For the Goan diaspora the world-over, the thought of returning to the homeland to enjoy the twilight of a retired life, has always been entrenched in the recess of their minds. Goa’s once scenic environs----palm-fringed beaches, vast green paddy-fields, cashew, mango and coconut groves, that sprawled across a verdant landscape fed by waters from a plethora of rivers, rivulets, lakes and innumerable fresh water springs, at the foot of a canopy of green made up of tropical forests that form part of the rich flora and fauna of the Western Ghats -----has not been lost on those sons-of-the red soil who for economic stability and greater job-opportunity have ventured to travel for better prospects and seek fortune in First World Countries.
In sharp contrast to the inclement sometimes unpredictable European, Canadian, Australian, African and American weather ---Goa’s hot and humid climate for most of the year, interspersed with monsoons that arrive early June, and a short winter season usually from mid-December to February is an attractive and inviting therapeutic lure as a natural spa!
Fed with nostalgic memories of a happy childhood in Goa, persons like my father and his compatriots born in the early 1900s who had migrated abroad chose to ‘hang their boots’ in their motherland after setting aside a neat nest-egg, which they used to refurbish their ancestral homes---with the minimum of modern amenities- aimed at pure comfort and well-being in their advanced age.
And, believe me, many a retiree from my parents’ generation who chose to relish the pristine tranquillity of ‘a simple existence’ back in the land of their birth, rather than the fast-paced materialistic and now Artificial Intelligence (AI) inspired lifestyle experienced in First World Countries have had no regrets before embarking on their eternal Journey. But the euphoria of enjoying a serene and blissful retired lifestyle in Goa is slowly evaporating as the ‘dreaded ‘wheels of change’ mounted on bulldozers and steamrollers, mash up the State’s pristine face spreading a concoction of concrete and glass high- rise ‘modern’ structures that has forever altered the Goan landscape sculpted by ‘right-wing’ politicos riding rough-shod on the saddle of power.
Says a retired Goan businessman based in London, on condition of anonymity, who has been religiously visiting Goa during the ‘ hot’ months of March, April and May, to visit relatives and friends and see to the upkeep of his ancestral properties, “ Goa has excellent and tolerable weather that attracts as a final destination. But, sadly important health-care issues or benefits ----especially for the elderly --- have yet to be streamlined and leave much to be desired. Complex areas such as eliminating ‘social isolation’ problems that act as a barometer to a retiree’s well-being has yet to be tackled with professional expertise.”
Echoing similar sentiments was another “niz goemkar” (true Goan?)—a musician and retired businessman from the UK, who hails from Aldona, Bardez in North Goa. The businessman while condoning a need for infrastructural changes that has thrown an ugly concrete blanket over an unspoiled luxuriant canopy that once described his homeland, rues the fact that in the recent past too, owing to a conservative political ideology, Goa’s harmonious secular and peaceful multi-cultured social fabric is in danger of being torn forever.
The future Generation- X have already begun to show scant respect for the elderly, as they worship the God of progress in its various avatars of mobile phones, lap-tops, tablets, as Artificial Intelligence (AI), overtakes humanity in a tableau of futuristic cyber-driven lifestyle gimmickry that renders this one-time touristic hot-spot an anachronism.
Studies conducted in first world countries reveal that with proper care one could enjoy ‘the autumn” of one’s life to its fullest. The key was finding a balance between use of modern technology and accepted practice of a pristine past. Writes Brennen Jensen in an article published in the summer of 2023, “for many, a brimming email inbox has become a chore. Although for older adults, access to tools such as email and texting may help them stay socially engaged and reduce their chances of developing dementia.” Citing the National Institute of Aging (American), Jensen reveals that “a quarter of older adults are experiencing social isolation defined as ---having a lack of social contacts and a few people with whom to interact regularly! Extensive research, one understands, unearths that several health issues, such as heart disease, obesity, depression and dementia that afflict older adults can be connected to “Social Isolation”. Since 2011, when studies on the effects of ‘Social Isolation’ were first undertaken, from zero percentage suffering of dementia, partakers in research experiments apparently showed in 2020 a marked “28% higher risk of dementia’ over the nine-year study period as observed by lead author, Alison Huang, a senior researcher at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health”.
It is unsure, exactly why ‘social isolation’ increases the risk of dementia, but researchers believe that ‘it is more likely that people who are socially isolated would tend to allegedly engage in unhealthy habits like poor diet , poor personal hygiene or smoking –all of which have been shown to increase the risk for dementia. “If you’re more socially isolated, you’re not getting as much cognitive engagement through talking to people or being involved in activities. This reduced engagement can also lead to the cognitive decline we see in dementia”, reveals Jensen quoting Huang.
Unravelling findings of Mfon Umoh ---a postdoctoral fellow in geriatric medicine at the School of Medicine –who believed that “ Just ensuring that older adults have access to very basic technology may be a protective factor against social isolation”, Jensen opined that ‘ simple technologies studied are a stark contrast to the sophisticated artificial intelligence—powered robots some tech companies were developing to offer companionship to isolated older adults!’.
He cites as examples, the Israel-based Intuition Robotics AI companion ElliQ- billed as the “sidekick for healthier, happier aging”- or Buddy from France’s Blue Frog Robotics designed to combat feelings of isolation and loneliness in its users.
It may seem far fetched, but Goa too, may soon be subjected to the sultry effects of this psychological phenomenon of “Social Isolation’ afflicting older adults in developed Countries. Nestled in the lap of the Western Ghats kissed by the Arabian Sea on India’s western coastline, Goa--- has just about three decades ago--- offered a salubrious atmosphere certainly devoid of social isolation. Senior citizens and retirees enjoyed a mundane lifestyle spiced up with cordial recreational activities, such as weekly card games of ‘Bridge’, ‘Trook’, or Rummy, Bar-b-ques, Get-togethers, Birthdays and other parties or perhaps, just a daily ramble to exercise aging muscles with family, neighbors, friends or compatriots. Social activity knew no bounds as one shared an open-house existence san ‘Boundary or Compound’ walls that have now crept up around residences that dot villages of the Goan hinterland----throwing up ‘barriers’ of ‘isolation’.
With Goa undergoing a drastic transformation as Planning officials chalk-out ostensible ‘infrastructural’ projects with callous alacrity---shedding off the State’s bio-diverse primeval beauty, its younger inhabitants too, unable to secure ‘gainful’ employment or compete with the influx of investors from across the borders, think nothing of leaving their parents or older dependents to fend for themselves in ancestral houses or nursing shelters, in pursuit of greener pastures abroad!! These senior citizens prefer to suffer in silence the absence of their offspring in hope that the latter ‘make a success of their lives’ overseas. And, thus the seed of the dreaded ‘social isolation ‘malaise’ and its inherent ugly unhealthy off-shoots are sown.
A ray of hope, however, through crusading priests like Fr Valmiki Dias, who has gained popularity for his state-of-the art ‘Daddy’s’ old-age homes, and some NGO’s committed to the cause of our aged and aging fellow citizens, does lie on the horizon. And mercifully one may enjoy the inevitable greying process in the autumn of one’s life with a smile as one ‘grows old gracefully’ in Goa, soothed by its ‘hot and humid’ tropical climes.
(Leslie St Anne is a Freelance Journalist and Columnist)