<p class="bodytext">A large number of elders today experience a physical and emotional disconnect with their families. Challenged by ailments in a world ruled by transience, unable to cope, they are received with impatience and contempt as a hindrance. The final years are a private apocalypse known by the very old who slowly lose the life they knew, now living with “embers left from earlier fires”. The parents who brought us up against all odds, showering love and resources regardless of their own deprivations, are no longer considered important and have shifted to the margins of our lives.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Dogged by the fundamental changes that affect all of us in time, all they require would be concern and care, love and kindness, and a quiet affirmation that we need them. Today, with time at a premium, we are always in a rush to meet deadlines, pandering to irate bosses, clambering up the slippery corporate pole… Of course parents themselves would be happy if their children were aspirational, achieving their goals, but they have the right to expect their offspring to treat them with respect and humanity.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Above all they need to belong, a recognition of all that they had done, the feeling they are still valued and loved and an integral part of our lives and families. Often when children are in affluent circumstances, parents are consigned to retirement homes, albeit with all facilities, and rarely come to visit them. With children in lesser circumstances, parents are a necessary burden to deal with till they finally depart. It is heartrending to note that a large number of elders today are subjected to verbal and physical abuse.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Beyond individuals, governments and institutions need to pitch in, in an age of shifting demographics, to drive awareness programmes and promulgate stricter laws for their agency and protection. Merely setting aside dates in the calendar for ageing without meaningful action is meaningless. One of the Ten Commandments in the Bible says, “Honour thy father and mother.” The Mahabharata is full of examples where elders like Bhishma, Drona, and Vidura are treated with reverence by Krishna and the Pandavas, though they were with the feuding faction. This is <span class="italic">parampara</span>, deeply rooted and carried forward through time. Our offspring might treat us the way we treated our elders. Let it be with love and gratitude.</p>
<p class="bodytext">A large number of elders today experience a physical and emotional disconnect with their families. Challenged by ailments in a world ruled by transience, unable to cope, they are received with impatience and contempt as a hindrance. The final years are a private apocalypse known by the very old who slowly lose the life they knew, now living with “embers left from earlier fires”. The parents who brought us up against all odds, showering love and resources regardless of their own deprivations, are no longer considered important and have shifted to the margins of our lives.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Dogged by the fundamental changes that affect all of us in time, all they require would be concern and care, love and kindness, and a quiet affirmation that we need them. Today, with time at a premium, we are always in a rush to meet deadlines, pandering to irate bosses, clambering up the slippery corporate pole… Of course parents themselves would be happy if their children were aspirational, achieving their goals, but they have the right to expect their offspring to treat them with respect and humanity.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Above all they need to belong, a recognition of all that they had done, the feeling they are still valued and loved and an integral part of our lives and families. Often when children are in affluent circumstances, parents are consigned to retirement homes, albeit with all facilities, and rarely come to visit them. With children in lesser circumstances, parents are a necessary burden to deal with till they finally depart. It is heartrending to note that a large number of elders today are subjected to verbal and physical abuse.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Beyond individuals, governments and institutions need to pitch in, in an age of shifting demographics, to drive awareness programmes and promulgate stricter laws for their agency and protection. Merely setting aside dates in the calendar for ageing without meaningful action is meaningless. One of the Ten Commandments in the Bible says, “Honour thy father and mother.” The Mahabharata is full of examples where elders like Bhishma, Drona, and Vidura are treated with reverence by Krishna and the Pandavas, though they were with the feuding faction. This is <span class="italic">parampara</span>, deeply rooted and carried forward through time. Our offspring might treat us the way we treated our elders. Let it be with love and gratitude.</p>
