Pune: A heart-warming initiative by organisations offering support to the elderly is bringing together the wisdom of super senior members and energy of their young volunteers , creating a beautiful tapestry of shared experiences. The services provide enthusiastic support of youngsters accompanying elderly to their old haunts , be it their favourite theatre or the park where they stole their first kiss. Prakash Ratnaparkhi, an octogenarian who loves to indulge in idli-sambhar at Wadeshwar restaurant on Fergusson College Road, found a friend in his ‘saathi mitra’ (helper) to hang out at his old haunts.
Speaking on his behalf, his partner Sandhya Devarukhar said, “When I was approached by a service that offered paid help for the elderly, I told them that apart from medical assistance, the biggest problem faced by senior citizens is lack of socialisation. I was sceptical about how a college-going boy would jell with us, but I was pleasantly surprised with the rapport he formed with us.” She added, “Prakash would insist that the saathi mitra call him ‘sir’, but he wormed his way into our hearts and kept referring to him as ‘kaka’.
The helper would take Prakash to his favourite restaurants. We would insist that we pay the bill, but he wanted to pay his own share.” Ankur Joshi, a saathi mitra from Aashwast Services for Seniors, said that he loves spending time with such super seniors , teaching them how to use smartphones and various apps.
“I grew up having a close relationship with my grandparents. While I work in the IT sector, I volunteer my time helping senior citizens cope with the digitised world. Sometimes, I get a call for an emergency, and upon reaching I find that it is something as trivial as updating a bank passbook.
But for the seniors, it is an emergency, even if we don’t perceive it to be so. We have to understand that the world they lived in has changed so rapidly that they need help to grasp things. I love listening to them talk about their own world, an era before I was born and all the romanticism it represented.
” Shweta Kulkarni, a resident of Kothrud, hired one such service for her 81-year-old grandparents. “After a thorough research, I signed up for a service to help my grandparents around their house. While they were sceptical of the whole arrangement at first, I found them bonding like buddies over a game of antakshari after a week.
My grandfather used to work in the film industry, so he has many stories to tell. Nowadays, even if they don’t need any help with anything, they will make tea and wait for the assistant to come at 4 pm for a good ‘guppa’ session that will inevitably wind up with a walk to the nearby park.” Rahul Gaikwad, a 20-year-old college student, who works with a senior care service provider in the city, said, “An 80-year-old client introduced me to theatre.
I used to take him to a show every now and then, and he used to talk about how the theatre scene in Pune was in the 60s.” “Whether one is seven or seventy, everyone needs a friend. The clients want to talk about their lives, express their opinions, and listen to what you have to say.
Sometimes I have got sage advice from my clients on matters of the heart, other times they have given me tips on how to avoid a hangover after partying. The notion that they are old-fashioned is wrong. They’re a treasure trove of knowledge and are willing to share it with us,” he added.
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