It was a full house in Mazgaon as the third ‘Ananda Yaan’ — day care centres for the elderly in central Mumbai — was inaugurated on Monday.
Ananda Yaan (a Mission to Happiness) is an initiative by the Rotary Club of Bombay (RCB) along with Dignity Foundation, an NGO for senior citizens, and was launched in 2017 with one centre in Byculla. A second centre soon followed at Dr. E. Moses Road and the third centre has now popped up in Mazgaon.
The centre in Mazgaon buzzed with unbridled energy as Rotary Club members, donors, well-wishers, and members of the Byculla centre filled the rows. The small community hall in the vicinity of the BIT Chawl in Tadwai, Mazgaon, which has been rented to be used for the centre, could hardly contain the energy of the senior citizens.
The members from the Byculla centre put up a spectacular performance at the inauguration, with some of them performing a skit based on the theme of their own journey with Ananda Yaan, and others staging a rousing Zumba dance performance which had the audience dancing too.
“Our confidence has improved a lot, we’re more comfortable doing things like speaking or performing on stage now,” Sushma Gurav, one of the performers in her fifties, told News18 later. Indian television and film actress Manasi Salvi, who was present as the chief guest at the event, lauded the performances.
“I think each of us has a hidden talent, which may not be exposed for a long period of time in your life, but there comes a time when someone helps you to showcase it. I think that’s what I saw today,” she said. “It was a cheer that I really enjoyed, the spirit that I really enjoyed. They were spontaneous, they had no inhibitions, they were innocently performing.”
Almost 15 years in the making, Ananda Yaan is the brainchild of Ramesh Narayan, who first had the idea in 2002 and implemented it in 2017. “The objective was absolutely clear,” he said. “Can we provide a ray of happiness to the underprivileged elders in the evening of their lives? That’s all.”
There are countless underprivileged elders in central Mumbai, Narayan said, who once worked in the textile mills and when they shut down, found accommodation in tenements not larger than 300 sq ft. They continue to live here with their children and grandchildren and with the pressure on space so severe, many of them end up like “unwanted furniture, hanging around listlessly on the streets of central Mumbai”.
Ananda Yaan, with its daycare centres, aims to offer a space for elders to not just feel at leisure, but pursue hobbies, learn new activities, and find joy. “The premise of setting up such a centre was very simple,” said Vineet Bhatnagar, President of the Rotary Club of Bombay. “There were very many low-income group families where the elders were at the fringe of every activity within the family, whether it is about celebration, or about involving them in an activity such as even a common meal.”
“[This] prompted us to start thinking about how to bring dignity back into their lives, how to address the issue of mental abuse and mental stress that they go through at the hands of, ironically, their own kith and kin. Soon after that we saw the early gains of giving back to them what they were lacking and we set up the second one at E. Moses and the third one at Mazgaon [now],” he said.
Ananda Yaan provides a structured program for three hours a day, five days a week. The activities include yoga, Zumba, singing, performing skits, celebrating festivals, birthdays of members, and more. A sports day is also organised with the help of young Rotaractors.
There are also several voluntary activities undertaken under ‘Ananda Seva’ where Rotarians and others can sponsor lunches, picnics, trips to movie theatres and music shows and more. Additionally, support and benefits are offered to members, like physiotherapy sessions by volunteers and aid in the form of emergency ration and vaccine guides during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Anyone can volunteer for Ananda Yaan, Bhatnagar told News18, adding that there was no rigid process or screening. “As long as it touches or resonates with you, that bringing joy into the lives of our elders is the primary motto of Ananda Yaan, you are qualified.”
Members join mostly through word of mouth in the community and neighbourhood. “Which is the reason we go in the middle of a community,” Bhatnagar said. “This is a community space itself. The very start of an Ananda Yaan is by spreading the word.”
This holds true for several members from the Byculla centre News18 spoke to. “I used to pass the centre on my way to the temple and watch them doing Zumba, I used to stand outside and watch,” said Shilpa Jadhav (53). “There was always lots of laughter…I would wonder what they were doing and I asked my neighbours…one friend asked me to come and I eventually joined.”
Similarly, Vijaya Nigre (67), a retired nurse from JJ Hospital, was coaxed by her friend into joining. “I’d heard about it from neighbours, but my friend finally made me go with her,” she said. “I like it so much…my blood pressure, asthma, even my diabetes has reduced. We feel bad if we miss a single day…sometimes it’s so much fun that I don’t feel like going home.”
Speaking about how he feels about the growing community and the success of the initiative, Narayan said, “With Ananda Yaan, you really are not sure who is happier — the actual beneficiaries or us. You go there and you are uplifted, you can’t stop smiling.”
Read all the Latest News India and Breaking News here
Comments
0 comment