OLD toddlers : WHO CARES ?

Before I start let me wish " Happy New Year 2014 " Lets face a new year with new challenges with a smile and refined attitude :) SO here it starts :

“My son is currently working with Microsoft posted in California” , “ Ranbir is doing M.Tech at CalTech in Pasedena,US” , “ I have planned my daughter’s higher studies abroad”......

Am sure all of us are familiar with these sentences in our day to day life from the aunty in our neighbourhood or from a distant relative of us boasting about their NRI sons and daughters with pride. Some of us get encouraged hearing these words ad there are many who are jealous of those families too but hardly we see through the pain hidden behind the pride of those parents who sent their wards away from them for their development. The pain of loneliness which haunts them every second, the silent wails that they ignore while constantly living with the fact that hardly anyone will take care of them in their old age, skips our attention completely. Sigh! 

Our high school textbooks gave us the very obvious reason for over-population i.e our ancestors produced more children so that even if few of them die in wars, famines or other calamities then at least the rest can take care of them in their old age. In the quest of modernisation the idea of population control made a cosy place in the minds of city dwellers owing to the high costs of living, lack of jobs and other such reasons. Another such reason is the quality healthcare we have today which can cure majority of those diseases which were termed fatal a century ago. Infant mortality rates have also decreased sharply in developed and most developing economies. The fear of losing children has thus reduced and the slogan “Hum do, Hamare do” (We two and our two children) have gained popularity, much credit to the awareness created. However better living standards and low risk of deaths have not ensured that our senior citizens are taken proper care of. Why ?

Read the first line of this post again and there is the answer hidden. It’s great that more and more people are choosing places abroad for their wards’ higher studies, the main problem starts when the sent off person settles there forgetting their duty to their Parents, Community, and Nation at large. Better job prospects and good lifestyle convinces them to stay there and mint dollars and all their parents get is a sentence to be proud of. “My son xyz is earning this much dollars with this MNC” is said with a nice smile but when asked “ when will he return”, the face turns pale and the attempt to divert the conversation is not good enough to hide the pain, confusion and love. “oh he will come when he gets time” or “don’t know she doesn’t have plans as of now” are few answers I often heard. The few well offs who still have money after this luxurious expense on education can hire a domestic help or two but most will live in loneliness they die. Of course the NRIs return but only to see the worsening condition of parental home, make meagre arrangements and go back to their exotic life. The old are children alike and need support which the solitary home, costly furniture, imported vases won’t provide. The dearth of old age homes add to their miseries as it was their last hope to live with a smile.

Old age homes are scarce in the country in comparison to the population pyramid’s number of grandmas and grandpas in the country. Hardly anyone has time to look into this problem and the lack of support from government is a primary reason for this scarcity. The hope of keeping the senior citizens in an environment of care with people alike them is what many NGO’s are working on but lack of participation is leading to shutting down of such homes rather than creating new ones. Many think that a domestic help is all they need at their home but have you ever thought how such people can make use of the situation to harass the old employer for money or other facilities instead of taking care of them. National crime records indicate that old couples are most vulerable to murders by servants for money and such crimes are increasing rapidly. WE youth must pledge to make the world a much better place of love and care for the old toddlers rather

than leaving them on their fate.

A Different issue under the same heading : 

Another issue worth mentioning here is the brain drain that these people are causing to the country. Government is spending billions on the higher education subsidies for engineering, and other higher studies and instead of returning the country with human resources they work for another economy’s development which is not healthy for any economy. I will be writing another post on this issue in future.  Till then Goodbye, happy new year once again 

*all pics from net.