heart for the service of the
community.
b) Some branches provide
facilities for seva and
day care during which
members can perform some
volunteering work, have meals
and do general discussion on
some related topics.
c) Some branches organise
trips for the senior members
to interesting places of their
choice.
What can branches do for the
members?
a) Visit senior members at home
b) Encourage senior members to
work with other groups (like,
youth) and with other samaj
c) Encourage senior members to
take more active volunteering
roles
What can SPA (UK) do for the
members?
There was a resounding YES
when asked whether the senior
members would want to continue
with future events such the
present one. As most of the
senior members, due to their
age and medical conditions,
would have to travel from far and
wide, a centralized place, like
in the Midlands, would be more
convenient. The timing and the
programme would also need to
be appropriately considered due
to the above factors.
There were a number of
suggestions about the
programme for the day as well as
other topics. Some of the ideas
were:
• to have entertainment items
• to perform bhajans in a large
gathering
• to have theatre/film shows
• to provide information on
health care, benefits, visas
and Indian High Commission
issues
• to consider developing a care
home, preferably in Leicester
• to have gentle sports
• to produce a booklet on
selected themes at a national
level
44
Issues
The senior citizens are
confronted with a number of
problems in this day and time.
Some of these may not be taken
seriously by the educated youth
and the others.
The present day seniors who have
come mostly from Africa or India,
have had very little experience
of the modern day technology
of computers, ipads, e-mails,
mobiles, video-conferences, face
books, twitter, and so on. Some
of them get bogged down with
their use, terminology, and know-
how to such an extent that they
feel they have been out-casted
from the modern day society.
The frustration is that most of
them have out grown to such
an age that they have lost the
capacity to learn anything new
and yet would like to be an active
member of the society. How best
can both be achieved has to be
thought by the samaj as a whole
as well as the individual member.
Language is yet another issue.
Most of the members have
known one language only; that
is, Gujarati. In Africa, due to the
working and living environment,
they picked up Kiswahili very
quickly and has been an asset
for their development there. This
was possible because they were
‘young’ at that time and there was
the thirst for progress. Even now
some of them can communicate
in Kiswahili with fluency with a
few twittering ‘Jambo’, ‘Habari
Gani’, ‘Mzuri Sana’ and ‘Kwaheri’.
In UK, most of the seniors have
picked English for their everyday
use, but quite a number find it
difficult to speak, read, write and
understand lectures or messages
in English. Unfortunately, the
youngsters have no or very
limited inclination to learn and
communicate in Gujarati to such
an extent that, very sadly, even
the committee members and
office bearers in the Samaj are
not prepared to learn Gujarati
themselves, the mother tongue
of the Prajapati, and yet want to
propagate the language to their
children! How can one appreciate
the bhajans, garbas, lagna geets,
prayers, slokas, chaalisas, hidden
meaning in proverbs and similes
as well as cultural and religious
events without learning the
Gujarati language!! This is one of
the sad situations which worry
the seniors. Is there an answer to
this dilemma?
Yet another problem which has
worried the elderly has to do with
some social issues. One of them
is marriage. It has been said ‘Be
Proud to be a Prajapati’! But, how
is it possible when an increasing
number of marriages are taking
place outside the Prajapati
community, the effects of which
are not only in the family, but also
in the samaj and its constitution?
And, the lavishness with which
the marriages are taking place
seems to be, as if, in competition
of some sort! Most of the elderly
has given up on this matter for
the sake of peace within the
family!!
That brings the so-called
generation gap issue - the
young blaming the elderly of
not understanding their views
or modern day life style and the
elderly blaming the young of
neglecting and eroding the Hindu
religious, cultural and social