FOR RETIREES, THOSE WHO ARE ABOUT TO RETIRE & THOSE WHO WILL RETIRE - Speech by P. P. Ramachandran, Post-graduate in Economics from Bombay University. After serving in the Reserve Bank for 40 long years, retired at the age of 60. Speech given at a Senior Citizens Association in Bombay, India. LIVING HAPPILY AFTER RETIREMENT Thank you Senior Citizens Association for having invited me & giving me an opportunity to be with all of you this evening. Now, I will share with you some of my personal beliefs on the subject allotted to me, “Living Happily After Retirement”. Retirement is a problem peculiar to our generation. In the times of our fathers & grandfathers, retirement was not much of a problem. There are 3 reasons for this: (1) Life Expectancy. 50 years ago, the life expectancy at the age of retirement was fixed at 55 or at most 60. A study of Govt records revealed that very few people enjoyed pension for more than 5 years at that time. Most people died before 60 & consequently spending 5 years after retirement did not pose any major problem. Today Life Expectancy after retirement at 58 or 60 - is 75 years which means half of your working life is still left after retirement. To give you an example, 2 Senior Officers of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) died at 93 years—35 years after retirement. (2) The change in the family structure. Half a century ago, most people were in a joint extended family. The day you laid down office, you still had a large family around you. Surely, in a large family there was always something you could do that was meaningful & made you feel you were contributing to the family. Today the family has become nuclear—husband, wife, children. By the time one retires, the children have gone away. In good old times, daughters used to get married & promptly go away. Nowadays sons get married & very often shift out to stay with their wife from the first night itself! What is left is the old couple— You for Me & Me for you. This is not particularly easy to accept & adjust to after retirement (3) The problem of Roots. In the old days, people used to have a “native place” & an “ancestral home”. They looked forward to going there & settling down after retirement. Today, there is nothing left in terms of native place. People often are confused as to where to settle. These 3 problems make retirement planning a crucial item. If you have planned for retirement you can anticipate & tackle these problems. People are not accustomed to the idea of staying by themselves. If one asks an audience of prospective retirees & their wives, “How many of you expect to stay after retirement with your children, hardly one hand goes up. If some husband raises his hand, his wife immediately slaps it down saying, “I’ll be damned if I am going to stay with my daughter-in-law!” So it is a tough problem to think about old people staying—just the 2 of them. This makes planning all the more significant. The most difficult problem that we face after retirement is the psychological one. When an executive retires, he is at the peak of his career—his status, prestige & financial status. The moment he lays down his job, all these desert him. He discovers that “Everything becomes Less & Less”. The first thing he notices is the way his status & prestige are affected. Even at home, the retired person is no longer the important person. If he demands of his wife an early breakfast, she will promptly admonish him, “You are retired now. So take it easy. Let those employed go first!” He is no longer “Numero Uno”. A friend of mine who was a Senior Executive in RBI was getting 500 greeting cards & diaries/calenders for the New Year. After one year of retirement it dwindled to 50 & this year he got 10. Greeting cards, calendars & diaries are surely an indicator of the respect you received when you are employed. The most immediate problem on retirement is time-management. We all have 24 hours at our disposal, whether we like it or not. When you are a senior executive you work for 10, 12 or even 15 hours & you feel “Suppose I had 2 hours more how nice it would be! I could do more to finish my work & life would be easier the next work day. After retirement, we have 24 hours & nothing to do! Result – misery & this is one thing one likes to spread! No man wants to be miserable alone. He will make as many people miserable as he can. A man who has nothing to do will harass people around him. Turning on head the Benthamite principle of maximization of welfare—maximisation of ill-fare! There are 2 solutions to this problem. One is to continue to do the same work one was doing at the time of retirement. The first option is very convenient but where is such an opportunity for the majority? There is the temptation to wangle out an extension but this does lead to compromising principles which many succumb to regrettably. I have seen Senior Officers accepting jobs as liaison officers & standing outside the office cubicle of their subordinates & seek favours from them. But how long-lasting is this solution? Extension merely postpones the problem. It crops up again quite swiftly. Option 2 is to do something different, i.e., get another job. An executive can get another job provided he is willing to sacrifice self-respect. Generally jobs are given by the previous employer’s suppliers or may be found in other organizations. In commercial organizations, officers are employed to get orders & collect bills speedily from their previous employers. So you will agree that this is no solution. All of you are aware that the book Shakespeare wrote of the “7 Stages of Man”. Modern psychologists have abridged it to 4 & these are thus: Before finding a girl — Spiderman. After engagement – Superman. 10 years after marriage – Watchman. 