Abstract

Even after spending a major portion of their money and time on houses for their children and themselves, the elderly end up living alone after the children set up a new household or move out of the existing one. The elderly must live in spaces that cater to their specific needs than their children’s, who move out sooner or later. Such modular houses are easy on cost and maintenance, says N G Iyer.

Scholars now recognise major changes in the morphology of the Indian family, specially the urban middle-classes over the last few decades. The structure or form of a middle class family in urban India tend to be ‘nuclear,’ with no more than one couple and children making up a household at any point in time. This may also change with the changing demography of the household. For example, young couples start their married lives in an independent residence (independent of both their natal homes), adding children over time. The family size stabilises (even as financial commitments and expenses increase) until the children finish their education and move away for their career. With global jobs available for the educated, they often move out of the country. As this happens, the family size shrinks once again, making the demographic change crucial. By this time the elderly couple who reach retirement are dependant on themselves, with the help of pension and interests from savings. Of course, many children readily support their parents financially, if need arises. Thus all elders may not have financial problems.

Nevertheless, there exist many other worries. Perhaps one of the greatest among them for the elderly is ‘investments in immovable properties’. When children are growing, the requirement of accommodation increases. In their enthusiasm to provide more convenience to the growing children, parents usually make investments in housing, improvements in homes, and sometimes even stretching the investments beyond their means by taking loans. Sometimes, parents also invest in separate houses for children, with the hope they will take care of them in old age. However, once the family again shrinks in size with the children moving out to make their own independent lives, the elderly parents find it difficult to maintain large homes. In such a context, they also face problems of safety and security. Further, given the ease of loans available for housing, and the independent spirits of the younger people, it is rare to come across dependable young couples, who could spare time to live with them or near them. So, it is a general sight to find elders with their physical infirmities and frailty managing their daily routines without any help.

In the light of the above, the time has come for the urban middle classes to modify their mindset towards three aspects while planning for future:

• Family size or structure is like an inverted parabola, building up with time, reaching a peak and then decreasing the same way as it grew up.
• Family expenditure follows a similar pattern, initially increasing, and then peaking when children are doing higher studies or with marriages, and finally diminishing when the younger generation move out for their work.
• Family living space is no exception to this rule and follows a similar pattern.

Given such a situation, it is necessary to realise a house is an immovable asset whereas financial assets are movable. Thus, though financial assets can be handled with ease at any stage of life, due to the development of networking facilities, computerised data availability and improved information services, the immovable property cannot be handled with equal ease. Yet, today a person in employment has an objective to own an independent house or a flat in a multiple apartment complex.

It is here we see so many cases where senior citizens are exploited when they decide to change for a smaller accommodation or continue to live alone in large homes. It is not easy for the elderly to adjust their lives to a new environment after having spent a major portion of their lives in a house. Added to this is the problem of loneliness while staying in the place and keeping the house locked when going on vacations. Further, the situation becomes worse with the passing away of one spouse, forcing the other to live alone. The survivor typically neither likes to leave the house to which he is attached, nor finds it possible to live for long periods with the children, specially when the latter are employed outside the country.

People should look for building homes only to suit their own requirements -- when they are young as well as when they grow old. Some ideas should be developed to have modular designs for homes. It should be easy and not so expensive to alter a home as per the needs of the time. Probably an office room when one is in service can be easily converted to a Puja room post retirement. Permanent interiors may be avoided and instead easy-to-assemble (and dismantle) building elements that are economical should be used.

To sum up, the concept of a major investment in one’s residence should change. Spend only a minimum for one’s requirement and alter it with the minimum expenditure too. For, as someone said, the only thing constant in this world is change.