Share
Life
can be broadly divided into 3 phases - young age, middle age & old age -
and everyone has to pass through these phases during their lifetime. People are
the most vulnerable in their young age & old age, while they are at their
confident best during their middle age.
Nature has ensured a mechanism whereby the
vulnerability of children during their young age is supported by their parents
in their middle age, and the vulnerability of parents during their old age is
supported by their children during their middle age. This works like clockwork
so that those who once cared for you when you needed it the most, tend to get
care back when they need it the most.
This was always the backbone of traditional
Indian family system where children either lived with their parents in the 20th
century, or lived close to their parents in the 21st century. Western countries
didn’t follow this family system, wherein the moment children cross their
teens, their parents got used to living around an empty nest.
But over the past 3 decades, especially with the
arrival of India on the global technology stage, we witnessed an increased
emigration of children to pursue graduation or their career overseas. This
meant that the well-oiled family system to support the cycle of nature in India
got disrupted.
Parents being parents, always put their
children’s interests & future ahead of them and encouraged their children to
migrate overseas. But this happened while the parents were still in their
middle age and at their confidence high. Little did they know how tough it will
be for themselves when they hit their old age.
The entire generation of parents who encouraged
their children to migrate overseas during the technology boom starting in late
1980s, are now living a lonely life back in India. While they had planned well
for their children’s future, they didn’t anticipate the challenges they would
face themselves during their sunset years in India.
If living only with your spouse during your old
age is tough, living alone post your spouse’s demise is even tougher. These are
parents who have happily sent their children overseas and want to live their
old age with the highest levels of self-respect & dignity. They prefer to live
around their established eco-system nurtured over the past 30-40 years. They
don’t want to ask for obligations from their family or friends. And they will
never want to share their apprehensions & concerns with their children,
lest they would be worried. That’s how parents have always been.
How does one solve for this then? The solution
lies in ensuring that :
a) care is provided to them professionally
without them having to ask for it as a favor.
b) care is provided in the comfort of their
home, without having to uproot them from an ecosystem they have nurtured over
a long period of time.
c) care is provided across all aspects of life
ranging from basic Empathy needs to beat loneliness, to ensuring constant
Engagement to keep their minds active, to providing Entertainment to infuse
joy, to supporting during an Emergency to prevent disaster.
Children in their middle age who are settled
overseas are typically in the midst of their thriving careers and ensuring the
best education for their kids. Knowing that their parents would never
proactively ask for such a professional intervention, perhaps it’s time for
them to be proactive in offering such professional support to their parents. It
is indeed payback time for them to repay the moral debt. And the good news is
that such professional support is now available. All it takes now is to connect
their parents with such a credible organization that truly believes in
providing Care with Empathy.
