In recent times, specially at Chennai and its suburbs, I keep reading lone elderly women are targeted by antisocial elements and invariably, the poor old ones are murdered many times in a gruesome manner for material gains. The reasons are obvious; money and jewellery. On many occasions, the intruders are known servants, errand boys or some criminal in the locality. These lone living souls are watched for quite sometime and then attacked.
With their children living abroad or in the same city elsewhere independently, these old women tried to guard their house or flat with the help of the servants or their wards, if they are close by, once a day, or week or month.
At times, these murders are committed only for the money or the property these ladies own by their kith or kin. The victim’s age group varies from 70 to 100. What I fail to understand is the psyche and adamancy of these old people. When everyone not connected shed crocodile tears for old not being taken care of by their wards, when it comes to them they too behave in the same way.
First of all where is the need for these old people to live alone in a flat with many illness and failing faculties? They can as well go and stay in any old age home paying money since they are financially sound. Second why to flaunt gold when one is old and helpless? Why to keep thousands and lakhs of rupees in house or in bank when one has become incapacitated and need the help of others for everything?
So it is obvious that in India one can never detach from the attraction to wealth irrespective of age and even at the fag ends of their lives; they want to hold to worldly pleasures even if they have every chance of dying at any time.
It is true to get detachment to life is tough; that was the reason why the famous philosophers in India kept harping on the uncertainty of life, health and wealth. We still think that philosophy is only to preach and listen as just discourses; unless the elders learn to practice it, we are likely to have more murderous attacks on the helpless aged in coming days.