Retired life can be
a bane. If all you do is sit and read newspapers and watch news on TV and
restrict physical activity to merely going to church on Sundays, local market
once every alternate week and few social functions.
This was my Dad’
life till some months ago.
My super slim Dad had
put on weight, his sugar readings were giving us panic attacks and he had
become very lethargic.
Till he discovered
the ‘farmer’ in him.
We bought grow-bags
and seeds for different vegetables – eggplant / brinjal, lady’ finger / okra, beans,
bitter gourd, pumpkins, tomatoes, chillies. 
We already had banana, mango, jackfruit,
guava, custard apple growing around the house (just like typical houses in
Kerala) which we added other fruits like pineapple, lemons.
The spices like pepper,
nutmeg has to be picked, cleaned and dried and the flowers had to trimmed and
grafted.
But the results are
for all to see. He is back to being slim & elegant, his blood sugar is
normal and he is so energetic and fit and positively glowing with health.
Even if our retired
parents are living in flats and they have ‘farming’ in them, I feel we must
encourage them to cultivate and nurture. Pets can also be very engaging but any
other hobby would also do; anything that can stop them from getting more
addicted to that ‘idiot-box’ or developing the usual old-age diseases –
diabetes, high cholesterol, BP. It is possible.
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