Gerontology Professionals of Long Island

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Although I am now home again, I will feature singular images of India in the blog for the next few entries.  These entries will try to distill what I saw in India, and its perspective on aging.  (The unavailability of wifi prevented me from blogging while there.) 

The "rangoli" is a chalk design made using rice flour, and assorted dyes.  The folk art is practiced throughout India, and is related to good luck.  This one is created each day outside the offices of advantAGE India, a multi-purpose private agency that provides domiciliary care and home care to frail elders.  One of the housing units is located above the office area of this building, where about 12 people are bejng cared for. 

The need for more trained caregivers is what sparked the President and founder of advantageAGE, Roshan Jacob, to set up a new entity, Institute for Social Gerontology Research, and set up training seminars at hospitals around the nation.  He and his partner, Soumya Nair, reached out through the Internet to gerontology professionals around the world.  This is how they found the GPLI website, and in turn, contacted me.  They issued an invitation to visit their country, and participate in this social gerontology training experience during its inaugural series.  Slowly over several months, I made the leap of faith needed to say yes, and to prepare for what would most assuredly be a major adventure.  In exchange for my help in executing the seminars, Roshan promised me a window into India.  He and Soumya would escort us from venue to venue, in south India, with sightseeing and respite along the way. 

This is how I came to India.  The ranguli spoke the universal language of welcome and the 1000+ nurses who attended our lectures echoed it everywhere along the way.  (Details to follow.)

I have now been here in Bangalore for two days and have definitely developed some observations and thoughts based on perceptions.  Roshan, my host, prepared me for the traffic, if that is possible.  The overwhelming first impression anyone would have who first comes to India, and perhaps even more so Bangalore, is the energy and determination of the driving experience.  From pedestrians and bicyclists to motorbike operators to the three wheeled motorized cabs to regular automobiles and trucks and buses, driving is a statement.  Everyone appears on the move.  The roads are not the best, so you have to be a New York cab driver, in the midst of women and children hanging onto the motorbikes, zipping in and out of the traffic.  If there is possible passage between two cars, go for it.  Those motorbikes assert themselves into any possible space, and although the drivers wear helmets, the passengers do not, as they cling to their driver.  When our car would stop for traffic lights, 5-6 motorbikes would zip in around us, claiming their part of the road and continuing to squeeze past us as we started up again.  (Although I have taken photos of this from the passenger seat, the photo will have to wait for a later post.)  I began by sitting in the rear seat, but took pity on friend Paul, who kept getting stuck in the "death seat" so tried it out, and found it rather exhilerating, like an amusement park ride. 

Now while you are imagining yourself in that seat, add the sound factor.  Nothing is accomplished by merely driving.  Horns are the language behind this traffic.  Some of my partners in this visit, think there may be rhyme and reason to the horns, but I think they are simply identity statements.  "I am here.  Be careful how close you get to me.  I am going a certain speed, so you should adjust to it.  I am doing something ridiculously insane and you should be aware.  Notice me."  Every move is punctuated with the accompanying horn.   After all this, do I really need to send a picture???

An interesting experience from our balcony is the Muslim Call to Prayers.  Someone nearby does this and it breaks the relative stillness of the morning.  I like it.  My jet lagged self is awake anyway, so I reflect.  Although we were warned about spiciness of the food, we must have built up our tolerance as we prepared for this journey, because we are not having any problem.  It would be very easy to be vegetarian, but perhaps not vegan.  At any rate, I haven't eaten so many interesting and diverse foods ever.  More on that another time.

Today is the first major presenation at NIMHANS, a Mental Health and Neuroscience center and hospital.  Our program goes all day, and attendance sold out.  The appeal to nurses to learn more about aging, and the potential career enhancements it might give them, must have struck the right chord.  My topic is global aging and the message behind the demographics.  I call it the Silver Tsunami, borrowing an oft quoted phrase found in the literature.  It was fun to create the 45 minute powerpoint, but now I have to deliver it to people who may have trouble with my speaking.  The good news is that I come early on the program.  I should be preparing now, so as the beautiful sun reappears outside, I leave you to your day, though somehow I suspect mine is warmer and brighter. 

This bronze sculpture of the Dancing God, Nataraja, has a lot of significance for southern India, and contemplating its meaning is an auspicious way for me to begin packing for departure.  This is about a trip to a nation, which is rapidly catching up to and probably surpassing China as the most populous on earth.  Although most of us are very familiar with Bollywood images of India, and Slumdog Millionaire, my trip will be taking me to southern India--Bangalore, Mysore, Coorg, and Kerala.  Southern India is quite different in culture and color from northern India.  It is the green India, the India of spices, palm trees, elephants, and great tolerance for many religions. 

