Retired from career life. Logged into Development Sector.
This idea is hovering in my mind from few months.
"Why cant people after retirement from their career life get into social sector?"
After retirment (The sarkari naukari restricts every Indian to work till 58 Years. Correct me If am wrong in number :)), people will be usually sitting idle in home. I know people want to call it retired life and they want a relaxed life. Agreed.
But how many days they want to relax? They can sign up for voluntary work, They can start something very small which will impact society. For example: Recite stories for maild's son/daughter. People say "charity starts from home". For me making a difference to ones life is social responsibility but NOT charity.
One of my friends dad is a retired guy. He takes free tution classes for deserving students (For tenth standard and II PUC). I was amazed by his simplicity and energy. What he says is "Lets do our bit for society and leave the rest to almighty". What if every Indian thinks on the same lines?
I found this is as a very powerful thought. The best part is retired folks will be very experienced and knowledgeble.The amount of patience which our elders have is laudable. Why should this knowledge and experience just get stagnated. It should be passed on to next generations. In this fast moving world, we are losing our identity and tradional values which were regarded as the core of our society. The need of the hour is to transfer all of the good stuff from our elder generations to ours and younger generations.
Lets consider a bank official who had worked for 25+ years. If he can mentor few youth who are taking up banking exams or something like that, It might be change the whole course of life for those youth.
I am thinking of a plan for the NGO(http://divyadeepatrust.org) which I am associated. Bringing granny, grandfathers and our school children together. They can recite moral stories to children and spend some quality time with little angels. Their Life will gain so much meaning and they will also have lot of fun with kids :)
Encourage your fathers, mothers, aunties and uncles for signing up for small things which they like to do. Encourage them to take up stuff which they have performed. Lets say they were an accountant, request them to sign up for finance related taks for NGOs.
If WE think about bringing CHANGE is our responsibility, We can see the Shining India, outsmarting so called developed countries.
WE Hope. WE should. WE can. WE will
Hi Ashwin,
This is a wonderful thought! I remember a retired person in Mysore, (unable to recollect his name now). He would prepare students from poor communities for competitive exams (UPSC, and Bank exams.)
Here's another interesting story (http://eksparsh.wordpress.com/2009/01/03/bangalore-grannies-yummy-pizzas...)
May their tribe increase!
I do hope more retired people think this way :-) One does come across some inspiring examples - like Mr. Ulhas Kamat who helps run iCreate:
http://ngopost.org/story.php?title=You_could_Create_Job-Creators_-_join_...
The biggest example of doing something after retirement is Dr. Venkataraman, for starting Aravind Eye Hospital. Few know that he started Aravind, when he was 58 and he retired from government service. He is my role model :D
yes goli bhai. Dr. V is indeed a role model for every indian. Remember the video we saw in Aravind. Almost everyone's eyes were wet. It was the one of the most memorable hour of my life :)
well a nice idea spare me for being pessimistic but most people usually would not have the energy and drive at that age.
Hi Ashwin,
This is a fantastic idea. We can get lot of people who are sitting idle at home, but willing to do something for the society. Hats off to this idea. We can do a survey for this, I am sure that we will get lot of people. We can establish a strong protocol between children and retired persons. By listening to these people, our children will gain learn ability and listen ability skills, which is the most important factor of a Human Being.. :-)
Agreed Chinmayi. Some of the lucky few will be definitely ready to take the plunge. Its all about mindset :)
Hi Ashwin,
Really good idea lo, especially given the extinction of joint families in the current world, the knowledge sharing badly needs a push.. And this is one way of addressing it. Every socitey needs a heathy interaction between the old and young, to flourish.
I am inspired by the thought. I was thinking on the same lines!
Here is an example of a unsung changemaker. She started a hospital for poor.
http://thatskannada.oneindia.in/column/bhat/2009/0625-unsung-subhashini-...
Awesome idea...especially the part of involving elders in divya deepa trust! When I was a kid, I used to love hearing to the various stories my grandparents used to narrate. The stories played an important role in molding our character. This would be a lovely way to pass on the treasure to the kids. I personally know a few people in Mysore who might be interested in participating in such a program. Do let me know if you'd be interested in getting in touch with them.
Rashmi, I read about Subhashini Mistry. Thank you for sharing the link. Inspite of all the tragic events in her life, she remained strong and started the hospital. It is very inspirational.
