Retirement

I was sitting on the beach, alone, my mind wandering without any volition, when I became aware of a crimson red spreading across the western sky, and the shadows becoming lengthier. The hot aggressive sun had turned mild, calm, soothing and painting the ocean with a tint of red and orange. The sun was about to take a dip in the water. I loved to watch the sunset. It was more brighter than the sunrise, and more vibrant. My friends used to ask me why I didn’t like a sunrise – isn’t it wonderful to see the sun tearing the darkness and heralding a new day?
May be, but for me, the sunrises were over. It was time for sunset! I am retiring from Binani Zinc as Advisor(R&D), after a long service of forty one years…
Forty one years were indeed a long time. A major part of my life. My mind flipped back. I saw myself as a youngster, a middle ager, an old man. I remembered those days when I was a mere boy of 16 years old. I had just passed the pre degree exam. My father, who was a poor drill-master of a school, was finding it difficult to make both ends meet. A college education was out of question. But fortunately, I was my grandmother’s pet child. On her request, my maternal uncle offered me an opportunity to study further.
I had read about Bhilai, the Steel City of India, but never imagined I would visit the city or live there for sometime. I boarded a train to Bhilai on a rainy day. I was nearly in tears, because I had never travelled to such a long distance alone, and had never been separated from my parents. My proficiency in Hindi was a far cry. The only language in which I could talk fluently was my mother tongue Malayalam, which I was sure no one would understand in north India. With a heavy heart, and feeling tense because of the new surroundings and new language, I set foot at my destination.
That was some 44 years ago.
His uncle and his wife were living in a one bedroom quarters provided by the steel plant. It was only on reaching there, I realized how magnanimous my uncle was. With all their limitations, they had offered to take care of me and finance my higher studies. I was thankful for that.
The first day at Bhilai is etched in my memory. The climate was too alien to me. It was hot in day time and very cold in the night. After dinner, I retreated to the kitchen. I would turn the kitchen an impromptu bedroom. On the dining table, I spread the mattress and lay down, but sleep was far away. My thoughts wandered to thousands of miles away, to my home land. Sometime in the middle of the night, I would have plunged into sleep, because I became aware of a large number of cockroaches invading me. They crawled all over my body – inside my shirt, inside my hair. They had a wonderful field day. I tried to fight them with the pillow, but they returned with more force. I sat up on the mattress helpless. I thought I was perhaps enacting the story of Lilliput in Gulliver's Travels.
The next day, I changed the location of my sleep to the open veranda in front of the long tubular building. There were no cockroaches but the streetlights and the frequent whistling of a Gurkha watchman as he passed by the road every now and then disturbed my sleep. Yet I was happy. It was better than the dingy kitchen room.
A few days later, my uncle took me to a college, and I enrolled for the first year B.Sc degree course. Days soon became months. Suddenly the winter came. I had heard about winter, but never experienced such a freezing climate. Chillness hovered at the open veranda. I ignored my uncle’s request to sleep indoor. I was wary of cockroaches. Here I was safe. As I was prepared to sleep, a frost wind blew over me. I covered whole my body including my head with a thick bed sheet my uncle provided. Yet the cold air seeped in. The bed sheet could not protect me from shivering. I did not know when Ihe sleep came. It was the cycle bell of the dhooth-wala, the milkman, that woke me up the next morning. I got up wearily, and found that the bed sheet that protected me from cold had shrunk to half; the other half had been eaten away by some stray cow sometime in the night!
My uncle and Aunt were distressed – not because of the bed sheet. They were concerned about me. That day my uncle contacted one of his friends, whose wife had gone home for delivery. On the same evening, I moved to the house of that gentle man named Gopi. From that day onwards, it became a routine for me to take food from uncle’s house and sleep at Gopi’s quarters. The classes had begun, and life became orderly. At 9.00 am I would take breakfast and leave for college. The classes were from 10.00 am to 3.00 p.m. During the lunch break, from 1.00 p.m. to 2.00 when other students went to the college canteen or nearby restaurant for lunch, I would sit in the class alone. Without lunch. I had no money for such frivolities. I knew my uncle was trying hard pressed for money. He had given me food and accommodation. How can I ask for some pocket money too?
The paucity of money made me to think about a part time job. In those days, youngsters were flowing from Kerala to Bhilai City in search of a job. I also decided to register my name at the Employment Exchange. My uncle told me that to register at the Employment exchange, I had to reach there by 6 30 am at least because there would be heavy rush of job seekers from southern states. I reached the exchange at 6 am, and to my surprise I found that there was already a huge crowd at the gate, most of them came directly from the railway station with luggage! All from southern states!
At 9 30 am sharp, a Gurkha appeared. He looked around at the mob, assessed the situation, but did not seem surprised to find such an ocean of people. Presently he went back and came with a long pole. Is he going to perform pole-vault to the Exchange? I wondered. On seeing the Gukha, the crowd began to jostle to move forward. The gurkha unlocked the gate very carefully, but did not throw open it. He then moved one side of the gate, and with the long pole, pushed the gate open!
Like water gushing out when a dam broke, the whole crowd surged in. I also ran with them without knowing where they were heading to. Some fell, others tread over them. It reminded me of people running helter-skelter when policemen lathi-charged. Many footwear were left around. So many people fell down and were injured. At last I reached a place where there were boards, Matric, Non matric, Skilled, Unskilled, etc. were hung. Already long queues were formed in front of each of these boards. It took me a few minutes to understand where I had to stand. I was the last person in the queue for Matrics. Before my turn came, the counter was closed down. But it didn’t discourage me. I decided to return to the spot next morning.
The next morning I saw an even bigger crowd. It seemed the entire youth of South India had turned up at the Employment Exchange. But at least I knew where I had to queue up, and was there as soon as the gate was opened. I was third in the queue, and could get my name registered. I was hopeful that soon I would get a job. It never dawned on me that when thousands of people register every day, the chances would be quite remote. Fortunately, or unfortunately, I got not a single card from the exchange till I left Bhilai.
Meanwhile, my uncle got promotion and was allotted a two bed room house. I could now sleep at his house.
I spent 3 years at Bhilai. Though with all the difficulties I faced, I enjoyed that period in my life. It was a different experience, and it taught me so much. I passed B.Sc with a university rank, and I decided to say adieu to Bhilai. On the 12th day of receipt of the certificate, when I was offered a job in Cominco Binani Zinc as trainee chemist, I thought I have reached the top of the world!
41 years is a long time in a person’s life. Now when I retire from my job, as Advisor R&D, I look back once again at my adventurous younger days…
Suddenly I felt pretty lonely. I looked around. The beach was disserted. Darkness had spread its tentacles everywhere. The sun had immersed deep into the ocean. The peanut vendors had also disappeared. I got up slowly and sauntered towards the road, thinking about the day I joined Cominco Binani Zinc as a young boy of 20 years. It seemed as if it was only yesterday. Time had moved fast. I would be leaving Binani Zinc Ltd as an old grandpa. Yes, tomorrow is the D-day. End of a very touching and meaningful relationship between me and the company! Au revior, Binani Zinc, au revior!
Goodbye, my friends!