Loneliness Is Killing Our Old

This is the story of all senior citizens, not being able to even step out, see familiar faces, be the chaiwala, bhajiwala, kiranawala, fishmonger, films – which once gave them the will to live another day.

One year after the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, we are back to square one. How ever much we may want life to go back to the pre-2020 ‘normal’, it is just not happening. Many who are going to parties, restaurants and pubs as if their lives will come to a total halt, seem to be living in denial. A lot has changed for many and for many others, it has just got much worse.

Just as the lockdown was lifted in Mumbai and the rest of the state, people thronged beaches, parks and open spaces. It gave hope, especially to senior citizens who could see and interact with the handful of familiar faces they knew. Being home-bound, with no physical interaction, they have been more like caged birds. Yes, it is due to safety concerns, no doubt, but the caged life too is a deadly killer.

Last week, after the death of the renowned director-writer, Sagar Sarhadi, I met a senior film critic, Rafique Baghdadi, who got rather emotional about the effects of a pandemic. When I asked him how he was, just like the others concerned about his health, he said people of his age and close to him were dying. He was rather sad after hearing about Sarhadi’s death. When I asked him if it was old age, he was rather miffed and slammed me for suggesting it. “Are you mad, it is not old age, but loneliness and depression which is killing us”. His voice continues to ring in my ears. A doctor uncle, who was a childhood friend of my father died during the lockdown in 2020 due to the same reason – loneliness. These all are ageing lions whose field used to be Mumbai city and they thrived on physical meetings, interacting, laughing aloud, sharing ideas, thoughts and interacting without technological intervention. For them, gadgets are menacing tools, not helping hands.

This gentleman’s fear that loneliness in the pandemic is killing his ilk is quite true. A year ago, Rashid Irani, another film critic was hospitalised and a photograph of him looking from his balcony, eyes lonely and seeking, was heartbreaking. Without watching films and meeting people, he said he would have died. Unlike the partying types, these ageing people’s oxygen is seeing films, reviewing them and meeting people. During the lockdown, he had not seen a single film and he could not go down to have his regular chai and omelette. A senior journalist and filmmaker Anurag Kashyap helped him through those days and he now has a laptop to watch films, which has given him the will to survive. This is the story of all senior citizens, not being able to even step out, see familiar faces, be the chaiwala, bhajiwala, kiranawala, fishmonger, films – which once gave them the will to live another day.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says, “Fear, worry, and stress are normal responses to perceived or real threats, and at times when we are faced with uncertainty or the unknown. So it is normal and understandable that people are experiencing fear in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.” But the fear and anxiety have only increased with every passing day. In a study conducted by the WHO during the pandemic, over 60% reported disruptions to mental health services for vulnerable people, including children and adolescents – 72%, older adults – 70% and women requiring antenatal or postnatal services – 61%. The Indian Journal of Psychiatry published a research study in September 2020, that generally, when a stressful event occurs, it has been found that certain sections of the population, such as females, children, and the elderly are at a higher risk of experiencing difficulties ‘‘…Elderly: The elderly have been especially at risk regarding morbidity and mortality due to the COVID-19 pandemic; they are already at risk due to their pre-existing problems…” This detailed study, though done in Uttar Pradesh, gives us a hint of the immense problem ahead.

The measures taken have been too little and rather late. In fact, the sudden lockdown announced by the Prime Minister in March 2020, gave no time to many for streamlining the process to get passes for the caregivers, their transport and other such niggling issues. Worse still, many depended on tiffin services or housemaids who would cook for them. Suddenly the elders had to grapple with issues they had never faced before. There were panic calls to the police helpline, many took to Twitter and more so, people called upon local politicians to intervene, as it was a question of life or death. Considering the multiple complex issues, many elders feel even the media let them down, for not preparing them and taking up their cause.

In fact, immediately after the pandemic began, across the world mental health was seen to decline sharply. Fear, anxiety and stress levels increased during the lockdown. In his paper, Shankar Das has stated, the lockdown also has led to a surge in domestic violence and child abuse incidents. He writes, “While quarantine is a necessary preventive measure to curb the spread of infectious disease, many studies have reported a negative psychological impact of quarantine on individuals (Brooks et al., 2020). Confinement at home is not a blessing for many, especially those who have been in abusive relationships.”

Worse still, there are few reports concerning senior citizens, especially after the government had initially overlooked them. It was later, in September 2020 that the Supreme Court asked the states to provide the detailed measures they had undertaken to provide care, support and medical aid to the senior citizens.

HelpAge India released a report “The Elder Story: Ground Reality during Covid-19”, surveying 5,099 elders across 17 states and four Union Territories. According to this report, 65% of elders whose incomes had been affected, 67 % were in the age group of 60-69 years, a glaring 28 per cent in the ‘old-old’ category (70-79 years) and 5% in the ‘oldest-old’ age group (80-plus). About 71 % of elder respondents stated that the income of the breadwinner of their family was affected by the lockdown.

While there have been articles highlighting these issues, the fact is, media coverage has focused more on the statistics and data of the virus. There were biased reports on the cause of the spread of the virus blamed on Tablighis and again, it was only later that the media caught up with the horror stories of migrant workers walking back home once the sudden lockdown was declared.

Similarly, the media seemed to have missed a lot of gender perspective during the pandemic in 2020 and thereafter. A study was commissioned by the UNFPA to the Network for Women in Media, India, that looked at gender perspectives in print media during the lockdown. This was based on the analysis of articles published in 12 national newspapers, in 7 languages between March-September 2020.

According to the study, in all, 6,110 news stories related to the pandemic and lockdown were viewed. Only 4.8% carried voices of women and other marginalised genders that were central to a story. More importantly, the English language publications did not represent gender concerns any more than newspapers in other Indian languages.

During the pandemic, across the world, women, children and senior citizens faced domestic abuse. This intensified during lockdowns and quarantine time, reports The Guardian. During the first four phases of the Covid-19 lockdown, Indian women filed more cases of domestic violence; between March 25 and March 31, 1,477complaints of domestic violence were made by women. The National Commission for Women said there has been an increase of a minimum of 2.5 times in domestic violence cases.

One year on, as we see a grim situation yet again there still is a lot to be done. The majority of people live in cheek-by-jowl residential premises and it has just not helped in controlling cases of abuse or deterioration of mental health. Mental health workers and doctors need to suggest more ways to help senior citizens. It is a rather tall order to wish that this Union Government will give more funds and attention to public health and mend our tattered social fabric.