Mrs Krishna loves to chat, cook and make new friends. Hers is a full life and she has made sure that it stayed that way even when she moved countries
Mrs Krishna Arora moved to Australia when her children asked her to help out with the grandchildren. She left a very fulfilling job (she was the Principal of The Institute of Hotel Management and Catering in Delhi), busy life and extensive social circle to move to Australia. She quickly rose to the task of looking after her grandchildren and after they had left for school, Mrs Arora found herself alone at home and bored. She had never been so lonely in her life.
Mrs Arora’s story must be familiar to a lot of people. However, her story does not end there. In fact, that was just the beginning. It has been over fifteen years since Mrs Arora carved out a new life for herself on these foreign shores down under.
Many years back, she responded to an ad on the radio and went to meet a few others like her. That was the start of the Indian Senior Citizens Association although they did not know it yet. The small group of about ten continued to meet and over the years they eventually formed the association and Mrs Arora served as president for many years.
The Association now has over 300 members and they meet once a month. “There are so many people at each of these meetings. They really like to meet and have fun. Since we are not a religious group, we have Hindus, Jews, Parsis, Muslims and you name it,” says Mrs Arora adding that you only need to be of Indian origin to be part of the group.
Their monthly meeting is in Mt Waverley. “We meet at a hall that is just across the road from the Mt Waverley railway station. That way it is convenient for all to attend,” she said.
Not only do they meet once a month when the schedule at the venue permits, they also go for outings and organize seminars. The topics are those that are relevant to the elderly community – how to be careful and avoid falls etc. And then there is dancing and exercises. They even went for an outing to Alice Springs once and the next trip will be to Marysville.
Mrs Arora is most passionate about cooking and has invented a very novel way of using her skills to help others. Its called telecooking. So for example you buy eggplant and you would love to have that baigan bartha that your mother used to make but you just don’t know where to begin. Solution: call Mrs Arora. She will guide you through the whole process. Frist she will ask you to do some preparation work and then call back. Then she will guide you through the next steps over the phone. This unique feature has been profiled by the local newspapers and made Mrs Arora a minor celebrity in the area.
Having spent 15 years in Australia, she finds that isolation is the main problem for the elderly. The elderly find that the children do not have time for them and the grandchildren do not want to talk to them. As she has been through that phase, Mrs Arora encourages people to talk to her. She encourages people to call her just for a chat. She speaks Hindi, English and can understand Punjabi. She can also understand some Tamil.
It is not for everyone to become modern but Mrs Arora is very clear on one thing. “I keep telling them that they need to change. Their children will not change. They cannot expect things to be the way they were in India. The children are spoilt. They have to look out for their own interests.”
Embracing change is the most important thing about a move abroad for the elderly. “You know, I learnt a lot from my grandchildren. My grandson used to play cricket outside and I used to keep telling him – ‘Be careful! You will break something.’ One day my grand daughter told me: ‘I’ve heard you saying that he will break something for three months now and nothing has broken. Maybe you should relax and deal with the situation if something does break.’”
This incident was an eye-opener for her in many ways. She then decided to leave her grandchildren alone and concentrated more on her life. That way, she gets to enjoy her grandchildren’s company and she also has her own life.
Mrs Arora encourages the elderly to enquire at their local council about services available for them. “It is true. Many people are just not aware about the programmes that the councils offer. There’s the Monash Volunteer Service. If I’m not mistaken, they pick you up for a programme and drop you back as well. Now how good is that?”
Another thing they can do is to join a local association. “There is the Indian Senior Citizens Forum for those with a more religious orientation and a new one has come up in Thornbury as well.”
At the moment, something to look forward to is the event planned for 23 August. It is to be held at the venue of the monthly meetings and there will be entertainment and VIP guests involved. And how can we forget, there will be good food as well!
For more information on anything you have read here, contact Mrs Krishna Arora. Her phone number is 9511 5733. She would love to hear from you even if it is just to say hello!
Mrs Arora’s story must be familiar to a lot of people. However, her story does not end there. In fact, that was just the beginning. It has been over fifteen years since Mrs Arora carved out a new life for herself on these foreign shores down under.
Many years back, she responded to an ad on the radio and went to meet a few others like her. That was the start of the Indian Senior Citizens Association although they did not know it yet. The small group of about ten continued to meet and over the years they eventually formed the association and Mrs Arora served as president for many years.
The Association now has over 300 members and they meet once a month. “There are so many people at each of these meetings. They really like to meet and have fun. Since we are not a religious group, we have Hindus, Jews, Parsis, Muslims and you name it,” says Mrs Arora adding that you only need to be of Indian origin to be part of the group.
Their monthly meeting is in Mt Waverley. “We meet at a hall that is just across the road from the Mt Waverley railway station. That way it is convenient for all to attend,” she said.
Not only do they meet once a month when the schedule at the venue permits, they also go for outings and organize seminars. The topics are those that are relevant to the elderly community – how to be careful and avoid falls etc. And then there is dancing and exercises. They even went for an outing to Alice Springs once and the next trip will be to Marysville.
Mrs Arora is most passionate about cooking and has invented a very novel way of using her skills to help others. Its called telecooking. So for example you buy eggplant and you would love to have that baigan bartha that your mother used to make but you just don’t know where to begin. Solution: call Mrs Arora. She will guide you through the whole process. Frist she will ask you to do some preparation work and then call back. Then she will guide you through the next steps over the phone. This unique feature has been profiled by the local newspapers and made Mrs Arora a minor celebrity in the area.
Having spent 15 years in Australia, she finds that isolation is the main problem for the elderly. The elderly find that the children do not have time for them and the grandchildren do not want to talk to them. As she has been through that phase, Mrs Arora encourages people to talk to her. She encourages people to call her just for a chat. She speaks Hindi, English and can understand Punjabi. She can also understand some Tamil.
It is not for everyone to become modern but Mrs Arora is very clear on one thing. “I keep telling them that they need to change. Their children will not change. They cannot expect things to be the way they were in India. The children are spoilt. They have to look out for their own interests.”
Embracing change is the most important thing about a move abroad for the elderly. “You know, I learnt a lot from my grandchildren. My grandson used to play cricket outside and I used to keep telling him – ‘Be careful! You will break something.’ One day my grand daughter told me: ‘I’ve heard you saying that he will break something for three months now and nothing has broken. Maybe you should relax and deal with the situation if something does break.’”
This incident was an eye-opener for her in many ways. She then decided to leave her grandchildren alone and concentrated more on her life. That way, she gets to enjoy her grandchildren’s company and she also has her own life.
Mrs Arora encourages the elderly to enquire at their local council about services available for them. “It is true. Many people are just not aware about the programmes that the councils offer. There’s the Monash Volunteer Service. If I’m not mistaken, they pick you up for a programme and drop you back as well. Now how good is that?”
Another thing they can do is to join a local association. “There is the Indian Senior Citizens Forum for those with a more religious orientation and a new one has come up in Thornbury as well.”
At the moment, something to look forward to is the event planned for 23 August. It is to be held at the venue of the monthly meetings and there will be entertainment and VIP guests involved. And how can we forget, there will be good food as well!
For more information on anything you have read here, contact Mrs Krishna Arora. Her phone number is 9511 5733. She would love to hear from you even if it is just to say hello!
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