Age-old problems scuttle seniors' live-in dreams
AHMEDABAD: Live-in is in with the seniors, but only as an aspiration! The live-in mela for senior citizens that was held in Ahmedabad on November 20, 2011 had created a lot of buzz with nearly 400 grandpas and grandmas looking for a partner in the dusk of their lives. Over 400 silvers - 300 men and 100 women over 50 year of agehad descended upon the city from all over the country to take part in the first-ever public function held to help seniors find live in partners. Nearly 200 men had to be turned away from the venue as the hall was choc-a-bloc and there was no further room. Seven couples committed on the spot.
Four-odd months later, only two of the couples have actually started living together. Ironically, after finding each other on a public platform, both want to remain anonymous. The couples cite social reasons not to disclose the fact that there are staying together without getting into the complications of marriage!
A 55-year old woman and 62-year old Patel man have started staying together in Himmatnagar. They entered into a pre-live-in agreement where the woman would get a monthly cheque of Rs 8,000. Meanwhile, a 48-year old Punjabi woman has signed live-in agreement with 65-year old Vadodara based man.
"The rest backed out for different reasons. One gentleman went out with the lady to watch movies, eat and later when she dropped him at the airport, he called me saying the woman was fat! In other cases, men did not want to shoulder the responsibility of children of the women fearing they will want a stake in property. Society wants change but it will take more time for people to selflessly embrace change without falling prey to conditions", says Natubhai Patel of Vina Mulya Amulya Sewa, the organizer of the mela, rather candidly.
Interestingly, the low success ratio has not proved a dampener for the organizers. On the contrary, VMAS has piqued interest of seniors all over India and has gone national holding similar melas in different parts of the country!
"We have held senior citizen meetings to find partners in Chattisgarh and Bhopal in February. Next meet to find live-in partners in Rajkot is scheduled on April 15 and in Kolkata on April 29. There after, we have got invites from senior citizen clubs in Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai and Pune where meets will be planned later in the year", says Natubhai Pate
V.RAGHAVENDRA RAO,
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