Across Seven Seas and Thirteen Rivers

  Opening Vignette She does not hurry life, and life does not hurry her. At ninety-four, Sudha-Didi meets the morning the way one greets a trusted companion. There is no contest with time, no resistance to the day. A staircase waits. Tea waits. Memory waits. She rises not to challenge age, but to walk alongside the hours as they unfold. The years have settled gently around her. Nothing feels unfinished, nothing feels heavy. There is food on the table, warmth in the room, names she remembers, and people she loves spread across countries and generations. The future does not alarm her, and the past does not cling. She is not fearless because she ignores age. She is fearless because she has made peace with it. The body has learned its limits; the spirit has learned to travel light. No hoarding of worry. No bargaining with fate. Just a quiet affection for life as it is. This is not a story about defying age. It is a story about befriending it. A First Encounter I fi...