IN THE AUTUMN OF MY LIFE-II

It is about one year I retired from a 9am-7pm job. I did not feel like going back to this routine. So, I did not try hard enough for another assignment.

I have deviated from my initial plan.I never thought that I would spend time reading story -books, which was my favourite pastime when I was working.If I go back to my blog written 3 months after 'retirement', I find the following:

'A great thing will be brush up my knowledge of : Photoshop, MS Project, MINITAB & Six Sigma and learn a bit of : Coreldraw/Pagemaker, HTML (Elementary) & Web hosting, PRIMAVERA during April and September,'07.'

My time this year has gone into other areas.

• I have done good amount of reading on terracotta temples.... though not enough.In this process, I have been associated with 3 major libraries of Calcutta.Quite an enriching experience.
• I have come in contact with members of 'AISHEE', an NGO engaged in restoration of a Terracotta temple of Hooghly district.Now, I have been invited to join this group.
• I have visited numbers of Terracotta temples @ Hooghly district and Bishnupur, have taken hundreds of snaps and can start writing my 'OWN' articles.
• I have been an active member of PANIIT's 'IITians for ITIs' Project.
• I have entered into a contract with a company publishing articles on net.I have started @ the ground level out of my choice.I have now offer for shifting gear.
• I have made friends with Iftekar of calcuttawalks.com. While I have no commercial interest in 'walks', Cacuttacanvass will grow.
• I have remained active in Flickr through out the year.May be my skill for taking and editing photos has improved !
• I spent time with and for my family.

All these are activities with long time horizon.I learnt during my 40s , from lectures of and articles by Sharu Rangnekar, that a person must plan for post-retirement life.......s/he need have one or more hobbies to remain 'meaningfully occupied.I took that advice seriously though these activities are what I thought of doing much later in my life.

Publishing in net does give a person a lot of satisfaction. A person can always find friends , if he tries seriously, who enjoy similar interests and can contribute to his knowledge and ideas.I never could imagine such a pastime during my 40s!

I have regrets too.

• I lost my friend Knight, our black Lab.He was 8 1/2 years old when he left us on 12/10/07. We expected him to be around for another 1 1/2 to 2 years.A loss I am coping with.
• I have not learnt enough of Photoshop and 'Moviemaking',ie digital editing of my video shooting.
• I have lost the habit of reading novels.Night-time,my time for reading books, is now devoted to Internet.

All-in-all,this year , I have entered a different phase of life. Capital market has definitely added to my bank-balance......so I do not yet have a reason to worry in the financial front.

An enjoyable period of my autumn indeed !

Will our children read Epics ?

I read an article in the Calcutta edition of Times Of India , published on 1st December,2007 that a US poll finds more believe in devil than in Darwin.This article is in page 17 of TOI,taken from a report by Reuters.

A quote from the report :" It is the latest survey in the US to highlight America's deep level of religiosity,a cultural trait that sets it apart from much of the developed world.".

A lot of statistical analysis follow.Those who are interested may please read the article in the electronic version of this publication.A lot of persons surveyed believe in God and devil.I believe if we conducted a similar survey in India, similar trait would have been noticed, but,percentages would surely have been different.

I believe that at the base of such findings ,we have Man's recognition of good and bad as well as his belief in powers beyond .While,the age-old debate continues for and against these beliefs, we have seen often beliefs acquire hues of superstition and turn ugly.Sometimes ,very ugly.

Parents can help their child to grow up with a strong and positive sense of good & bad . I believe,age-old stories of Epics can attract their imagination ,at the same time, build their sense of ethics.The characters , often larger than life,are never dull to a child's mind.The characters, Krishna, Ram ,Sita, Arjun, Ravan ,Karna and Yudhisthir ...... or their Greek and Roman counterparts .....stay at the heart of the child while s/he grows and steps into the world of adolescence and adulthood.

I believe , together with funstories , cartoons and adventures, 'stories' from the age-old tales of our civilisation can be an important part of a child's reading material.A big question : are there simpler editions of these Epics for children? There are.If the parents and more importantly , children demand , there will be more. So many adults reach out to 'Gurus' for 'Yoga' and "Gita' classes..... do they help their children or grandchildren with character building with the insight they acquire ? Does a question come to their mind....had they read Mahabharata in their childhood ,they would have understood 'Gita' better? Or,they would have dealt with their lives' major questions in a more matured manner?

Dear friends,just think about my suggestion. May be you will find it worth pondering.

A child in the company of his grandma