The World Elders' Day celebrations held in the city on Thursday turned out to be a delighted gift to scores of senior citizens, all of them inmates of six homes for the aged functioning across the district.
The highlight of the programme was the honour bestowed on the senior citizens who had seen three generations. The District Collector, Mahesan Kasirajan, honoured all of them. Alagammal, a centenarian, the oldest of all the sixty participants was among those who were honoured. Ms. Alagammal is an inmate of the old age home run by SOPORT NGO at Punganur village.
All the senior citizens took active participation in various events that included memory contest, musical chair, proverbs telling, folk music etc. Special contests were also conducted for the legal heirs of aged people. The pleasure the senior citizens derived got multiplied as they exhibited their talent in the presence of their kith and kin, observed, C. Lakshmi, District Social Welfare Officer.
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Mr. Kasirajan underlined the need for utilising the experiences of senior people. Tracing the circumstances that led the senior citizens settling down in old age homes, he said that this only showed the strain in the traditional joint family system.
He urged the younger generation to follow the footsteps of their elders .
He said that the latest medical developments had considerably improved the average age of the people.
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Grace George, member, state Social Welfare Board, D. Dharmaraja, secretary of the SOPORT, S. Sellappan, member, district committee of senior citizens, Lakshmi, DSWO, and others spoke .
The Collector distributed prizes to the winners of the essay writing competition on the topic ‘role of elders in the overall development of the country' for students. He inaugurated general medical camp.