There are many ills that beset the old, but I am convinced that amongst the worst of them is the rigidity of mind, attitude and habit that develops.

Savita and Sumant, a couple I have known for years, now in their late sixties, are a case in point. They own their house, are proud of it, and keep an excellent table and are wonderful hosts. But none of this is new. What is drastically different today is the ridiculous rigidity they exhibit in running their home. But time was when they ran their house in the same casual, carefree manner that we all did.

Today their home in all its polished and gleaming glory is run on ultra-oiled wheels ? wheels that appear to have forced them to adopt a lifestyle that is as exciting and unvarying as a railway track. All systems are cast in stone. The most minor deviations are frowned upon. If blue bed linen has been earmarked for the guest room, there are ructions if the bed is made up with white sheets. In the kitchen, specific saucepans are designated for cooking specific dishes. Likewise in the dining room where a flat spoon is supposed to be used for rice, a curved one for dal, a rounded one for vegetables and so on. Cups, saucers, plates all have their designated places and woe betide the help if the crockery is incorrectly placed or the cutlery wrongly used.

Savita and Sumant now live their lives by the clock. The indoor plants have to be watered before breakfast, windows have to be shut at noon and opened at precisely seven ’clock in the evening. Tea is served at exactly four and dinner at eight. And so on and so forth. I could go on ad infinitum, but you get the picture.

Everybody knows the virtue of routine but when rules become commandments that cannot be violated without inviting the wrath of the gods, it is certainly time to pull up short and take stock. Such was Savita’s preoccupation with running her home that even the visit of her grandchildren was heralded not with joy but with anxiety that they would bring mud into the house or delay the serving of lunch.

A strange inflexibility seems to overtake us as we grow old. In Savita and Sumant’s case, admittedly an extreme one, it is their home that reflects their rigidity but in other instances the same unbending approach is to be seen in dogmatic attitudes and opinions. However it manifests itself, such rigidity is bound to close the mind and affect the quality of life. A recent visit to Savita has put me on my guard. No way, I have sworn, am I going to be like her. But in the meantime, I have to check on who has had the temerity to move the pencil from the telephone table! Don’t they know that the red pencil belongs there, and only there?