Loneliness in day-to-day life

Just yesterday my friend and gym trainer were walking along the road. He noticed a man in his mid-fifties falling on the road. My friend went near him, helped him to sit on the pavement and dusted his muddied clothes. To his surprise this man was an old gym member. He took him to a nearby hospital. He was given drips, twice. His sugar level had fallen and so had his blood pressure. On further talking the man revealed that he was reasonably well of. But he was staying alone at home. He hadn’t eaten properly for a day. My friend then took him to his home which was nearby and settled him. The man called his cousin, but the cousin just shrugged off the issue. The man then called his aunt, but she just blasted him for not caring for his health. No one was sympathetic except my friend. The man leads a lonely life. He came to the gym this morning and said he would do exercises regularly. But what is the use? This episode raises several issues. What if my friend hadn’t been walking on that road? Who would have helped him? No one comes forward. Why did the man not eat properly despite having enough money? Can’t he cook for himself? How do people treat relatives, even the older ones?
In another story a female gym member called my friend and asked if she could talk for ten minutes. My friend was surprised but said yes. This woman in her later thirties to early forties said her friend is coming from America and that she wanted to know where all to visit in Chennai. Or does she have to go down south? She was saying that is her best friend also a woman and that she was thinking where to put her up. The first lady, the Indian is a well-established software entrepreneur. She has lots of money and a big house. But she hasn’t eaten a south Indian snack for twenty years. She knows the big hotels in America but doesn’t know street food in Chennai. Getting her friend to stay in her house should be an obvious choice – why put her up in the hotel? Is this a case of Westernization? Does she have to ask a not so educated gym trainer about places in Chennai? What happened to the numerous other colleagues and co-workers she worked with? Life is indeed lonely for many in India and around the world.
Recently the CEO of a well-known food delivery company commented that there is only paper money in Bangalore, no real wealth. This is totally right. People have lots of money in the cities these days. But not many services. There still are not that many health facilities even in big cities. Food delivered by hotels is not very healthy. More than anything there is no community. People don’t know each other in apartment complexes. People don’t care anymore. And the government and other pro-development folks like scientists are saying India is highly developed. In what way? There are no essential services. Not even water. No toilets. We have a long way to go before people feel safe. There must be trust. There must be time for people. #loneliness
We live in times where the old sheet-anchors of tradition, customs, religion, culture, family, workplace and community are not supporting us anymore. People both in India and abroad are living meaningless and pointless lives. Paradoxically these times also offer us several insights in the form of research and teachings such as that of the Enneagram. Psycho-spirituality and the personal growth the Enneagram supports get people to think, reflect, contemplate and meditate for the first time. Young men and women find some solace in these teachings away from the usual rut of workplace and community strife. Spending some time with this literature awakens the person’s intelligence and makes him and her more capable of facing the threats and complexities of modern life. In the above you will find a post shared by me on LinkedIn as reflections and commentaries on living. These are meant to encourage you to take up some form of spiritual teachings to uplift your life and grow as big as an oak tree from the small kernel that you are now.