A very simple and genuine thought always arises to me "Why Don't we Celebrate Parents Day Unlike Children's Day or Teachers Day?".
Today while returning back home in the cab, my friend told me about a program telecast on a local channel, it was about people at the old age home and their lives.... she explained me about the fact that there were many old people in the old age home who are neglected by their children and they are just counting days to end their lives.
Before we talk about old age homes, let us slip back into memories of our childhood days...
Friends, just recall your childhood days, I am sure you would have plenty of sweet memories to share, the joy, happiness, love, friends, clothes, toys ... wait.. wait... wait.. Did we miss something??? Think again.. Yes indeed we miss to mention our parents love, their struggle to give a good education to us, their sacrifice to give us good clothes and food..their forgiveness when we lie at them, score poor marks in tests or exams, forged the marks card, their happiness when we won a prize or passed the exam in distinction, their joyful tears when we showed our first appointment letter ..and the list goes on and on..
We celebrated Teachers day every year in our school and college days, we used to gift a greeting card to our beloved teacher with a rose. Our Elders says "Mother is the first teacher". Did we ever gift her a greeting card or a rose... poor lady.. neither she expected nor we thought of gifting her..
Lets talk about childerns day. This day used to be one of the special day of our schooling..Coz this is the only day we were allowed to wear color dress.. And we request, cry, beg, demand our parents for new clothes to wear especially on this colorful day.. Did we were thanked our parents who wore the same uniform for more than 30 years working in pvt companies to make our lives colorful??? Never isn't...
Let me share an interesting story with you people, It was last year summer on a bright sunny morning around 11 AM., my wife asked me to take her to a tailor who stays close the school where she used to work. We drove to the destination in our car and she got down near the tailors house..besides the tailor house there was a bakery. It was very hot outside, so I decided to stay in my car..I just happened to peep through the window and an a old man passed through my car went to the bakery.. while on his return he slipped and fell in front of my car.. I was still relaxing in the car while others including the owner of the bakery came to rescue the old man.
They managed to wake him up and gave some water to drink, they also suggested the old man to relax for a while. I was observing from my car, the old man had toren slippers, a stick, broken spectacles and a carry bag, he looked very tired and was not able to get up and go.. I got down from my car to offer the old man to sit in my car and relax for some time. The old man humbly rejected my offer saying... No Thank you Gentleman. Time was 12:30 PM and it was very hot outside, the old man was not able to beat the heat. I again went to the old man and requested him to come and sit in my car, I also told him that I would turn on the AC so that he can relax.. this time even the shopkeepers requested the old man to board my car.
The old man was relaxing in my car and after 5 minutes, my wife returned from the tailor and asked me, who was the old man sitting in her seat, the old man who noticed that my wife had returned was in hurry to get off from my car.. I explained the situation of the old man to my wife and she also supported me and decided to drop the old man at his place.
I asked the old man as to where to drop him, he said that he don't have a home anymore and requested us to drop him at his old age home. I was terribly shocked hearing that, he was aged around 75-80 yrs.
I asked him why he had to stay in old age home, what about his family? The old man replied with a simple smile.. "My dear son, I too had a beautiful family (wife and two sons) once upon a time, after my wife died, everything is only a sweet memory. Situation forced me to ask about his sons.. He continued to wear a simple smile on his face and replied.., I was a Professor at Engineering college, I gave every thing to my children., they got wings and flew away from me. The old man continued his story with tears... everything was fine until my wife was with me, God was not able to withstand our happiness he took her away and soon my destiny changed. My elder son flew to Australia and he is settled there from past 12 years, younger son is in Mumbai, he wants to live independently. This made me and my wife to became speechless and was not able to console the old man...
