The Old Are Taking the World to the Grave
- Madhukar Dama
- 1 day ago
- 11 min read
A child born in India today inherits a world already shaped by the older generation. Longer lifespans and concentrated power mean that elders continue to control homes, resources, and decisions far beyond the point of guidance. This control, instead of easing with age, often deepens — delaying independence for the young and tying their future to the past.
Family and Longevity
Elders hold land, money, and authority in most families. With life expectancy rising, this control now stretches into the 70s and 80s. Sons and daughters, even in their 30s and 40s, are often treated as dependents rather than independent adults. What was once guidance becomes interference. Longevity, without the willingness to let go, delays freedom and forces the young into roles of caretakers long before they have built their own lives.
Education and Work
India’s education system still carries the imprint of older designs: rote learning, outdated syllabi, and high-stakes exams. Young graduates step into job markets shaped by policies and industries from decades ago, often misaligned with present needs. This mismatch is not natural — it is the result of delayed reforms, held back by leaders who grew up in a different economy.
Wealth and Property
Property and assets remain concentrated with the older generation. Housing prices in cities keep rising, while rural land is tightly controlled. Young couples face delayed independence — forced into long-term rents or loans while waiting for inheritance or approval. In practice, the younger generation spends much of its energy serving the financial and medical needs of elders before securing its own stability.
Politics and Power
India has one of the world’s largest youth populations, yet its political leadership is among the oldest. Elder leaders often stay in power for decades, shaping policies with a short horizon. Issues like job creation, climate change, and education reform — which affect the young most directly — are postponed or diluted. The result is a structural mismatch: those who will not live through the consequences make decisions for those who must.
Environment and Common Home
The most visible inheritance is the environment. Polluted air in Delhi, recurring floods in Bangalore, rising heatwaves across the country — these are direct results of older industrial and political choices. Children are born today into a climate crisis not of their making, but of their inheritance. This is the clearest proof that decisions of the past weigh heavily on the present and future.
The Cost of Longer Lives
Longer lives are a great achievement. But when combined with tight control of power, they burden the young in two ways:
1. As caretakers of elders — supporting health, pensions, and property disputes.
2. As caretakers of the future — forced to repair environmental damage, job shortages, and institutional inertia.
By the time the young finally inherit control, much of their energy has already been spent.
A Choice for Elders
This is not a call to blame, but to rethink. Elders can turn longevity into a gift by stepping back earlier, handing over property, mentoring instead of controlling, and opening space in politics and society. Real blessings are not just advice or inheritance, but freedom and trust.
The Invitation
“The old are taking the world to the grave” is a warning — but it can also be an invitation. If elders continue to hold power tightly, the young inherit less space and more struggle. But if they release control with grace, they allow the young to live, create, and lead.
The future of India depends not only on how long we live, but on how soon we let others live fully.
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🔎 Exhaustive Examples
1. Family & Social Life
Joint families with delayed inheritance: In India, property (land, houses) is often not transferred until the elder passes, leaving adult children in their 40s or 50s dependent.
Marriage control: Many Indian families delay or restrict marriages, especially inter-caste or love marriages, because elders hold veto power.
Career choices: Parents insisting on engineering/medical careers even when children want arts, sports, or entrepreneurship.
Migration conflict: Younger people who want to migrate for jobs often face resistance because elders rely on them for care and financial support.
Household decisions: Even in nuclear families, older in-laws often override parenting, dietary, or financial decisions.
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2. Economy & Wealth
Housing affordability crisis: In Indian cities like Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Delhi, older generations bought property cheaply; younger people now face unaffordable prices due to speculation and lack of release of land.
Gold and land hoarding: Elders prefer traditional wealth (gold, real estate), blocking younger generations from investing in productive sectors.
Delayed business succession: Family businesses often kept under patriarchal control until the elder’s death, preventing innovation by heirs.
Intergenerational wealth gap (universal): In OECD countries, baby boomers own the majority of housing and stocks; millennials rent and are priced out.
Agricultural landholding (India): Older farmers resist transferring land titles, leaving younger farmers dependent and powerless to adopt new practices.
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3. Politics & Governance
India’s 2024 Lok Sabha: Average MP age ~57; only a small fraction under 40, despite 65% of Indians being under 35.
Long-serving politicians: Leaders in their 70s and 80s (across parties) dominate key ministries and resist stepping aside.
Dynastic politics: Older leaders pass power to their children only when incapacitated, not voluntarily.
Global examples:
US: Joe Biden (81), Donald Trump (78) contesting 2024 elections.
Africa: Presidents like Paul Biya of Cameroon (91, in power since 1982).
China/Russia: Leaders extend terms to maintain control far beyond generational needs.
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4. Environment & Climate
Air pollution in India: Delhi consistently ranks among the most polluted cities; children born today already suffer asthma due to past and ongoing industrial/vehicle policies.
Coal expansion: Despite global climate warnings, India, China, and others continue to build coal plants; these lock in emissions for decades.
River pollution: Ganga and Yamuna polluted for generations because of industries established and protected by older policies.
