Old age is a bonus or a curse? Depends who you are and where you are placed. By the way is it really worth-living at a ripe and helpless age?
Look at Anne DeAngelis who, originally a resident of Sicily (Italy) but now settled in the Holiday City Carefree in Toms River township in New Jersey State of USA, is living alone, after her husband's death six years ago, with her only companions, namely, her piano and her dog Chico, although she has been blessed with four children, nine grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. Unable to drive the car herself she is prepared to entertain other seniors on piano every Monday and tries to meet her fellow country persons speaking Italian once in a month and revive the language in the vicinity. A fellow resident (84 yrs) helps her with food shopping once in a while.
The Toms River Times of September 8, 2010 carries a 'Featured Letter' from Yeranuhi Gidikoglu of Ocean Gate with a caption "Governor's Cuts Put All Seniors In Same Boat". It refers to two more seniors in a similar predicament and virtually living on a Social Security of $602 without property tax rebate ($3668) and unable to meet expenses on home insurance, sewer, water, car insurance, telephone, electricity , gas etc. This is the state of affairs in a developed nation like USA. What about India? Leave alone the people living below the poverty line who have been served with lip sympathy with name-sake cash doles by the rulers of the day, even the salaried and pension-receiving seniors are going to get a similar treatment very soon with life expectancy going higher and higher these days.
Unless a massive program is taken up and paid old age homes are set up soon , things are going to take a very bad shape and put the whole nation into shame.
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