Pizzas. The very word throws us into a images of dripping cheese, a carnival of flavors and a stream of adorable aromas. That is the aphrodisiac for us, the contemporary generation; better known as GenY or GenX. The food of the western world has long taken the place of our parathas and kulchas. Sometimes, our generation is more defined by our continental and oriental and Italian and Mexican platter than anything else. And somehow, we can never imagine these cuisines being associated with the people from the generation before us. That will be purely unthinkable and quite a ridiculous prospect.
Hence when we hear anything that remotely sounds like pizzas by grandpa and grannies, we pinch ourselves just to make sure we are not dreaming. But well, nothing is outside the realm of impossibility. And well, pizzas by grannies and grandpa, as improbable as it may sound, are quite a lethal combination. The uniqueness of the combination is the USP of such a concept.
A very popular instance of such a concept is in Bangalore. Two septuagenarian grannies opened their very own pizza outlet, called “Grannies’ Pizza”. The main idea behind starting the pizza outlet was to procure fund for their dream project, a care home for the elderly. Their hard work and dedication has been rewarded well. ‘Vishranthi’, a care home for the elderly, as well as their dream project, is now a reality. It is now a registered charitable trust and has acquired a huge range of appreciation from all quarters.
The story of these two septuagenarians serves as the inspiration for many other grandpas and grannies. Pizza out here then becomes just a symbol. It becomes a symbol of self dependence; a symbol of a concerted effort to make a difference.
Mrs. Padma Srinivasan and Mrs. Jayalakshmi Sreenivasan are the progenitors of a new way of life post retirement. Other elderly ladies and gentlemen can take a cue out of their page, and start pursuing their hobbies for their own selves. The society will be a happy and healthy place with such active grandpas and grannies. And one day, who knows, we may have Grannies’ Chicken or Grandpa’s Burgers giving tough competition to KFC or Subway.
A commendable aspect of such a concept by the two young at heart grannies is the fact that with their effort, they have succeeded as well as paved the road for other senior citizens to break the so called generation gap. Moreover, it is an excellent idea to enable a person to live a respectable life post retirement.
Be it the parathas or the halwa, or the pizzas or the pastas, grandpas and grannies can actually display their magic with anything and everything, right out of nowhere. They may just have a greater number of years than us, but their spirit can, on any given day, pose quite a ferocious challenge to those who have lesser number of years to their names. So here we go, saying kudos to grandpa and granny power.
