Retirement Report Card

 Retirement Report Card

Ajit Chaudhuri – September 2023 to September 2024

 

“Someone, give this man a job. I will not have him hanging around the house all day,” rumoured to have been said by Michelle Obama

 

I retired in 2023 and am often asked what I have done since. I usually respond with ‘nothing’, and this invariably elicits exasperation along the lines of ‘how can you do nothing?’, ‘you have a duty to work/earn for as long as you can’ or ‘you are wasting the wealth of skills and experience that you have accumulated’ (ahem). So, for the benefit of the curious, the appended table is a list of what I have done since retirement.

 

A quick analysis reveals 3 cross-country road trips (and some shorter ones), an unsuccessful first attempt to climb a mountain, four foreign trips (including one trek), and several teaching assignments interspersed with some writing.

 

My plans for the near future include –

·      Start a third novel (I’ve done the research and have the necessary masala, I think).

·      Do the Miao – Vijaynagar – Mugafi trek in Arunachal Pradesh.

·      Try and rediscover my love for cricket by watching Ranji Trophy games in stadiums.

·      Avoid all travel (other than the above, and maybe a visit to Dehradun).

·      Sort out the trilemma of using my remaining years of good health and relevance to earn something; doing things that I would like to do; and fading away with dignity.

 

Some things I have learnt about myself are –

·      I am getting old. I tire easily; I forget things (especially the location of my phone and specs); I find intelligence in women attractive; Aunties refer to me as ‘Uncleji’.

·      I am an agoraphobic sociophobe. Hell, for me, is other people (to quote JP Sartre).

·      I am also a bore. People politely wait for me to have my say before getting on with it.

 

 

