With inputs from medical and financial experts, and a list of resources, The Art of Ageing is an essential and practical resource for the elderly as also for the young who want to ensure a comfortable and happy older life.
The Art Of Ageing: Planning For A Comfortable Old Age
S.K. Kulkarni
Indus Source Books
Pages: 296;
Price: Rs 300
I cannot even imagine that there has been in recent times any book of such immense value to old people as S.K. Kulkarni’s on the art of ageing and even more relevantly on how to plan for a comfortable old age. How many writers have ever given the subject any deep thought? And yet how many millions of old people need such information on badly — and so urgently?
The most perilous thing in life is accomplishing old age. By and large the rich have no problems. They have the wherewithal to meet the financial if not the emotional needs of old age. The people who most dread old age come from middle class and poorer classes. We live in an era of nuclear families.
Couples are happy to have one, or, at the most two, children. We also live in an era of urban development. Children of rural families inevitably make their way to the cities to earn a reasonable livelihood, managing to live in congested quarters sans space, sans water, sans practically everything. Parents are understandably left behind to take care of themselves as best as they can.
Or take the case of the urban class. They have the same problem of space, especially as children up and want their own privacy denied to them. Many middle class children plan to go abroad again for the same purpose, to make a better living and under such circumstances parents are left alone without adequate finance or with having to look out for the Money Orders from abroad.
Then against there are two classes of people: one which lives on a monthly pension and the other — and a larger one – which doesn’t and are completely dependent on their earning children who may or may not be parent-friendly. Elders are known to have suffered intimidation or humiliation from their sons and daughters-in-law. True, in recent times, government has introduced some schemes to alleviate the sufferings of the penniless old, but they do not cover the entire old age spectrum.
But that is only one aspect of the problem. Rich or poor, old people need as much physical care as they need financial and emotional care. How can that be provided to them? These are some of the issues that are comprehensively dealt with by Kulkarni.
The National Programme for the Health Care of the Elders (NPHCE) is being implemented in 100 selected districts of 21 states. Eight regional geria¬tric Centres are being funded at a cost of Rs 150 crore. Then we have the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act 2007 – but how much effective is it and how many in the country have even heard of its existence? As early as 2001, India had 34.91 million elderly male population and 35.75 elderly female population. This has been increased by 2011 to 48.75 million male and 50.3 million female elderlies. The government to its credit has introduced Reverse Mortgage Scheme through the National Housing Bank, but how many among elders have non-moveable assets or homes to mortgage?
Socially there are many issues involved like live-in relationship. How many in a country of 1.2 billion people engage themselves in this relationship? Would children with aged parents find it acceptable? Worse, what in the time of such partnership, one of the two dies? What will be the fate of the other? All this reminds one that the ultimate responsibility of taking care of the aged parents rests wholly and solely on their children. They can’t – and should not under any circumstances – disown. There are many reported instances of children literally throwing out their parents into the streets. Kulkarni does not just make casual statements. He quotes from varied responsible sources and strengthen his views with statistics and charts.
There is a demographic transition of population taking place with few giving thought to it. Joint families, as is well known, is a thing of the past. It is now becoming common for the establishment of Old Age Homes, but not all of them are open to the Middle Classes. An Old Age home can demand anything between Rs 10 to Rs 20 lakhs as deposit and a monthly payment of between Rs 5,000 to twice that amount. The Old Age Homes seem to be meant for richer families.
State-wise Andhra Pradesh has 14 such homes, Karnataka – 6, Kerala – 9, Tamil Nadu – 10, Mumbai – 9, Gujarat – 18, Kolkata – 34, Uttar Pradesh – 22, Haryana – 24, Punjab – 17 and Rajasthan just 2, but what is more encouraging is the growing involvement of Government, NGO’s and philanthropic institutions. According to the Association of Senior Citizens, Mumbai (1992) there were 655 orgnisations in India out of which 655 were old age homes, 18 per cent Senior Citizens Associations and three per cent Day Care Centres.
Maharashtra, apparently has the largest number of such associations (180) and the state also has the distinctions or having the highest number of Old Age not alike (76). All Old Age Homes are not alike – and that is a different story. Many of them are just not affordable to the middle and poor classes.
This book carries all these problems in some detail. But there is still hope. Kulkarni sent out a long questionnaire to a large number of elderly people and the response, according to him is not all that dreary as is often made out. The answers showed, Kulkarni writes, “that family tradition is not breaking up as fast as it is made out and children do take care of their parents”. That is some consolation.
The book carries some contributions from medical experts on such subjects as geriatric medical care, mental health in old age and home remedies and therapies. It discusses relevance of Day Care Centres which provide a service for the elderly during day time so that they can pass some time outside the house to interact with people of their own age and do not have to stay at home all the time complaining that they have nothing to do.
All in all, this is an astounding work, which every one, whether young or old, would appreciate because it opens out a new world for all to see and ponder upon. The young would learn that some day they too will grow old and what would they then expect from their children: the same that they gave to their parents in their time? It is a warning to the young, if they care to listen to such warning.
M.V. KAMATH
