Ananda Ashram

The concept of the old age home has become quite familiar today, but often for the wrong reasons. The idea seems to evoke a sigh of pity which is uncalled for. Firstly, it has been ascertained by social surveys that there need not be any stigma attached to the residents of old age homes and neither do they require our pity. Secondly, many parents of middle class families are neither neglected nor abandoned by their children.

But, in this age of MNCs and FDIs, working professionals today are compelled to move away from home and work in faraway places. The elders of such families often do not wish to live permanently with their children in strange and distant places. Except for visits, they prefer to be live in their own homes.

Ananda Ashram has been set up with the aim of providing home comforts and peace of mind to seniors seeking peace and calm. It is to be run as a non profit institution by the Navoday Association for Promotion of Indian Heritage, a social service organization to provide shelter to people of advanced years who feel stressed out by the daily hassles and troubles of life.

The aim is to make them feel they are truly at HOME though in a different residence. Their stay at Ananda Ashram will free them from various worries and pressures and find them a new life with all the basic comforts and care essential for them. They will never feel that Ananda Ashram is a punishment transfer of residence because they have been rejected by society.

It is well known fact that many NRIs have their parents or relatives staying alone in Kolkata or other places in India. Most probably they are a worried group who themselves are helpless for being unable to give company and are left worrying about their near and dear ones in the matter of giving them a SECURED as well as comfortable life without the feeling of loneliness. There are only a very few old age homes who can cater to old people of this group. We are confident to cater this group who have resources but are unable to look after themselves effectively.

Sometimes it is found that children along with their parents are more conscious of the so called stigma of the Old Age Home rather than the COMFORT in the old age and opting for buying expensive flats and making arrangement of enough helping hands to serve them. But it has been found that this is NOT helping the old people to come out of the feeling of LONELINESS. Moreover, the headache of running the house still lies on the old people which money cannot buy and often becomes the target of cheating - even murder.

Navoday's effort is to bring people out of this feeling and realise the difficulties which has to be faced in the old age inspite of having all the resources.