	Activities Undertaken – September 2023 to September 2024
No.	Type of Activity	Purpose	Comments
I.1	Road Trip – Jamshedpur to Delhi   (19 to 24 September 2023)	To return to Delhi along with my car and personal belongings	·       Done with Rinky (my wife) ·       6 days: JSR – Lohardaga – Netarhaat – Gaya (2 nights at the OTA with Aruna and Gen. Minhas) – Badlapur (somewhere in UP, between Varanasi and Lucknow) – Delhi
I.2	Road Trip – Delhi to Dehradun to Delhi   (1 to 6 October 2023)	To open Rinky’s house in Dhulkot and get it into working order	·       Done with Rinky ·       Planned for two days travel and one day there, ended up spending four days there, loved it. ·       Wouldn’t mind going there again, for a longer time.
I.3	Road Trip – Delhi to Jaipur to Delhi   (30 November to 2 December 2023)	To meet my friends Shivani and Kushy	·       Done solo – my first experience of the new Delhi-Mumbai Expressway ·       Great to see Shivani and Kushy again. Met Viveka Kumari (an old friend of my sister Nomita and mine) again, after many years
I.4	Road Trip – Delhi to Kutch to Jaisalmer to Delhi   (23 January to 12 February 2024)	To Kharoi for time in a fat farm   To Jaisalmer for the Maru Manthan festival	·       Done solo. ·       Spent 13 days (25 Jan to 7 Feb) in Anand Dham (a nature cure centre in Kharoi, Kutch) to detox and lose weight. Have not used pain killer for my knees ever since. And loved it – will go again. ·       Spent two days at the Maru Manthan festival – spoke on women’s issues and nomadic pastoral practices, and on women’s groups in Jharkhand. ·       Done in three stretches; Delhi – Kishangadh – Deesa – Kharoi; Kharoi – Barmer – Jaisalmer; Jaisalmer – Jhunjhunu (via Bikaner) – Delhi
I.5	Road Trip – Delhi to western Rajasthan to Mumbai to Kutch and back to Delhi   (2nd to 28thSeptember 2024)	To research my next novel on the NGO world   To meet my Ma-in-law in Thane and Dad in Mumbai   To attend a Setu Abhiyan board meeting in Bhuj (Kutch)	·       Done solo. ·       Spent time in two NGOs – SWRC Tilonia and Urmul Seemant Bajju. ·       Done in five phases: Delhi – Tilonia (3 nights) – Nagaur (via Kotdi) – Bajju (4 nights); Bajju – Raniwara – Bharuch – Thane; Thane – Mumbai – Thane; Thane – Kutch; Kutch – Delhi ·       2 nights at Ma’s in Thane on the way in, 3 nights on the way out, Rinky was with me for the latter. ·       2 nights in Mumbai at Sea Green Hotel on Marine Drive – lovely hotel, lovely to be in the city again. ·       6 nights in Kutch ·       First experience of the ‘heaven’ road across the rann, Khavda to Dholavira – fantastic
			·
II.1	Foreign Trip – Hong Kong   (3 to 13 November 2023)	To meet the children	·       My first visit to Hong Kong – done with Rinky. ·       Spent time in Repulse Bay and Shek o beaches. ·       Ate too much, drank too much, walked a lot. ·       Met Jia, Reuben’s significant other, for the first time. ·       Loved it
II.2	Foreign Trip – Hong Kong   (11 to 18 December 2023)	To attend the ceremony for Rustam’s admittance into the Hong Kong Bar	·       Done with Rinky and my Dad ·       Really impressive ceremony at the HK High Court, presided over by Justice Johnny Chan – Rustam’s former pupil master Martin Richmond was a star speaker for Rustam, and it was also attended by his current pupil master Nicholas Pirie
II.3	Foreign Trip plus Trek – Nepal   (25th May to 9thJune 2024)	To do the Annapurna Circuit Trek	·       My fourth trek with Boots and Crampons ·       A ladies’ majority trekking group (a first for me) ·       My notes on the trek are at https://kaaluontheroad.blogspot.com/2024/06/circling-mt-annapurna.html .
II.4	Foreign Trip – Malaysia   (13th to 18th August 2024)	To celebrate Somnath Sen’s 60th birthday	·       Done with Rinky ·       We were on Penang Island right through – two nights at the main city George Town (13th and 14th nights) and 15th to 17th nights at a resort in Batu Ferringhi. Both experiences were excellent. ·       My first time in Malaysia, my first time on Singapore Airlines, loved both. ·       We were a group of 24 people, all relatives and friends of Somnath Sen. ·       My own 61st birthday was celebrated with the same group at a party on Batu Ferringhi in Penang.
			·
III.1	Climbing Expedition – Mount Friendship   (13 to 25 October 2023)	To climb Mt. Friendship, in the Pir Panjal range a little beyond Manali	·       My first climbing expedition, done with Boots and Crampons (third expedition with them, after Gurez valley (Patalwan Lake) and Everest Base Camp. ·       This is a 5,287 m peak outside Manali, considered one of the lowest that requires mountaineering (rather than trekking) skills. ·       My notes on the expedition are at https://kaaluontheroad.blogspot.com/2024/01/on-friendship.html
IV.1	Teaching – IIM Ranchi   (27 December 2023)	To teach students at IIM Ranchi	I forget what this was about, but it was part of a Tata Steel Foundation commitment.
IV.2	Teaching – IIM Raipur   (12 to 15 January 2024)	To teach part of the course ‘Management for Social Impact’ to the PGP students at IIM Raipur	·       This was a Tata Steel Foundation commitment. ·       Took two sessions of the course – Decoding Business Models for Societal Responsibility, and Communities as Rights Holders for Business ·       Found it tiring to take each session three times. ·       Saw a play after many years – Juhi Raj Babbar was performing ‘With Love, Aap Ki Saiyaara’. Brilliant!
IV.3	Teaching – ISDM   (26 Feb to 27 Mar 2024)	To teach strategy to ISDM’s students	This was at the Indian School of Development Management (ISDM); 10 2-hour sessions in Feb and March; done with my old boss Shankar Venkateswaran.
IV.4	Teaching – ISDM   (24 to 28 June 2024)	To teach scaling to ISDM’s students	This was as a follow-up to Prof. Madhukar Shukla’s sessions on scaling with the students; 4 full days hanging around with the same group I had taught strategy. It was a pleasure to be back with them.
IV.5	Teaching – IIM Jammu   (15 to 16 July 2024)	To teach part of a management development programme for JKAS officers	·       I took sessions on Planning for Model Development and Outputs to Outcomes: Measuring for Change ·       The participants were mostly sarpanches and DDOs, and their knowledge was impressive. ·       I think they appreciated my own knowledge of Kashmir and the use of examples from there. ·       Met my old friend Ateeque, now a Prof there.
IV.6	Teaching – XLRI   (24 August 2024)	To teach part of the certificate programme on CSR leadership offered by XLRI and Tata Steel Foundation	·       Took two sessions on Building Institutions for Lasting Social Impact – it was interesting to have to get back to the subject of New Institutional Economics to prepare. ·       This was done on-line – never again.
V.1	Writing	To write fiction	Completed four novelettes, compiled them into a collection called ‘An Exploration of Unintended Consequences’ (still trying to find a publisher for this) – ·       Thick and Thin ·       What Happens in Gurez ·       Second Time for Mr. Nice ·       My Modern Family