For long, I have been wondering about how the cities we live in have changed. The one thing that has struck me is that cities have increasingly become ruthless to its old and aged. I see that everyday in the eyes of my mom. She is just about 55 years old but over the last few years, I have increasingly found her to be scared to walk the streets of Bangalore. Earlier, I used to find it amusing and sometimes I also used to reproach her for not trying hard enough.
In sometime, I began to understand what was happening. It was not my mother but how we had chosen to make our cities almost hostile to the aged. I started observing other aged around the streets of Bangalore and realized we had become a restless, hurrying, ruthless population who cared less and less about the world around us.
I noticed old people waiting for many many minutes before they could find the courage to cross roads. Once I noticed an old woman give-up and go back the way she came because she was just unable to cross the road. There are no footpaths on roads. Just 100 mts from my house is the main road and there is no footpath on most of the road, my mom is forced to walk on the road and once when she was out buying groceries, a young man on a bike hit her and sped away. Fortunately, she didn't fall but bruised her arm nevertheless. The young man didn't stop to look; leave along apologize and help. It left a deep fear in my mom's mind about walking on the road. The noise, the speeding vehicles, the uncaring young, the fear of constantly being hit or run over. She now gives us hundreds of excuses about not wanting to go out.
Visits to parks, movies, malls, shopping have all been reduced to doing it at a time when it is ultimately unavoidable for my mom. She does not go into malls because they have no lifts, they have elevators. My mom once fell trying to get onto a elevator. Since then, she refuses to go to malls that don't have lifts. I don't remember the last time I was able to convince my mom to go to a movie hall or walk around the park, which she loved when we were younger.
I have thought about the fact that some of these fears can be overcome with support and encouragement and let me tell you my mom is a very courageous person but its just the apathy and lack of patience amongst the young of today that kills the joy of attempting something new.
For my mom, atleast we are around to support her. I, sometimes wonder about the moms and dads of others whose children are not around!
Are the old being pushed on the brink of thinking the cities are not for them and relegating them to the confines of their homes? Don't they have the right to live a life of dignity and quality with easy access to services? Have we in a Busy-ness forgotten to slow down once in a while and remember that we share this world with our elderly and maybe other species too?
In sometime, I began to understand what was happening. It was not my mother but how we had chosen to make our cities almost hostile to the aged. I started observing other aged around the streets of Bangalore and realized we had become a restless, hurrying, ruthless population who cared less and less about the world around us.
I noticed old people waiting for many many minutes before they could find the courage to cross roads. Once I noticed an old woman give-up and go back the way she came because she was just unable to cross the road. There are no footpaths on roads. Just 100 mts from my house is the main road and there is no footpath on most of the road, my mom is forced to walk on the road and once when she was out buying groceries, a young man on a bike hit her and sped away. Fortunately, she didn't fall but bruised her arm nevertheless. The young man didn't stop to look; leave along apologize and help. It left a deep fear in my mom's mind about walking on the road. The noise, the speeding vehicles, the uncaring young, the fear of constantly being hit or run over. She now gives us hundreds of excuses about not wanting to go out.
Visits to parks, movies, malls, shopping have all been reduced to doing it at a time when it is ultimately unavoidable for my mom. She does not go into malls because they have no lifts, they have elevators. My mom once fell trying to get onto a elevator. Since then, she refuses to go to malls that don't have lifts. I don't remember the last time I was able to convince my mom to go to a movie hall or walk around the park, which she loved when we were younger.
I have thought about the fact that some of these fears can be overcome with support and encouragement and let me tell you my mom is a very courageous person but its just the apathy and lack of patience amongst the young of today that kills the joy of attempting something new.
For my mom, atleast we are around to support her. I, sometimes wonder about the moms and dads of others whose children are not around!
Are the old being pushed on the brink of thinking the cities are not for them and relegating them to the confines of their homes? Don't they have the right to live a life of dignity and quality with easy access to services? Have we in a Busy-ness forgotten to slow down once in a while and remember that we share this world with our elderly and maybe other species too?
No comments:
Post a Comment