Dr. Rahalkar's thoughts...: The Grange !

Tuesday, August 29, 2023

The Grange !

We happened to visit remote parts of Worcestershire in England during the recent long weekend and spent those days in a huge villa, in fact a Grange, which means a farmhouse. However, that fabulous farmhouse was indeed magnificent to such an extent that it must be called a big big mansion. Built in a beautiful, bewitching, lush green hilly ambience that exhibited tremendous variety of hues and shade, it certainly cooled everyone’s eyes and spirits. Well, we were about ten families housed together with around thirty five members of all age groups, ranging six to eighty and above, joining us. Each family could be accommodated in several rooms. The entire villa buzzed with loud laughter, tintilleting music and equally exuberant aroma from the common kitchen. The entire milieu was hilarious as always and everyone was busy looking at the comfort and feeling of being ‘at home’ unto everyone else !

In fact I do not wish to describe various amenities available therein but would like to share with you a number of thought processes set in motion during that short stay over there. Indeed the outward beautiful and exciting tintinabulating atmosphere drives one deep into oneself whenever one finds time to do so. I think I am blessed in that respect.

A thought occurred to me while comparing ‘life-styles’ of city dwellers and the ‘town folk’. We are well aware of the fact that we city dwellers run and rush after the ‘clock’ and hardly have time to wait and ‘watch’ ! We are watching the ‘watch’ without actually ‘watching’ times ! Time flees past us unnoticed without us noticing it. Intriguing ? Just ponder over it and you too will realise that you didn’t spare some time for ‘times’ fleeting past.

I vividly remember a town dweller in Dapoli, a town in Konkan Maharashtra who was in his seventies and kept himself busy in some work or the other right from early morning till late at night. In fact he was not ‘required’ to do so being a wealthy and affluent farmer and orchard owner, but he kept himself busy performing all sorts of random and menial jobs himself. I had asked him about his passion to keep working all the time and all that he said was - he was a man of few words - look doctor, time never awaits us, it keeps fleeing past. It is our bounden duty to make most of it ! It was amazing to hear him say so at that point of time. But now I realise it’s true import. We cannot afford to waste a single minute. The body requires time to rest and relax for a while but the mind cannot afford to do so. However the ambience such of this makes it refreshed, rejuvenated and that is the reason such retreats are beneficial. It’s not the body alone that craves for some change in lifestyle albeit temporarily, but the mind and spirits also need change from time to time.

Such retreats are indeed one of the means to achieve that in letter and spirit !

Dr. P. S. Rahalkar,

29 August 2023

London

Some snaps from the Rosemore Grange !