I am invited to make presentations about global aging and gerontology to nurses in Bangalore and Kerala, at three different hospitals, as part of a visiting panel of gerontologists.  My hosts, Roshan and Soumya, are trying to start a training program for nurses about gerontology.  Our job as the visiting panel is to get the nurses inspired by the opportunities in this field. 

So I do feel prepared for this venture into the field of international aging, something I have always wanted to explore.  To make the trip more enticing, not only will I make the presentations, but my hosts will be escorting us about southern India and treating us to some marvelous tourist opportunities.  I will try to make posts to this blog, and share some of the observations I have of India and its aging challenges.

This sculpture is described by the artist from the Dancing god website as follows:

The upper right hand holds a small drum (shaped like an hourglass) with a specific hand gesture symbolizes sound originating creation.
The upper left hand contains Agni or fire, which signifies destruction. The opposing concepts in the upper hands show the counterpoise of creation and destruction.
The second right hand shows a specific gesture symbolizes bestowing protection from both evil and ignorance to those who follow the righteousness of basic principles of the cosmos.
The second left hand points towards the raised foot which signifies upliftment and liberation.
The dwarf on which Nataraja dances is the demon ‘Apasmara’, which symbolizes God's victory over ignorance (ego).
The stoic face of Nataraja represents his neutrality, thus being in balance.

It is a beautiful sculpture and sets the right tone for me as I begin this new journey, to a place I thought I would never see in person.  Protection from evil and ignorance, upliftments, liberation, everything in balance.  Sounds good to me! 

What is there about Valentine's Day that makes us all somewhat meditative?  It can brighten February, but it can also cast us into gloom, depending on our perspective, right?  I think the amount of chocolate sold and eaten on this day is really just meant to raise our serotonin levels to something more acceptable than abject despondency. 

However, this past week, I have really been noticing the growth of a new phenomenon in my network of relationships.  More and more I hear of friends, often people from my high school generation who have rediscovered someone from the past on their second time around, and found good-as-gold romance.  Valentine's Day level romance!  Surprise parties, dress up dates, secret trips, small unexpected gifts, and so on.  They relate these events with eyes lit with the energy that only romantic love can ignite. 

What is this Over-50 Relationship experience?  I urge you to look around and someone you know is "having it all."  For me, I am hearing it at every turn:  Facebook friends, former students, family members, co-workers, GPLI peers, beautician friends, neighbors, and on and on.  They are in love!  And it is a later life love, meaning one without nighttime feedings, early Sunday soccer games, trips to the pediatrician, teenage turmoil, and sometimes even work deadlines.  In other words, it is totally unemcumbered!  It is truly what we would all like on Valentine's Day.  Full of optimism, second chances, an opening horizon, and joy.

So what can the rest of us do on Valentine's Day who are not in one of these new romances?  Where do we find some of that sparkle?  I guess that is for each of us to work on, in ourselves or with partners, who have truly been on the same journey with us for oh so many years.  Partners who remember the sleepless nights of newborns, the utter exhaustion of commitment to career and childrearing, the  quiet that fills our homes when the young people do leave (or not).  Somewhere in that journey a lot of the sparkle flew away too.  For us the challenge is to rediscover that love today, to try a new path or two, to extend our horizons while we can.  Or . . .there is always that chocolate option. . .

Blog here.

February, 2012, has set the blogging urge on me, and I thought I might try my hand at this new form of communication.  Every young person I know has attempted a blog, and this might be my time.  Remember, the great thing about gerontology, is that a practitioner grows into the field, not out of it. 

This February finds me in the wholly novel and truly energizing role of a world traveler.  Because someone from India found this website, I received an invitation to visit Bangalore India as part of an international panel of gerontologists, to assist in the start up of an educational venture for nurses. Imagine that!  A dream come true really, because of a latent desire on my part to do something in international aging, usually frustrated by my lack of language skills, and lack of useful medical training.  But not this time!  At 63 years old, I am about to embark on an 11 day visit to India, speak at three hospitals, and further enjoy the sightseeing that comes with world travel.  Bangalore, Mysore, Kerala, Alleppy, Cochi, Coorg, and other sites that previously were just words to me, will soon be real places where I have walked and explored.  Just amazing.

For once, I have an opportunity to actually do something I am qualified to do--design an educational program about gerontology.  All those GPLI meetings, Gerontological Society conferences, professional friendships, doctoral courses, teaching experiences, research projects, etc. give me some solid ground to stand on. 

This blog's first month will primarily be an opportunity for me to share what I will be experiencing about growing old in India.  There should be lots of photos.  My suitcase is waiting. . .more to come soon.