The idea is fantastic and we all need to work for this. It helps in two ways:
1. To get the experience & expertise to support the needy
2. The retired youth can be active and can lead better and healthy life.
After leaving the Government sector (worked for 20 years) in the year 2003, now fully supporting the NGOs working for Disability, HIV / AIDS, Rural Development etc. with more concentration on the rural one. In the disability sector, we have exeriemented to involve the grand mothers in the rehabilitation of their grand children with disability. This has given wonderful results and this model was appreciated at all levels and infact it was in the media both print and electronic.
The process need to be continued to involve more and more senior citizens (education should not be the barrier) and thus to create better & strong FORUM for doing our bit to develop the people and thus community.
I will be happy to associate with the needy individuals / organizations / NGOs and thus to reach the targets. You can reach me at
Looking forward for better networking...
with thanks
N. LAKSHMI NARAYANA
nlngeohouse@gmail.com
This is a very good idea and i will be shortly retiring, and will like to take up such work
Ashwin,
My comments.. Being useful to the society is not everyone thinks of and not everyones cuppa tea. so the initial part is somebody shud think abot it and motivate others to think about it.. So in a way what you have done is double social service as you have not only been doing social service urself, but also inspiring other to do so.. Kudos on that..
I think the dynamics of the country depends solely in the participation of the citizens.. We dont need politicians or government to run a village or a town or a city or a country for that matter... Its like manager and developrs in a typical IT set up.. Developers cant sit idle without Working thinking manager will do something.. In the same waw we as citizens have a project in hand and we cant sit idle thinking politicians or government wil make a change. THe dynamics of india has to change and that change can only be brought in by citizens...this needs participation in the country and to understand ur responsibilities as a person and how u can co relate to others in the country.. how u can atleat take a small thorn lying on the street and put it in the bin. how somebody can have guts to take a Broom and start cleaning streets and then go to work
How somebody can take initiative of making sure that the change is happening in positive way.
The chnge u are talking about is a bombshell idea.. Because the retired people are not "really" retired and they never retire.. Only govt job people retire technically and do nothing.. Musicians, doctors etc ppl never retire they keep singing etc till they die ( MS Subalakshmi for example) .. So its very easy to think for retired people, what they can do with that golden time they have in hand.. May be Ashwin, we can form a work force with these retired people someday to do some social service." if we tell them to do something on there own, chances are that they will sleep or watch TV ( in a way they may deserve the rest at there age) but definitely there is a potential amount of timings in there life that they can spend on these useful things.. So if we form for eample cancer awareness centers and educate like 5 elderly gentleman or woman about helping cancer ptients with information,etc.. then we can have a potential team of people who can do a great job after there "retirement"
my thoughtsss
I saw this gentleman in Om Ashram who was full of energy and zeal for his age and probably his story. There I believe are many such elders who cud help kids greatly. Most of the elders are looking for company and the little ones looking for care. I think it is a great mapping if it could be worked sensibly. I had seen the regular kids at Rakum and Morning Star take care of the differently abled kids. Once the kids at spastics society of Karnataka offered to help the visually impaired students at Samarthanam. These are ways of bringing two or more incompletes to make a whole! :) Love the post totally!!!
I think she is being covered in the book "Unsung Heroes" by Mahesh Bhat.
First of all, I came across this wonderful forum/site thanks to Ashwin Krishna, a long time friend of mine.
Ashwin's idea is practical if the old people have true passion and awareness to be effective for tasks they can. Even if they do not hold the necessary credentials to help the tasks they are concerned about, I believe they can pick up the skills in today's fast paced environment. I knew a uncle who had retired from a top post in a bank and he helped to look after the accounts of a school in Mysore, that helps bring hearing impaired children to the mainstream society. The point I would like everyone to take into note here - is that he was a banker; so he was good in handling the accounting stuffs and he wished to contribute to society in a way and this is how he contributed for some time and it worked because there was strong connection. Similarly, I believe people from all walks of the life can contribute to the development sector in some ways.
Great to see the reply :))
Hello ,
Nice thoughts Ashwin :)
But I do not agree with others who would say that old age restricts you from doing any help to society .
As you have said in your writing itself , help need not be something dramatic , extra-ordinary and surreal . It can start from home and with baby steps at a time .
The older generation often feels that since they cannot be of much help to their family , they are a burden to them . Slowly older people build a notion that no one pays any respect or attention to their thoughts , words and action. I feel terribly sorry for such people .
Think what kind of a saviour these kinds of help would be to both the needy and the retired people !
Hey,
I am so glad to see this discussion here.
Coincidentally, the corelation between age and work had been hitting my mind for a few days.
