Farah Khan on the sandwich generation and the caregivers who hold a household together
Filmmaker Farah Khan has posted a photograph with her three children, alongside a message about caregiving, after watching the short film ‘Kuch Hoga Toh Batana’,by MrMed about a young woman looking after her father through treatment. The film is part of MrMed’s Care for the Caregiver initiative.
She places herself, she writes, in the sandwich generation — “at that age when we either are caregivers to our parents or to our kids, sandwiched in between.” One day, she adds, her three will be in the same position, looking after her and their own children. “I’m not being dramatic, that’s just what it is, and frankly good luck to them because I’m going to be a nightmare.”
The humour gives way quickly. “Today, if you look after someone you love, you do it with nothing,” she writes. “Nobody is asking how you’re holding up, because everybody is asking about the patient, and quite rightly. We don’t think about these people much.”
What we do instead, in her account, is praise them in a way that closes the subject. “We just say she’s a good daughter, he’s a devoted son. As if it’s a personality trait and not the hardest job that they will ever do.”
That, she writes, is what she does not want her children to inherit. “I’d like them to ask the person doing the caring how they are.”
And it starts small. “One question, or even a little hug of acknowledgement. Every strong person sometimes needs to be cared for too. This is something we’ll all go through at some point.”
Her message closes with the caregivers themselves. “This is for all the caregivers, the pure souls out there putting everyone else first. Hope you’re okay and taken care of too.”
She ends by asking people to pass the film on. “Send it to someone who needs to know they’ve been seen.”
MrMed released the film to have society see and recognise the caregiver — the unseen person who holds everything together when illness enters a home. It forms part of the company’s Care for the Caregiver initiative.
Post: https://www.instagram.com/p/Dd5wEopH0VO/?stkn=MW5idTZxempidWRscA==
Film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jw1JRDNYHgo
Atul Tiwari is a seasoned journalist at Mumbai Times, specializing in city news, culture, and human-interest stories. With a knack for uncovering compelling narratives, Atul brings Mumbai’s vibrant spirit to life through his writing.
