Recently, two of my classmates had to run away to Nagpur because the third classmate fell upside down in the sloping pit behind the kitchen, where the outdoor AC units are also kept. Since the heat was very intense and due to continuous use, the AC was not giving cool air. She searched online and found advice to wash the outdoor unit with water and clean the mesh of the indoor unit. After cleaning the indoor unit, he picked up the ladder and placed it at a place like a flower bed outside the kitchen, where the outdoor unit was. He climbed up using a ladder in that narrow space and started cleaning the unit with the jet spray. No one knows what went wrong during this time and the friend admitted in the hospital is refusing to tell anything to his wife. He fell into the hole because he broke one of the biggest rules of retirement: climbing a ladder to try to fix something that should have actually been paid for by a professional. All four of us were best friends during school days because we were experts in repairing bicycles. Just like today’s boys recharge the phones of girls in their class, in those times we used to repair bicycles. After all, boys are boys, so don’t laugh. This passion for fixing things is linked to the frugality of our youth, when money was very tight. We used to get only one rupee for the expenses of the whole month. The habit of fixing everything gradually led us to purchase tool kits. If you come to the house of the four of us, you will find all kinds of screwdrivers, hammers, drill machines, nails, nail tools and spanners. During school days, we had the habit of making something new from waste materials. Gradually this habit became such that when professionals were not available, we started repairing things ourselves. Minor electrical work, changing switches or fixing leaking pipes. Then gradually this habit of most of us diminished, because we got posted in different cities and families lived in other cities. But after retirement, this desire to fix things myself returned. In August 2018, when Ikea opened its first retail store in India, we went to Hyderabad for a get-together and spent the entire day buying modern day tools. For us it was like a pilgrimage. On the opening day of this huge store of 4 lakh square feet, a huge crowd gathered there and there was a traffic jam. My father-in-law developed serious illness after falling from the stool, since then my wife has made some golden rules of retirement for the entire family, which are as follows. 1. Do not climb at heights for work. Make a strict rule that you will not climb on ladders and stools. For tasks that require heavy lifting, pay a local handyman or take help from a young family member. At our place, the work of climbing heights is done by our driver Umesh Gupta. 2. Outsource heavy lifting. Call local home services for tasks like deep cleaning, heavy gardening or moving furniture to protect your joints and balance. At our place, driver Gupta is also responsible for this. 3. Do not travel in public transport. If you feel that too much money is being spent, then travel less. But whenever you do, comfort should be the priority. Do not take bus or train, especially do not travel by local train of Mumbai. 4. Make everyday life easier. Do not take more responsibilities than necessary. Adopt hobbies like reading, walking, learning new skills. Do not take up high stress projects. The bottom line is that retirement can give us the freedom to ‘do it yourself’, but there are some things that should be avoided. Because after the age of 60, there are many things in the body which need to be corrected.
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N. Raghuraman’s Column: Do you follow the golden rules of retirement?
