A RETIREMENT PARTY
























"Security is not the absence of danger, 
but the presence of God,no matter what the danger."

Anonymous


A friend of mine, who lives in our housing colony, will be retiring from his government service on 30th of this month. He has organized a lunch party in his office, on this Friday (27th Sept), for his colleagues, close friends and well-wishers. Yesterday, I received an invite for it... "Please grace the occasion."

I was delighted and quickly sent to my friend a thank-you message. "Can't believe! Too early to retire! I will be there, definitely!"

This morning, my friend sent to me another message. "I have invited only five persons from our colony..." He had named all five invitees, including me. 

I replied with a laughing emoji..."Thank you friend for counting me in the 'Magnificent Five'... Looking forward to it!"

"Yes my friend, these 'Magnificent Five' are near and dear to me," my friend wrote back. He had, also, added this: "I will be needing four people to give me shoulder, and one substitute, when I leave this world!" 

Of course, my friend had not forgotten to add five laughing emojis at the tail-end of his joke! 

"A good one!" I sent one from my end, too...

Was it a good one or was it a crude one?

Yesterday, this friend of mine was the first one to send to me the news about Punjab and Maharashtra Bank's crisis. "Please rush to your branch immediately and withdraw your funds, if you have them there," this friend had mentioned...

This was much earlier in the day. Soon, when the panic-stricken account-holders were talking to the media persons, I learnt about the sad state... Only one thousand rupees could be withdrawn from each account in six months! My heart bled when I heard the stories... "My dad had kept all his retirement money in this bank... It's gone!"... "There is a wedding in our family"... "My mother is in the hospital"... "I have fifty employees... Can't pay them their salary"... "I am the Secretary of our Society... My money is here... Our Society's money is here"... "My EMI goes through this bank"... There were scores of heart-wrenching stories from the affected persons... They were angry... They were mad... They were sad... They were shocked... They were blank!

"What if I had put all my money in this bank?" I wondered, "How would I have reacted?"

Angry. Mad. Sad. Shocked. Blank! All of them, perhaps!

Today, when I saw the laughing emojis and the joke from my friend, the scenes outside the bank branches came alive before me... I did not ask my friend as to where he was going to park his retirement funds... He has to park them in one bank or the other... and, his hopes and aspirations will be same as mine, yours and all those who are panic-stricken out there... 

All your life, you slog so hard and when you need your money the most... it's not there... Gone!

Really sad... The plight of those people simply tears my heart!

Anyway, Life is such... It seldom comes with guarantees... The real security in life should stem from our wisdom, that we will survive no matter what... and, we will survive, our loved ones will survive, despite the collapse of our banks...

Would have I said the same, with the same confidence, had my bank doomed?

A tough question to answer, Sir!

A happy retired life to my friend... May 'Life' begin!


GERALD D'CUNHA

Pic.: Freepik

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