Aging that is Neglected in Tamil Culture

Abstract

Avvaiyaar said, "It is rare to be born as a human." All human beings have to pass through the two seasons of youth and old age. Youth and old age, as the seasons of human life, both signify impermanence. It was because it was difficult to get through youth that they prayed to God for old age. Born as human beings, we must someday reach old age. When we were children, as boys and teenagers, our parents were the ones who observed our behavior, taught us morals, solved our problems, and guided us well. As the saying goes, "Old people say and cranberry is bitter first and then it will be sweet," the opinions of aged parents are not sweet for young adults. Only after suffering in life do they understand the meaning of words said by their parents. Our parents are multi-talented, like good teachers, uneducated geniuses, and doctors, but most of the parents who have so many talents are isolated at home or put in old age homes due to their age. The increasing number of aged homes can be attributed to the fact that in today’s mechanised world; middle-aged people are unable to care for their parents. Some children don't care about parents who believe that their children are their world. Parents, who in their youth considered the welfare of their family and thought that work was breathing, started enjoying the world only in their old age. At the time when they start enjoying the world, they are hated and shunned by the very children they cherished as their world. The importance given to pets is not given to parents. They are thrown out of the house by their children at an age when they yearn for their love and warmth. Otherwise, they are treated as unpaid workers. Respect for the age and experience of the elderly is also denied by our society. Respecting the elderly is a Tamil tradition. That is why many songs and works about the elderly have been published in Sangam literature that has appeared in the Tamil language and in modern literature. Many songs and works on the elderly have been published by many researchers. Many studies and articles have been written on the elderly by many researchers. Puthukkavithai (free verse), which is one of the modern literary genres, deals with issues related to the elderly. This article is intended to explain the problems related to the elderly in free verse with the help of the themes found in the poems of the selected poets related to old age issues.