CAR & OLD AGE:
Most of the Odiya senior citizens have settled down at
Bhubaneswar for various reasons but the most important one is the airport.
Their sons or daughters want their parents to stay at Bhubaneswar so that they
do not waste time and money for meeting their parents or in-laws’once three or four years.Another
headache for the old people is the transport. Because they have a garage they
have kept a car as a status symbol but can’t drive due to arthritis or fading
eye sight. Car drivers dictate terms and are very much in demand due to these retired
old couples. The car is a headache, neither it can be sold off nor used
properly. The resale value is very depressing hence its kept in the garage and
a driver is engaged for attending different functions with one’s own car. Some
of the old couple has a sharing driver with a neighbor or friend. Few of the
old man use an auto transmission scooter for moving around to save money but
has to change the idea after they had fatal accidents or escaped death narrowly with
only a fracture of leg. Some intelligent couples have no cars. They have kept 6
lakhs as fixed deposit and the interest they get every month (9 to 11%) is
being utilized for transport in 3 or 4 wheelers, no headache of insurance,
waiting in line for petrol, police harassment or flat tyres, really a novel
idea. Lucky are those if son in law or son stays with these old couple. With
increase in longevity of officers due to hospital and doctors, car is a
necessity as well as a big burden, it all depends on one’s physical fitness.
Some of the senior citizens over 80 years are driving their own cars and
utilizing their old reliable friend—a car. But the bottom line is a taxi in
long run is cheaper and effective, no headache of receiving or dropping any one
in airport or railway station, choice is yours.
Sanjoy Kumar Satpathy(SC)
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