Gujarat’s senior citizens, whose children have flown the coop to different corners of the globe, no longer have to look to Mumbai or Delhi for a place in retirement homes or sharing a room in an Old Age home.

This west coast state of India is seeing many townships and residential colonies meant exclusively for senior citizens come up, allowing them to relocate and spend the sunset of their lives, without the bother of having to pay electricity bills, cook a meal, or searching for prompt medical care.

The first residential township meant exclusively for parents of non-resident Gujaratis (NRGs) is set to come up on an 18-acre campus at Khandhali on the Anand-Borsad highway. Similar apartments and colonies are also being planned in Vadodara, Bardoli and Valsad.

Neejanand, a township planned for Anand city has on offer luxurious independent unit accommodation for 100-couples. Currently, under construction, the township will be commissioned by December 2007, and will have an in-house medical centre, a temple, amphi-theatre, swimming pool, gym and host of other recreational facilities for entertaining seniors and helping them pass their time.

Bookings will be offered to pairings and couples, such as, husband-wife, two brothers, sisters or even friends. Interestingly, this township is being built not by any builder, but a retired bio-sciences professor Dr. Jyotindra Patel, who was inspired by the needs of the parents of a number of NRGs in USA, UK.

“Friends living in the US and UK, including those in India who have their children settled abroad, said there is a need for a place that promised senior citizens a dignified life and hassle-free community living," says Patel.

An increasing number of senior citizens with children abroad are moving into old age homes, amidst medical and security concerns. No doubt, townships of this kind are a welcome boon, a much-needed antidotal solution to aged parents left struggling on their own.

Already, in Vadodara, NGO United Way of Baroda is scouting for land to set up an exclusive senior citizens residential colony. “We conducted a survey that revealed a need for a residential colony that will offer hassle-free living for the aged," says Bindu Nair of UWB. Again, a self-sustaining unit, it will come complete with a temple and a hospital.

Sources among builders in Surat say a residential colony catering to the aged parents of NRGs, with an on-call ambulance is being planned for Bardoli, as well. In Valsad, yet another residential scheme is being planned on National Highway No. 8 that will also boast of a video-conferencing facility, enabling parents to speak to children settled abroad.

A pity, the search for better living standards has led to a breakdown in the fabric of Indian families. Luxuriating in the newfound material wealth of Western countries, selfish children discard aged parents, the same parents who sacrificed their todays’ for their children’s’ tomorrows. Stranded, left to fend for themselves by these self-same children, who could not have attained their present status without parental sacrifices, they are abandoned in the sunset years of their lives, least expecting to have to battle the harsh, lonely, worldwide struggle of the aged, on their own!