The article, “ >The myth of happy old age ” (Aug. 8), has failed to mention a few more situations the elderly face. Parents are tossed among their children in their old age. In some houses, the aged are forced to escort their grandchildren to and from schools. Awareness programmes would be meaningful if they educate senior citizens on being confident and self-reliant. The need of the hour is to impress upon senior citizens that their expectation of a quid pro quo is a myth, but old age is not.
P.M. Gopalan,
Mumbai
What the elderly go through is hardly surprising in a society where the “use-and-throw” culture is rampant. Capitalism has created an individualistic society, where a two-year-old phone or footwear is replaced for losing its shine. It has commodified everything, including people, values and societies, where children means investment and old means obsolete. Even values are seen merely in terms of profit and loss. This is no country for old people anymore.
Anand R. Meshram,
Nagpur
The article represented the plight of senior citizens in modern India, which is against the philosophy of ancient India. We grew up listening to stories of Rama, Shravana and many more. They all had the common trait of dedication towards parents. But the wrong conception of development which most of us have in our minds has omitted our concern for parents.
Arvind Singh Chauhan,
Chamba, Himachal Pradesh
I am a senior citizen. We are ourselves responsible for the state of affairs. Go back in time and think how we trained our children — to be on top of everything. We drove them towards unhealthy competition. It is now payback time.
Aryangat Chandran,
Kochi
Typical middle class parents force their children to study only courses that fetch lucrative jobs, and pressure, even blackmail, them to marry from the ‘right’ community and social strata, drive them to seek monetary success at any cost and take up hobbies that will count on their resume, discourage any social or political engagement other than what will help them in their career, and so on. They do this with the conviction that it is the “best” for the kids. Economically successful children, taught and trained to think of only what is good for them, may find that taking care of aged parents, differently-abled siblings or less well-off friends is not part of the win-win formula to achieve and sustain their picture-perfect lives.
Sreedevi,
Coimbatore
India is in a transitory stage of adopting a western way of life. We cannot turn the clock back however much we may wish for the good old days. Respect for age will vary with factors like economic dependence, family support, etc. Blaming the younger generation is not going to get us any where. The older generation should change tack and be less sentimental and attached to their children. Oriental thinking cannot co-exist with a western way of life. Are we prepared to accept this phenomenal transformation?
Vallioor K. Vydhianathan,
Chennai
