Rakib Altaf
SRINAGAR, July 20: An octogenarian couple was found dead under mysterious conditions at their home, police said on Friday, sending shock waves across the area of Muslim Majority Kashmir region.
Eighty-five years old, Abdul Rehman Kundji and his octogenarian wife, Jali of Firdosabad colony in Bemina area of capital Srinagar were found lying dead in their home by the police.
The Kundjis’ neighbours said the old couple would live alone as their four daughters were all married and their only son lived separately in a nearby locality. The elderly couple had to fend for themselves.
Their bodies were sent for a post-mortem. Police have not ruled out suicide, but are waiting for the forensic test reports to establish the cause of their death.
Incidents of old people taking their lives are rare in Muslim-majority Kashmir, an easy going society where parents have traditionally been revered and have been looked after by their sons and daughters in the extended family.
But now, more and more elderly people are complaining about lack of space where they can chat freely among themselves and share hearty laughter in this “age of Hedonism” when the “youth are mad after riches”.
A few years ago some old people came together to set up an ‘old-age home’ – the first such accommodation for senior citizens in the area – signifying a major change in the Kashmiri society.
The project was stopped due to unknown reasons.
An elderly businessman, not wishing to be named, says, “Older people feel lonely as the attitude of young people towards us has been changing.”
The businessman attributes the trend to the fast pace of life as well as growing materialism.
“My sons, who are also in business, come home late in the evening. Whatever time they have is spent with their own children, with hardly a moment spared for their parents,” he says.
But the younger generation is not convinced and blames the elders.
“Why should they complain now,” says Aashiq Ahmed, a recent pass-out from the Kashmir university.
“Our elders didn’t give religious education to us, but pushed us towards materialism.
They forced us to become engineers or doctors. Some told their children to go to the US and other far away places to pursue their careers,” Ahmed says.
“Now they have gone so far that it is difficult for them to return. Why should the elders complain.”
