aging concern

kinder gartens for
omas & opas
are coming

By Kulamarva Balakrishna

Vienna,Saturday, November 17, 2007:We are now discussing on how to care our aging people.As
it is in the developed West,I think excluding the United States there are established standards to take care of the aging by setting up facilities for their residence,boarding,entertainment and
attendance by trained young men and women other than in medical services.The current discussion in Austria,where the aging population makes almost one quarter of the whole of some eight million,the consideration is on how to provide 24 hours a day attention.There are homes for the elderly established in old style, where attending nurses some time ago,felt exhausted and helpless.This led some of them even cruelly but more or less secretly murder some 300 or more inmates.They were caught and meted out with justice all the same.

But a system overhaul is overdue.One school of thought believes the aging should live close to the loving ones.The other school,which accepts the view, points out at the realities of life where the loving ones are forced to live in distance places because of their employment requirements or studies.The mobility on these two counts are being a reality they suggest as social democrats, a public system should engage itself as a social issue to be tackled.This is the background of the discussion now being held to suit the new century we live in.It may be necessary the system should be monitored continuously.

The aging population itself is very self conscious.It likes to be near the loving ones but at the same time remain helpful without infringing on the freedom of younger generations. Such thinking elders like Austrian poetess oma Lotte (short form of Charlotte) Ingrisch,77, demand the inclusion of =death= as an item among the human rights.Others talk of =death help=,meaning terminally suffering with extreme pains may be permitted to depart the world voluntarily with legal medical help.This practice is some what accepted norm in Switzerland,The Netherlands and I think in a single State of the United States.Since in the West there are enough elderly without companions or children.They have to be cared by the public institutions.

It is almost a routine here in Europe to take the elderly groups on walks in the gardens or hills.Into the well kept swimming pools,saunas and steam showers.In the pools themselves there are trained attendants who would guide the elderly easy under water movements of the limbs,helping them regain body balance and stability for living a day today life more pleasantly.These exercises help the aging. But these attendances are now not properly interlinked.That is what being considered for opinion building.

It is very important for us to realize that aging is a phenomena that accompanied us with time as old as life.The Buddha first identified and addressed this problem as he launched his search for enlightenment some two thousand six hundred years ago.The three solutions he found out remain valid even today.a)To recount to recognize the reality, b)to accept the nature and 3)surrender to the society.So we are now compelled make our society to address to the realities.

All aging as a rule taken care of by their younger generation in India.Those who had no younger ones are left unattended even though they have served the young through the society.Many aging have served the society outstandingly well.I like to give an example of my elder friend, who is now in his late eighties.He is an outstanding Indian, a retired journalist.Mr.Shalil Ghosh, who hailed from Rabindra Nath Tagore´s Shanti Niketan now lives in Bombay.He married in Bombay a Christian, Charlotte.She lives no more. After undergoing two abdominal surgeries in her late sixties this great female personality passed away some ten years ago.When she was alive, she looked after blind children under the National Association for the Blind.Left alone suffering from rheumatic arthritis, Shalil, who had mobilized finances for the welfare of East Pakistan refugees and later liberation of Bangla Desh with Maharashtra´s then Governor Ali Yavar Jung, later attended the poor like a dis housed sweeper family of the Reserve Bank of India accommodating the family in his own rented apartment for a long time. Now he is alone. Indian government has found no use for such public spirited retired volunteers of help.Such gentlemen are also proud to seek communal support.It is not the finances. What is lacking is human touch.There may be almost a million people of this kind living unattended in India alone.

I remember reading the late Prof.Sarvepalle Gapal narrating his late father Philosopher and former President of India´s difficult last days. Even with all the attention given to him by his loved ones,he suffered.But people like Shalil Ghosh.Many elderly who had chosen to remain in India when their younger ones chose to go abroad,study and stay put.They are taken care just by domestic servants without any qualifications.India would need to address such problems at least now.

As far as the world is concerned the United Nations has considered the issue of the aging and held a global conference on the agenda some 25 years ago.It commemorates a day for the aging annually.It is bound to review the global concern but national governments, particularly the ones like India aspiring to become permanent members of the governing Security Council of the United Nations should set an example as model nations in social conduct.The developed west is as I said in the headline is toying with the idea of a comprehensive plan for the aging.Let us see who comes out first with what agenda for the elderly in general. (end)