Now it’s your turn to adopt a granny

KOLKATA: Esha Chakraborty is ready to spend a summer vacation with a difference. This standard VIII student of Modern High School will meet at least 80 grandmothers and lend her shoulder to their grievances.
As part of the late British Queen Mother’s initiative, Helpage International will sponsor the Adopt A Granny (AAG) project. The programme involves collecting data about the aged in the state.The idea has been borrowed from Swedish school children who used to raise funds for the elderly and helpless.
Esha’s mother Indrani Chakraborty, who runs a research institute on gerontology, is now trying to popularise the movement amongst the school children in West Bengal. The initiative is now on in full swing, with active inputs of research finds.
As a part of the action oriented research, Chakraborty’s institution has been selected by the Centre as the nodal agency to train volunteers on geriatrics.
At present about 30 volunteers from Assam, Nagaland and different districts of West Bengal are being trained on ways to tackle geriatric problems.
“People here become old psychologically after they become septuagenarians. They suffer from trauma and feel that they are no longer needed by society,� said Chakraborty.
To use their expertise and to introduce the concept of ‘productive ageing,’ the institution has opened a cell to tackle the problems of retired people.
Critical of the system of old age homes, Chakraborty actually found in her doctoral thesis that the system did not fit the socio economic set up of the country. “In fact the international conference on gerontology in Singapore rejected the old age segregation concept. Rather they stressed on the traditional family set up,� said Chakraborty.
Chakraborty, popularly known as Boroma in her institution, has already undertaken projects to empower the aged living in homes. About 30 such persons regularly come to the institution and make paper folders which are then sold. “Though they earn meagre amounts of Rs four to five per day, it gives them a moral boost and the wish to live a active life,� said a supervisor of the institution in Bidhannagar.
The project has worked wonders among the lower income groups, as many families decided to take back their parents from old age homes. After working successfully with widows and widowers from lower income groups, Chakraborty is now going to test her project amongst the middle income group.When asked about future plans, Chakraborty said that she wants every aged living in old age homes to go back to their families.