My retirement is less than ten months away. It is prompting my friends to ask what I will be doing after retirement. The discussion then follows a very predictable pattern. I ask them for suggestions. They suggest that I should work as a trainer, or as a professor in some management institute. Some say I should join a consulting organisation.

The problem with these suggestions is that I will not be doing anything different from what I did so far, surely not very significantly different. I think it is time to do what I always wanted to do but could not.

My wife went to her astrologer, as she does every now and then, to enquire what should I be doing, and what will suit me the most. The astrologer advised her that my wife should see to it that I kept myself busy lest I start interfering in her daily chores and in kitchen. There is nothing more irritating than an idle husband at home, she further advised. [I was surprised to learn that people pay for such advice. Why not start a business as an astrologer, I thought.]

How to reduce involvement in activities that were inseparable part of life is going to be a big issue. I will not have to get up at six in the morning, rush out by 7.30 am. How to allow children to make their own decisions, how to guide them while not being overbearing, are some of the issues I will have to face.

The solution is I think to view my retirement as my ‘rebirth’, a new life. And with new life come new experiences, new relationships, new adventures, and new discoveries. The void left by exclusion of office work from my life must be filled up with something interesting. I would like to think that I will be living at least ten more years. [Oh, how I thought I was immortal!] There are a lot of things to do which I could not do so far. Painting and music take the first place.

When we say ‘reborn’ we think of the Phoenix bird. Hopefully I will be able to soar higher with my rebirth [or retirement] like a bird.