WHAT OF THESE “GET-TOGETHERs?
[ My Blog Posting No.1259 ]
Quite some opinion may emerge seeing the very title, though in reality no bad or scorn is meant and none needed either . What runs through my perception or inference is shaped by a set of communications that religiously figure before and after the event –a“GET-TOGETHER” [by our colleagues (MCRP] at Madurai]. .
Frankly speaking it stands to reason to
look for –why –
a ‘Get together” in the first place- and
then to the attendant corollary –the impact that it leaves on the participants--
only to trigger another of its kind in a regular periodicity as to deserve the name
“the rhythm”.
That, a rhythmic recurrence of the
process has come to stay, is a grand declaration of uniform appeal and acceptance
among those who have had a couple of such participations more as a means of
finding some relevance in the current dispensation named “Retirement”. To me,
retirement can be summed up as a mechanism to keep persons out of action –on
the surmise of age.
That, attaining an age [experience] in a
profession can turn to be “the last straw on camel’s back” –is more amusing
than annoying..
Coming to the topic’s innate features, I
for one would readily accede that it is the sheer joy of seating next to a
colleague with whom one may never have shared ‘this proximity’ despite decades of
daily presence in the same place of work.
It works in favour of a get together. One
may ask –is it such a great feeling to be in the company of the very same
persons who performed along for near 30 years plus?
Well-- feelings are very fine emotions
that can seldom be fettered by definitions or descriptions –however much one
may exert to present it in a package of words. Vocabulary cannot render justice
or bring out the cryptic element “delight” something exclusive to the mind of a
participant.
It
is the sense of belonging that drives the ‘Longing TO MEET’ so typical of
‘familiarity’. The adage ‘ Familiarity breeds contempt’ is not of validity all
the time , as longing to meet the known,
roots itself in familiarity more than in anything else.
Indeed the human mind is an inexplicable module of peculiar ‘love-hate ‘equations that right away fade off, as one is pushed out from brisk life by retirement.
As one is kept off a system by such
official rigours, the element of
nostalgia tends to grow in magnitude and the urge to meet the then colleagues
gets to the fore looking for an opportunity to be together by a “get together”.
Perhaps a logical freedom to stay longer in that company is fortified by a session of lunch that launches a greater goodwill among minds.
Why does this kind of a mindset blossom from within?
Well, among the varied professions, teaching is one where no two individuals are alike. I mean even if we teach the same domain of knowledge, we share nothing in common except the syllabus. In plain terms teaching is exclusively between the teacher and the wards entrusted to the person. So, all the time teachers operate as individuals and need not ever be brought under a comparison; like the proverbial race horse, each runs the race, not for the trophy, but, for imparting instructions.
Having spent a whole life as familiar
but independent functionaries, a stage comes when such persons prefer to know
one another more by a courtesy of exchanging pleasant memories with no strings
on either side.
Even more vibrant is the democratic
decision over the proposed menu that simultaneously fills the plate and
fulfills the palette, if the suggestions invited /offered are any indication.
It is a happy augury that members are blessed to be fit and able to call for
specifics [menu] that befit a gathering of the kind that we are recalling at
the moment.
Hardly there is any ‘no’ to anything. Indeed it is a delight to acknowledge that while men –half our age look sapped out by the pressures of life, teachers by and large stay in better shape and health having been always in an ambience of inquisitive youth.
Still, retirement drives a feeling of
being left low and dry [lone and isolated from pithy arguments] that a ‘get
together’ instantly ignites the longing for meeting friends of a like
description.
The host on every occasion is abundantly delighted, organizing essential facilities for [s]eating. To peacefully accommodate a near score and more[wo] men at a time, is no mean task even by the most conservative reckoning.
Besides, another kinship opens up with the women folk of different households coming together as a natural corollary to their menfolk meeting at some predetermined venue – a house of one or another of the participants.
‘Getting together’ right away enhances the
expanse of new-found members in the team of old colleagues. Such is the impact of refurbishing our time-old
friendship by a conscious effort –the ‘get together’.
It fortifies the bondage and heightens the feeling of happiness among our life-time colleagues especially when our children are at far off places, fending themselves in their life game.
A very simple way of tiding over the silent solitude in life is “Getting together”, for, our life has ever been one of ceaseless talking. Staying tongue-tied is next to imprisonment for a teacher.
Friends -- please keep getting together as often as
feasible; it helps us [the out station members] to at least mentally conceive
the kind of joyous moments that descend spontaneously much like fragrance all over.
Thank you
Regards
K. Raman
No comments:
Post a Comment