Working it out

Once you hit the last decade of your work life, retirement is no more Banquo's ghost.

It was a strange end to a day at office. With thoughts swirling through my mind after attending a farewell for a senior, I stumbled on to another gathering in a different part of the building just, where goodbyes were being said to a man I considered my mentor. Finding a place to sit in the room crammed with people.

I listened to stories and speeches and songs – some bordering on hagiography – about my former boss. Though he had reached the very top he always had a minute for me whenever I bumped into him occasionally in the corridor.

With circulars and notifications the norm, your age is a well-publicised number at the workplace. And once you hit the last decade of your working life, retirement doesn’t look like Banquo’s ghost.

It is Mr Shastri from Rashtra Bhasha who, in the time it takes the lift to reach the fifth floor, pops the question: “Are your children settled?” Mrs Mehra emerging from Archives, accosts you for details of your ‘afterlife’. “So, will you be going to Kolkata? To your own home? And your husband? He’s in Kolkata? And the children? And the dogs and the cats…?” A house, ‘settled’ children, surviving till retirement with no illnesses, and a spouse still around, are milestones that are a measure of a life well-lived.

And then there are the experts at the countdown business. “Chopra has three years to go; Mrs Shah, six; Lekhraj has two, while Chowdhury and me are retiring the same year,” you are informed. And much like the town crier, these statistics could be announced at the workplace. And many would add, subtract or spice up details to bring out a revised version the next time.

Sitting at the farewell meets for these two men, I heard from their co-workers about their fine decision-making skills, the humanism of one, and the impact on society of the other. My senior said that he had always aspired to be someone people would gladly acknowledge if they met him in later years, rather than a man they would slink away from. In the other room, my former boss shared with us his delight at discovering talent he had nurtured go on to become leaders in their domains.

Walking back home that evening, I realised we are all confronted with making a choice: on one side, the house, the kids, education, marriage, PF, hospital bills, no extra minute beyond duty hour. And on the other, touching lives, being a team player and sharing space. The challenge is to get past that fork on the road.