Unearthing Forgotten Lifestyles | Literary Frameworks for Analysing Wisdom of the Elderly ❤️

Wisdom from the Past: Unearthing the Forgotten Lifestyle of Our Elders

Ms. Ascentana’s Creative Vlog

It is always refreshing to see students look beyond the digital horizon and tap into the profound, lived experiences of our elders, and their forgotten lifestyles.

I happened to watch a creative YouTube Video done by our student Ms. Ascentana, II MA English, that features nostalgic and heart-warming conversations with elders, even as they fondly engaged in a candid talk, reminiscing about childhood, traditional food, home remedies, and their deep connection with nature.

Well, in our fast-paced, technology-driven world, taking a moment to sit down and listen to the stories of our elders feels so rewarding! In fact, it is like opening a time capsule to the good ol’ past! 😊

Presenting herein below, some enriching insights gleaned from the two-part vlog -

Firstly, home remedies were the order of the day. Before the era of popping pills for every minor ailment, people relied completely on their backyard gardens. For common colds, they crushed Kuppaimeni leaves with rock salt or boiled eucalyptus leaves to inhale the steam.

Secondly, the kitchen was always a mini clinic of sorts, where spices like pepper, cumin, cloves, and herbs like Omavalli were made as a quick homemade concoction mixed with turmeric and honey - the go-to cure for coughs and fevers, drastically reducing the need for hospital visits!

Thirdly, during hot summers, especially, traditional practices like applying castor oil to the crown of the head and the soles of the feet were routinely used to naturally reduce body heat.

Fourthly, our elders had always preferred the highly nutritious millets over polished rice. Everyday meals consisted of Ragi (Kezhvaragu), Pearl Millet (Kambu), and Foxtail Millet (Thinai)

Fifthly, quite interestingly at that, items that we consider daily staples today - like rice, idli, dosa, and chapati – were rare luxuries back then. They were strictly reserved for major festivals like Diwali or special family functions. And thanks to this wholesome, chemical-free diet, elders note that they still possess immense physical stamina - capable of walking for miles and undertaking hard agricultural labour without fatigue even in their older years.

Sixthly, long before smartphones and 24/7 internet, children used to happily spend their evenings outdoors playing physically engaging group games like Kabaddi, Gilli-Danda, and Blindman’s Buff (Kannamoochi).

Moreover, creativity was at its peak as kids crafted their own toys. They built makeshift toy carts using palm fruit (Nongu) shells and happily raced around using old discarded bicycle tyres.

Seventhly, there was a rich sense of community bonding, through which  entertainment became a shared, communal experience. Often, an entire street or village would gather at the one house that owned a television set just to catch the weekly music programs like Oliyum Oliyum. 😊

Eighthly, store-bought beverages like coffee, tea, or health drinks were completely absent. Instead, guests were warmly welcomed with Neer Mor (spiced buttermilk with ginger, curry leaves, and mango pieces) or Panakam (a refreshing drink made of jaggery, cardamom, and dry ginger).

Finally, healthy snacking was the routine that was practised back then, every other day. Childhood snacks consisted of boiled sweet potatoes, roasted grains, chickpeas, and sweet energy balls made from ragi and jaggery. Even a simple treat like colourful spun sugar at the local temple fair brought immense, unparalleled happiness.

Listening to these elders is a gentle reminder of how far we have drifted from a lifestyle intertwined with nature. Hearty congratulations to Ms. Ascentana on this amazing documentary of sorts. This has immense potential and amazing scope for a good research as well.

So that brings us now, to the literary takeaways – 😊

This vlog and its thematic content can be robustly researched under a whole lot of vibrant research areas –

Firstly, Gastronomic Literature (or Food Studies in Literature). In gastronomic literature, food is never just sustenance; it is a text that encodes identity, memory, power dynamics, and cultural shifts. The shift away from the highly nutritious, everyday millets (Kambu, Thinai) to the “rare luxuries” of polished rice and wheat reflects broader socio-economic transformations. 

The communal aspect of sharing Neer Mor or Panakam versus the individualised consumption of modern store-bought beverages also provides a fascinating lens into how dietary shifts alter the very fabric of community hospitality and shared identity.

Secondly, the vlog also provides a powerful counter-narrative to how ageing is often depicted in contemporary texts, (under the banner of Literary Gerontology). 

Instead of portraying the elderly through a lens of decline or medicalisation, these conversations highlight their immense physical stamina, agricultural resilience, and roles as custodians of traditional knowledge, thereby creating an alternative paradigm of vitality that modern, sedentary society lacks.

Thirdly, the elders’ profound reliance on backyard gardens (using Kuppaimeni and Omavalli) and organic materials (palm fruit shells for toys) represents a lived ecological consciousness. 

This can be analysed under Ecocriticism, Green Studies & Bioregional Literary Studies to explore the shift from an intimate, symbiotic relationship with nature to our modern, alienated existence. It highlights how humans once viewed the environment not as a resource to be exploited, but as an extension of the home (dwelling) and a primary source of wellness.

Fourthly, the concept of the kitchen as a “mini clinic” proves to be a rich source of study under the realm of medical humanities. Like for example, the transition from localised, herbal, and preventative care (using spices, castor oil, and steam) to the modern era of instant, clinical pharmaceuticals. 

Furthermore, the very act of these elders sharing their memories and the joy it brings to the listener - touches upon how storytelling and remembering act as mechanisms for emotional healing and intergenerational trauma resolution.

Finally, the engaging anecdotes about playing Kabaddi or Kannamoochi, and entire streets gathering around a single television set for Oliyum Oliyum, speak volumes about spatial dynamics and community rituals, prove to be a fertile ground for an amazing research on Folklore, Cultural Memory, and Spatial Theory. (Literature often examines how the “commons spaces” - shared streets, temple fairs, open grounds - fostered a deep sense of collective cultural memory, which has now been fractured by the privatised, enclosed spaces of the smartphone era).

Bespeaks to the fact that, a vlog sincerely done, proves to be of immense academic potential, bridging the gap between oral history and literary theory.

Watch the full heartwarming videos here.

Part I - https://youtu.be/7TWsMvGdFmI

Part II - https://youtu.be/fka491Uhr3A?si=M3z3yp_rlQ3Z_C9M