THE BUSINESS OF EDUCATION - International Indian

[ FROM USA ]
Seniors
Rock On
“It’s a frightening scenario to anyone approaching
the sixties. And very soon a mass of boomers will
be nearing retirement. All they ask for is to enjoy
retirement in a secure and supportive community.
Unfortunately, most senior Indian immigrants do not
even address issues and problems as they hate to take
advantage of counselling, since this may spotlight their
family, and prefer to suffer without any outside help or
intervention.’’
Prativad Narasimhan with Prem Kishore
[ By PREM KISHORE ]
I
was eight years old. One afternoon
during lunch break in school, my friends
and I were huddled under a tree, ranting
about the strict math teacher, when a group
of older students passed by. There was a
reverential hush. They were our “Seniors”
and we were in total awe of this species. Was
it their seniority in age, wisdom, intelligence,
size? Whatever the reason, seniors were a
special breed. And this intense worship of
the seniors continued till I became a senior
prefect and passed by a gaggle of adoring
students, my head in the air, basking in a
state of euphoria.
Decades later, I am in the USA. Youth not
seniority, I discover, is worshipped. Seniors
are called “old geezers”. They are belittled,
demeaned, denigrated, scorned on TV and
talk shows. Tasteless quips label retirement
communities as God’s Waiting Room. Comedy
routines revel in absurd negative images
of the elderly. The young are uncomfortable
with an aging population. Being old is a liability.
Women TV anchors and reporters,
are hustled out as soon as they reach forty.
There are radio stations in Los Angeles who
do not take calls from seniors as they do not
want young, hep, hip listeners to be put off by
an old voice on the air. TV shows and magazines
promote the young, body ad nauseum.
Ads flaunt beautiful young people. There are
some ads where seniors appear but all they
do is promote a laxative, an anti depressant, a
tranquilizer or health insurance.
Seniors should be defined as “classic” old
wine, old monuments, old trees, old cars, antiques
are all cherished, so why not people?
These objects are admired and appreciated
precisely for their oldness, their increased
beauty and the memories they contain. Seniors
do not shut down as they grow older.
Sure, some may be pernickety, conservative,
stubborn and impatient. Today’s seniors are
curious, alert, eager to experience every nuance
of life. Most seniors are getting onto
treadmills, hiking, volunteering, taking pilate
and tai chi classes, volunteering and demanding
to be recognized as a valuable asset
to family and community. My aunt Beulah
Souri who is 96, and lives in Seattle with
her neurosurgeon son, has the sharpest of
minds, reads the newspaper, watches TV, and
quotes from Keats and Shakespeare (she was
an English lecturer in India), sings hymns
for half an hour every day, and was cooking
a pilaf when I called her this morning.
Though a little hard of hearing, she has a
walker but has an amazing memory for
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THE INTERNATIONAL INDIAN