A spate of suicides in New Town has triggered a group of residents to come together to help those in need of a hand or a shoulder. Last Sunday, 18 of them met at a CD Block residence to decide on the course of action under the group name Sayanhe (in the dusk).
“There have been over a dozen cases of suicide in New Town since the Covid period. The stories are all similar – of loneliness, despair and loss of the will to carry on,” said Samaresh Das, a CB Block resident, who delivered the introductory address at the meeting.
At Greenwood Park in Action Area I, an elderly couple had two sons working in the same software firm in the US. While the elder had got a green card, the younger had promised to return. But the day he revealed that he too had applied for one, father and son had a long argument over phone late into the night. The next morning, the father jumped from the roof of their 10-storeyed building.
Barely a couple of months later, there was another suicide involving an elderly woman at Rail Vihar, who stayed with her daughter.
“The situation is as if your children are your own only till they reach Class X. Sooner or later, they would set off, often never to return. The last act of this play features old parents, who are very proud of their children’s status abroad but are left on their own without a safety net. Even if they are financially solvent, they become lonely as the children get absorbed in their own life and have less and less time for them. We have to identify such people and pull them out of their lonely shells,” Samaresh proposed.
Listening to him attentively were 11 men and six women who had responded to an open online call on social media for volunteers in this initiative. “Those who are out and about – be it going for morning walks or to the bazaar or joining a laughing club -- are socialisers and do not need help. But those, who cannot mingle, are sitting at home and getting depressed, need to be identified for special attention,” Das pointed out. The situation is worse in blocks than in housing complexes where at least a record is kept centrally as to who stays where,” he said.
Samaresh and Tapas Adhikari, in whose house the meeting had been convened, were both key members of a voluntary body of residents called New Town Forum and News, which played a stellar role during the pandemic, bringing the township’s residents’ welfare associations under an umbrella, mobilising resources for social work and providing support to individuals in distress.
“We need to revive our service. Some senior citizens bolted up during those years and suffered Covid behind locked doors. But now that the pandemic is over, they are still not interested to come out or meet new people. They would read newspapers, watch TV and talk only to siblings over phone. It is not possible to know what they are going through or even that they exist,” Samaresh said.
Acceptance, it was pointed out by several attendees, would be a problem. Gautam Das, a retired teacher of AC Block, recalls undertaking a drive with similar intentions in Rail Vihar complex next door and forming a WhatsApp group. “I went to meet such a couple staying on their own. Despite my efforts, the gentleman was not interested to interact though the wife was more willing. She would even call up if I did not ask after them for a long period. But I failed to bring them out to meet others. During Durga puja, I even offered to pick them up in my car and take them to the pandal. Despite agreeing initially, they backed out when I reached their doorstep,” he recalled.
Adhikari pointed out that individual interactions on a sustained basis would be too time-consuming for the volunteers. “Instead we need to hold programmes or group activities to bring them all together,” he said.
The question of credibility was also raised with the volunteers wondering how secure elderly people would feel if they were approached by strangers like them. “We need to liaise with block committees. Elderly people will accept us if we are introduced by block committee members. Also we need to make it clear that we have no financial interest in this,” Adhikari suggested.
A range of activities was discussed to draw the elderly populace. “Old people are like children. If we offer them diverse activities they will feel inclined to join,” said Dipanwita Nandi of CC Block.
Swagata Dey of Power Towers shared a success story of how they opened their community room for people to simply come and sit every Friday. This weekly meeting struck such a chord that they now enjoy every occasion together. “We will have a musical programme for Dol. More than the programme, people love the rehearsal sessions. Sometimes we arrange for trips to Belur or Dakshineswar for better bonding. That can be tried out here too,” she said.
Dr Achintya Sanyal from CE Block, one of the most active blocks of New Town, said 90 per cent of their elderly neighbours were involved in group activities like carrom or morning walk. “The younger lot among the senior citizens also play table tennis,” he said.
Dr Arkaprabha Ghosh, who works in NKDA, pointed to the importance of word of mouth to build confidence, “Earlier, we had few patients at the Urban Primary Health Centres. People would come only to enquire about timings etc. Once a patient came with an uprooted nail. After that, we started getting patients and now the patient load is sizeable. So we need to reach our service to some people. Once they start speaking about us, people will seek us out,” said the BD Block resident.
Seemaa Chattopadhyay of DB Block had prepared a list of utility services that the elderly could be taught to use. “It would help them if they learnt to hail an app cab, post a voice message on WhatsApp if typing is difficult, order medicines etc.”
It was decided to divide the volunteers into three subgroups according to the inclination and expertise of each. One on mental health would nurture the passion and creativity of senior citizens. Another would work to increase their awareness on digital issues. The third, spearheaded by the doctors in the group, would organise health screenings or talks.
Dr Tirthankar Debnath of DB Block, the superintendent of R. Ahmed Dental College & Hospital, offered to send a mobile check-up van. He also suggested giving responsibilities to the elderly to create an involvement rather than make them feel like passive recipients of help. “People here are financially well-off and have retired from responsible positions. So one has to keep their feeling of self-worth in mind,” he said.
Adhikari gave each volunteer a “home task”. “Let us reach out to 10 senior citizens each and try to figure out their needs and problems. This initiative needs to circulate by word of mouth,” said the host, who has himself retired earlier this year.
The next meeting, it has been decided, will be held on April 6 at the CD Block venue.