Specially because of a few classes that i took in business and law in US, i was amazed how things are differently perceived here. There are acts and laws here that protect people over 40 years against discrimination of age and its illegal to deny someone a job if they are capable of doing it, however old they may be and even in the govt sector people of all ages are employed. And the best part is even grandmom's and granddad's keep a job, drive a car, watch grand kids and take time out for community service.Very unlike india where we have mandatory retirements.
This brings us back to the problem where so many capable, healthy and very efficient people who lose jobs when they dont have to.
So, i totally agree that there are lot of people who can work and do great things even after the official govt retirement age and leading them towards such opportunities should be a great idea.
Interesting idea, especially considering that India's youth power has been the focus lately (after all median age of Indians is ~25 years).
Any such initiative in Bangalore? I would be interested in doing a campaign to see what kind of response we get. We can create simple flyers and distribute them to retirees at local parks, malls etc. We will also need to find good opportunities for people that sign-up. There is scope for collaborating with iVolunteer or similar organizations. All this can be done in addition to creating awareness within our social circles. What do you all think?
great idea! I haven't heard of any such 'formal' initiative in Bangalore, mostly word of mouth .. count me in an awareness/enrolment campaign too :) Yes, we should talk to iVol (they might already be trying similar things!) .. also it will help to get Bangalore's youth and long-time residents involved, so that we can first reach the elderly through personal connections. Also get feedback on what they feel about the idea!
Thanks, Parul. We can start by checking with iVol. I will send them a mail. As for local contacts, I can't do much other than check with folks at office. Maybe I can do a survey in my neighborhood and get some feedback...
Folks in Bangalore: we are having a mini-event tomorrow to meet Senior Citizens and get their feedback on this idea. The plan, if it can be called that :-), is to attend the Freedom Festival at Cubbon Park tomorrow between 3:30-6:00pm and try to strike a conversation with the elderly on this topic. Contact either Parul or myself if you are interested.
Freedom festival by itself is an excellent way of celebrating I-day (http://ngopost.org/story.php?id=6251). So, if you are interested, pitch-in and do two good things at one place. For those who are interested and can't make it tomorrow, don't worry this is just the beginning...
Its excellent Idea.
We are NGO (Silver Inning Foundation) working for Elderly,pls ctc us if you need help.
Thks.
Saielsh Mishra
sailesh2000@gmail.com
www.silverinnings.com
It is said that a society can be judged by the way that it cares for the weakest and most vulnerable members. While most of us enjoy the fruits of progress and development the vast majority continue to experience stagnation and deterioration. While the nation’s income has grown, regional disparities and poverty have increased.
At Child Rights and You, we believe that our country can only truly shine when all our children enjoy their basic rights to survival, development, protection and participation. Achieving this is not an impossible dream. If enough of us speak up for child rights we can change the situation irreversibly. We at CRY, Delhi propose to initiate a Citizens Action Group in your area. Our primary objective is to address the issues affecting the deprived children of our locality and facilitate residents take responsibility for change.
The need of the hour is to assess the situation of the deprived child in this area and take action accordingly. We, at CRY, seek your support in pledging each child in this area her/his rights, and thus making a difference to their lives. As a community let’s try, touch a few lives and change them for the better. Let’s join hands as many housewives, youths, children and retired citizens have come forward and have contributed in their own way in places like Kolkatta, Mumbai and Bangalore. When you represent Citizen Action Group, we promise that you will surely make a difference- both to a child’s life and your own.
Why do You need to get involved?
The success of the efforts of the Group will depend on the extent of participation of the citizens of the area. The first thing that comes to in individual’s mind is what’s in it for me? And the answer is being a responsible citizen. Being someone who thinks that every child has an equal right to live with dignity, get good education, and get everything which helps her/him develop and become a responsible citizen irrespective of what their background is.
What You can do?
Be sensitive towards issues regarding Child Rights
Be alert citizen to prevent Child Rights violations
Facilitate meeting as a Group to brainstorm on possible action points,
Facilitate meetings of residents and conducting resident’s drive
Provide us with right channels, leads and platforms through which we can involve more and more residents of this locality.
Form core groups of residents who will own and steer the initiative successfully
How? (These are just some suggestions…)
Adopt an MCD school in your locality and monitor them
Mobilize people living in your locality and work with them
Demand from the concerned authorities to improve the situation
If this interests you, please get in touch with us for more details. We from CRY will stand with you to plan and facilitate the process. Together, we can succeed and we must.
Best
Leena Smita
09818044637 09873746900
It'll be great if we can convince all the companies and organizations to connect their retiring employees to organizations like I volunteer. Such organizations can guide the senior citizens to take up the suitable tasks.
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