Lone Survivor

jaishree9 · Dec 6, 2007

Lone survivor
At our house we have a small aquarium from last few years. I
T is said that watching fish give u calmness & peace...It is good as per Fangshuie they bring prosperity to the owner.
I know watching them give me pleasure for few seconds or min but watching them for long seeing them swimming from here to there to here again is not relaxing for me.
Yet it has given me an additional job of giving them food morning & evening, changing water every 15 days & so on. Initially few lots of fishes were poor survivor & all dies in few months span. Finding one of them dead in the morning while giving them food was a very sad moment & the sad news used reach with a yell to every member of the family that lo one has again died.
But the last lot I got was 3 years back, simple golden fish & two black one. Feng- shui says it must be 8 golden & one black but one of them dies so quickly that it is not possible to maintain that for a long time.
Any way my this lot survived best for almost three years they all were safely swimming & my daughter used to comment that how boring must be their life with only swimming to do & meet each other every other second . Do they have a memory, do they remember each other & have names for each other?
I read some where that golden fish has a very short memory for only 3 sec? So was it possible for them to remember each other or every time they used to introduce - Hi I am Mrs. /miss golden so & so nice meeting u or they just swim without any communication.
Then this lot started dying one by one in the space of one year & I commented that there life cycle is completed & so no sad feeling this time, ultimately two black ones survived & they grow also to almost 8 -9 inches & so I said that lets not bring another set as they are quite big & need this space but few months back one of them also died suddenly & the remaining one was all alone & is swimming day & night as was in the past. She? Or is it He? Is still surviving & swimming all alone. I wonder what is it like a all alone survivor ,as she was the fittest of the lot as proved by Charles Darwin "survival of the fittest" so the fittest one has to live with the loneliness which comes with the survival . People at the top of this list must also be very lonely at this point of life.
I can’t do nothing for my fish but I think I or rather we shud share the loneliness of our elders & not leave them like a lone fish in the aquarium!

Nivedi · Dec 6, 2007

Jaishree - That fish tank seems to have a life lesson hidden in it and you have been very thoughtful in sharing it with us.

Paulina · Dec 6, 2007

Hi! Jaishree,
Your descriptive write up about your aquarium was interesting to read, especially being an aquarium owner myself for the past 4 years.We have also had the misfortune of losing our fishy friends a number of times and it does leave us downcast when we have to take their lifeless forms with the little net from the aquarium.Their life spans are short ,and one moment they're merrily swimming and the next moment you see them floating up on the surface as stiff as a log.We make sure we replace them soon so that the others don't miss their departed companion and ofcourse selfishly we want the aquarium to look full and this gives us a happy feeling too.
We have right now with us,3 goldfish, 1 Japanese fantailed carp,.1 Calico gold.1 black shark,,,about 6inches,1 large black tank cleaner and 1 small tank cleaner called silver streak ...it has leopard like spots and is a very fast swimmer.
I liked the way you write with compassion about looking after our elders when they are left alone.Apart from failing health,loneliness is definitely a major issue for many elderly people and we must ensure that this does not happen to all those who nurtured us when we were young.
Best regards,
Paulina:iagree

Sriniketan · Dec 7, 2007

Jaishree,
Nice observation, it is true that 'survival of the fittest' will definitely feel lonely.
Loneliness plays a major part in today's elders life and maybe for the future elders too.
During those days, they were people around in the house of all ages, to give company.
But as times changed this also changed leaving elders lonely.
To make a point here, even children are feeling lonely nowadays, with nobody to talk to!

sriniketan

Anandchitra · Dec 7, 2007

DeaR Jaishree
so very well written by you..I really enjoyed reading about the fishes the fish tank and how we feel when one of them dies. And nice comparison by surivial for the fittest and how they feel lonely when they survive alone..Thanks for writing and sharing..Keep bringing more..

jaishree9 · Dec 7, 2007

Hi Nevedi
Thanx for peeping in my fish tank & liking it.

jaishree9 · Dec 7, 2007

Hi paulina
Thanx for sharing . This is really truely sad when we find one of fish flaoting like log on surface & resulting search of net & throwing away. But such is life !
U do have different types of fishes in ur tank.

jaishree9 · Dec 7, 2007

Hi Chitra & Sriniketan
Thanx for liking it. This is true that survivor is mostly lone person & The people at top of the graph are left with their lonleness.
But I feel that still with our elder generation we have few sisters & brothes & relatives & all to look after them , but with nuclear families & only one or two kids when they grow & move out in the world we wud be facing loneliness at more earlier age.

Vandhana · Dec 7, 2007

Dear Jaishree,

Very thought provoking lesson from you. Yes indeed, isn't it always that survival comes with added baggage??

I liked your write up very much.

Vandhana

sunkan · Dec 7, 2007

dear jaishree,
today vandhana's nomination brought me here, wish we could have focus in our forum where the best ones of the day is put there, as it has been selected by the management all get to read and appreciate, then we wont miss any even if they are not nominated, but your comparison is amazing how we connect a simple thing to our life ...sunkan