To remain fit and fine once you are over 60 is a big challenge. An interesting book tells us that the best recipe is to continue to remain curious and communicative.
Irma Kurtz, 73, once a “proper journalist” who reported from Vietnam and interviewed celebrities long before they were called that, has written a book Growing Old Disgracefully. She was born in New Jersey, grew up in New York, moved to Paris and finally came to London.
In 1970, she joined Cosmopolitan magazine as its first Agony Aunt.
Here are sample Irma Kurtz’s quotes:
We – the new old – have witnessed more triumphs, defeats, advancements and disappointments, have seen more changes in manners and territories than any generation before us and our varied experience is thanks to the evolution of the media.
I can remember sitting with my parents agog before that new invention, a black-and-white TV set. Thanks to a gigantic enlarging glass my father set up before the mini-screen, the entire family could watch at the same time.
I remember several decades later watching scenes from the war in Vietnam played out practically as they happened, in full colour in my living-room. That is how small the world was becoming as I grew older in it.
Today’s youth who dread boredom and use technology for entertainment have no time for history. They will never know what they have missed and are missing or how much they will miss too when they grow old.
As sensation junkies, children turn away and dismiss as “past it” the history and observations of anyone over 50. If only they paid heed, even just out of old-fashioned respect, they would find that many old folks know a few things that could save their uncured bacon.
You may not think it to look at me but I’m actually an old pioneer, one who has planted the flag in a land discovered only yesterday, a territory still not thoroughly explored: the land of the new old.
If you are one of those who think the word “old” sounds insulting or politically incorrect, feel free to call it the new land of the elderly but I am 73 and in my book that is old.
“Old” is not a dirty word. Old age is not an illness. It took a long time and a lot of hard work to get here and I see no reason to apologise for my arrival.
On the contrary, some of us are proud to look back at the journey and intend to make the most of every minute of our future.
There has never, in any society been a generation as healthy, articulate and just plain old as the one in which I find myself. We are the most experienced old folk who ever were.
The Times of London states: “The agony aunt Irma Kurtz, 73, says that staying curious in old age is a vital as a flexible spine.” More here…
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.