An attendant as a family member

When we look out for an attendant it means by implication that we are in need for one. It is never the other way round. It is quite unlikely for an attendant to knock door-to-door seeking a job. On the contrary, it is we who seek their services for smoothly running our family chores. Naturally, given the nature of work Porosh does, it frequently receives queries from children of senior citizens staying alone for attendants.

Following due diligence, which even includes interviewing an attendant, he/ she is shortlisted and deputed to the residence of a member.

In this context it is important to understand the psyche of an attendant as she leaves behind her family, in remote villages mostly, to be with a member about whom she has no prior knowledge. Her state of mind can be related to that of an employee on the first day of a new job. She feels vulnerable. She keeps on guessing how will she be treated. Whether it will be with disdain, or warmth.

Hence, it is extremely crucial for the member(s) to offer a certain degree of comfort in their dealings with the newly appointed attendant so that she feels at home and thus, gets enthusiasm to perform her duties. Under normal circumstances there is no reason to feel that there will be willful dereliction of duties because such people are usually simpletons and hardworking. All they look forward to is proper meal, adequate rest and decent behavior.

It has been our experience that wherever the above three points have been taken care of they even continue working for five/ six months at a stretch even without seeking any break although they are eligible for breaks for a few days every month.

Porosh and its lockdown preparedness

Since inception Porosh has often displayed grit and character in the face of adversities and who else if not our members bear testimony to these qualities that seem to make us stand-out from the rest. With a 15-day lockdown coming into effect from today (& who knows it may even get extended) we realize that our resilience and team-work will be put to test once again.

It is particularly important for us now to remain alert 24*7 and have multiple options ready to meet emergency situations involving the members who are all senior citizens. The aspect of lockdown that is especially significant is the near absence of public transport. The mobility of our foot soldiers is hamstrung due to near absence of public transport and even Ola/ Uber. Hence, ensuring their mobility is a key factor in the entire scheme of activities for rendering timely service to our vulnerable members.

As a result, we have pressed into service an additional vehicle to ferry our team members to different parts of the city of Kolkata to meet the emergency requirements of our beloved members. After all Porosh owes its very existence to them. By the grace of God, we hope to tide over this situation as well as we did last year.

Appreciation and humility

Porosh as a principle has always maintained a distance from pursuing media for gaining publicity. As a matter of fact we have often been approached on several occasions in the past, and one very recently by an established magazine. We were informed, much to our glee, that Porosh has been ranked as one of the 10 emerging elder care service providers in India. Not only that. We were chosen among 150 contenders! However, it came with a rider which stated we needed to pay a certain amount to figure in the list. It was a shocker for us. The message was loud and clear: buying rank by paying! The person who contacted us had the temerity to state that getting our name published will earn Porosh a lot publicity and mileage. Needless to add, we refused to reply. This incident took place during April’21 beginning.

As luck would have it, by end of April a Delhi-based correspondent from Hindustan Times expressed keenness to publish an article on how organizations like Porosh are trying to bridge the psychological gap during pandemic between elder citizens staying alone at home and their children who have settled abroad. We were interviewed and so were some of our members. The web edition was published on April 30. One may visit the ‘Media & Events’ section in our website (www.poroshkolkata.org) to read at length. Not for once there was even a subtle hint seeking any sort of favour from Porosh.

Upon its publication we received appreciation from our well-wishers. We were genuinely happy to gain recognition for the work we have been doing tirelessly. We also realize that with this comes the maturity to remain grounded and humble lest arrogance gets better of us. Instead we feel motivated to work even harder with sincerity by shunning vanity.