Stop the cancer ravaging the spirit of ageing parents

ONCE YOUR PRESENCE WAS SACRED, NOW IT'S TOLERATED

- YOGIN DEVAN

THE writer says some parents are forgotten in the rush of their children's ambition.

(AMRIT DEV, Pexels.com)

DAILY my phone buzzes with home remedies extolling turmeric for inflammation, honey for sore throats, and ginger for digestion.

Also, just about every spice, fruit and vegetable - from garlic and black cumin to green tea, cauliflower and strawberries - is widely promoted as both a curative and preventive agent against cancer.

Then there are WhatsApp videos that speak to another kind of cancer - the type that no amount of lemon juice, coconut oil or sugar elimination can help.

This is the cancer that is eating into every cell of countless mothers and fathers who feel like fading shadows in the lives of their own children.

And when the parents eventually succumb to the cancer caused by broken hearts, there are so many WhatsApp videos that recount the haunting phenomenon of children who once distanced themselves from their parents, returning only in death's wake.

At the funeral, a faded letter, a cherished keepsake or even a front seat ride in a Rolls Royce hearse, pierces through years of silence, stirring guilt, grief and longing. These moments often reveal the depth of unresolved love, reminding the children of what was lost and what was never said.

Jagadish "Jaggi" Vasudev, the Indian yogi, mystic and author also known as Sadhguru who established the Isha Foundation in Coimbatore, South India, recently joined many others in pointing out the growing disconnect between parents and children.

He said in his video that when parents felt irrelevant in their lives of their children, it was often because they had built their identities around being needed. For years, they've been the centre of their child's world, providing care, guidance and emotional support.