mournful look. It was my constant companion until four months ago when my daughter brought me a sophisticated three-wheeler walker with brakes, a thing of beauty, which I couldn’t resist.
That stick was also a gift from my daughter seven years earlier when I, at 86, had become quite wobbly in the U.K. She had demonstrated to me its virtues: its height was adjustable; it was collapsible; and it would come in handy on flights for, unlike regular sticks, it could be stowed away under the seat.
That stick had served me well, particularly after I had found a new use for it on my visit to India. During my month-long stay in my Thrissur apartment, an elderly couple from Mumbai chanced to visit me with their three-year-old granddaughter, Malati. The child was cross with her grandparents and sat all bunched up in a chair some 10 feet from me, sulking.
I noticed her eyeing my stick. I casually picked it up and pretended to examine it closely while at the same time carrying on a conversation with her grandfather.
I held the stick in my hands at its lowest joint and, feigning to use great force, “broke” it and folded the loose part to the parent body with great care. I saw from the corner of my eye that Malati’s jaw had dropped. Another break, and Malati was at my side. Without paying any attention to her I held up the four-part stick by its handle and let go of my grip on the loosened parts. The parts clicked into place and the stick resumed its normal state.
“Can I try?” Malati piped up.
‘By all means, go ahead!’
The stick had magically broken the ice.
That was nearly four years ago. I was back in India again a year later for medical treatment. I had thus had many more occasions to repeat my performance with the stick, which never failed me. Then came COVID-19 and a near total ban on visitors. And I was stuck in Thrissur.
The stick keeps moping in its corner. I keep hoping for the day COVID will be a thing of the past, and my stick and I can resume breaking the ice with visiting kids.
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