Finally I had to come out of slumber, finally I had to break the shackles of indolence, finally I had to carve my thoughts on the timestone as the circumstance is going to be one of the most unforgettable events in my life. Finally the day is here, yes, today my father will be bidding adieu to his job. Today is the last day for him as a responsible government servant.
Retirement day, probably, could be one of most unanticipted days of life, after death day. It is amazing to know that today is that day in my father’s life. Even though it has been more than three decades since he started working, it still feels like yesterday only, as far as I know, my memories, that have been filled with our change in home address, loosing old friends and building new relations every three years, are still fresh. Every time, whereever we went the reception has always been strange and obscure, but farewell has always been very palpable and emotional and often non-grandeur. That’s the kind of impression he could able to leave on his work-force. He made sure he met with the standards he had set at work. He always believed in complete commitment to service and his work ethic has always been exmplary and, I reckon, it had inspired quiet a few people, if not many, to be diligent towards the work and service. This might sound a bit exaggerating, but till my late teens, I didn’t know that his office working hours were 9AM to 6PM. I have never seen my father getting off work before 9PM. My lines might sound cliched, but, perhaps, a truth itself is a cliché.
In all these yeares of service, I am sure, there might be few occasions where he might have felt exploited or shorthanded. But, every time he felt manipulated and controled, he made sure he wouldn’t lose his faith in assiduousness and everytime he was manuevered, he grew more patient and, in fact, he has become more endurant and more persistent. Perhaps, one learns all thees traits as one grows older. But his ability to remain humane amidst most delirious events has been a standout attribute. I have been working hard to get there, but it is something that has to be developed not to be learned.
Retirement, in my view is excruciating, especially if it is not by your choice. Most of the retirements in our society are the results of government’s mandatory rule ( I am not talking about retirement age regulations and its effects. I personally have no opinion on it). The process of the retirement is painful and I don’t agree in celebrating this painstaking good bye. An appreciation within organisation sounds much better and much appropriate than a felicitation with splendid, glittery farewell carved with adulatory speeches. After all retirement day is nothing but expiry date printed on your work life by organisation.
Even after this bittersweet expression, I am sure, my father will pick himself up and find solace and smile in the proceedings that he hasn’t been able to give his cent percent so far. And we, as a family, will always be there to comfort and create many more cherishable moments, many more ecstatic journeys to learn his irrefutable belief in humanity and unassailable tolerence in approaching,building acceptable ‘working’ environment.
On this day, I would like to add one of his favorite poems, penned by Great Ravindranath Tagore, to this write up.
GITANJALI
Mind Without Fear
Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up
into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason
has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action---
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
