This touched a chord
Read this today - this story goes by the headline of "Unwanted Indian granny thrown on rubbish dump".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10452613
Words fail me. What are we coming to?
I think it's high time we gave up double standards and admitted that what we need in India are good quality old age homes like in the West. At least, that way, we won't have to dump them so horribly. It can be done in a more refined way...
7 comments:
Very pathetic.. and I feel even worse that this happened in our own country, India which is far far more family-centric a society compared to western countries...What is the world coming too..I was really sad to see this..homes are getting bigger but hearts smaller for sure..
Vidya
Yes, Vids, it is pathetic. And after I posted this, I was thinking: even if we had good old-age homes, our people would probably not want to shell out money even if it is for their own parents...that is the bitter truth. So, don't really see a solution for this.
Having said that, I guess the only solution is agian the WEsternised one: the oldies should save enough money to put themselves in retirement homes. Then the kids and waltz in on Saturdays and pay teh weekly visit to parents.
Yes, it's bad enough that kids aren't taking care of their parents but it's even worse when they don't want to do anything even financially. In Western societies the elderly save money for themselves + there's things like social security that the govt. is able to provide.. so maybe they're able to get by. But I don't see that happening in India one because elderly parents are too giving and I don't think typically they'd have much left (after getting kids educated, married etc. which usually parents don't bear costs for in the west) .. and two because doctors and medical treatment is so expensive these days in India that really we need something better in terms on medical insurance, govt aid etc..
Anyway, the saddest part is that our elders spend their lifetime giving and get nothing in return.. it's really a shame.
Vidya
Also, maybe it's time for people like us who want to give back to our country to consider old age homes when donating money - I have usually always contributed to things like literacy/eradicating blindness etc. in India, and I know most of us give mainly to such causes - but thinking about it now, I feel old age homes are also really in need of money - atleast so that elders can live in better conditions (even if not looked after by their family) - the thought of decent elderly parents having to live in shabby conditions is really depressing.
-Vidya
A huge problem isn't it?
The concept of old age homes are slowly catching up in the Metro cities of India, I think. But still it is not within the reach of the poor. May take ages for the poor to be cared for responsibly.
I read somewhere a beautiful quote on culture. A culture of a country is measured (among other things) by how the country cares for the weak and vulnerable apart from how the country creates such people.
Vids: I am quite cynical about people giving money - I have had experience of this and it has not been pleasant. The truth is that nowadays, many people spend so much on themselves, even eating out, but grumble so if they have to shell out even half that money towards their aged parents.
Patti was lucky she was financially independant - I shudder to think of how badly off she would have been had she relied on others for money. She had even set aside money for her last rites herself.
Bala: yes, these new ones are coming up, but I guess their quality is nowhere as good as in the West as this is still a new concept in India. And as Vid said in her comment, our old people give too much to their kids - they have to learn tobe financially independant to be able to pay for these classy old age homes - of course, being run by humans, they are not perfect too. Also,we still have double standards - they may be badly treated inside the house, but will never be sent away to a 'home' because of the negative connotations of 'what will others say.'
I agree with your quote - wonder how well NZ and India will rate.
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