Ep 55: Who Will Take Care of Elderly Parents? The Elder Care Crisis Nobody Is Talking About in India

Your parents took care of you for 20 years without a manual, without a break and without asking for anything in return. Who is taking care of them now? In this week’s episode of What The Gap, Shikha (Gen Z) and Mona (Gen X) get into one of India’s most quietly growing crises — elder care. And the reason nobody is talking about it is because everyone is too busy living it. We talk about the sandwich generation — the middle-aged Indians who are simultaneously raising their own children, managing careers and now becoming full-time caregivers for ageing parents — with zero support, zero training and zero acknowledgement. We go into the real cost of elder care in India — from hiring a trained nurse or caregiver, to assisted living facilities, to what happens when dementia or Alzheimer’s enters a household that was completely unprepared for it. We talk about why Indian families still see sending parents to old age homes as abandonment and how that guilt quietly destroys the mental health of an entire generation of adult children. We also discuss what Gen Z genuinely thinks about living with and caring for grandparents, why the concept of ageing in place is growing, what good elder care infrastructure actually looks like, and why India’s healthcare system is simply not built for what is coming. This one is personal. And it is a conversation every Indian family needs to have — before the crisis arrives. 🎙️ Hosted by Shikha Gupta & Mona Sehgal 💬 How is your family handling elder care? Tell us honestly in the comments! 00:00 - 02:20 | Why Nobody Talks About Elder Care Until It’s Too Late 02:20 - 09:10 | The Sandwich Generation — Raising Kids & Caring for Parents at the Same Time 09:10 - 16:40 | The Real Cost of Elder Care in India — Nurses, Facilities & What Families Actually Pay 16:40 - 23:30 | Dementia, Alzheimer’s & When Families Are Completely Unprepared 23:30 - 30:15 | Old Age Homes & The Guilt — Is Sending Parents Away Really Abandonment? 30:15 - 36:00 | What Gen Z Thinks About Living With & Caring for Grandparents 36:00 - 39:18 | What India’s Elder Care Infrastructure Needs to Look Like — Urgently #eldercareindia #aging #parenting #sandwichgeneration #dementiacare #oldagehome #caregiver #elderlyparents Credits: Shikha Gupta - Gen Z co-host, bringing in the chaos, hot takes, and occasional existential crises   / shikhagupta29   Mona Sehgal - Gen X co-host, dropping wisdom bombs, reality checks, and savage comebacks   / 04mona21   Produced by: Podcast Castle, Shahpur Jat, New Delhi   / podcastcastlestudios   Creative team: Sumati Gauniyal   / gauniyall   Disclaimer: Welcome to What the Gap - where two generations try to decode the world, one random topic (and one inevitable eye-roll) at a time. We chat in good faith, but accuracy, completeness, and reliability are not included in the package - so please don’t quote us in your thesis, or use our lines to win family debates, or blame us if your argument fails at home. Expect sarcasm, puns, and healthy intergenerational disagreements. Listener discretion advised. If you laugh, cringe, or suddenly rethink your life choices while watching… that’s entirely on you 😉