People usually feel insecure about two things when it comes to retirement. One is money. Obviously the monthly cash flow will stop and how do we cope with that? I am not so worried about that. Of course impulse buying sprees will have to stop but I don't think there will be any major financial crisis in the near future.
People also worry about killing time. Indeed that's a worry for me. I don't know how I will kill the time. I have decided that I will cross the bridge when I come to it. Options are many when I think about it. But when those unlimited holidays really come I have no idea how I might react. As of now I am a little sad that my impulse purchases will have to be controlled. I am also a bit worried about the lack of routine in my daily life and how I will handle it.
As of now the plan is to exercise well every day. Perhaps in the morning. I do not do it now because I feel sleepy after a morning's exercise. This is what I did during the 100 per cent lock down of 2020. The video was taken on 28th April, 2020, at the height of lockdown. In fact I learnt the criss cross technique during that period and my Hba1C was brilliant.
I also have a list of travel related things that I want to do. How much of it will be ultimately achieved or materialise, only time will tell but this is the wish list and it is not necessarily in any specific order of priority.
Some of these might look like a pipe dream to those who do not know me. To me they really are not. I will achieve many of these. I know. Some of these are indeed very expensive to execute, for example the treks in Nepal. Money might become an issue but not a single one will be left out for not trying.
Treks
Everest Base Camp
Annapurna Base Camp
Mani Mahesh
Complete Chadar
Stok Kangri
Ladakh general trek
Cycle Trips
Hazaribagh to Ranchi
All the districts of Bengal
Rajasthan extensively
Darjeeling Hills extensively
Tawang
Ladakh - Manali - Leh - Kargil and onwards
Motorcycle/Car Trips Or Both
Seven sisters
Gurudongmer
Ladakh
June 8, 2022
The closer it comes to my retirement the more I am getting disgusted about working here. I wish I could somehow fast forward the calendar and get into the last week of September. Every time something negative comes up about work, I silently thank God that I have only few months left of this nuisance. The people I have to work with, thankfully, are not bad. Indeed they are nice. But they have very wrong ideas about PR and their entire approach to PR is totally wrong.
I do not want to discuss things in this blog before the actual date of retirement but it is a text book case study on how PR should not be approached in a company of this size and stature.
June 23, 2022
I am just back from what is possibly my last visit to the Battery India Exhibition organised every year by Mr Ajoy Roychowdhury. This year it was held in Bangalore as in 2019 when it was last held before the pandemic. Earlier this used to be held in Panaji, Goa - a very pleasant city to spend a few days in. The venue would be JW Marriott on the bank of the Mandovi river near its confluence with the Arabian Sea. Just sitting in their lounge and gazing at the vast open expanse of water was very pleasant. Though I am not much of a sea loving person this sight used to be very pleasant.
As soon as I would reach the hotel I would rent a scooty for myself and would use it as my local commute to go to the venue or any other place that I wanted to. The evenings used to be spent in the various floating casinos in the river nearby, losing heavily every year. I am a compulsive gambler. I have gambled with my life (by not studying) and I love gambling with money. My most favourite game is Blackjack.
For whatever reasons, possibly business reasons, they shifted the venue to Bangalore in 2019. Fairfield Marriott, which is the cheaper version of the real Marriott. And it shows. The food is very sad. And the exhibition itself has reduced in size. While the Goa versions used to be full of exhibitors from all over the world, the Bangalore edition is more about the technical sessions and less about exhibitors.
This year the experience of staying in the office guest house was a mixed bag. The first two days was in the ordinary one in Koramangala. And the last night was in the HSR Layout one which is a premium one. The ordinary one is pathetic. It does not have AC in the rooms, one of the bathrooms didn't have a seat on the toilet. The other bathroom has to be shared with the caretaker. Even in our college days we wouldn't stay in such rooms.
The Summary
If I had to ask myself what did I learn from Exide in these 18 years? In short I would say that the most important lesson I have learnt is that it is possible to own and operate a strong brand even with very mediocre people. Exide, despite being a leading lead acid storage brand, is full of very mediocre managers with little managerial talent. In most other companies they wouldn't be considered even for a clerical role. Yet the brand reigns over the country. And it has been so for a considerable period of time.
