Gwalior/ Bhopal, October 2, 2026

Sometimes, a personal loss quietly changes the direction of a life. For Agastya Shrivastava, losing his grandparents eventually took him into the homes of elderly people who had little support of their own.

For the past two years, Agastya has been working with senior citizens in Gwalior under the Vriddha Mitra Programme. His work takes him through Chandravadani Naka and other old neighbourhoods of the city, where ageing often comes with illness, limited mobility, financial difficulties and loneliness.

The work is simple in appearance. There are home visits, medicines to keep track of, physiotherapy sessions to coordinate and pension papers to sort out. But behind these routine tasks are elderly people who sometimes need something more basic: someone who keeps coming back.

Agastya says the loss of his grandparents drew him towards this work. What began as an emotional response gradually became a regular engagement with elderly people struggling without adequate family or institutional support.

Among them was 72-year-old Shahzad Khan. Khan had remained largely confined to bed for nearly 12 years after suffering paralysis and a hip fracture, according to the field documentation shared by the organisation. His physical condition had severely restricted his movement. He had also become increasingly cut off from life outside his home.

There was another problem. Without an Aadhaar card, accessing old-age pension benefits had become difficult. Agastya and other members associated with the programme began visiting him regularly. The first task was not paperwork or physiotherapy. It was to build trust. Over time, home-based physiotherapy was arranged. The team also helped with his daily care and mobility.

But Khan had one wish that had little to do with documents or treatment. He wanted to go outside his house again. A wheelchair was arranged with donor support. After years inside, Khan was taken out into the street and could see his surroundings again.

“Main itne dino baad apna poora ghar dekh paaya, beta,” he told Agastya, according to the field account. The moment was small, but for a man who had spent more than a decade largely confined to bed, it meant much more.

His physical condition has also shown improvement, according to the programme's field records. Khan can now sit up and get out of bed without assistance. He can stand with support and take slow steps while holding onto a wall. His family credits regular physiotherapy and continued personal attention for the improvement.

The intervention did not stop with his health. The team also worked on documentation needed to connect the family with government welfare support. Aadhaar KYC formalities relating to Khan's wife were completed, helping her enrol for pension benefits. According to the organisation's records, pension payments for both members of the elderly couple have since begun.

Such cases underline a problem that can easily remain hidden behind closed doors. For an elderly person with restricted mobility, even reaching an office, completing KYC or following up on a pension application can become a major hurdle.

The Vriddha Mitra Programme, initiated by NGO founder Dr Pawan Pathak, seeks to work with elderly people facing such difficulties. Its focus includes home visits, healthcare support, counselling and helping senior citizens connect with welfare schemes.

For Agastya, however, the work remains deeply personal. Two years ago, the memories of his grandparents led him towards elderly people who needed care. Today, those memories have turned into regular visits to homes where a medicine reminder, a pension document, a few supported steps or simply a conversation can matter.

Shahzad Khan's journey from being confined to bed to stepping outside his home shows what such sustained attention can do. And for Agastya, the mission continues quietly, one elderly person and one home visit at a time.