The concept of old age home was alien to Indian society until the dawn of the 20th century when life became fast-paced and materialistic. The busy schedules and high ambitions leave the younger generation with very little time to look after their parents. They think of their elders as a liability and prefer sending them to old age homes. By doing this, they are running away from their responsibilities towards their elders who brought them up with so much of affection, love and care. I fail to understand how youngsters, the generation including you and me, can be so self – centered that we forget our parents’ sacrifices. How can we be blind to see that its time that our elders need our care and attention? How can we feel our blood relations as a burden and turn them away? Don’t the oldsters deserve back the love they gave to their children?
I feel that the elders in the family are an asset. It is they who can impart the much needed ethical values and code of conduct within the younger generation. They maintain the much-needed balance in a family. Old age homes should be considered as an option only when it is for the betterment of the senior citizens by way of better physical and mental status, the greater possibility for social bonding etc. No matter how good the conditions are in an old age home, it is not the right place to send your parents or elders to. Such a thought comes to your mind only when you visit an old age home. Here, I would like to share with you the experiences which I had on visiting an old age home on behalf of the English Club as part of our 2016 New Year Celebration
Along with my classmates Sisira, Amitha, Farhana and our teachers – Ms Rachael and Ms Shilpa, we visited an old age home named “Punarjani” on 1st January 2016. As we entered, we first met an aunty, a jolly woman, who was the caretaker. Along with her one of the inmates waited for us to have lunch with them. The caretaker was an epitome of selflessness. With a smile they welcomed us. They were very happy to serve us lunch and we indeed had a grand lunch. After lunch, we went ahead to interact with the inmates.
Our initial enthusiasm turned into a whole different feeling when we talked more to the inmates and realized their tragic plight. It was so hard to believe that people you care for abandon you one day with nowhere to go. It was so painful to see some of them disillusioned with life, with no faith left even in God. The feeling of being isolated from family has seeped deep in some hearts that they didn’t want to open up to anybody else. But there were a few who had accepted fate and decided to move on. They live together as a family and care for each other. We gave them our New Year gifts which we bought with the contributions from our teachers. We felt happy seeing them smile after receiving the gifts.
Before leaving from there, we clicked photos with all of them. And in the heart of hearts, I am sure that all of us thought the same thing even if we can’t bring a big change in their life or give them assurance of a better life, a smile was something we could surely give them. It felt so good to see smiles on their faces when they asked us to visit them someday again.
From “Punarjani”, I realized that being old isn’t easy. I could see the pain and loneliness in each person’s eye since an old age home can never be a substitute for one’s own home. As the name suggests, let Punarjani give those innocent souls a “new life”.
I’m sure we all love our parents a lot. Let that love and respect never seep away with time. Let no more parents be isolated from their families in the hours when they need to have cared the most…..
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