As we enter one of the houses, a poster of Mother Teresa greets us; the place is scrupulously clean and two old ladies are sitting on the sofas in the hall. One among them was a freedom fighter, Mr. Mohan, the manager of the old age home tells us; she used to stick nationalistic posters from a horse back for the freedom struggle, she refuses to take the freedom fighter’s pension even to this day, arguing that she fought for her country not for money. She is eager to speak to us and asks us some questions, but her hearing aid has gone for repair and she can hardly make out our answers, she complains to Mohan about it twice or thrice, disappointment evident in her voice.
OmAshram
The house is a 3 BHK with eight occupants, a nurse and the cooking staff, we are showed around the place but most of the inmates are sleeping. We walk towards the second house, as we enter the house we hear people cheering, the India Aus. match is going on and Australia have just had a run out. This house is a 2 BHK with around 10 occupants; some of them are well over 90.
We sit in the hall which has four beds arranged in a line, three old ladies are sleeping on the beds, there is a poster on the wall with a picture of a mother holding her baby tightly to her bosom, ‘Mother’s Love’ the poster declares, what an irony, I think, to have this poster in an old age home. We start talking to Lawyer Uncle,who has been living in the Ashram for past one year now, he is the youngest of the lot he tells us and we burst out laughing.
His heart is very weak he says, having suffered heart attacks thrice, hospitals had given up on him, but then he came to the Ashram and the Doctor couple that frequents the Ashram treated him. He has been on alternate medicine called Kellison since then, the medical facilities in the Ashram are excellent he tells us, “If you need a minor operation the Doctors will come and operate you right here.”, he says pointing to a bed. The idea of an operation taking place in this very room scares me.
Lawyer Uncle, ever cheerful.(though he looks a bit serious in the pic.)
Lawyer Uncle had his one leg amputated due to the uncontrollable growth of gangrene, but that hasn’t dampened his spirit a wee bit. He laughs as he tells us about his operation; his experience wasn’t all that good but there is no bitterness in his voice. Another lady who had been sleeping all along gets up; she was completely paralyzed we are told, not even able to speak, in the words of Lawyer uncle “Like a piece of vegetable.” But now she even manages to take bath on her own, the doctors had specified a massage routine for her and some exercises.
She was a TV serial addict it seems, but they don’t allow her to watch serials any more, watch anything they tell her, Discovery, News even WWF anything but the serials, they’ve experienced everything in their life, serials offer them nothing new. As the talk moves to serials, Lawyer Uncle says that a serial could very well be based on the Ashram, there are so many stories here, so many experiences that will leave you shocked, a whole world resides in the Ashram he says. He tells us about another inmate who is 97 year old, but still she is so spirited that she wants to bring her daughter, who is 75 years old, to the Ashram and look after her, me and Janani are humbled.
Auntie can even eat on her own now
We keep talking thus, laughing and chatting and we don’t realize that we’ve already been talking for more than an hour. It's lunchtime and they invite us to have lunch with them, but both Janani and me have had a late breakfast, and so we politely refuse. The nurses give them food, Lawyer Uncle says that they are very strict about food, he points to the nurse and says, “She hits me sometimes if I don’t eat food, which is absolutely necessary.” I realize now that they’ve found loving and caring people here in the Ashram; the Ashram is like a big joint family with facilities similar to a hospital. As we make to go, thanking everyone for talking to us, Lawyer Uncle asks us to visit again, bring your friends along, he says, they’ll enjoy it here, we’ll play cards and chess. Strange though it is, a visit to an old age home might not always be depressing, as we know now after having thoroughly enjoyed our visit to OmAshram.
P.S.- Do get in touch with OmAshram if you want to help in any way or just want to visit the place, their number is +91-80-26581682.
