taking care of your parents...

Went to an old age home recently... seeing all those people there brought tears to my eyes. even though i couldn't understand their language but no words were required to understand the pain they were going through at being abandoned, the hurt they felt when their own children turned them out of their own homes, the hopelessness they felt at their situation, the lack of trust in everyone, and the loss of their faith in human kindness...

All these people are well educated...the children who have left them and the parents who have been left. one of them was an IAS officer. another one had kids who were doctors. someone else's kids were engineers. all these so-called children had put up their parents in an old age home because they are too busy to take care of them. what kind of an ideology is that? you dont put your kids in an orphanage because taking care of one is time consuming?! the parents whose entire life revolves around making the future of their kids secure become a burden all of a sudden? i couldn't help but wonder what is the use of such education, such ambitions if it makes you so inhuman that you turn those people who made you what you are today, out of your life? how can you leave those people who taught you to take your first step when they are probably taking their last...

who can you trust if you can't trust your own kids? what is the point of sacrificing everything for your kids when in your hour of need they will just throw you out? Some people had also gone to the extent of usurping their mother's property after the father died! what will you gain by turning your elderly mother out of her own home, that she had taken years of pain to create? will that money be any useful?

Like a christmas present, they take their parents home during festivals and holidays and think that their duty is performed... they think that they have put them in a house with all the facilities, well almost all, they pay the rent for that place... that ought to be enough but is it? do you think in their old age, when they know they have only a couple of years to live, they would care about the materialistic things? they don't, they just need some of your time, just a word or two enquiring about their health... they just want to be around their children and their grand children! but who understands that?! even though they have the prospect of dying all alone without their family by their side still i am sure all those parents would only have blessings to offer their children. such is the unconditional love of a mother and a father for her child.

I don't know how much difference would this make, but every small step counts... i can't stop people putting their parents in an old age home but i will try and visit them as much as i can. you might not be thinking of turning your parents out on the roads but you might be neglecting them. if you are reading this then i request you to kindly spend time with your parents and grandparents before it is too late... also, if you can find some time from your busy schedule, do visit one home... you will be as moved as i am.  if you have any other concrete suggestions, do drop in a mail or post a comment.