This Indian life by Shoba Narayan: Want to live longer? Start a business

It is the best way t to keep the mind active and alert

Want to live longer? It seems that the whole world does. Anti-ageing, age reversal and longevity have become buzz words of our time. In 2018, anti-ageing related start-ups mopped up $850 million in venture capital investment. Laura Deming, barely 25, founded The Longevity Fund and is feted all over the US and Europe. Young start-ups such as Life Biosciences, focusing on longevity are attracting talent like never before – Dr Mehmood Khan, previous Chief Scientific Officer at PepsiCo with a resume that includes diabetology as faculty of the Mayo Clinic, is joining it as CEO. The Harvard geneticist founder of the firm said he was “humbled” by Dr Khan’s choice to join his firm.

Unlike the West, here in India, we take old age casually(Shutterstock)

Friendship helps you age better. You have to cultivate it: slowly and steadily, one friend at a time. Think of it as the best investment of your life.

Dementia will hit us all as we age and 80 is perhaps when things start going downhill. So how to keep the mind active and alert? Well, here is a thought. As you age, try to start a business. The idea came to me in two odd places: Kyoto and Karaikudi. In Kyoto, I attended a programme in which elderly women took charge of tourists, took them home to teach them things from Japanese culture: the Chrysanthemum dance, how to roll sushi, how to drink tea and so forth. My family and I trailed behind a grandmother for a day to learn from her. And I thought, how many grandmothers are there in India who could do exactly this and get paid for it?