Congratulations, you have retired. But what
next? Have you given a thought to how you are going to spend the next 20 to 30
years of your life in retirement?
You may have choices: enjoy life to its
fullest, relax, watch TV, read the newspaper from start to end, chat with
friends, eat and drink what and when you want, play cards, window shop, go to
exotic places. But you can’t spend all your retired life like this. You won’t
enjoy them for ever. You need to engage in other activities also that provide
you purpose, challenge, adventure, and a feeling of accomplishment, happiness
and satisfaction.
Retirement is not resignation from life,
but an opportunity to live a full, dynamic life. It is not a time to sit and
wait for destiny to shoe you the door, but to do something that would make
things better. And in doing so, you also enrich your own life. This way you
won’t get into a habit of debating the meaning of life.
Purpose is the engine that powers and
drives life. Without purpose, you would get bored and depressed. Wilfred
Peterson summed up the art of retirement thus:
“Don’t retire…aspire”. Aspire to work for those causes you’ve always
believed in. Practise the art of filling your moments with enriching
experiences that will give new meaning and depth to your retired life.
As a student you wanted to become a
professional. During employment you were too busy in earning money and
accomplishing career oriented goals. As a parent you were busy raising family
and providing for your child’s education. Perhaps you did not have time or even
the aptitude to understand questions like who you were, what the real purpose
of your life was, what your real interests were. Retirement is the time to
ponder over all these questions and accomplish what you really want to do from
the core of your heart. Retirement gives you the ample opportunity to discover
the real purpose of life and pursue activities that express your true self.
To fulfill only personal and selfish
interests is restrictive. You need to reach beyond, to serve a higher purpose
that benefits all. All your working life you have taken so much. You have
exploited natural resources and degraded the environment to make life more
comfortable. May be you harmed others in furthering your selfish interests.
What have you done or given in return? Perhaps nothing! Retirement is the time
you could give something back to society.
Work now for these causes you’ve always
believed in. There is an endless of ways we can help this world a more
beautiful place. Pursue one or more of these purposes in your retirement:
helping the needy, doing social work and community networking, promoting an
environmental cause, starting a home for the elderly, conserving heritage,
fighting corruption, writing a book, inventing something useful and translating
inspiring literature from one language to another.
These pursuits may not be very rewarding
financially. However, they are a source of immense happiness and fulfillment,
which is the core desire of all human beings. Sometimes you may even spend some
money from your own pocket to benefit others. Remember: There is no joy like
the joy of serving others.
Reference:
Article by BK Trehan, The Times of India
On 8th October, 2011..I with my wife Rajam and son, Rajeev visited Cheruvattath House (Our erstwhile home) at Ethanur. I collected a few black and white photographs from Devi, my cousin and clicked with my camera on them to take the pictures of the photographs. The photos belonged to an era of yesteryears, to a nostalgic past. I have made a slide show of those photographs. When you look at them, you will realize how time had elapsed mercilessly.
Forty four years back, I sang this song to her. She blushed with an innocent smile. Today again I sing that song to her, she blushes again with a glow in her eyes clouded by a tearful mist. I told her you are the same girl in her teens to me. The glow in her eyes returns with the same red colour spreading over her cheeks. She is always the eighteen year bride to me irrespective of the ravages of the years.
It was the day of felicitations to my friend, Mr Popatlal. Mr Popatlal was recently selected as the employee of the year and the management very dearly wanted to bestow that honour upon him. They arranged a get together at the Hotel Horsemouth in town on a Monday evening, as always had been the practice, to honour all the eligible staff. It was also the annual get together of our college. On weekends Popatlal, generally travelled home which is about eight hours away by train from our town. As promised, I went to the railway station to bring him to the hotel. His son was also with him.
Popatlal was very excited. As he sat near me, the smell of mustard oil emanating from his body, strongly pierced my nostrils making me gulp fresh air continuously. Popatlal seemed to have had a thorough massage before starting from home on this historical day. It reminded me of my colleague in the Uttar Pradesh Irrigation Department, Sri Sinha Saheb, who always ate green chilly pakodas made in mustard oil and drank hot tea to drown them down his throat with a hissing noise. He was one real master of mustard oil.
