Skip to main content

Retirement



Most of my boyhood companions have either retired from their jobs or are on the verge of retirement. Officially I have a year left for entering that stage of life in which you never get a day off. Personally, I wouldn’t want to retire at all till the last breath. Being practical, I know that the best time to start thinking about retirement is before my boss does.

School reopened yesterday after a month’s summer holiday. Reopened partly, that is; the whole school will reopen when the monsoon ushers in a totally different mood in the state. As we got ready to go to school yesterday, Maggie remarked about the inertia that the one month vacation had built into her psyche. It is then I realised that I was waiting for the school to reopen. I hope my boss won’t think of my retirement too soon though I know that even he is restricted by the given system.

What actually buoys me up is the reward I receive from my students for my efforts. The results of the Board Exams were released yesterday and my students’ performance filled me with delight. I’m not an adherent of the Nishkam Karma doctrine of the Gita. I will not continue my job beyond a day if my students’ performances are not up to my expectations. I leave Nishkam Karma to the saints in the Himalayas and the emerging pundits in current Indian politics.  

But the prospect of retirement doesn’t threaten me the least. In fact, I’m well prepared for that inevitable phase of life. Reading and writing will continue to be my faithful companions. Perhaps, I’ll begin to enjoy many things which I never cared to notice hitherto. I’m pretty sure a whole new reality will open up before me.

A friend wished me happy old age on my last birthday assuming that I had turned 60 when I had only turned 59 in fact. I told her that even 60 is not old age now. I’m still young and will continue to be so till my last breath (hopefully). Let others retire. I shall recalibrate. I know how to make new beginnings.



Comments

  1. UnknownMay 3, 2019 at 12:30 PM

    Keep writing sir,, touched souls

    ReplyDelete
  2. Vinay NagarajuMay 4, 2019 at 12:53 AM

    That's so true Tomichan - the best time to start thinking about retirement is before my boss does. Very nice to know about your teaching experiences. I think there will definitely be a lot to do once you retire, esp on the blog sphere. You have got a good number of dedicated readers eager to hear your experiences. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. wingsMay 4, 2019 at 2:50 PM

    Either you would have misread your fried or your friend would have misread your spirit - which cannot be deemed worthy in friendship!!! Go back and read again. Probably, the friend wished you for turning young again. See, a friend has to know you well. Am I right;)

    ReplyDelete
  4. srimathaoldagehomeMay 11, 2019 at 10:17 AM

    Nice Article.had wonderful information.Great Work.Keep Going



    best old age homes in hyderabad

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pranita a perverted genius

Bulldozer begins its work at Sawan Pranita was a perverted genius. She had Machiavelli’s brain, Octavian’s relentlessness, and Levin’s intellectual calibre. She could have worked wonders if she wanted. She could have created a beautiful world around her. She had the potential. Yet she chose to be a ruthless exterminator. She came to Sawan Public School just to kill it. A religious cult called Radha Soami Satsang Beas [RSSB] had taken over the school from its owner who had never visited the school for over 20 years. This owner, a prominent entrepreneur with a gargantuan ego, had come to the conclusion that the morality of the school’s staff was deviating from the wavelengths determined by him. Moreover, his one foot was inching towards the grave. I was also told that there were some domestic noises which were grating against his patriarchal sensibilities. One holy solution for all these was to hand over the school and its enormous campus (nearly 20 acres of land on the outskirts
13 comments
Read more

Randeep the melody

Many people in this pic have made their presence in this A2Z series A phone call came from an unknown number the other day. “Is it okay to talk to you now, Sir?” The caller asked. The typical start of a conversation by an influencer. “What’s it about?” My usual response looking forward to something like: “I am so-and-so from such-and-such business firm…” And I would cut the call. But there was a surprise this time. “I am Randeep…” I recognised him instantly. His voice rang like a gentle music in my heart. Randeep was a student from the last class 12 batch of Sawan. One of my favourites. He is unforgettable. Both Maggie and I taught him at Sawan where he was a student from class 4 to 12. Nine years in a residential school create deep bonds between people, even between staff and students. Randeep was an ideal student. Good at everything yet very humble and spontaneous. He was a top sportsman and a prefect with eminent leadership. He had certain peculiar problems with academics. Ans
25 comments
Read more

Queen of Religion

She looked like Queen Victoria in the latter’s youth but with a snow-white head. She was slim, fair and graceful. She always smiled but the smile had no life. Someone on the campus described it as a “plastic smile.” She was charming by physical appearance. Soon all of us on the Sawan school campus would realise how deceptive appearances were. Queen took over the administration of Sawan school on behalf of her religious cult RSSB [Radha Soami Satsang Beas]. A lot was said about RSSB in the previous post. Its godman Gurinder Singh Dhillon is now 70 years old. I don’t know whether age has mellowed his lust for land and wealth. Even at the age of 64, he was embroiled in a financial scam that led to the fall of two colossal business enterprises, Fortis Healthcare and Religare finance. That was just a couple of years after he had succeeded in making Sawan school vanish without a trace from Delhi which he did for the sake of adding the school’s twenty-odd acres of land to his existing hun
19 comments
Read more

The Adventures of Toto as a comic strip

  'The Adventures of Toto' is an amusing story by Ruskin Bond. It is prescribed as a lesson in CBSE's English course for class 9. Maggie asked her students to do a project on some of the lessons and Femi George's work is what I would like to present here. Femi converted the story into a beautiful comic strip. Her work will speak for itself and let me present it below.  Femi George Student of Carmel Public School, Vazhakulam, Kerala Similar post: The Little Girl
37 comments
Read more

Sanjay and other loyalists

AI-generated illustration Some people, especially those in politics, behave as if they are too great to have any contact with the ordinary folk. And they can get on with whoever comes to power on top irrespective of their ideologies and principles. Sanjay was one such person. He occupied some high places in Sawan school [see previous posts, especially P and Q ] merely because he knew how to play his cards more dexterously than ordinary politicians. Whoever came as principal, Sanjay would be there in the elite circle. He seemed to hold most people in contempt. His respect was reserved for the gentry. I belonged to the margins of Sawan society, in Sanjay’s assessment. So we hardly talked to each other. Looking back, I find it quite ludicrous to realise that Sanjay and I lived on the same campus 24x7 for a decade and a half without ever talking to each other except for official purposes.      Towards the end of our coexistence, Sawan had become a veritable hell. Power supply to the
12 comments
Read more