The art of remaining busy after retirement

The other day at the district courts, I was sitting at the rickety desk of a document writer in the afternoon heat, getting some typing work done. Knowing that I have retired from defence forces, the typist tried to engage me into a conversation saying: “So you must be free whole day and must be going for a walk in the evening.” I was quite amused that he thinks that one has nothing to do after retirement. I tried to tell him that I finish my walk early morning and then the whole day, I remain busy and have no time to sit and brood.

My co-brother-in-law having retired from a private company in Mumbai, sleeps well and watches TV whole day, attaining mastery over news and sports and hesitates to go out even for the most essential errands saying “I have retired and have done enough”. Hence, his poor wife has to run around to fetch daily necessities. They have a perpetual complaint that whenever they ring me up, I am either out of home or busy with someone. The question, “How do you keep busy having retired?”, has been put to me umpteen times by friends and visitors, and I feel at a loss as to how to explain that I have no time to relax.

Retirement does pose a challenge to some, but, I think, it is more so in one’s mind. It is not the end of active life which is mere reading newspapers and sipping cups of tea or watch TV. I do not know when and how I got into helping all the needy friends and relatives from arranging tradesmen like carpenter, plumber, mason, painter etc. to sometimes even supervising and giving opinion about the solution to their problems.

There are others who consult me for making or renewing passports, getting visa, booking international tickets or simple thing like arranging a taxi to the airport. Some even seek my help in making Aadhaar or PAN card. My foreign friends, when they come to India, also get help from me in opening bank accounts or making property transactions.

I have a few of my close relatives who go abroad for a few months to visit their children. In their absence, I am entrusted with paying their water/ electricity and phone bills, collect the rent from their tenants and deposit in bank, renew their FDs, start their cars periodically to keep the battery charged or get the tyres inflated.

We also go abroad to visit our son and his family in Canada. There, too, I have lots to do. Since labour is expensive there and I am a bit of a handy man, therefore, I do paint walls, if needed, even patch repair concrete, mend their broken frying pan handle/cooker, replace batteries in wrist watch and children’s toys, fire alarms or repair photo frames, inflate kids’ footballs and bike tyres.

I can also wash spinach or chicken for my daughter-in-law or can cook some simple dishes. If need be, I can make simple stitches by hand or sewing machine and even iron clothes. There is no end to remaining busy provided you have the attitude and aptitude to do your bit for others.

This also causes a bit of problem in my friends’ lives, when their wives give my example and coax their husband to emulate me.

The biggest compliment I got was from my 10-year-old grandson — “Dadaji how come you know everything?”

MY FRIENDS AND RELATIVES KEEP ME BUSY AS THEY CONSULT ME FOR RENEWING PASSPORTS, GETTING VISA, BOOKING AIR TICKETS OR FOR AS SIMPLE AS ARRANGING A TAXI; SOME EVEN SEEK HELP IN MAKING AADHAAR OR PAN CARD