At the Hotel entrance a tall bearded red uniformed gentleman resembling a Maharaja, opened the car door, for us to get out. Popatlal's son continued his journey to his hostel. While getting down from the taxi, I noticed that Popatlal was wearing different coloured socks. The socks were suffocating themselves in his shoes trying to get some fresh air and in that process were contaminating the atmosphere. Popatlal looked a little nervous as he had never gone to a hotel or to a reception like what was going to happen. He wiped his sweat frequently. We followed the arrows directing us to the venue. The corridor was laid with red carpet and the cool air-conditioned atmosphere was filled with the mixed aroma of perfumes and freshly cooked food. We stopped at the entrance of a big hall. At the door head a board was visible, written "BALL ROOM". A clean shaven male in a dark suit directed us into the room, smiling profusely and exhibiting his golden tooth at the canine position.
"Are we going to play balls here?" Popatlal's query was rib tickling.
"No, this is the hall for tonight's get together, Popat", I removed his suspicion.
The hall was laid with round tables at the centre, covered with beautifully embroidered table clothes. At the far end was a raised podium from where the awards would be presented. On the right were tables on which different kinds of dishes were placed with gas lamps burning beneath. The walls were adorned with awesome paintings. Instrumental music tranquilized the atmosphere. We sat at one of the tables.
Guests started to pour in. It was very colourful and a feast to the eyes. There were many persons who proved that "a thing of beauty is a joy for ever". Girls wearing tantalizing uniforms were moving like butterflies with trays full of soft drink glasses. One girl approached Popatlal and said "sir, please have a soft drink".
Popatlal looked suspicious and asked her "what is the price for one glass"?
The girl said with a smile "it is on the house, sir"
Popatlal's face glittered and he took two glasses of juice, one orange and the other apple.
The podium chairs were populated with the officials and our principal had occupied the chair at the centre. The secretary of the college association made the welcome speech which was followed by the principal's announcement of the various awards for the year. The winners were called one by one to receive the awards. It was then the turn of Popatlal.
The Principal with a very toothy smile announced: "Friends, I now announce the name of the employee of the year and it is none other than Mr Popatlal, our Head Clerk".
Applause reverberated the hall as Popatlal walked to the podium. He placed his right hand on the first step and touched his forehead. With folded hands, he approached the Principal and received his award. He was profusely garlanded.
Popatlal. Popatlal…the chant filled the ballroom.
Wiping his tears off, Popatlal folded his hands again in gratitude and awe.
"Mr Popatlal will now deliver a speech and also read a poem" the secretary announced.
With a cordless mike in his hand, Popatlal started his dynamite speech:
Leddies and Gentulmens, I thanks all bodies for this prejent.
Contemporaries, students, this is my first maiden speech. If
small small mistakes get inside my speech, I ask pardon. Stickly
speaking, I wanted to come to the hotel more fastly, but for the
following reason:
Too much time lost in getting slipper reservation for the train
in three-tyre compartment. The clerk rejected to give ticket. I
put complaint on station master. He said me to go to lady clerk.
At first she also rejected. I then pressed her for long time and
at last with great difficulty she gave a birth only to my son.
Anyway I thanked the station master because he was responsible for getting birth of my son.
You students are future dynamic generators of the Nation. Look into future time only. No backside looking, or looking at your behind.
You know genius, no? It is one per cent perspiration and ninety
seven percent evaporation. After we finish you here in the college, you can get other decrease. Then you can become great liars in the supreme court, shattered accountants, or leacherers in college.
The college is like a garden. You are the seeds, college is the soil. We will bury you in this soil, pour water of knowledge on your heads and one day will become great flowers. Many vacancy job come in newspapers. Only yesterday I saw in paper "Wanted for refuted engineering firm: Generators, highpower condensors" so and so forth, etc. These jobs may be teknickel, but you can rise. If you have flare in English, you can become teacher.
I am now ending this fastly. May God blast you! Thank you and
Thank God I am finished.
Claps!!! Claps!!! And muffled laughs echoed in the hall.
Popatlal was very pleased with his speech. He continued:
Dear friends, on this occasion, I lick to deliver a poyam on a romantic man who sent it to his wife. I teared it from my friend's book. It tells:
Roses are red, violets are blue, sugar is sweet, and so are you.
But the roses are wilting, the violets are dead
The sugar bowl's empty and so is your head.
Oh loving beauty you float with grace
If only you could hide your face
Kind, intelligent, loving and hot;
This describes everything you are not
I want to feel your sweet embrace
But don't take that paper bag off of your face
I love your smile, your face, and your eyes - Damn, I'm good at telling lies!
My darling, my lover, my beautiful wife:
Marrying you screwed up my life
I see your face when I am dreaming.
That's why I always wake up screaming
My love, you take my breath away.
What have you stepped into smell this way
My feelings for you no words can tell,
Except for maybe "go to hell"
Thunderous applause!!! Popatlal blushed and came down the podium.
