Leisure Opportunities and the Aged Folks of Dimasa Tribe : A Sociological Analysis

‘Leisure’ generally involves any pleasurable activity related to free time. Leisure activity of the aged Dimasa tribe is the focus area of this paper. The ‘Dimasa Tribe’ belongs to Kachari family of the Indo-Mongoloid group. They are mainly the inhabitants of Dima Hasao District of Assam.

We have interviewed 75 aged folk (age 60 and above), 25 each from three Dimasa villages- Purana Hajong (traditional village), Khejurbond ( modern village) and Donzenraji (industrialized village); three ‘Gaon Bura’s (village head man) of the respective villages and 25 leaders of the community. A total of 103 respondents have been taken into consideration and an analysis is drawn by using different sociological perspectives of aging.

The major findings are:

1. The elderly have comparatively more free time in Dimasa Society then the youth and adult. Ways of spending leisure time are different in the three villages- traditional, modern and industrial.

2. Different leisure activities among the aged were found in terms of gender, life cycle, changing nature of leisure and its varying roles in social change and class patterns.
3. Playing games, singing, playing the flute and drum, basket making, etc by aged men and child rearing, cooking, weaving etc by aged women are some of the leisure activities.
4. Different religious, cultural dimensions along with structural aspects of Dimasa society have tremendous influence on leisure and its activities.
5. Consumer culture and capitalism have influenced the Leisure activities.
6. In the traditional village the aged are more integrated into the family and community life than the modern and industrialized
7. The prestige, form and nature of leisure of the aged is influenced by their advisory and contributory role, their kind of control and their previous status.
8. Sociological interpretation on leisure activities can be drawn from multiplicity of sociological approaches of aging.