India, May 23 -- On an autumn afternoon in the southern Bavarian town of Schliersee, I once watched an elderly woman likely in her eighties dismount her bicycle, take a ticket to ride from the ticketing machine and when the train arrived, fluidly embark it with the cycle. She deboarded in the same station that we did, and with poise cycled away to wherever she was headed. To me, it was an exceptional sight, but in a place where old age comes with silvery grace, it was a norm. Closer home, I have been witness to yet another exception. My mother-in-law, in her early nineties, still travels alone, possesses the sharpest memory, and leads a life of abundant mirth and mindful engagement. Whether it is fixing a meal, going on trips, maintaining r...