Silver Generation Group

What do you do post retirement? Whether you give in to the monotony of retired life or develop new connections and stay active is completely your choice. Nidhi Chawla recently met a group of exuberant senior citizens who chose to do the latter.

The Silver Generation Group (SGG) at Raheja Residency apartments in Koramangala, Bangalore, is a group of vibrant individuals who not only socialise once every month but are pillars of strength for each other, as many of them stay alone and away from their children. A brain child of Mr. Y.V. Pai and actively supported by Mrs. Vijaya Neelakantan as the coordinator, the group is now more than five years old and is 83 members strong. The group meets formally, every first Wednesday of the month and informally, every day. Silver Talkies met them on one such Wednesday.

A monthly meeting in progress

Mr. Pai and Mrs. Neelakantan chairing the meeting

Attended by approximately 50 members on a regular basis, the monthly get together starts off with some snacks and coffee. Every month the group has a guest speaker, talking to them about diverse topics ranging from medical and legal issues to even volcanoes! This is also the forum where birthdays of the month are celebrated, updates/ new happenings shared and also in-house talent showcased. The group has its in-house Carom team, comprising largely of women who even have friendly competitive matches amongst themselves. SGG members also take various local and outside trips together, which the vivacious Mrs. Neelakantan very responsibly organizes. She is currently working on a trip to China during April/ May this year. The seniors have already been to Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Malaysia and Sri Lanka.

The Carom team at play

SGG at a recent trip to Lepakshi

However, the activities of this group are not restricted to fun and frolic only. One of their objective statements says ?To use residual potential for the good of the community?. In line with this objective, the group is also the giving arm of Raheja Residency, conducting blood donation camps twice a year and also running the Cloth-a-Child program wherein old and serviceable clothes are collected from different homes and distributed to the needy in the outskirts of Bangalore. The group is also always on the forefront of awareness campaigns conducted in the apartment complex, be it the Waste management campaign or the Smart Vote campaign, encouraging people to vote. Mr. Pai has forms available for eye or cadaver donation for those who may be willing to make the pledge.

?But not everything is easy,? Mrs. Neelakantan points out. ?Women in our group are more active and interactive. It is sometimes a challenge to get the seniors step out of their cocoons and mingle with a larger group and also to find common interest areas?. Ideas like Antakshari and chess have not generated much interest. The group recently mooted a ?Live in companion? program at the suggestion of some lonely seniors but it too has not found any takers so far for lack of courage to take the leap.

Staying alone has not been a hindrance for many of these seniors as they have identified their own mechanism to deal with emergencies, if any. The model relies heavily on personal camaraderie as the seniors staying alone have identified one or two fellow residents they can trust to have anytime access to their homes. Also information like blood group, current medication, allergies, doctor?s name and telephone number, name and telephone number of the person to be contacted in case of an emergency is displayed prominently in the house. The group has also tied up with St. John?s hospital for priority service.

Open only to residents of Raheja Residency, seniors can enrol for just Rs. 500 as the annual fee.

With so many good things happening at SGG, it can be a role model for many seniors living in apartment communities. With a little bit of initiative and organization they can all lead healthy lives, with friends around. As we wind up, Mr. Pai points me to a poem by Lin Yutang that will touch a chord with many seniors.

I like spring, but it is too young.

I like summer, but it is too proud.

So I like best of all autumn, because its leaves are a

little yellow, its tone mellower, its colors richer,

and it is tinged a little with sorrow.

Its golden richness speaks not of the

innocence of spring, nor the power of summer,

but of the mellowness and kindly wisdom of approaching age.

It knows the limitations of life and its content.

-      Lin Yutang