Welcome Dear Fellow Seniors
Hello😊!
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| AI Generated Image of a Happy Senior |
This
blog is by a 60-plusser, by a Senior Citizen if you please.
The world doesn’t let you forget your 60th
Birthday. Friends wish you Happy Birthday with exaggerated
gusto for a landmark 60th birthday!
Your
family wants to celebrate your 60th Birthday, even commemorate it with special Prayers to seek a longer life for you.
The office had decided at the point of time you joined
them, that they will see the last of you once you turn sixty!
Hence as D-Day draws near, the Accounts Department will be calculating your Retirement Benefits, and making out cheques in your name.
The Human Resources Department sets about organizing your
Farewell Party on one hand, and deleting your name from the Employees Roster on
the other!
Chugging along oblivious of watershed day is the best response when you become a Senior Citizen!
Why?
I and many of my contemporaries feel no different at 60 than maybe how
we felt at 55 and or even 50 perhaps.
However most of
us have been moving to this point characterized by less of responsibility for
children as they have settled into jobs Or flown the nest after marriage.
What else has changed for most Senior Citizens??
Very sadly one
or both parents are no longer there.
Health issues have been coming up with more
frequency. Some pills need to be popped, some dietary restrictions are in place.
Ordered by the doctor or self-imposed.
There are
quite a few aches & pains in the mornings, with intensity & location
varying rather randomly.
There is no longer the question of What will I wear? I have nothing suitable!
But rather Where will I wear to, the many fancy clothes
from the traditional silk saris to western attire, hanging in my wardrobe?
For Many Seniors it is Farewell to Working Life.
If Retirement at 60 was mandatory for you as
in many work places, it is
admittedly a huge or rather humungous change in your life.
If you have
been holding a job and just retired just because you turned 60, and not because
you wanted to stop working, you are in a uniquely new space.
Not quite sure whether to feel happy or despondent.
Not sure if
you are thrilled to be liberated from the office routine or depressed at the
prospect of having to stay at home day after day, after day, after day.
Most would be daunted by a future when the bank account is not going to swell at the beginning of every month.
Those blessed with a pension would also have to make do with a smaller income.
And those without one, would be aware that their
savings have to be judiciously used.
A New life, Many
questions & Question marks - Even as this bitter sweet
masala of thoughts & emotions keeps tossing within you, you will find that
many are interested in What's Next and What Now for you?. Questions that will be
asked of you are –
- What will you do now?
- What Will you do the whole day?
- After working for so many years, How Can you sit at home the whole day?
- Won’t you get bored?
- Did /Didn’t you get any other job offers?
Multiple
Answers & Opportunities – It is
not that one doesn’t have the answers. I for
one, have a number of answers but I am not really sure which the right one is.
For one there are so many opportunities, so many things to do. For starters there is a Lot to do at home.
It is my home and not somebody’s office.
So it is time to focus full time on my home and myself.
Get those repairs done,
rearrange the stuff in many cupboards, give away clothes which don’t fit
and stuff for which you have no use any more…
And
if one is inclined to make use of experience and continue to work, there are Work From Home opportunities to be
explored. However one needs to be careful not to be taken for a ride
here.
More of DIY in Cooking and House Keeping would be good
for aging mind and body!! In the WhatsApp Group of my school mates, recipes get
exchanged on a regular basis.
It
does surprise our children that we are trying out new recipes at this point on
time in our lives when quite a few have of us have become grandmothers; but we
are indeed experimenting with new recipes to the delight of our taste buds!
Senior Travel – Travel companies are reaching out to seniors with packages specially designed for them.
The very
word ‘travel’ throws up so many interesting, exciting possibilities Travel has
been on top of my bucket list could never get enough leave from office.
Hence
travel to see new places and have new experiences, is definitely an option,
health permitting of course!
There is Entertainment Unlimited at home for seniors thanks to the many streaming platforms.
Catching up on all the movies, web series and shows
on Netflix, Amazon Prime and the many more streaming channels could be another
amusing and entertaining pastime.
We 60-Plussers in India cannot forget how much we
looked forward to the weekly half-hour of film songs and that solitary weekend
movie, when there was only one national channel to entertain & inform all
Indians. At most
get-togethers of school & college mates that scenario is recalled with some
fondness & derision.
Today on the dozen-odd streaming channels, we have a huge number of movies, web series, television serials, documentaries in many languages.
Sub-titled for universal viewing!
Though accessible only after a Subscription Fee
is paid..
A Time for Giving ---Another possibility is to get busy in the business of helping others without remuneration, or by volunteering.
However limited you may think your skills are, as long as
you have the time and more importantly the desire or better the passion to help
without expectation of monetary compensation, there are many avenues:
- Teaching underprivileged children
- Working, at least part-time in an NGO and socially committed organizations
- Becoming a scribe or a reader for visually challenged students
Re-kindling forgotten hobbies or stating new ones- It
is now that one has plenty of time to start a new hobby or interest or rekindle
a long-buried one. Online help is available in plenty for pursuing academic
courses, learning crafts, handwork, sewing and pursuing many other hobbies like
reading, writing, poetry etc.
Senior Citizen Perks are to be accepted graciously
& enjoyed-The Indian Government gives you the title of Senior
Citizen. Public Sector Banks remind you that you can get half percent more
interest on your Fixed Deposit. Some tax concessions are also available for seniors.
Oh
Yes, it sometimes feels good to be a Senior Citizen as suddenly you are
entitled to some benefits just because you turned 60, and not because of
anything you did or didn’t do for that matter!!
Strong Faith makes for a stronger person -We all would increasingly perhaps need our religion and individual creed to get by as life gets tougher.
The sixties are referred to as the golden
period of old age.
As my seventy-two years old cousin tells me – “One can
be perky in the sixties but life gets progressively rather fun-less!”
And for that very reason, it would be good to have a
place albeit in cyberspace, where one can find kindred souls and draw strength
from, or to let down whatever is left of one’s hair, or just to vent one’s frustration.
This
blog aspires to be just that. A corner,
a place, a couch in the digital stratosphere which can be accessed at any time
by seniors and to-be-seniors.
We
all have still a lot to experience, a lot to relish, a lot to endure.
We seniors now have the time to:
· Sit back and just take it in.
· Introspect and let go.
· Reach out to old friends, classmates and colleagues of yore, and recall good old times.
· Learn new skills, pursue old hobbies to the fullest and start new one.
- Benefits and Schemes for Seniors in India- Who are Senior Citizens…what is the age limit for qualifying?
- Retirement Planning for seniors
- Medical Insurance for seniors
- Senior living and communities
And specific to India
- Tax Concessions for Senior Citizens
AND Much Much More.
Until my next post Stay Happy, Safe & Blessed🙏
PS- What this blog will not do is discuss politics or religion or caste or class or creed. We seniors are united by our age and divided by nothing.
