Ordinary Heroes: Extraordinary Traits

When I was working for a corporate, the only goal I had was to ‘Retire’ early. Many of my friends aged between 35-45 years had a similar dream of retiring within the next 5-10 years.

One of my neighbour Uncle was a banker. He was extremely busy throughout his professional life and climbed to very senior positions in his corporate career. He was healthy and active throughout his work life. He got retired at 60. He did not know what to do although he had a comfortable life. Still, he was not happy. He became inactive because there was nothing that was driving him. Since he was mentally inactive and worried that he was not active, this led to hypertension, and he is now busy visiting hospitals.

I now regret this thought of retirement after meeting our vegetable vendor fondly called ‘Kaikari Thatha’.

The Thatha is 70 years. He has his own house. His children are well educated and taking care of him well. He sells vegetables using his four-wheel pushcart vehicle. This thatha starts at 7 am, sells vegetables the whole day in different streets and makes money. One day, when he was on his way to sell vegetables, a two-wheeler teenager rammed into his vehicle. The old man suffered a ligament injury and doctors advised him to take a rest and not to move around with the vehicle. Every time I cross my street, I see this Thatha standing at a particular location and selling vegetables. Unable to resist why he was doing this in spite of his injury, I went to him and asked him why he can’t take a rest at home. He said something that changed my perspective altogether. He said “Son, money is not a problem for me, but being inactive is the biggest problem. If I am inactive, I become lazy. If I am lazy, I become useless. I am just coming every day just to stay active, and I thank God for giving me work that I can do all through my life. I never wanted to retire from my life”.

I understood retirement from work and retirement from life are two different things. It is important when you ‘retirement’, what do you really mean. Have you planned what work will you do after retirement?

I took an oath that I will work until the end of my life.