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Showing posts from January, 2008

Retirement Means Death or Rejuvenation

I was influenced by two contrasting opinions on Retirement. One by Lee Kwan Yew and other a response by an American reader of Strait Times, to LKY's proclaimation 'Retirement Means Death'. Lee Kwan Yew is a remarkable person and like many foreigners , I too look at him in awe and respect. However in Asian countries, a section of domestic population is always more critical of their leaders . Singapore too is no exception. Y’day at Suntec Convention center, when Lew Kwan Yew talked about Retirement. ‘With nothing to do, no purpose in life, you'll just degrade, go to seed '. No sooner he proclaimed ' Retirement Means Death', scores of messages started pouring in the local newspaper - Strait Times. Majority of them were critical of him and his views. What LKW said was echoed a while ago in British Medical Journal. The study mentioned that those people who retire at age 55 and live to be at least 65 die sooner than people who retire at 65. That's not all.

Being Hindu in Pakistan and Muslim in India

During one of my train journeys in North India, I came across a person in the first class coupe of Indian railways. He worked for nationalized bank and was on his way from work place to home. He was wearing half sleeve checked shirt and baggy trousers with neatly combed hair, wearing spectacle and carrying local newspaper. He was Indian middle aged common man with a small , stable family and a secure job. I was prepared for an insipid chat on mundane subjects about bureaucracy, ministerial intervention etc but he took me by surprise by telling me about his visit was to shift his family from New Delhi to his newly acquired residence in Meerut. This intrigued me as I was seeing for the first time a migration from a metro city to a small town. But once I understood his reasons for doing so, my intrigue was transformed into a rankled thought that has stayed with me since then. The above incident happened post Godhra and Hindu Muslim riots that ensued immediately after. This gentleman had h