The writer is a retired Major General …not retired from life..just retired from his post.

Currently employed with TATA’s as an Advisor and also writes for various magazines mainly on the national security .

1.      Retirement from service in our society is a rather recent phenomenon. It was possibly started by the British. In a nation where people want to be paid without doing their assigned jobs, a paid permanent sabbatical on reaching the age of superannuation is an icing on the cake.

2.      Superannuation is an acknowledgement by the system that the concerned person has spent his or her productive years in the service of the organization and should make way at a certain age for others to move up the ladder. It is hoped that by this time the person concerned would have taken care of all his obligations, collected enough money to look after his needs and would be looking forward to a well-deserved break from the routine. For giving up a job that the person has done all his / her life, and was possibly very good at it, the organization gives the person a percentage of the salary as a compensation to meet his / her routine needs.

3.      The quaint, old  system, where-in a person retired, took his money and settled back into benign domesticity, surviving on his pension awaiting the inevitable has undergone a major change.

4.      The last few decades, have seen some major changes in our society. Three of the most important ones are:-

• With our economy growing at a very rapid pace there are opportunities for skilled / experienced people to get jobs in various forms. These can be full time occupation / casual engagements / consultancies etc. In fact some of the retired persons in their second careers have become busier than in their pre – retirement avtars.
• We are very rapidly transforming into a materialistic society where-in our material and physical needs are growing, calling for a much larger requirement of financial resources to support the new life style.
• Life expectancy in India is growing. A person retiring at 58 years does not feel the need to go into a perpetual hibernation. His / her body and mental faculties need some challenge / stimulus to lead a meaningful and productive life.

5.      Because of the aforementioned changes one can safely say the person who reaches a certain age  may  not be  tired enough to retire.

6.      Welcome to a brave new world of perpetual engagement without retirement!!!!