Page 26 - Seniors Today -April20

First Person
The
Happiness of
Dusk
When we discover ourselves,
we are never desolate,
writes Nagesh Alai
The other day, amid all the social distancing
and isolation imposed by the pathogen, I had
called up a septuagenarian lady living with
her husband (a Parkinson’s patient) in our
society, to enquire about her and asking her
if she needed any help in getting vegetables,
food, etc.
I had also called up a well-known retired
cricketer neighbour in his seventies to
enquire about him, and offering to get his
vegetables and medicines since he was
worried about stepping out. It was a simple
neighbourly gesture and responsibility, but
one could make out the immense happiness
and gratitude they felt that someone would
remember them, call up and offer help.
Similar was the reaction when a family
member called up a nonagenarian widow
(mercifully, in good health) living alone mid-
town. Recently, a lawyer friend sought some
references of an ayah (caretaker) to look after
an elderly relative.
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The common thread across is the
acknowledgement of their existence, need for
conversations and assurance of support in
times of need.
Significant percentage
Anecdotes these are, but it is representative
of a significant percentage of the
approximately 130 million senior citizens
of India - a split of about 70% rural and
30% urban. With the advances in medical
sciences and increasing longevity, the
seniors’ numbers is expected to more
than double to 300 million in the not-too-
distant future. Currently about 30% of the
urban senior citizens continue to work for
sustenance whereas in the rural areas, as
much as 70% continue to work to sustain
themselves. It can be safely assumed that
overall 60%-plus of the elders are dependent
on their children in one way or the other
while the rest pull along or barely manage