Stepping out of the comfort zone...

There's an old Hindi proverb from one of the great Ramdhari Singh Dinkar's poems that when translated into English reads as "He who is afraid to dive into the ocean is not going to locate any pearls". It aptly describes what I did several times over the past two weeks in San Francisco, (symbolically and not literally!) with the best payback one can receive in life - peace and contentment.

Enter The Sequoias - an active, engaging retirement community for seniors in San Francisco. I first went there with a friend to volunteer time and help make a difference in my own little way. I also hoped to learn more about the typical challenges they faced in their daily lives and if any of the technologies that pervade our lives today could help them overcome some, if not all of those.

I still remember the first day I went there. The Director of the place gave us a tour of the entire facility for over an hour and a half. Like curious children, we kept asking questions and she kept answering them as long as we kept asking. Then, she took us to the Activity Room where we met a bunch of residents who had assembled to play a dice game as part of their daily schedule for mental exercise. We were invited by them to join them and over the next hour, we got introduced to each one of them, played several rounds of the game with them, and got to know all the women's ages :)

One of the women was 106 years old and another one of Japanese origin was going to turn 100 in a month and several others who were in their 90s. They were as curious about us and what we did in this beautiful city as we were about them. Every once in a while, they naughtily cracked jokes at each other and had a good laugh. I did not see them frown or fret over anything in life including the limited mobility that age brought to some of these very well-traveled residents of the home. I am certain they had played the same game countless times before but I did not sight any boredom either. I couldn't help but surrender to the experience and in no time, I was in a different world...it didn't matter who I was and where I came from...I lost sense of time and I just sat there, smiling, like a fortunate bystander watching these fabulous souls go about their routine. This was the sweet smile of peace and contentment and it had indeed been a while since I had last felt this way.

Oh I was so glad I stepped out of my comfort zone because if I had not, as Ramdhari Singh Dinkar said, I wouldn't have discovered these treasures of happiness hidden deep within the urban layers of this extreme city that the world knows as San Francisco. And god bless my lovely friend who took me there!