The old-age home at Inchavila, Kollam, is not an island lost in a sea of desolation. There is no smell of disinfectant struggling to mask the stench, no uneasy silence and no signs of neglect. You see a happy bunch, some glued to the huge TV screen and some engaged in an animated chat. But what gives them away is the glint of hope lighting their sunken eyes each time a stranger enters the dorm. It easily dies down, but still they crowd around and ask anxiously “Who do you want to meet?”
Among the 88 residents of the government-run facility, nearly half were left to fend for themselves by their families. Yet, the men and women invariably wait for their dear ones to drop by.
Some are childless, but many others are in a more difficult situation — they have daughters and the sons-in-law are not ready to take up an extra burden. “I have been living here for 17 years and they take good care of us. Have you seen our newly-installed elevator?” asks a resident in her 70s who refuses to talk about her family.
“They said I have a mental problem and it was not safe for them to keep me. But I have no complaints,” says another.
Though meant for the homeless and the destitute, many persons from good backgrounds end up in the facility and it’s not always possible to send them back, say the authorities. “Who will want to go to a place where you are not welcome? It’s so painful if your roommate doesn’t like you, then think about an entire household, your own blood, trying to oust you,” says another resident.
But during the last few years there have been very few such cases though none of the current residents are ready to return to their families. “Now we have strict instructions not to take such cases but we get regular requests,” says Baijuraj, a staff.
The district administration too feels that moving them back can affect their emotional well-being. “We conduct monthly sessions at the home. We guide them on how to handle property issues and how to claim maintenance,” says District Legal Services Authority secretary Sudhakanth Pai.