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Sunday 27 August 2006

Why mid-life blues?

Joseph Heller starts his chapter on Col Cathcart in Catch 22 with words which mean something like this (not exact quote): "Col Cathcart was a happy and a sad man. Happy that at the age of 39 he was a full colonel. Sad that at the age of 39 he was only a full colonel."


There is a Cathcart in all of us, and it surfaces rather menacingly when one is around 40. We feel that we have done something worthwhile in life, but also feel that there was much that could have been done left undone.


Gopi Warrier is my name. Crossed 40 a couple of years ago. Was a journalist for many years. Now I am on the other end of the table, handling media relations for the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT). I live on the beautiful, expansive ICRISAT campus.


Here's a picture to set the mood. I like to call it the sentinel at sunset, for it shows a farm laborer scaring birds at sunset to prevent them from attacking the standing sorghum crop.

4 comments:

  1. Good Gopi! Every one undergoes the mid-life blues. Only some like you put those 'blues' in black and white. Good luck and go blogging!

    Sreenath

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  2. Gopi, welcome to blogging. Nice pic. Looking forward to your posts.

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  3. Hey Gopi,
    Kia Ora !
    Pretty nice pics. You need to plan a trip to NewZealand if you really are keen on pursuing-nature photography.... and what camera do you use? Canon 350D ? Well I am not into mid life blues but I do take plenty of nature pics from the breathtakingly beautiful
    country sides of NewZealand.
    Meantime keep clicking.
    Cheers
    Sethu

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  4. “…. Was a journalist for many years. Now I am on the other end of the table…”
    Goes to show that people who work sitting down get paid more than those who work standing up (or running about)
    Career is a rat race. The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you’re still a rat.

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