A FEW years back, two friends surprised everyone by selling up and moving to Spain. Admittedly, spending one’s sunset years in warmer climes is attractive, but to up sticks when pushing 70 seemed high-risk. Initially, things went well. They lived the dream; swimming in the morning followed by leisurely lunches in local restaurants. They fitted into the local community, shunning the ex-pat G&T set. Pensions materialised each month and healthcare was excellent, courtesy of the NHS’s Spanish cousin. Sadly, things changed literally, at a stroke. One died suddenly, leaving the other alone, far from family with an unsellable house on her hands.
Those friends have been on my mind when watching the BBC series, The Real Marigold Hotel. A group of ageing, B-List celebrities, on whom the sun hasn’t quite set, travel to India to sample Eastern-style retirement.
India was the obvious choice, being the setting of the 2012 movie, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. The current Marigolds might be celebrities in their own kitchens but they don’t cut it on the streets of Puducherry. Britt Ekland looks surprised, perhaps that’s just the surgery, when she isn’t instantly recognised. The oldies’ activities, such as cooking and yoga, are stage managed and they’re carefully watched over. Just as well, if Duncan Bannatyne’s efforts to find the gents at the bus station are anything to go by.
The programme requires a health warning. It’s an entertainment, not a guide to overseas retirement. Nevertheless, India is gaining traction as a place for Western retirees. Between 5,000-6,000 British pensioners live in India, up 20% in recent years. While it’s certainly warm with very low living and care costs, the programme ignores the reality of being elderly in India. India’s population is ageing rapidly. By 2050, 20% will be over 60. Around 90% of older Indians have to work to survive. Global AgeWatch’s 2018 Report Card placed India 71 out of 96 countries for elderly care. While the Marigolds would have the best medical care should they need it, there’s no reciprocal health care agreement between India and the UK.
Fidelma Cook: All villages need a beating heart
Programmes like the Marigold Hotel help swell the ranks of the 250,000 UK pensioners already living in the EU. While wishing to escape Boris, Brexit and bugs is understandable, it’s not all tapas and sangria, as our friends sadly found out. Without one’s soulmate the dream can become a nightmare. The Marigolds’ Indian retirement experience is sanitised and unrepresentative. They have each other and know they’ll be home in a few weeks. The truth is, there’s only one thing worse than being old and lonely at home and that’s being old and lonely abroad.
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