I offered some water to the old man and after some time asked him "Why don't you go and stay with your elder son in Australia?" As usual he replied with a smile, The Australian Govt do not want sick and old people in their country. They denied my visa, neither my son made an attempt to convince the govt nor he was interested to return to India. He said he would send me money every month and once in 2 years would come and visit me. I asked my younger son what is his stand, he replied, since he was struggling to find a suitable job, its difficult to take care of me, so there was no other option for me rather than staying at old age home. The old man continued to say, I had sold my house for their education and today they have sold me to the old age home.., its been 5 years my elder son has never came to see me, my younger son, just calls me once in 2-3 months and recharges my mobile once in two months... Life has become so miserable for me, today I have only few friends left with me at old age home.By the time we reached the old age home, I advised my wife not to get out of the car, Four of his friends came to help him to get out of my car, they shook their hands with me and blessed me. The old man continued to introduce his friends to me, The scene was so heart touching.., Among his four friends one was blind, second one was dumb, third one was more than 90 yrs old and fourth one was the attender with his left hand broken.
All his four friends were very happy seeing at his friend that he returned safely. I was awestruck seeing at their love and care for each other. I offered help to take the old man to his room., it was horrible scene.., the rooms were so stinky, it was a medium hall and with 4 cots at each corner, there was no proper water facility, no place to keep their dresses., a foul smell coming from all over the room., just couldn't be there more than a minute.Waved my hand to all the inmates and returned back to my car. I was just unable to digest the fact that how do they survive in such places and how can children neglect their parents.. Is it so difficult to provide shelter for the ones who struggled their entire life to give you a better life???
Friends, lets not forget our parents, they do not expect gold, money or any property from us, they just expect your true love and sweet words, which gives them bundle of joy. We all are blessed to have a beautiful family, lets make it more beautiful and lets add meaning to our lives gifted by them.
Each day is a Happy Parents Day!!! when we show Love, care and respect to our parents, no need to celebrate specifically on a particular day..
Today while returning back home in the cab, my friend told me about a program telecast on a local channel, it was about people at the old age home and their lives.... she explained me about the fact that there were many old people in the old age home who are neglected by their children and they are just counting days to end their lives.
Before we talk about old age homes, let us slip back into memories of our childhood days...
Friends, just recall your childhood days, I am sure you would have plenty of sweet memories to share, the joy, happiness, love, friends, clothes, toys ... wait.. wait... wait.. Did we miss something??? Think again.. Yes indeed we miss to mention our parents love, their struggle to give a good education to us, their sacrifice to give us good clothes and food..their forgiveness when we lie at them, score poor marks in tests or exams, forged the marks card, their happiness when we won a prize or passed the exam in distinction, their joyful tears when we showed our first appointment letter ..and the list goes on and on..
We celebrated Teachers day every year in our school and college days, we used to gift a greeting card to our beloved teacher with a rose. Our Elders says "Mother is the first teacher". Did we ever gift her a greeting card or a rose... poor lady.. neither she expected nor we thought of gifting her..
Lets talk about childerns day. This day used to be one of the special day of our schooling..Coz this is the only day we were allowed to wear color dress.. And we request, cry, beg, demand our parents for new clothes to wear especially on this colorful day.. Did we were thanked our parents who wore the same uniform for more than 30 years working in pvt companies to make our lives colorful??? Never isn't...Let me share an interesting story with you people, It was last year summer on a bright sunny morning around 11 AM., my wife asked me to take her to a tailor who stays close the school where she used to work. We drove to the destination in our car and she got down near the tailors house..besides the tailor house there was a bakery. It was very hot outside, so I decided to stay in my car..I just happened to peep through the window and an a old man passed through my car went to the bakery.. while on his return he slipped and fell in front of my car.. I was still relaxing in the car while others including the owner of the bakery came to rescue the old man.
The old man was relaxing in my car and after 5 minutes, my wife returned from the tailor and asked me, who was the old man sitting in her seat, the old man who noticed that my wife had returned was in hurry to get off from my car.. I explained the situation of the old man to my wife and she also supported me and decided to drop the old man at his place.
I asked the old man as to where to drop him, he said that he don't have a home anymore and requested us to drop him at his old age home. I was terribly shocked hearing that, he was aged around 75-80 yrs.
I asked him why he had to stay in old age home, what about his family? The old man replied with a simple smile.. "My dear son, I too had a beautiful family (wife and two sons) once upon a time, after my wife died, everything is only a sweet memory. Situation forced me to ask about his sons.. He continued to wear a simple smile on his face and replied.., I was a Professor at Engineering college, I gave every thing to my children., they got wings and flew away from me. The old man continued his story with tears... everything was fine until my wife was with me, God was not able to withstand our happiness he took her away and soon my destiny changed. My elder son flew to Australia and he is settled there from past 12 years, younger son is in Mumbai, he wants to live independently. This made me and my wife to became speechless and was not able to console the old man...
