Seniors’ clubs overcome tech odds

Activities have moved online, and elders are attending webinars, learning recipes and blogging about their travel experiences. October 1 was World Day of Older Persons

Seniors’ clubs are helping retired people indulge in passions they had no time for earlier, but the pandemic has turned this into a particularly challenging year.

October 1 marked the 30th anniversary of the World Day of Older Persons. Seniors’ clubs have moved all their activities online, and that has resulted in an increase in participation in some events.

Beating loneliness

Jayashree Bose, 69, joined The Silver Surfers Club, Horamavu, and was paired with Geetanjali as a buddy. “I had met her once at a party last year. The buddy system pairs you up with someone who is like-minded and each of us checks on the other,” she says.

Nidhi Chawla, co-founder of Silver Talkies, social engagement platform for elders, has seen a 50 per cent growth in participation since last year.

“Before the pandemic, the programmes and events we hosted for seniors were limited to Bengaluru. Now, since events have gone online, we have people from across the country,” she says. The Silver Surfers Club even has people from Germany joining its online dance classes.

Learning tech

One of the more challenging aspects of the changeover was to teach seniors to use technology.

“Zoom calls turned out to be of great help for many. We had to send out basic etiquette to participants about how to present themselves in front of the camera as most were new to this,” says Dipti Varma Narain, founder of The Silver Surfers Club.

Many would be eating, dressing up or have the camera facing the ceiling.

Nanda Sharad, 69, enjoys attending technology-related seminars. “There’s so much to learn in it. We didn’t have such luxury growing up,” she says.

Learning how to use Google Pay, making videos, editing photos and using Instagram are among the things seniors are interested in learning.

Travel at home

Members of 50+ Voyagers, a club based in Koramangala, are participating in painting workshops which sometimes specify a travel destination.

Founder Sangita Bhattacharyya says, “We’re also encouraging participants to blog about their travel experiences. That has been doing quite well on the website.”

Activities include yoga, tai chi, Zumba, pilates and meditation. Many of these workouts are designed to suit the age of the participants.

Fruits of labour

Some retired seniors are taking up gardening. Nalini and Dr V R Sashidhar are among the gardening enthusiasts.

“I have been an avid gardener before but in the lockdown, this was a great way to unwind. It was nice to see the fruits of our labour, literally,” says Nalini, 63, who is part of The Silver Surfers Club.

Nalini makes videos to teach traditional Kerala cuisine, which she shares with senior club groups.

New experiences

“There are NGOs where elders can volunteer to help record audio stories and translate lessons to local languages,” says Nidhi.

Quiz nights and singing classes are among the activities at The Silver Surfers Club. Dipti says, “We have home concerts with live music where a musician takes requests from attendees and sings old melodies. We’re also planning a magic show for Deepavali.”