Elderly citizens of India: How do they manage when their children settle abroad? india

Last year I had to temporarily move to a society(mostly owned by NRIs) due to family emergency. One evening my sister and I were having a walk in this new society that we had moved to. We saw an old lady standing outside her house. As we were passing by her, she initiated a conversation. After a few minutes of chat, she started telling about herself. We realised that she was living alone in her house. Her husband had passed away few years ago, and her only son was living abroad. Her son did try to comeback to India. He stayed in India for a year after his father died, but he, his wife and daughter were not able to "fit-in". They were not able to adjust in India. Hence they went back abroad. The old lady stayed back because she was not comfortable with migrating abroad at this age. So she was alone staying in her house since last 3-4 years. She was so eager to talk with us and share here life that we could see that she didn't want us to leave. She invited us for a tea, but we didn't want to trouble her. instead we were talking with her for almost one and a half hour outside her house. We asked her how she spends here day, and she said that instead of hiring a maid she cooks, does washing and cleans the house by herself as that keeps here busy for sometime of the day. Then she chats with random people online (which actually concerned my sister and I); she told that once even a person, with whom she chatted online, came to visit here at home! We asked here how does she manage if she required some medical help, and the reply she gave sent shiver down our spine. She said that she has a family doctor who calls her once every week to enquire, her son calls here once every week, and she has given keys to her house to her neighbours and asked them to knock every morning. And if she does not answer their knock within few minutes, then they should get inside the house. She has written all the instructions (and contact numbers of her son and doctor) on the door of her refrigerator which the neighbour should follow if something happens to her.

So that got us thinking, how do elderly citizens manage in India when their children settle abroad? How do Indians who live abroad take care of their parents back home? Any information would be highly appreciated.

Submitted December 09, 2015 at 02:23PM by vidur_says http://ift.tt/1Y1942P india