Grandparents celebrate Good Ol’ Friday’s

by Suman Gupta

Grandparents and Grandkids to celebrate Good Ol’ Fridays at Viviana Mall

New year resolutions encouraged to include spending quality time with Grandparents

The initiative aims to better emotional bonding between grandparents and grandchildren

Mumbai, January: International Advertising Association – India Chapter in association with Rotary Club District 3141 and Viviana Mall has launched a campaign – “Good Ol’ Fridays” encouraging youth to include their grandparents in their new year’s resolution to spend quality time doing various activities and creating memories to be cherished for a lifetime with their grandparents. On this occasion, Viviana Mall as part of their motto ‘celebrate everyday’, has taken the initiative to create various activities and programs where children and their grandparents can spend some time together and strengthen the bond between themselves. This initiative will run through the year with various activities and workshops each month.

Good Ol’Fridays was officially launched by Alok Sekhsaria, Chairman of Ananda Yaan The Elder Care Committee of the Rotary club of Bombay, Jaideep Gandhi, Honorary Secretary, IAA India Chapter, Mr Manoj Agarwal, CEO Viviana Mall on 10^th January, along with Children from Vivekananda Balakashram and Senior Citizens from Ananda Yaan at Viviana Mall. The children interacted with the Senior Citizens and got the sense of having a grandparent and the elders were happy to share their time with the children. There were games and live music performances as well as a happy treat for the group at the food court.

Young adults barely have the time stay connected with their grandparents. They get to meet their grandparents only on family get-togethers, festivals or any special occasions. Where children are occupied in their own space, grandparents are left craving for the love, affection and attention of their grandchildren. This leads to deterioration of their mental health. In fact, the senior citizens who are devoid of internet age and smartphones are treasure trove source of knowledge, be it for education, recipe, home medicines, childcare, etc.

Good Ol’ Fridays is an initiative to bridge the gap between grandparents and grandchildren and create happy moments by spending quality time with each other. The initiative encourages them to spend quality time with each other through thoughtful activities every Friday at Viviana Mall.

With fast changing socio-economic scenario, rapid urbanisation, higher aspirations among the youth and the increasing participation of women in the workforce, roots of traditional joint family system have been eroding very fast. Rise in nuclear families, young population migrating to other cities or countries are the prime factors behind senior citizens being forced to their residual life all alone; thus exposing them to emotional, physical and financial insecurity.

Speaking on the occasion, Ms. Rima Kirtikar, Chief Marketing Officer, Viviana Mall said, “As one of India’s leading malls we constantly look for events and activities that promote and foster healthy community engagement. As part of this we have already provided a senior citizens lounge where elderly shoppers can take a breather and avail of some of the facilities at this lounge which provides access to tablets for browsing, massage chairs and a reading library stocked with the latest magazines and novels. In addition we have electronic wheel chairs available at the mall. This initiative; Good Ol’ Fridays appealed to us as it fits into our vision of bringing families together to have the best possible experience whenever they visit us. We believe that the elderly are an integral part of our society and sometimes in the hum drum of life they get neglected by their families and especially the grandchildren. We believe that this initiative will help bring these together and create memories and remembrances for a lifetime.”

Says Dr. Mona Shah, Chairperson of the senior citizens Avenue at the rotary District “Our research showed that senior citizens really valued one thing over everything else, and that was the time that they could spend with young adults. Equally, in this fast paced world young adults found it very difficult to spare time it shows commitment to a good cause.”

ABOUT VIVIANA MALL: Viviana Mall, a well-known ‘Destination Mall’, was built to give an experience to its audience. Encompassing one million square feet, Viviana Mall covers over 250 leading brands in its prime retail and leisure space. Established in 2013, the mall is India’s first and only visually impaired friendly mall and has also launched “XRCVC-Viviana Extension” a resource centre for the visually impaired.