My Trip To India
================
(In the above photo writer Mr Harikrishna Majmundar along with his wife Mrs Premlatabahen Majmundar)
By Harikrishna Majmundar
----------------------------
On the morning of 19th november, 2005, my wife and I left San Francisco for Mumbai, India by Singapore Airlines. My grand-daughters both, Nija Mashruwala and Noora Mashruwala escorted us as we both are too old to go out on our own.
In fact I was looking forward to going to India. Besides meeting friends and relatives, I hoped to launch the marathi translation of my book ‘Mapping the Maze’. I also wanted to launch a story book of my wife Premlata Majmundar. I was pretty happy that both the books were launched during our stay in India.
From august 2005 to november 2005 I had received frantic calls from the children of the elders to help them out of the disaster of exhorbitant medical bills on account of their elders who had come to USA without adequate medical coverage. My imporanat mission in going to India was to make the elders aware of this dangerous situation and if possible to prevent or persuade them not to risk a trip to USA.
After reaching Mumbai on 21st morning, we left for Surat on 22nd evening by train to attend a wedding. At Surat on 23rd morning I visited a local press, Gujarat Mitra, and advised the elderly and disabled people not to risk a visit or migration to USA without full medical coverage. This was necessary because there is a misconception among elders in India that senior citizens get free medical aid in USA. The fact is after 22nd august, 1996, free medical aid is restricted to only those who were legal permanent residents i.e. green card holders on 22nd august 1996 and who were of age 65 and over or disabled. Ofcourse those who were naturalised or born US citizens over 65 were eligible for free medical aid. There is one more requirement for all seniors who desire free medical aid that their income and resources not only in USA but anywhere in the world should not be above a prescribed low limit. Income limit is around $1200/month and resources limit is $2000 for a single person and $3000 for a couple.
After returning from Surat, I sent an article to Mumbai Samachar on similar bases. It was published in the first week of december 2005, thereafter at Baroda in Krishna Times and Divyabhaskar similar warnings were published. The same was done at Anand, Rajkot and Ahmedabad. The newly founded N.R.I parents association of Ahmedabad distributed a copy to its members contemplating to visit USA.
On january 4th, I went to pune to finalise the launching of the marathi translation of my english book ‘Mapping the Maze’. The title of the marathi book is ‘Chakravyuh chi ollakh’ by Bhau-saheb Marathe. The Times of India, Pune and The Herald took note of the prospective launching The book was launched on 22nd january 2006 at Bhartiya vidya-bhavan hall at Pune in the presence of 400 seniors/youngsters etc. The honorable Mr. Gokhale (I.F.S retired) was the chief guest. Mr. Gokhale was so much impressed by my lecture that he expressed a desire to do similar work at Pune. The book was published by the non-resident parent association (NRIPO) of Pune.
Some volunteers from the prestigious Fergusson college had come to help. At their request a lecture was arranged on friday the 26th jan in the college hall. I tried to give the students an idea of the conditions in USA should they happen to go to USA for further studies and eventual employment. Besides the above we were fortunate to be able to attend a meeting of Sahitya Parishad at Kandivali on 24th/25th december. There at the Parishad I emphasised the role of “Gujarat Times” serving a large number of gujarati readers.
Vipul Kalyani and Jagdish Dave from UK attended the function. In my short lecture I pointed out to the Parishad that there was a good number of young and budding gujarati writers in the west.
In my honest opinion it is necessary to point out to the Social Security Administration as well as to the welfare department that for the free medical aid to elders and disabled it is not fair to require the elders to sell their house in India. As per welfare rules one house in which the elders stay is an exempted resource. When the belongings of the elders who come to USA are in that house and in case they are required to come back to India they would like to retain that house. They should not be complelled to sell the house and bring the sale proceeds to USA and spend them before being eligible for free medical aid and other welfare benefits.
The liberalisation of rules regarding remittance to USA and other countries from India has put the elders into untold difficulties. Those who are pensioners have to go back to India and get their pensions converted in to dollars and brought to USA. This is a highly in convenient and expensive matter. Why make the elders life miserable on that account?
As regards the conditions of seniors in India there are plus and minus signs. The seniors in India do not feel isolation and pass a comparative peacefull life. In cities they suffer residential difficulties. In the villages they suffer loss of comfort and company.
Having fatalistic beliefs, seniors avoid alopathic treatments and go for dubious alternative medicines. They prefer to evade expensive surgeries even if the surgeries are absolutely required for survival.
The roads are not yet clean. There are no traffic laws followed by people. It is impossible to walk on roads in cities like Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Baroda, Surat. The corruptions is rampant.
In my opinion India would take another 50 years to become a haven for retiring people.
(Writer is a leading Indian American Senior's Leader. His services to the community are recognized by Santa Clara County and other Indian American Cultural Organizations .)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------