Deforestation: Older generations approved clear-cutting of forests for dams, mines, highways — leaving today’s youth to face floods, heatwaves, and water scarcity.
Global warming (universal): 90% of carbon emissions came before the year 2000 — mostly from industries run by older generations.
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5. Culture & Society
Caste rigidity: Elders enforce caste barriers in marriage, jobs, and rituals, limiting younger people’s freedom.
Gender roles: Older norms force women into caretaking roles, even when they want careers.
Dowry: Despite laws, dowry practices are upheld by older relatives in marriages.
Resistance to modern reforms: Elders oppose sex education in schools, LGBTQ+ rights, or new cultural expressions.
Universally: Older generations worldwide often resist changes in reproductive rights, same-sex marriage, or cultural diversity.
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6. Healthcare & Longevity Burden
India’s healthcare costs: Younger family members shoulder the financial burden of chronic illnesses (diabetes, heart disease) of elders.
Pension drain: India’s state finances strained by pension schemes that benefit a small older segment, while youth face unemployment.
Delayed independence of women: Daughters-in-law often expected to be primary caregivers, limiting their own careers.
Universal parallel: In Japan and Europe, shrinking youth populations carry the tax/health burden of very old populations.
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7. Education & Knowledge Systems
Curriculum inertia: NCERT textbooks and university syllabi often decades old, reflecting outdated worldviews.
Exams over innovation: Elders in policy continue to prioritise rote-learning over skills, blocking reform demanded by youth.
Global parallel: Older professors controlling academia resist disruptive research or new technologies in universities.
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8. Technology & Innovation
Start-up funding gatekeeping (India): Traditional business families or older investors often discourage risky tech ideas, preferring “safe” real estate or gold.
Digital regulation: Older lawmakers draft internet and AI laws without understanding the technology, leading to over-restriction or poor governance.
Universal: Older industrialists (oil, coal) block renewable transition by lobbying governments, slowing down youth-driven innovation.
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9. Law & Justice
Court backlog in India: Older judges and systemic delays mean cases drag for decades, preventing justice for the young.
Inheritance disputes: Court cases over ancestral land often stretch across generations, freezing productive use of property.
Global: Older-dominated courts (e.g., US Supreme Court with aging justices) decide issues (abortion, environment) that shape young lives for decades.
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📌 The Pattern Across All Examples
Elders hold wealth, property, and decision-making power.
Youth inherit not just resources but debts, pollution, and delayed opportunities.
Longer lifespans magnify control and delay generational turnover.
Visible in homes, parliaments, markets, schools, and the air we breathe.
The Weight of the Keys
-- a dialogue with Madhukar
Scene:
An evening in a quiet courtyard of Madhukar’s off-grid homestead. Neem trees shade the place. A group of six elderly friends from the nearby town — retired teachers, businessmen, a politician, a farmer, a doctor, a priest — arrive together, carrying both dignity and doubt.
They sit on woven cots. The air is still, broken only by the sound of a hand pump.
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1. The Confrontation Begins
Elder 1 (Retired teacher):
“Madhukar, we came because we read your essay. You say the old are taking the world to the grave.
Do you hate us so much? Is this your war against old age?”
Madhukar (smiling slowly):
“No. I don’t hate the old.
I hate the grip that refuses to loosen.
I hate the weight that crushes those who are supposed to fly.
This is not about wrinkles on the skin.
This is about the hand that clutches the keys long after it should have passed them on.”
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2. Family and Household
Elder 2 (Ex-businessman, defensive):
“But we built these houses, bought the land, saved the money. Without us, the young would have nothing. We earned it with sweat.”
Madhukar:
“You earned, yes. But then you turned that earning into a leash.
Your son of 40 still cannot decide what job to take without fearing your anger.
Your daughter of 35 still waits for your approval to marry.
Inheritance becomes a cage, not a blessing.
Your children live like caretakers in their own homes,
not because they are weak,
but because you made obedience the rent they must pay for love.”
(The elders shift uncomfortably. Silence lingers.)
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3. Politics and Power
Elder 3 (Retired politician, chuckling):
“Politics is not a child’s game. We need experience. That’s why elders rule.”
Madhukar:
“Experience is wisdom when it guides.
It becomes poison when it clings.
Look at parliament —
average age 57,
while the nation’s average age is 29.
You do not represent the young.
You represent the memory of your youth,
which ended decades ago.
This is not experience anymore.
It is hoarding of power.
It is fear of irrelevance.”
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4. Economy and Wealth
Elder 4 (Landlord-farmer, irritated):
“We hold land because we worked the soil. Should we just give it away?”
Madhukar:
“Give away? No.
But pass it, share it, trust it.
Why must your son beg for signatures
to sow what he already waters?
Why must daughters be written out of wills
as if blood flows only in the male vein?
You forget — the soil is older than you,
the land is not yours to grip until death.
You are only a guest,
but you act like an emperor.”
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5. Culture and Tradition
Elder 5 (Priest, defensive):
“Youngsters don’t respect tradition. They run after love marriages, other religions, western clothes. We must protect values.”
Madhukar (leaning forward):
“Protecting values is noble,
but what values are you protecting?
