Thoughts on being 77 years old

The missionary school where I studied from 1951 to 1960 had dedicated teachers and priests who used to cane the students regularly. But they were poorly paid, which was natural, as most of the Catholic boys did not have to pay the monthly fees. The school therefore was always short of funds, which is why they hired a doctor at a very low salary. I don't think he was a doctor as he used to tell practically all the students that they would not be able to become parents unless they came to his clinic and bought medicines from him. Ferrodol was a liquid preparation that he sold us, as well as another mixture that we never took, it was so bitter. When this quack told me that I would never be a father because my penis wasn't normal, I naturally believed him, not knowing that he had said the same thing to practically every student. He had also told me that I wouldn't live a long life due to my frequent colds and coughs. So I always thought I would die before the age of forty.

Yesterday I turned 77, and considering that some of my relatives died before they reached 70, I think I'm lucky. Of course there are two male cousins who are three and five years older than me, but they never became parents, so they didn't have to undergo the stress most parents experience. With three children and seven grandchildren, I consider myself fortunate to be alive at all, even though I have to take many medications to survive. 

Now that I'm a year nearer to death, I often wonder whether I have lived a fruitful life. I doubt if my children and grandchildren will remember me two or three years after my death. The only thing I'll leave behind are the two hundred odd articles I've written that were published in newspapers. But now that most people have given up reading, I doubt if my descendants will ever even look at my writings. Perhaps one day they'll come across my blog accidentally, and reading it they'll know the kind of life I've lived. 

As for any advice to them on how to conduct their lives, I don't have any, except to urge them to be moderate in everything they do and not believe everything they're told by politicians and mullahs. I've seen too many of my relatives and friends being duped by Bhutto, Nawaz Sharif, Tariq Jamil, Imran Khan and others, and I know that it was my extensive reading that saved me from such people.