Read this family saga based in Mumbay, India. (specified at the monthly book-reading club)
The basic story is a fairly familiar topic to, I guess, a lot of people nowdays. An old man in his late seventies and suffering from Parkinson disease, looked after by his step children happens to move into his real daughter’s house, where her families – husband, two kids have to share room in a tiny flat. Obviously the then-tightly bonded family starts to show the sign of breakup due to the finantial and psychological burden. Although it is based in modern India, this kind of issue is now everywhere – Love cannot save everything.
My parents are both the youngest in their family, my father has 5 siblings and my mother 7. Obviously we didn’t had to bear the burden of feeding our grandparents. They stayed in their eldest son/daughter’s house. My family used to visit them every couple of months, and the grandparents always greeded us with joy and gave us a lot of money, literally every time. For me, grandpa and grandma were my secret bank account.
It was only when I grew up enough not to visit them that I learned of the “burden” side regarding grandparents’ care. I am the eldest son and after 10 more years, I might also be in the position to look after my parents. And I find myself trying not to think of this issue, saying I have a lot of things to do right now. But hey, unless I make up my mind now, things will be more busy (deliberately?) then.
One thing seems to be clear – my parents will be the last generation who have the luxury to be looked after by their children. Me? Honestly I would like to have the chance to die when I want to. Tied up in a bed, fed by the tube and not being able to go to the toilet, nor moving outside the room freely – do I want to live in that state? Not in this life.