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

Whispers of the Self

Book Review Title: The Journey of the Soul Author: Dhanya Ramachandran Publisher: Sahitya Publications, Kozhikode, 2025 Pages: 64 “I n the whispers of the wind, I hear a gentle voice.” Dhanya Ramachandran’s poems are generally gentle voices like the whispers of the wind. The above line is from the poem ‘Seek’. There is some quest in most of the poems. As the title of the anthology suggests, most of the poems are inward journeys of the poet, searching for something or offering consolations to the self. Darkness and shadows come and go, especially in the initial poems, like a motif. “In the darkness, shadows dance and play.” That’s how ‘Echoes of Agony’ begins. There are haunting memories, regrets, and sorrow in that poem. And a longing for solace. “Tears dry, but scars remain.” Shadows are genial too occasionally. “Shadows sway to the wind’s soft sigh / As we stroll hand in hand beneath the sky…” (‘Moonlit Serenade’) The serenity of love is rare, however, in the collecti...
7 comments
Read more

Jatayu: The Winged Warrior

Image by Gemini AI Jatayu is a vulture in Valmiki Ramayana. The choice of a vulture for a very noble mission on behalf of Rama is powerful poetic and moral decision. Vultures are scavengers, associated with death and decay. Yet Valmiki assigns to it one of the noblest tasks of sacrificing itself in defence of Sita. Your true worth lies in what you do, in your character, and not in your caste or even species. [In some versions, Jatayu is an eagle.] Jatayu is given a noble funeral after his death. Rama treats Jatayu like a noble kshatriya who sacrificed his life fighting for dharma against an evil force like Ravana. “You are blessed, O Jatayu!” Rama tells the dying bird. “Even in your last moments, you upheld dharma. You fought to save a woman in distress. Your sacrifice will not go in vain.” Jatayu sacrificed himself to save Sita from Ravana. He flew up into the clouds to stop Ravana’s flight with Sita. Jatayu was a friend of Dasharatha, Rama’s father. Now Rama calls him equal to ...
17 comments
Read more

Mandodari: An Unsung Heroine

Mandodari and Ravana by Gemini AI To remain virtuous in a palace darkened by the ego of the king is a hard thing to do, especially if one is the queen there. Mandodari remained not only virtuous till the end of her life in that palace, but also wise and graceful. That’s what makes her a heroine, though an unsung one. Her battlefield was an inner one: a moral war that she had to wage constantly while being a wife of an individual who was driven by ego and lust. Probably her only fault was that she was the queen-wife of Ravana. Inside the golden towers of Ravana’s palace, pride reigned and adharma festered. Mandodari must have had tremendous inner goodness to be able to withstand the temptations offered by the opulence, arrogance, and desires that overflowed from the palace. She refused to be corrupted in spite of being the wife of an egotistic demon-king. Mandodari was born of Mayasura and Hema, an asura and an apsara, a demon and a nymph. She inherited the beauty and grace of her...
18 comments
Read more

Karma versus Fatalism

By Google Gemini The concept of karma plays a vital role in the Ramayana. You will get the consequences of your actions – that’s what karma means in short. Dasharatha, a king who followed dharma quite meticulously, committed a mistake in his youth. While hunting, he killed a young boy mistaking him for a deer because of a sound. Dasharatha was genuinely repentant of what happened and he went to the blind parents of the boy to atone for his karma. But the understandably grief-stricken blind father of the boy cursed Dasharatha: “Just as we are dying in sorrow caused by the loss of our son, you too shall die grieving the separation from your son.” So, Dasharatha’s death during Rama’s exile was a consequence of his karma. It was predestined, in other words. Immutable fate. Ravana’s karma brings upon him the disastrous end he has. He has lived a life of adharma altogether. Interestingly, it was his fate too following him from another existence altogether. He was destined to live the l...
17 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
46 comments
Read more