Caste walls? Dowry? Silence for women?
Fear in the name of gods?
A tradition that strangles life is not a value.
It is an anchor.
And you confuse the anchor for the boat.
You pass the chains as ‘heritage.’
The youth carry it,
their backs bend,
their dreams collapse.
Is this the gift you want to give?”
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6. Environment and Earth
Elder 6 (Doctor, sighing):
“We tried our best. Hospitals, roads, industries… What more could we have done?”
Madhukar:
“You built hospitals, yes,
but filled them with patients of pollution and stress.
You built industries,
but left rivers choking in chemicals.
You cleared forests,
and now your grandchildren gasp in heatwaves.
Your best was not evil.
But it was blind.
And blindness repeated for decades
becomes a curse on the unborn.”
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7. Turning Point
Elder 1 (voice softer now):
“Are you saying we ruined everything?
Are we monsters?”
Madhukar:
“No.
You are not monsters.
You are afraid.
Afraid to let go.
Afraid to admit that the world no longer belongs to you.
But listen—
the world never belonged to you.
You only borrowed it.
Now you must return it.
Not in ashes,
not in debts,
but in freedom.”
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8. The Release
Elder 2 (eyes moist):
“So what must we do, Madhukar?”
Madhukar (voice steady, patient):
“Step aside without bitterness.
Give property, not just promises.
Allow marriages, not just arrange them.
Let children fail, let them rise,
without dragging them back to your unfinished dreams.
In politics, retire when wisdom turns to habit.
In homes, bless without controlling.
In culture, preserve the song,
not the chains tied to it.
Do not wait for death to pass the torch.
Pass it while your hands are warm.
So that your life becomes memory,
not burden.”
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9. The Departure
The courtyard falls silent.
The neem leaves tremble with the wind.
The elders do not argue now.
They rise slowly,
some leaning on sticks,
some on each other.
As they walk back,
their pace is heavy,
but their eyes are clear.
For the first time,
they carry not the pride of age,
but the weight of truth:
that in their hunger for control,
they built cages.
And in their final years,
perhaps they can unlock them.
---
Madhukar watches them go.
He does not hate the old.
He only waits
for them to love the young enough
to let them live.
The Old Carry the Torch Too Long
the child comes into the world
eyes wet, hands trembling
but before it learns to walk
a grandfather’s voice is already telling it
how to live, what to eat,
whom to marry,
which god to bow before.
the cradle is never only the cradle
it is a shrine of rules
polished by centuries of hands
older than dust.
---
the mother tells her son
to become a doctor.
the father tells his daughter
to become a caretaker.
and the children nod
because the walls of the house
are made of the old man’s savings,
the old woman’s gold.
the roof above their heads
does not belong to them,
the land beneath their feet
is still registered in another name.
they live like tenants in their own childhood.
---
in the city,
flats scrape the sky
but every key rests in the pocket
of a man with white hair.
the young count coins,
sign loans,
wait for a signature that never comes.
in the village,
a farmer bends his back on soil
that belongs to his father,
and his father’s father.
his name is not on the paper,
his sweat evaporates on land
he cannot sell, cannot gift,
cannot pass on.
---
in parliament,
they stand up one after another,
faces wrinkled, voices seasoned,
men who were young when Nehru was alive,
still telling today’s children
what tomorrow must look like.
a billion young
watch speeches like reruns of old cinema,
applauding out of habit,
while the script never changes.
---
in the air hangs the dust of coal.
the Yamuna stinks like a wounded body.
the Ganga is heavy with the prayers
of those who never thought
about the children drinking downstream.
forests fall,
hills are mined,
rivers are dammed,
not for the youth,
but for the old hunger
to build one more road,
one more temple,
one more empire of stone
before death arrives.
---
the children grow.
they become men, women,
but they are still called “beta,”
still called “bitiya.”
they cradle their parents through illness,
through dialysis, through heart attacks,
while their own dreams
turn into unpaid bills.
and yet—
this is not a song of bitterness.
---
because the young are not empty.
they are fields waiting for rain,
they are rivers waiting for flood.
in their lungs burns a fire
older than the scriptures.
in their eyes shines the stubbornness
of a billion unfinished mornings.
they will not remain caretakers forever.
they will not remain children forever.
---
one day,
the keys will fall.
the ledgers will close.
the throne of property will crack.
the old hands will let go,
not by choice,
but by the law of earth and ash.
and when that happens,
the young will not build
the same cages again.
they will take the land
and plant forests.
they will take the rooftops
and fill them with solar panels.
they will take the classrooms
and tear out the old syllabi,
write new alphabets in chalk
that tastes of tomorrow.
---
this is not revenge.
this is rebirth.
the old are taking the world to the grave,
yes—
but the grave is not the end.
in India,
from graves grow neem trees,
from ashes grows soil,
from endings comes harvest.
and the youth,
patient but restless,
burdened but unbroken,
will rise like crops after the monsoon,
will rise like songs after silence,
will rise like dawn after blackout.
they will carry the world,
not to the grave,
but to the beginning
we have been waiting for.
