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Journalism of Courage
After retirement, Vaishali Joshi’s life came to a standstill. Apart from the occasional outings with friends and cooking sessions, there was nothing to keep her occupied. But she always had an in-built desire to learn new things, one of which was learning Sanskrit.
Sukhsopan is for people aged above 60, who wish to learn something new. It offers a range of 20 activities such as chess, origami, drama, bridge, gardening, languages, etc. These activities are planned by neuropsychologists to ensure movement and use of different parts of the body and brain. Learning carrom ensures hand-eye co-ordination, chess helps in analytical and logical thinking, drama in creative expression, etc. It also involves sessions to help senior citizens become mobile-friendly.
Joshi was really good at maths during her school years and the Vedic maths sessions helped to bring alive that side to her. Her daughter Gauri Natu observed many such positive changes in her mother.
Afraid of being on stage her whole life, Joshi fell in love with Abhivachan–the art of reading and acting. She bagged a prize in Saptasopan’s in-house competitions.
Dr. Shubha Thatte, renowned psychologist and a founder trustee of Institute for Psychological Health, dedicated her time to addressing the problems of the elderly. In one of the studies she conducted called SAGE (satisfied ageing) between 2014-2016, she found that almost 87% of people had not planned their retirement and were not engaged in any cognitively stimulating activity.
“While one plans finances for retired life and old age, it is equally important to focus on making those added years comfortable, cognitively alert and happy; which was a missing piece of retirement planning for most. This finding clearly highlighted a need for some intervention to cater to this cognitive stimulation of elderly,” said the study.
So, this initiative was started as an intervention under the guidance of Thatte and another renowned psychologist Dr. Anand Nadkarni, founder of Institute for Psychological Health, to develop a neuropsychological nurturance.
The initiative also helps the elderly to make friends with those who have like-minded interests. Natu, the project co-ordinator of Sukhsopan says, “If someone misses one class, everyone very enthusiastically fills them in.”
Natu explains that the brain works in auto-mode with age. “When we are learning to cook, we are very cautious and scared, we use measurement cups, etc. But if we observe our elders, they do it naturally. You can sense the experience. This is how these activities go on auto-mode.”
So it is important to learn new things in old-age. “When you learn new things, new connections are formed in the brain due to the stimulation. When someone tries something they have never tried in their life before, cells necessary to learn those skills get activated. This helps in staying mentally fit,” said Natu.