20 years after marriage – Doberman. After this lighter side, I revert to post-retired life. The retired official is likely to fall into 4 dysfunctional time options: (1) Withdrawal. Many retired people, the day they retire from their job, withdraw from Life & within a few months they just pass away. When you ask a doctor he will tell you I can give a medical term but this is a case of “simple lack of will to live”. (2) The second time management option is Ritual. A person can create a ritual for himself. He gets up at a specific time, does different activities at a specific time & this invariably results in misery for others if that specific time frame is not adhered to. While he has in essence nothing to do, he is trying to make his activities meaningful. This leads to a meaningless ritual. (3) The third option is Pastime. Many people get together & embark on a combined ritual which is called pastime. This too does not add to the meaningfulness of life. The last option turns out to be even mischievous. It is playing games — not physical ones like badminton, tennis but psychological ones where you try to manipulate people, get into their problems, complicate them & generally enlarge the tension around you. Many a respectable person indulges in this & creates problems where none existed. The alternative to these are Functional options. (1) Become a Consultant. Lurking inside every executive is a Consultant. But for this, considerable expertise is required. Not everyone can be successful as a consultant. (2) Start your own Business or Industry. But this calls for entrepreneurial qualities which an executive may lack. Many are also faced with the finances to start & sustain a business & stay profitable. (3) Involve oneself in professional activities. For this, one must build up one’s position even before retirement. Many cliques operate to prevent outsiders from encroachment. (4) Get into spiritual activities. While nobody is required between you & God, nowadays, we find more & more godmen, swamijis, pseudo Gurus some even USA-returned. There is a temptation to follow some Swamiji or even become one yourself. This is a very slippery slope. Beware –there are more hoaxes in the religious field than anywhere else! The last & most meaningful option is to cultivate a Hobby. Use your creative abilities & do something that you enjoy doing. You should start this even while in service. We live in 3 Boxes: (1) The Box of Learning, which starts from birth & goes on till 20 plus. (2) The Box of Work which commences at 20 plus & goes on up to 58 or 60—the age of retirement. (3) The Box of Leisure. When we are in the Box of Work what is significant is Status, Prestige, Power—all these we aspire for & it is what we get from working life. The more we get, the happier we are. The day we retire, we move into Box 3—the one of Leisure. If we have to enjoy this we have to change our psychological position & appreciate creativity, autonomy & integrity. When you were a small child of 2 or 3, did status, prestige or money mean anything? What you wanted was autonomy, creativity. A child is always creative. It enjoys creativity. One example. When visitors come you ask your child, “Pushpa, sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”. She will not sing. You shout at her. You tell your visitors proudly she is 3 only & knows 12 nursery songs. The moment the guests are gone & your maid comes for cleaning, your daughter will sing to her all the 12 songs. The child has its own values! By the time we enter the Box of Work, values change. We are not taught to respect our autonomy but fall in line—conformity is the rule. If the son plays the violin, his mother will come & tell him, “Playing the violin now? Study now. Your exam is coming & you must do well. Getting into university & getting a good education is so very important. Life is competitive, dear son.” When we enter the Box of Leisure, values change. Your psychological position has to change too. New values of creativity, integrity & autonomy emerge. Hobbies are an excellent way of getting Leisure Value. Everybody must identify his hobby that he can enjoy. Dont bother about Power, Prestige & Status. An individual can live in one box only or interchange or combine the boxes. You can have learning, work & leisure together. One can even take up a hobby that is financially productive. As time passes one learns. The real problem of retirement is that people refuse to face the problem. The mantra is “Let us cross the bridge when we come to it.” This is not correct & is not encouraged. Since we live in 3 Boxes, we must prepare ourselves for crossing from one to the other. Structuring our time is the prime requirement. In the beginning, you are contributing to Value. Think of Transfer Value. After retirement you can think of Leisure Value. Develop good hobbies which incorporates your creativity, autonomy & integrity. I have taken to writing. You will lead a happy life. Retirement is not adding “Years to your Life but adding Life to your Years”. Retirement is not a calamity but an opportunity. I would like to advocate some basic qualities one must cultivate. There are 2 ways to look at every situation in life. Is the cup half empty or is the cup half full. One man was not worried about him becoming bald. He declared “I have less hair to comb!” Another man in an identical situation moaned, “I have more face to wash! Always remember that you are loved, even when it does not seem like it. Believe in yourself & your values. Don’t sell out when things go wrong. Don’t let anything get you down. Always bounce back. Set goals for your future & never settle for anything less. Realise that there are others in this world with bigger problems than you. Appreciate the good things of life - Sunrise, Sunset, Flowers, Birds, Good Healthy Food, Exercise, Travel etc. Be thankful for the good times you have with your loved ones. Spend more time with your family & friends. Make new friends with younger people. Appreciate the simple things of Life & don’t get caught up in the material things of life. Be an optimist & see the Cup as being Half Full. Before long, your attitude will rub off on others. You can make the world a better place to live by simply making yourself a happier person. Let me conclude with an allegorical story. First God created the Cow & said, “You must go with farmer daily to the field all day long & suffer under the Sun, have calves, give milk & help the farmer. I give you a span of 60 years.” The Cow said, “That’s surely tough. Give me only 20 years. I give back 40 years.” On Day 2 God created the Dog & told him, “Sit all day by the door of your house & bark at strangers. I give you a span of 20 years.” The Dog said, “Too long time for barking. I give up 10 years.” On Day 3, God created the Monkey & said to him, “Entertain people. Make them laugh. I give you 20 years.” The Monkey said to God, “How boring, Monkey tricks for 20 years. Give me only 10 years”. The Lord agreed. On Day 4, God created Man. He told him, “Eat, sleep, play, enjoy & do nothing. I will give you 20 years.” Man said, “Only 20 years? No way. I will take my 20 & give me the 40 the cow gave back, the 10 that the Monkey returned, & the 10 the Dog surrendered. That makes 80. OK?” OK said God. That is why for the first 20 years we sleep, play, enjoy & do nothing. For the next 40 years we slave in the sun & at work to support our family. For the next 10 years we do monkey tricks to entertain our grandchildren. For the last 10 years, we sit in front of the house & bark at everybody. Thank you all, may you all live to 100.
Posted on: Sun, 21 Sep 2014 02:44:38 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015