Old Age Homes

With the joint family system gradually decreasing in many parts of the world, nuclear set up has become the new trend. The toughest of tolls take on old aged people when families split.Not only this, but some children due to unemployment go to foreign countries in order to seek jobs and are settled there, leaving their old parents alone. And in some cases, the young generation is so busy with the worldly affairs that they treat their parents as unwanted burden.

This is where the need of old age home arises and it acts as a second home for such people.Instead of feeling rejected and being humiliated, old people prefer to live in old age homes with dignity and even company. In almost every state of India, old age homes have been established and is now the need of hour. A sixty years old women was found living in the midst of a chute surrounded by garbage.She has been abandoned by her lone son, and is now living in Gurukul old age home un Gurgaon.

" All my life I have felt like a burden.. a burden on my husband..a burden on my children.. this is the first time ever I feel free..Nature is beautiful..I never imagined that I will get such an opportunity..I am thankful" - says 81 year old Widow mother with teary eyes who right now is living in an old age home in Haridwar.

But the question that remains is that, Can the love from strangers substitute the love that a child can give to his parents? I opine that no love can substitute it and neither should it. Parents pour their everything into loving their children without wanting anything in return. They keep struggling throughout their lives in order to keep the struggles in our life at bay.A mother carries a baby inside her for 9 months and goes through terrible pain but never complains. She works hard all day and night. She gives up on her desires in order to fulfill our desires. A father too leaves no stone unturned for his children. He keeps labouring throughout day to ensure that his family doesn’t sleep empty stomach. Can all this be substituted?No, not at all. Similar is the case with parents, the love and care they’ll get from a child can not be substituted.

Parents are the most selfless creatures ever created and we sometimes wonder how can someone love other person without wanting anything back. In order to comprehend it, we’ll have to be parents.