Dhaka, Oct. 24 -- Much of the imagination of the vulnerable elderly is that of the middle class elderly stuck in Homes where they are rarely visited by their children. It's a touch of facts, touch or nostalgia mixed with a great deal of unreality. The situation for the elderly has changed just as that for the middle aged and the young. The ailing elderly is another class altogether.

This is a fact that can't be changed and while the young and the middle have coped as much as possible but the elderly poor as the most feeble of the three clusters have been unable to do so.

The first encounter

Like most people I was oblivious to the state of the Elderly till I did a radio series for the BBC on the topic. The area I covered was roughly the...