Many images crop up in our minds if we think about the broad spectrum of aging and the aged people in India. Amongst many, the most immediate one would probably be that of a now wrinkled and bent grandparent whose affection we have grown up with, or a retired monk who has sought monastic existence in the confines of his shrine. Another image, common to most homes in India, could also depict someone being sick, infirm, and tied to the bed, availing care at the hands of an interconnected nexus that constitutes the family. The old and infirm could then be heard lamenting their karma from the long-gone past that they were now repaying. Whatever the image and our imaginations, they all come with a relentless belief in their “age-old” wisdom accumulated over the years. There is also a growing bent of the elderly toward the spiritual side of life, in a manner almost expected of them, to shed their material possessions and focus on prayer. Khushwant Singh (2009), in his short story “The Portrait of a Lady,” begins with a poignant memory of his own grandmother’s agedness:
Aamna Tyagi (Wed,) studied this question.