I offered some water to the old man and after some time asked him "Why don't you go and stay with your elder son in Australia?" As usual he replied with a smile, The Australian Govt do not want sick and old people in their country. They denied my visa, neither my son made an attempt to convince the govt nor he was interested to return to India. He said he would send me money every month and once in 2 years would come and visit me. I asked my younger son what is his stand, he replied, since he was struggling to find a suitable job, its difficult to take care of me, so there was no other option for me rather than staying at old age home. The old man continued to say, I had sold my house for their education and today they have sold me to the old age home.., its been 5 years my elder son has never came to see me, my younger son, just calls me once in 2-3 months and recharges my mobile once in two months... Life has become so miserable for me, today I have only few friends left with me at old age home.By the time we reached the old age home, I advised my wife not to get out of the car, Four of his friends came to help him to get out of my car, they shook their hands with me and blessed me. The old man continued to introduce his friends to me, The scene was so heart touching.., Among his four friends one was blind, second one was dumb, third one was more than 90 yrs old and fourth one was the attender with his left hand broken.
Friends, lets not forget our parents, they do not expect gold, money or any property from us, they just expect your true love and sweet words, which gives them bundle of joy. We all are blessed to have a beautiful family, lets make it more beautiful and lets add meaning to our lives gifted by them.
Its all a matter of taking a few minutes away from our busy schedule to realize where we are and who has struggled to bring us to this position. The fame, the power, the lights Blinded us to the extent that we have fogotten the people who love us more than life. Friends reading this article please pass this on to all you know so that we can try and do our part in this busy world.
ReplyDeletehey Ramesh - heart touching post.. never knew you had this kind of an experience..
ReplyDeleteIt is not shocking...because this is the hard hitting reality.. and it is more churning when you see it around you..
thanks Ramesh.. this post encourages my thoughts and decisions to be even more stronger.
This is truly an eye opening post... how many of us really thank our parents, or thank God for giving us such a lovely parents - who are so selfless and always wanting to see their children happy! They do what not to make their kids happy...
ReplyDeleteA similar incident popped out of my mind while I was reading this, was when I saw a old women probably in her 90's in a crowded bus, holding a bag... where there were really no one to offer her a seat n when questioned why she was travelling in the bus, instead why not prefer an auto-rickshaw, she said, "My son only gives money for my bus ticket and my health check ups, if I spend more for my travel, I would not be able to buy medicines" was taken aback on hearing this, and later I learnt that her son was really doing well, he was working as a manager in SBI...
I really don't understand why people hesitate to take care of their parents, do they forget the struggle their parents had to bring them up...
I strongly recommend you to post this article on facebook
Linda, Nuthan and Pallavi, thanks a ton for ur comments. It provokes me to write more such blogs...
ReplyDelete@Pallavi- Let me consider ur suggestion of posting this on FB. Thank you.
No words to describe. Loved it... :)
ReplyDeleteRamesh please post this on FB, no words to describe maga, i strongly recomend tahat we have parents day, is there anything or anyways that we can help such people pass on the adress to me will help in anyways i can, even going to an extent to talk to their sons and daughters, try and change their mindset and convey them what they have done is wrong and the same might happen to them from their sons and daughters!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteFirstly, thanks to your parents who have brought up a well cultured kid who understands and respects the feelings of elderly people who have been forgotten and left out by their dear and near ones.
ReplyDeleteOur nation is so busy in growing in all aspects however somewhere we all are busy with our daily mundane work and very less time to think about our parents and their feelings.
Whatever we are today is because of them. They have struggled their life to provide us best possible things so that we can lead a wonderful life. Still we tend to forget their hard work and keep ourself busy on fulfilling our dreams. In this process, we even forget that we too will grow old shortly and have to go through the same path as they are now.
This is an awesome blog which draws attention to the humanitarian part of life and makes every individual think like a human being and start understanding the elders. God bless you and help you in writing more of similar blogs which can cultivate good feelings in the younger generations.