When we think of COVID warriors, we rightly think of the doctors and nurses, police personnel and small business owners who have continued to support us during this time we’d never imagined we’d see. How often to do you find yourself thinking Silver Warriors?
Today, we’d like to introduce to you a few Silver Superwomen, who have used this lockdown period to demonstrate that resilience is the only tool we really need to see us through.
What’s truly appreciable here is that Veena, Shyamola, Nandini and a few others in their 60s and 70s didn’t let age or the anxiety of these times deter them! Instead, they put their skills to good use and opted to help in the best way they could while staying safe at home, at a time when many of us were still reeling from the shock of being asked to abandon our routines.
This is their story.
Veena - 77 yrs
An avid traveller with a huge passion for serving the community and meeting friends. So when the lockdown announcement was made, like many of us Veena’s first reaction was also that of anxiety, helplessness and fear. Fear of the unknown. But true to her positive spirit and attitude towards life, she reminded herself very quickly that change is the only constant in life. "Whatever comes in life, challenge it, embrace it and move on happily.” This sudden switch in mindset helped her reflect embrace her new days that followed.
Thus began a new day and a new phase in this pandemic for Veena, where she went about planning her day in order to be joyfully occupied. With inherent skills in hand knitting, stitching and even designing fabric jewellery, when she received a WhatsApp request from Abha, a fellow member of The Silver Surfers Club to make masks for an orphanage, she volunteered very happily stitched and donated 30 of them to Gerizium orphanage.
Not just that, but her passion for the project was so much that she defied all norms that are associated with seniors and technology and learnt several different mask-making techniques on YouTube!
That’s not all- Veena is also using this time to get into a routine of working out regularly and eating healthy. She has managed to overcome her knee issue to a large extent as well, reinforcing our belief that keeping the mind and body occupied is the best way to handle lockdown.
Clearly, attitude is everything and age is just a number. We thank you for being such an inspiration to all, Veena!
Nandini - 63 yrs
For Nandini, being in lockdown brought with it a huge change in her lifestyle - from life being in full swing and days being filled with active participation in various clubs, workshops, community service, dance classes, picnics, meets and much more - it all came to one abrupt end with Covid 19. To her it felt like the Earth had stopped turning on its axis! Not letting the Covid tragedy that was unfolding around her bring her down, she used this time to bond with family and up-skill herself.
That’s when she received a similar request from a fellow member of The Silver Surfers Club towards the same cause that Veena contributed to - To help make masks that could be distributed among those who need them the most, but often do not have the resources to buy them.
Nandini’s Singer Fashion maker 1985
The sewing machine was promptly brought out of retirement. She oiled it, cleaned it and with a few small hiccups and a little bit of creaking she began making masks at breakneck speed, thoroughly enjoying the process.
Nandini is decidedly resourceful - when there was no elastic available at home and no way to buy some, she decided to make her own string at home instead.
Before sending her masks off, she washes, irons and seals them in ziplock bags before sending them out. We also love how she can find ways to have fun during this time! Some of the masks come with hand-painted accents- and you have to see it to believe it!
Her learning from this experience -
When she received pictures of the orphanage with the residents wearing her masks, it gave her immense satisfaction that her time was spent helping those in need. Reflecting on this incident has made her realize the huge learnings - first of learning to make the masks creatively and secondly that all the activity outside the home doesn't give one the same satisfaction as being of help to the community. In total 130 masks were contributed to Gerizium orphanage.
We thank you for being such an inspiration Nandini!
Shyamola 69 yrs, and Friends Pimi 81 and Veerta 77 yrs
For Shyamola, the story started with three friends- herself 69 , Pimi 81, and Veerta 77. At 81, Pimi is the leader of the pack and has spent decades perfecting her craft- knitting and sewing having just finished knitting wrist bands for her young granddaughter’s water polo team in San Francisco. Clearly being awesome come naturally to her.
Veerta has been a home maker and till a couple of years ago she had her hands full caring for her ailing husband. Now she takes care of herself and is involved in a lot of social work. When Pimi persuaded her to start making the masks, she was more than happy – it gave her something worthwhile to do!
Shyamola, the ‘youngest’ of the three leads a very active life as a writer, published author, and soft-skills trainer for over 20 yrs with knitting, stitching, and painting as hobbies.
Just before the lockdown these 3 friends celebrated life by going out for movies, going to the RSI for tombola while chomping on some chaat – paapri! Life was different.
At a crossroads with the lockdown in place, they decided that they’d make masks. Sharing responsibilities between them - Pimi discovered the pattern on YouTube and Shyamola found a template given out by the Times of India for making a cloth mask at home.
Realizing that the pretty pieces of fabric she’d stashed wouldn’t be enough, Shyamola spread the word on social groups for donations of cotton saris, dupattas and old bedsheets. In came generous donations of fabrics and elastics too.
The first recipients of these free masks was the neighborhood supermarket. Then went on to distributing to vegetable sellers, dry cleaners and children too!
Shyamola recounts the story of the vegetable seller who wore a mask herself but didn’t know how to enforce it with her customers. So they hung out a bag on the pushcart with masks available for free, for all.
It was only a matter of time before they ran out of elastic, at which point Shyamola, never one to take ‘no’ for an answer managed to contact the local police station and source elastic twine from one of the stores nearby.
The three musketeers were joined in their endeavor by the Robin Hood Army who would pick up 150 masks in one go for distribution. Today, they continue to make 25 masks a day, sometimes more!
“How does it feel to contribute in such a significant way?”, we ask.
Both Veerta and Pimi chime in, “The fact that someone out there is wearing a mask we’ve stitched, and thus keeping safe, makes us very happy!”
We can’t thank you enough for your zest and vigour for being such an inspiration Nandini!