By Vandana Shukla

COME Wednesday and a frail gloomy figure is seen moving around Lajpat Rai Bhavan with the zeal of a missionary. He is 74-year-old Col J.C. Kapoor (retired). He uses the Red Cross ambulance to pick up senior citizens from their homes for their medical check-up.

The honorary medical consultant at the Senior Citizens Health Care Centre, Dr (Brig) M.L. Kataria, is agile, alert and committed at the age of 77. He takes care of eight health projects in a week that provides only seven days. Hopping between various slums in and around the city to the Institute for the Blind and then the senior citizens’ centre, he often uses a mobile dispensary with diagnostic facilities. Dr Kataria is never seen tired or complaining.

Then there is the charming old couple — Tara and her husband J.C. Malhotra — and a host of 200-odd senior citizens who assemble on the last Monday of each month and have a celebration. The group conducts competitions in gappbazi, jokes and organises excursions and picnics. At these get-togethers, they get an opportunity to share their problems, experiences and memories. The birthdays that have fallen in the month are also celebrated with a cake, candles, birthday wishes and cards and a collective wish to live long!

The advanced medical science can provide longevity to those who can afford it. But, with the growing commercial considerations of society that forces women to work coupled with the disintegration of the joint family system, the old generation faces a dilemma. If the children are doing well, they often migrate to other places, and do their bit by sending drafts and cheques to their aged parents. And if they are not doing well, they are not in a position to help. In any case,

the old are left alone and with the choice of either spending their remaining years complaining and grumbling or organising themselves and becoming self-reliant.

Seeing the growing population of the elderly (by the 1991 census, we had 56 million old people who are expected to grow into 71 million by the year 2001. In Chandigarh the population of the old is growing by 10 per cent) the Servants of the People Society conducted seminars and workshops on retirement management and retirement planning way back in 1990-91.

In 1990, the Senior Citizens Health Care Centre was established to cater to the growing medical needs of the increasing number of the aged. Brigadier Kataria, who was already serving at Sewa Dham, extended his services to the centre. Other dedicated social workers joined him and a team of retired people became active, serving the older in need of help.

The centre, which started with few resources and facilities, gradually generated funds through its beneficiaries. Today, it boasts of a full-fledged geriatric clinic, a pathological laboratory where around 100 tests can be conducted and a physiotherapy unit with facilities for ECG and X-ray etc. Onkar Chand, secretary of the Servants of the People Society says: "When this service was started, many people had objected to it. They said what was the need to cater to well-to-do people. Now we are running eight projects in the slums with the money and the services rendered by these very people. We, the old, received so much from society throughout our lives, now it is time to repay." Believing in this philosophy, many more have joined him in the endeavour to provide service to rich and poor, young and old.

Today with Rs 15 lakh in the kitty which has come to them largely through donations from the members and through other philanthropic organisations, the centre has started free medical service for more than 500 children living in the slums and rural areas around Chandigarh. Dr Kataria and his team move around in their mobile dispensary fitted with facilities for lab test, X-ray etc. Each day they have a different destination — Indira Labour Colony, Rajiv Labour Colony, Moli Jagran, Daddu Majra, Karsan, Ram Darbar, Maloya, Balapur, the Institute for the Blind and the list keeps increasing.

Conducting the check-up of a 90-year-old retired General, Dr Kataria said: "There is frustration from many sides. Apart from the usual family and health problems, there is a terrible loneliness at the age when one has nothing else to wait for except death. And death is not easy". The centre endeavours to make this waiting a little more easy and comfortable. Bahar Singh, a retired officer from Punjab Bhavan, mentions "Half my pains vanish just by Dr Kataria’s soothing talk." Prabhaji, a retired nurse wonders, "Without him what would we do?"

To earn this respect and trust, the team has put in a great deal of selfless, hard work. Col J.C. Kapoor, Col M.S. Alagh, Major A.S. Baidwan, S.S. Mann, B.R. Pahuja and B.S. Walia to name a few, have been doing this imperceptible work in a dedicated manner. When they started the health services at Khudda Ali Sher, they realised no amount of medicine was going to help the malnourished children. Since then the centre has been running a Panjiri langar. A mixture of roasted gram flour, wheat flour and sugar is distributed to the children. This has brought a visible change in the health of these children.

These so-called retired people are always on their toes to sustain the centre and its extended projects. Colonel Kapoor says "After thoroughly testing us for five continuous years, Helpage India offered us Rs 2 lakh." Ambulances have been provided by the state unit of the Red Cross. The 1200 life members of the centre pay Rs 300 as life membership fee to get free medicare for a lifetime that includes biannual check-ups. Complete health records and files are maintained by the volunteers.

Yet, says Colonel Kapoor, "Iam very clear about the motto of my service. If you give Rs 5 to a beggar, you make him a beggar for the rest of his life, but if you give him work, you give him self-respect. I believe the old need to live with self respect." Pained by his mother’s helplessness when she suffered a paralytic stroke, he took it upon himself to do something concrete to help the old. The moment there is a call for help, he rushes to help, forgetting his own age. Apart from taking care of the medical needs of the old, he has taken upon himself the task of sharing their loneliness by regularly visiting them in the evenings. Though he has many tales of human cruelty to share he tries to bring a ray of a hope in the dismal picture of callousness,. In a shaky voice, he recites:

Mana ki hum zamin ko na gulzar kar sake
Kante to kuch hata diye guzre jidhar se hum.

At the monthly meetings, the volunteers share information collected through different sources about expert medical help. They even invite medical experts to inform the members about various ailments related to old age. The meeting that I attended was addressed by Dr Jolly on Alzhemier’s disease. The members were asked to fill in a questionnaire. They were also given information about the free ambulance service with a telephone contact number to be used in the case of emergency. A participant recited a poem at the get-together.

Dost Lagghuramm ke jawan
Char beton ke
Draft aaye hain
America, Kuwait, Canada, Iran se
"Aleel bala aap hain
Khayal rakhna apna"
Sab mein ek hi ebadat hai.

"Friend Laghuram has received drafts from his four young sons. All the letters have the same message" Father, you are old, take care of yourself.)

Another member stood up, saying," We all know the truth, but we are here to enjoy. Let’s think positive." Same emotions were echoed by Bhupinder Singh from Mohali who sings Sehgal’s songs in a lilting voice." I come here to feel at home. This is away from the modern chaos. I sing, this is my way of a serving my brothers — by entertaining them, giving them a taste of nostalgia."

Perhaps they have a message, a strong message for the worried sociologists. The state with the highest literacy rate, Kerala, is planning to start day-care centres for the old in line with the day-care centres of children. If these people can write new scripts of success in their seventies, the day is not far when they will launch day-care centres for other sections of society. The only essential requirement for writing this script is a sense of self-respect and commitment to values.