20 Feb 2018 | 06:06am IST
When senior citizens take the stage
The Mustard Seed Art Company are back with their biannual plays, this time touching on the sensitive theme of the treatment of senior citizens. ‘When the Day was Young’ will be performed this week in Margao and Panjim, as Isabel Santa Rita Vaz makes Goa introspect about how it treats its elders
How often does one visit a home for the aged or
spend time with the elderly? Maybe once a
year, when an organisation decides to schedule a visit on a special occasion
like Christmas? For the rest of the year, this section of society is forgotten,
sometimes even by their families. It is really saddening, especially to see
grandparents living a life of loneliness, even when their own homes are
bursting with laughter and life. Most of them have slogged their lives away for
the very children who have abandoned them.
Isabel Santa Rita Vaz’s latest directorial, ‘When the Day was
Young’ is a short original play by The Mustard Seed Art Company that shines a
light on the figures of old people who wish to retire, albeit in a colourful
and light-hearted way. The script is written by Isabel and the cast includes
Karishma Alvares, Marisse Bhobe, Suvarna Bandekar, Melanie Garreth, Kiran
Bhandari and Aryan Bhobe. ‘When the Day Was Young’ will be performed at Gomant
Vidya Niketan, Margao on February 24, 2018 at 6pm and at Sunaparanta Panjim, in
collaboration with Sunaparanta and V. M. S Institute Of International
Hospitality Education on February 26 at 6:45pm.
In its 31st year, this is the 66th production by the Mustard
Seed Art Company that always brings thought-provoking themes on stage through
their plays, which lead to self realisation. The troupe comprises an enthusiast
group of artistes that get together to create drama, music, song and dance. The
performance will also include singing and dancing by eight dancers at the end
of the play.
“This theme has interested me for a very long time. The teachers
from Dhempe College, Miramar had done a project, visiting the homes for the
aged and had written a report on their findings and the theme has been in my
mind ever since.
“The play is light and we made it funny. Senior citizens are
living in institutions that are not homes at all. The buildings are clean but
nothing more than that. They are regulated with the basics and very little
freedom. Most of them are living in dormitories and not private rooms. The
homes run by the state are really saddening as society doesn’t interact with
them. Some groups visit to sing Christmas carols for them during the festive
season and then they are forgotten for the whole year,” says Isabel, as the
cast starts rehearsing around her.
She adds, “It is equally true that the population of the elderly
in India receive far less attention than they require and deserve for their
contribution to society. Very recently, as reported in the national and local
press, a bench of the Supreme Court has regretted that states and union
territories, including Goa, are not concerned about the aged. Senior citizens,
especially those who are poor, have rights that must be protected. This is
something that receives little or no attention. In the West, younger people
interact with the elderly quite often, offering them services like
physiotherapy, storytelling sessions, taking them out for movies and visits to
the park. That doesn’t happen here.”
In the past week, in Goa, Provedoria took note of the need to
sensitise young people to the needs of the elderly. Direction needs to be given
to all concerned to maintain and operate such homes with adequate standards to
enable the elderly to live their lives with dignity and in accordance with
Section 19 of the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act,
2007.
“Many
of the inmates in these homes say that their children have dumped them in these
cold places that do not feel like home. There should be facilities like day
care centres for senior citizens so that they can spend the day there but
return home to sleep and spend time with their families. Another alternative
can be retirement homes, which is happening abroad, where the senior citizens
book an apartment in an entire community that has a doctor, social worker and
even a priest for their needs,” she explains
