Ageing in India | Despite the fact that by 2020 the average age in India will be 29 (compared to 37 for China), the current elderly population of about 81 million people will nearly double to 150 million. Better medical care and low fertility have made the elderly the fastest growing section of society. India, rapidly developing into an economic superpower, is facing enormous social upheaval; new wealth and urbanisation are starting to erode the foundations of traditional values and kinship. India’s elderly and their treatment are a prism of this change. This ongoing work examines the economic and social change that this will have on the lives of individuals in a society where age has always been an indicator of reverence. 

Elders walk through the amphitheatre after morning worship at the Tamaraikulum Elders village, Tamil Nadu
Pattu salutes the sun at dawn at the Tamaraikulum Elders village, Tamil Nadu, India
Amaravathy and Jayamal talk to their friends inside their cottage
Selvaraj pinches Venugopal's nose before an exercise class at the Tamaraikulum Elders village
A daily exercise class for residents
An elderly resident shares a joke with her social worker
Uthiradam and Vairakannu take a break for tea after their exercise session
Manjani inside his room
Srinivasan officiates during a puniyathanam (remebrance ceremony) for Sunderajan in his room where he died.
Ganapadi and his wife, Khrisaveni
Meena, an elderly resident, makes a fuss of one of the villages two dogs.
Meena, 65 pretends to hit a male nurse with a crutch after he teased Janagi who has dementia. Tamaraikulum Elders village, Ta...
A man escorts his elderly father back to his village for a visit