Enlightenment after retirement

An excellent satirical article appeared on Thursday, 16 November 2023 in The Tribune by Bhartendu Sood which I have shared below in italics.

This humorous take depicts the level of seriousness that usually position holders attribute to their positions which wanes away with time... The road-roller of time hath spared no one ever. Thus, while the debate shall continue to rage on that one must work for 70 hours a week, at least, to achieve notable success in their careers, or that work-life balance is a misnomer for the aggressive fast track success aspirant, eventually what matters in this ridiculously short span of journey, is whether you won or lost the ever raging battle to remain a good human being along the way... whether you were able to inspire another being into being their best, whether you were of any consequential utility to the society that you inhabited and most most importantly, whether you were able to devote quality time for the people, for whom, you purportedly continued to be unavailably busy for. Sharing this insightful article by Mr. Sood below, which though satirical in nature, is indeed a vexatious reality. And certainly, please never ever ignore the periodic intelligent appraisals shared by your better half ??

It was my first Diwali after retirement. My thoughts turned back to all the years I had spent in service, particularly on senior positions. A week before Diwali, people would start dropping in with all kinds of gifts. There would be so many of them that the room where we kept all the stuff would look like a gift shop. Some items received a disdainful glare and would be kept aside for presenting to our unsuspecting kin. The amount of dried fruit would be so large that even after distributing it among our relatives and friends, a lot would still be left.

This time, things were totally different. It was already 2 pm, but nobody had come to wish us Diwali. I was feeling downcast and depressed at this sudden reversal of fortune. To distract myself, I started reading the spirituality column of a newspaper. Fortunately, I came across an interesting fable. It was about a donkey who was carrying idols of gods on his back for a prayer ceremony. When it passed through villages on the way, people bowed before the idols. In every village, a crowd would gather to pay obeisance.

The donkey started thinking that villagers were bowing to it and was thrilled at this newfound respect and reverence. After leaving the idols at the site of the puja, the donkey’s master loaded vegetables on it and they started the return journey. This time, nobody paid attention to the donkey. The cold-shouldered animal felt so frustrated that it started braying to draw the attention of the villagers. The noise irritated them and they started beating the poor creature, who had no idea about what it had done to deserve such a cruel treatment.

All of a sudden, I felt enlightened. Indeed, I was like this donkey. All those gifts and overt gestures of respect and honour were not meant for me but for the positions I had held. I told my wife: ‘My dear, I was really a donkey. Now that the truth has dawned on me, I will join you in celebrating Diwali rather than waiting for visitors.’

But she was in no mood to spare me. Pat came her sharp reply: ‘When I kept saying all these years that you were nothing but a donkey, you did not admit that I was right. But today a story in a newspaper revealed the truth and you accepted it at once!