Of all things that we imbibed from the West the culture of leaving teenage children on their own once they turned 18 was something the East could not fathom. Eastern societies are well-knit societies where cousins, uncles, and elders are as important a part of the family as are the children or parents. The other even more intriguing thing about the Western culture is to leave elderly parents in an old age home to the care of caretakers and visit them once in a month or so. This concept is totally alien to our culture and cannot be imbibed in our society.
Unfortunately, though, this trend has picked up in the last three decades in South Asia as well. We are seeing thousands of old age homes in the Indian cities as well. In Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Delhi old age homes are ubiquitous and there is very little or no monitoring of these old age homes. Some say in rough lingo that those parents who send their children to boarding schools in childhood must be prepared to spend their older age in an old age home. The challenges of modern-day life are tremendous. There are deadlines to meet, long office hours, tiresome homework of kids, challenges of modern-day expensive schooling, and incurably expensive medical expenses.
Modern life is tough, no doubt. However, that does not mean that we abandon our old and vulnerable to their helpless life. In Kashmir, due to massive unemployment in the 90s, a lot of parents were forced to send their teenage boys and girls to Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Gulf countries. The boys and girls had an upward mobility there and invested a lot of money in buying properties there. The parents are unwilling to shift permanently to these metropolitan cities and the children who now are in their middle age are unwilling to come back to Kashmir.
There are thousands of untended parents living in the posh colonies of Srinagar. There was this unconfirmed news that in one posh colony, an aged man had died and his neighbors came to know of it two days after some smell started coming out. In Bengaluru recently in one news article, four skeletons were found from one of the houses.
The present government establishment needs to conduct counseling sessions in this regard and broadcast the same through radio, television and print media. Our elderly are our pride. We must not shun or abandon them at all costs.
Discussion about this post