Are we turning into monsters?

This might come as a shock to you, but one in every three elderlies (or as high as one in two as per other reports) in India are abused, and in majority of the cases the perpetrator is the son, and the daughter-in-law. In many cases it doesn't end at abuse, and millions of these are abandoned every year.

Read this article at HelpAge India and it will move you to the core.

It dawned on me one fine evening as I was sitting with a friend at the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad and for the first time paid any attention to the loudspeaker broadcasting messages of people lost. On air was the frail voice of an old woman who was asking her son to come and pick her up from the Lost and Found section. Over the next few days I heard many more such messages broadcasted repeatedly - old parents looking for their sons. On further enquirers I realised that it was a common practice for many to bring their parents to Kumbh, and abandon them for good here. Many of the elderlies travel for the first time out of their villages and have no money, and often any idea on going back to their village. Many are often too broken and devastated to even go back. Some find an old age home to live in, while many are forced to beg on the streets for the rest of their lives.



The image shared here is of an old woman I met at Ahmedabad's Sunday market on a hot morning, selling plastic articles. She looked sad to the point that I felt she was crying from within. I don't know if she was abandoned, but she was independent enough to be selling things to make a living. Lots of respect for her...

Travel often shows us beauty of the place and reinforces our belief in mankind, but in many cases it also makes you question what humanity actually is...

Sometimes I wonder if we are turning into monsters?