Valentine’s Day is celebrated all over the world as a day of love. It is possible that it originally came about as a feast day for Christians in the honour of saints named Valentinus. Today, the Valentine’s day celebration is associated with the celebration of romantic love. it is observed worldwide on February 14.
In time, Valentine’s Day celebration has taken on a different significance. It is now about universal love – for instance, the love of a parent for his or her child or the other way round. Parents give us unconditional love and care for us till we are old enough to take care of ourselves. In their old age, they need their children to take care of them. What better way to show them that we care than to do something for them on this day of love.
This 14th of February, we at Tribeca Care, arranged for our patients to meet their children. Valentines Day Celebration was done with our patients and their children. It was a golden opportunity for the children to do something thoughtful for their parents. We, from the sandwich generation, take care of our aged parents as a matter of course. But is it only a duty that needs to be performed. Parents long to know that there is an element of love hidden in there somewhere.
83 year old Namita Dutta received flowers from her son, Sumantra Dutta. Sumantra Dutta, who divides his time between Bangladesh and India, could not be present. But he was happy to have got the opportunity to show his mother that he loves her. Her care manager, Paramita, had this to say, “we had a good time for the two or three hours that we were there. She has dementia so it is possible that she doesn’t remember what happened on the 14th. But at the time, she was happy.”
Sita Roy, a resident of Rashbehari Avenue, whose daughter and son are both settled in the US, was happy to be spending Valentine’s Day with her care manager, Paramita. This octogenarian, unlike most in her age group, is tech savvy and active on Facebook. She insisted that her pictures be shown to her so that she could see how she looked. The flowers and the cupcakes made her day. She asked Paramita jokingly, “You want to spend Valentine’s Day with me?” Her son and daughter were happy with the beautiful gesture.
Joytirmayee Dutta Chowdhury, a patient of Alzheimer’s was overwhelmed with the gesture. Her care manager, Rajesh says, “She was very happy with the flowers. I did not take cupcakes for her because her sugar level is high. She can’t have cupcakes. So I took Britannia Marie biscuits, her favourite. Her daughter was so happy she couldn’t express herself in words.”
Jnanendra Nath Bhattacharya’s and his wife were pleasantly surprised by the surprise visit from his care manager, Santosh. Jnanendra, a septogenarian, likes photoshop and the internet and already knew a little bit about Valentine’s Day celebration. When Santosh turned up with flowers and cupcakes, it became a special occasion. Their son, Anirban Bhattacharya, who lives in the US, was also happy with the celebration.
As an organisation, we at Tribeca Care are happy that we could spread joy among those for whom loneliness has become an everyday affair. We hope to organise more such initiatives in the future to make those people happy who have never spared a thought for themselves and have always given love. Valentine’s Day celebration is a celebration of their lives.
For further details, visit us at TriBeCa Care
E-mail us at:enquiry@newwpsite.tribecacare.com or call us on +91 33 402 777 77
http://www.history.com/topics/valentines-day/history-of-valentines-day
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentine%27s_Day
http://www.history.com/topics/valentines-day
