Dear Editor,
The media (Sunday Stabroek, May 6) carried a very touching letter by Mr. Alfred Bhulai captioned ‘We have to educate our children about looking after parents in their old age.‘ I wish to congratulate Mr Bhulai for this stimulating message and at the same time take the opportunity to add that some cultures like the Hindu with which I am more familiar place a mutual obligation on both parents and children. I quote (with apologies to our learned pandits for any errors that might be attributed to my limited knowledge of Hindi) the following two pieces from my recollection of the texts: Maataa shatru pitaa bairee jain na balo na paathitaa…. meaning that mothers and fathers are enemies to their children to whom they do not provide education – the kind of education that will allow them to realize: Maatree devo bhawa, pitree devo bhawa , meaning that mothers and fathers are like our earthly gods and should therefore be worshipped.
Who among us, with such ‘education,’ such lofty respect, regard and hopefully love for our parents will fail to do what Mr Bhulai so nobly did for his father and who is rightly encouraging all of us to do likewise. It is sadly an opportunity that many of us tend to miss only after our parents are no more among us. If we were to do so, would there be any need for impersonal institutions like the Palms?
Yours faithfully,
Nowrang Persaud