Aging Parent as Cost Centre - Returns on investment are hard to come by

Shravan Kumar carried his parents in a basket to every pilgrim site in India. This story, which forms part of the Ramayana, is told by every Indian parent to illustrate what a good child, or rather good son, is supposed to be. But reality is often the opposite. The Takkala Jataka tells the story of the Buddha who at a young age starts digging a grave for his parents, after he observes his father digging a grave for his grandparents, while they are still alive. Of course, the Jataka, like modern soap operas, blames the daughter-in-law for the cruelty of the son.

- Devdutt Pattanaik

Deliberations with Devdutt

Business professionals are also sons. They can be Shravan, who takes care of his parents. Or they can be the one from the Jataka digging the grave in anticipation of a parent's demise. We live in times where the most successful mangers are graduates of engineering and business schools institutes that value measurement over human emotions. And that reflects in how many successful professionals treat their parents at home. 

A CXO made a bonus of several crores and got himself a second multi-crore apartment, but feels having two nurses to take care of his mother, who has dementia, is a waste of money, and negotiates with the agency for one. At business school functions he is invited to share his journey from the north Mumbai chawl to a south Mumbai high-rise. Another CXO is not willing to pay the fees to get a registrar to his house; he would rather force his frail father to go to the overcrowded government office. It is all about efficiency and return on investment. Parents are after all cost centres.