Reverence to relegation: the plight of the elderly in the Indian diaspora

IT IS SIGNIFICANT that the topic under discussion at the Indo Caribbean Cultural Centre this week has been about family responsibility for the elderly in the Indian diaspora. Speakers from Trinidad, Guyana, New Zealand and South Africa participated in this important think-tank. Each discussed how the landscape is rapidly changing to the detriment of society.

- DR DEVI RAJAB

There is a widely held perception among non-Indians that members of the Indian community, among other attributes, hold their aged in high esteem. Indeed there are strong elements of truth in this perception. In the past we traditionally displayed reverence for the aged by genuflecting at their feet, asking for their blessings, and valuing their good counsel.

No wedding ceremony could begin without their blessings.

In the old Buddhist tradition, the presence of an elder in the family home was regarded as being a blessing in itself. T recall the days when we would fight to have a grandparent of the family reside with us thus designating that home in the larger family structure as being the most important one where all the family functions would occur. However, the times have changed dramatically and with it the status and treatment of our ageing parents.

There have been several incidents in the Indian community recently that have alerted us to the realisation that there is widespread abuse of our aged. Anecdotal evidence is growing by the day confirming our suspicions that all is not well in a community that was once held in high esteem.

ANECDOTAL evidence is growing by the day confirming our suspicions that all is not well in a community that was once held in high esteem.

Today it is fast becoming a universal trend to regard the aged as a problem, so much so that we allocate a period of time to acknowledge their presence among us in the form of a national or international week of the aged. How sad is it that we now should relegate our parents and grandparents to an obligation to be fulfilled in such a mechanistic way.

Like everywhere else in the world, India behind its fagade of strong family ties is beginning to crumble under the rising number of elderly people, who are unwanted by their children and we are no exception to this in South Africa.