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| On the edge: Life's twilight bereft of soothing comforts | | | Mishu Gupta
EARLY TIMES REPORT
Jammu, Sept 30: The withering down of human life in right perspective has an ethical dispensation that always has an important family cliché supporting his or her journey past the last milestone.
It brings along collateral reasons standing besides that may devotedly help him transit into the next world. And these reasons and beliefs come from strong family bonds that yield into the passing phase.
However contemporary environs are totally contrasting..
The problems of the increasing population of the senior citizens should be addressed before it is too late. In the good old days, respect and honor were showered on old people.
Respecting the elders was an integral part of our culture where no one used to dare to disrespect them.
Even the scolding given by the elderly was heard with smiling faces by the young even though the fault may not be theirs.
Similarly in villages, the elderly, be they illiterate, poor or of low caste, were given due respect. Kinship was shown by addressing them as dadaji, dadiji, bebeji etc. The situation is changing and the traditional pattern seems to be changing in view of the fast-paced life of today.
It has been observed that in western countries, old age is not a curse because the government gives a handsome pension and those over 60 are not allowed to do any type of work.
Numerous facilities are provided to senior citizens. In parks, picnic spots and airports they are provided with wheelchairs so that they can roam around independently if they are handicapped and there is no one to look after them.
In India the condition of such old people is pitiable as there are no provisions for the social security of senior citizens, leave alone their entertainment.
In India, the elderly population has grown by 285 per cent in the last 50 years and the figure is expected to double in the next 25 years. Nearly 90 per cent of the elderly have no form of official social security and over 40 per cent live below the poverty line. While the number of aged has gone up, the quality of life has gone down.
Our society considers it the responsibility of the younger generation to look after the elderly but the influence of industrialization and urbanisation has severely affected our value system.
A bunch of old people sitting numb on an iron bench in the courtyard under the cloudy sky present a picture of desolation and despair. They are inmates of an old age home at Ambphalla living in a hope that some day their near and dear ones may come and take them back home.
Life of some 62 disowned and abandoned feeble creatures in their twill light years goes like this.
They don't know anything about the Grand Parents Day, but declining health, impending mortality and other challenges keep on haunting their life abused by isolation.
Just sit by them and everyone has a tragic story of his own - a story of deceit, torture, estranged relations, neglect and exploitation.
It's not that constraint financial sources forced their families to dump them here but in most of the cases inmates hail from affluent families.
In some cases, inmates are physically challenged also but in most of the cases cynical behavior of daughters-in-law is described the reason that brought them here.
"There is no difference between children and oldies, what one requires is little love and concern," opines Pritam Chand (33), who has devoted his life for the cause of disowned people for the past 15 years.
They do have a hope that one day or the other they will meet their family, but nobody cares.
"There are many elders here who want to meet their family members at least once before they close their eyes," said Pritam .
"We take care of every thing concerning them and even organise pilgrimages for them," he says and adds, "People generously donate and often visit here on special occasion to share feeling of the inmates."
An 80-year-elder, who did not want to be named, said, "I am living here for the past 10 years and now all inmates here are my family and for me all my children are no worth than dead. Nobody cares about the elders; they forget that one day they too will be old. My life is comfortable here. We get food, medical care and affection, but in the heart of hearts we miss our family," he added.
"This year, the government gave us an amount of Rs 50,000 only. You tell me how it is possible for 62 people to manage a full year with such meager amount?" he asks.
"Their daughters pay visit but sons hardly bother," he says and adds in the same breath that in exceptional cases the latter have come to take them back too.
According to Rahul Gupta, an engineer the joint family, a natural support system, has almost crumbled. The fast pace of life and the increasing number of nuclear families have added to the woes of the aged, compelling many of them to live alone and resulting in an increase in cases of abuse. There is need for government and NGOs to provide an effective support system for this segment of population.
The time of the senior citizens should be utilized in meaningful ways he added. An increase in the population of the elderly is fast becoming a challenge for society which needs to be addressed before it acquires menacing proportions. |
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