Retirement

Tyler retired from work yesterday. He had dedicated 35 years of his life to the organisation and was retiring a very happy man. On his last day at work, the company had organised a small cake party in his honor. Almost the entire company had turned up for the ceremony to bid him adieu. Some came for the party, cause they knew him personally and wanted to wish him good luck. Some came for the free cake. Some just wanted to escape the confines of their claustrophobic cubicle and spend some time with their other colleagues. I was their for reasons number 2 and 3.

The ceremony kicked off with his manager waxing eloquence about Tyler's selfless service to the organisation. He traced the rise of Tyler during his tenure. He also leaked out a few embarrasing but funny incidents during their professional relationship. After a few amusing anecdotes by other co-workers, it was time for Tyler to narrate his experiences. I strained hard to observe the presence of any moisture around his eyes. But there weren't any, the feeling had probably not sunk in yet. In his usual humorous style Tyler recounted various escapades that he experienced during his 3 decade service. He had seen the company rise from a $200 mn organisation to $2.6 bn multinational corporation. He had seen people come and go, he had seen heads roll in the management. He had seen turn key projects won, and some lost. It didn't matter that I didn't know the person who was retiring, his humour endeared him to one and all.

As I listened to him speak, I couldn't stop thinking about my own retirement speech. I had been in the organisation for only 6 months, but I was already thinking about a time when I would be 60! I guess the fondest memory that people have when they retire is about their first day in the office. Though mine wouldn't rank as a fond memory it nevertheless would be very very interesting, if not shocking to talk about. The first 20 years of life you work hard so that you get a good job. You spend the next 40 doing what the first 20 years trained you to do. So at 60, it seems like the end of most important and the biggest chapter of your life. During these 40 yrs you would meet a lot of people, exchange business cards with a hundreds of people and dine with equal number of them. But I guess at the end of the day, it would just be a handful of telephone numbers from work, that you might be carrying home - in most cases, banishing all other to oblivion.

It's interesting to know how the deadline of 60 came into existence. Was it because people were deemed unfit to work after the age of 60 ? Was it dictated by economics that it is the optimum age for a person to retire such that society always has enough working population ? Or is it some age old tradition that we blindly adhere ? In my dreams I would like to retire at the age of 40, and travel around the world by road on a cool car with a fun passenger. But for now, tomorrow is a monday and I have to wade through another 1820 mondays before I prepare my retirement speech.