The dinner was sumptuous and Popatlal licked all his fingers and enjoyed the food. At last the finger bowls arrived. A peel of lime was dancing in the lukewarm water and Popatlal's eyeballs protruded. "I wanted it very badly" he said and raised the bowl to his lips.
"Popat, it is not for drinking. It is for cleaning your fingers" I said.
"What is left there to clean?" he reluctantly kept down the bowl.
I hired a taxi which bumped every now and then on the so called asphalt road. By the time we reached our hostel, Popatlal's head was systematically tossing on my shoulders and he opened his mouth and entered another phase of metabolism called snoring, very rhythmically.
Popatlal was dreaming away to glory……
Cheers!!!
Note: The jokes about the speech and the poem are from the internet.
Royal Challengers Bangalore, is owned by one of the charismatic and successful Corporate Tycoons, Dr Vijay Mallya. Anil Kumble, the Captain, a gentleman always, knows how to harness his forces and to ensure victory in a match. He is a mesmerizing bowler who has in his cap many tricks. His leg-breaks, googlies, flippers, fast cutters, etc. are nightmare to the batsmen. His achievement in Test Cricket is par excellence. He repeated Jim Laker's feat and for years to come, this will be remain in golden letters in the book of Cricket.
Rahul Dravid, Mr Reliable, the Great Wall of India, is also my favourite. He is one of the most stylish batsmen in the world. He has a flurry of shots, cuts, pulls, glances, straight drives and you name any other in the book . He is a cool customer, gives great confidence to the batsman at the other end to flourish with runs, while he will shape his innings with utmost care with nonchalance. I have never seen him panick or misbehave or make a fuss. I would call him an ambassador of cricket fairplay. All other teammates also are real fighters. RCB came from the dark to reach the final of the last IPL. It was due to the sheer dedication of all the players. I wish them all success. I reiterate the fact that I am proud to be a fan. Bangalore is always dear to me because of G.R.Viswanath, B.S. Chandrasekhar, EAS Prasanna and the greats like them.
My team
Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis, Manish Pandey, Ross Taylor, Jesse Ryder, Virat Kohli ,Robin Uthappa, Mark Boucher, Dale Steyn, Praveen Kumar, Vinay Kumar
Anil Kumble.............Stunning leader, exemplary bowling with tons and tons of experience.
Rahul Dravid............Greta Batting and fielding.
Jacques Kallis..........Good Batting and Bowling.
Manish Pandey .... ...Blasting Batsman.
Ross Taylor.............Good Batsman and a great fielder.
Jesse Ryder.......... ..Good batsman and Bowler and a greta fielder, too .
Virat Kohli...............Bats well and fielding is good.
Robin Uthappa...... ..Bats, fields and can be a wicketkeeper, too.
Mark Boucher..........Bats well, is a star wicketkeeper.
My idea of opening match strategy: Well..... I will check the condition of the pitch...and if toss is won, I will bat first and if it is a good batting wicket or field if the pitch has green grass on it, the weather is cloudy or overcast. While batting will insist on fast scoring and no balls will be dot balls Bowling...will shuffle the bowlers frequently, see which bowler has an edge, insist on 100% dedication in fielding, scrutinize the weakness of the batsmen and employ bowlers accordingly, smart and apt field placements. If the weather forecast says that dew is expected in the night, if it is a day/night match, bowling will be difficult in the latter part of the game,due to the wet ball posing problems for the bowler and the fielders may face problems, too.
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My best T20 match:
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Venue:
Wanderers, South Africa
Date:
24th May 2009
Anil Kumble won the toss for the RCB and chose to field first. Kumble bowled Gilchrist out in the very first over. He took 4 wickets but still could not win the match for his team. At the ten overs time out mark, RCB were 62 for 3. Gibbs and Rohit Sharma batted well to give some respectability to the score and the Deccan chargers were 143 for 6 after 20 overs. When RCB started their innings, they lost wickets at regular intervals as Ross Taylor and Virat Kohli fell of two successive deliveries from Pragyan Ojha(3 for 24). This stopped them from achieving the target.RCB needed only 15 runs in the last over. In a 20/20 match this is easily achievable. But on 24th May 2009, it was not possible.Robin Uthhapa could not score well and two dot balls sealed the fate of RCB. They made only nine runs from the last over. Deccan chargers were the winners by 6 runs and won the tournament. It was a day of disappointment to me. Well!! That was not the end of everything. RCB will rise up again and will emerge as winners in the future.