What makes it so? Is it the reputation of the brand created over the last several decades? Is it the good work done by the past MD's that it is encashing on now? Is it the inability of the others to grab the market from Exide? I don't know. But I certainly know that in every department only the mediocre people thrive who engage in small talk and petty office politics.
I think the only thing it does well and very diligently is that it produces a large number of batteries across the country. It has that efficiency. It also has a massive distribution reach coupled with a strong brand. It will take the current management several years to destroy this.
Yesterday Mampu shared her joy when she informed us over Whatsapp that she has been selected as a counsellor for YSP at Ashoka. An online work for her university for a week or so for which she will be paid Rs 7,500. Not bad. Already she has managed an internship for two months at Yoda Press for which she will be paid a stipend of Rs 5000 x 2 . YSP stands for Young Scholar Programme. Children from the higher classes of schools pay to learn about Liberal Arts and what it's all about. Mampu will be one of the counsellors. She had applied for it quite some time ago but assumed that she wasn't selected. Now she has made it. Good for a first year novice.
The Yoda Press internship will require her to stay in Delhi from Mid May to end June. Preferably near Hauz Khas because although the main work is online, she has to man a desk at a book shop or library (she isn't very sure) twice a week which is in that area. I spoke to my trekking friend Pankaj Jain who has a house in Green Park Extension and rents out his rooms to PG students. Mampu will have to share the room with another girl. I wanted her to go and see the place but she has not been able to find the time to do that.
She comes home on 8th May with Muskan by Air India flight. She goes back again on 16th. Alone by Rajdhani. Therefore she will be staying in Pankaj's house from 17th. Pankaj refused to be paid for this help. He is very well off, no doubt but I find it embarrassing to take advantage of it. Anyway. Monisha's ex-colleague Saswati also lives close by. In fact had she been there in Delhi Mampu would probably be staying with her but she is gone to England now to be with her brother's family who just had a new born in the family. Her husband is there if there is any emergency. Apparently they are almost across the road. Her husband is an executive director with Indian Oil Corporation and his official residence is a huge bungalow in Green Park.
Mampu is gunning for another internship that is supposed to start in June and end in July. But that is purely online. Perhaps with some other publisher.
So she comes home on 8th May, goes back on 16th, comes home again on July 1 perhaps and goes back in mid to end August. Quite hectic I must say. I prefer the train because refund is cheaper in case she needs to reschedule her travel. The first homecoming is by plane but then onwards it will be by train. Incidentally, the cost is more or less similar if one travels by AC 2 tier. I prefer for her to travel 3 tier because in 2 tier one is locked in a coup with just another person. Three tier is more open and therefore safer.
Tuesday 17th May, 2022
Just learnt Mampu has reached Pankaj's house in Green Park Extension. I feel so relieved. We went to see her off at Howrah yesterday. B6 22. The other passengers in her cubicle didn't look very friendly. Was a little worried. Not because of the co-passengers but because a train journey in India is fraught with various unidentifiable dangers. It could be a co-passenger, it could be dacoits, not to speak of accidents. But Rajdhani, of course, is relatively safe. It is given VIP treatment among trains and railway management in general.
At the station we saw several sniffer dogs. Makes you feel protected.
Our worries got heightened when we learnt that Mampu does not have enough charge in her phone. In fact she switched it off to be able to at least hail an Uber from the station. Anyway, now it is all sorted. She has reached safe and sound. I hope her life goes smoothly over the next month and a half.
Monday, 23rd May, 2022
Just booked Mampu's return ticket to Calcutta. She starts on 1st July and reaches here on 4th. Rajdhani. But this time I took a ladies' compartment.
Mampu has landed herself with yet another internship that I wrote about earlier. This time it is to assist one of her professors who is writing a book to be published by Routledge. The lady professor is Madhvi Menon. Mampu intends to take her class next semester.
This internship starts in June and continues till end of July. Entirely online. She had to apply for it and most probably had to appear for a test. Madhvi told her that she took her on on the recommendation of Prof Harris. Great.
So, she is going to earn around Rs 27,500 during her summer break from 3 internships. Yoda Press is 5K x 2. Ashoka's YSP work was 7.5K. And Madhvi Menon's is 5K x 2 . That's a lot of money for a young college student.
I hope she likes what she is doing. The work that she is doing is precisely what she wants to do, as of now. I know she will grow out of it, if she does it professionally but one has to go through the process.
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