Guide
How to check on elderly parents in India when you live abroad
By PariNest · Published 9 November 2026 · 4 min read
You call on Sunday, everything sounds fine, and then the week goes by. If your parents live alone in India while you are in the US, Canada, the UK, the UAE or Australia, the hardest part is often not knowing — was today a normal day?
There is no single fix, but a few simple habits make a big difference. Here is what works for many families.
1. Agree on one small daily signal
A long weekly catch-up is lovely, but a short daily signal tells you more. Agree on one small thing your parent does every day, at a time that suits them — after the morning walk, or with their morning tea. Keep it easy enough that missing it actually means something.
2. Make their phone easy to use
A phone they find confusing is a phone they will not use. Make the text larger, put your numbers on the home screen, and remove apps they never open.
3. Use a daily check-in instead of daily worry
Silence on its own doesn't tell you much: a phone left charging, a nap, a wedding in the family. A daily check-in separates "they're busy" from "something may be wrong".
That is what we built Pari Pulse for. Your parent taps one button, "I'm doing fine", once a day on Pari Touch, a free Android app, and can get a gentle daily reminder at a time you choose in their time zone. You see their last check-in from anywhere, and if a check-in is missed, the family members you choose get an alert on WhatsApp (and SMS in India) — a gentle one first, an urgent one later. Your parent does not need WhatsApp, and there is nothing else for them to learn.
Pari Pulse starts with a 30-day free trial. Plans from ₹99 or US$1.99 a month.
Try Pari Pulse →Whatever you use, a check-in is a signal, not an emergency service.
4. Decide when alerts should reach you
Your parent's day and yours rarely line up. India keeps the same time all year (IST, UTC+5:30), but most countries abroad change their clocks, so the gap moves by an hour twice a year:
| Where you live | Time difference with India |
|---|---|
| US / Canada – Eastern (New York, Toronto) | India is 9½ h ahead in summer, 10½ h in winter |
| US / Canada – Pacific (California, Vancouver) | India is 12½ h ahead in summer, 13½ h in winter |
| UK (London) | India is 4½ h ahead in summer, 5½ h in winter |
| UAE (Dubai, Abu Dhabi) | India is 1½ h ahead, all year |
| Australia – Sydney, Melbourne | Sydney is 4½ h ahead of India in its winter, 5½ h in its summer |
| Australia – Perth | Perth is 2½ h ahead of India, all year |
So 9 am in India is the evening before in North America (around 10:30–11:30 pm in New York or Toronto, 7:30–8:30 pm in California or Vancouver), the middle of the night in London (3:30–4:30 am), 7:30 am in Dubai and early afternoon in Sydney.
That means a missed check-in can come to light while you are asleep. In Pari Pulse, each family member can choose the earliest time gentle alerts reach them, in their own time zone, so a reminder doesn't wake them at an odd hour. Urgent alerts are still sent at any hour. Brothers and sisters in different countries can each pick what suits them.
5. Visit, and plan for change
Use visits to look at what a daily check-in can't show you: steadiness on the stairs, the state of the kitchen, unopened medicine strips, bills piling up. Small changes are easier to act on early — grab rails in the bathroom, a part-time helper, medicine delivery, a home-visit doctor.
Talk with your parents and siblings about what happens if their needs change: who would travel, whether someone could stay with them, what they would want. It is easier to have that conversation on a good day than in a hurry.
In short
- One small daily signal, at a time that suits your parent.
- A phone that's simple for them to use.
- A daily check-in so a quiet day doesn't turn into a sleepless night.
- Alerts timed for where each of you lives.
- Visits that look for small changes early.