Re: [Goanet] Retire with Grace
Dear Dr. FN Congratulations on achieving a very important Capstone in your life: Earning a PhD from Goa University. The best of luck to you in your search for other greater challenges. I consider myself quite fortunate for having had an opportunity to get to know you in the digital world. Best Regards. Egas De Sousa On Monday, January 25, 2021, 2:28:15 PM EST, Frederick Noronha wrote: Retirement at 62, 60, 58 (or whatever age the political class of the day decide to make us redundant) is too early! Btw, I retired at 32... the age at which I gave up (voluntarily) my full-time job, and never regretted that decision for a single day of my life. So far. (Apart from the fact that some snarky Goanetters would wonder how I made a living, and though there was something fishy about it!) Of course, "retirement" is more of an emotional thingy. We feel redundant and useless after this "milestone" is crossed. I've never worked as hard, partly because I needed to make it work (no going back), but also because I was "in control" (more or less) and enjoyed the creativity that flowed out of it. My friend, Dr Ajit Shirodkar, the US-educated chemist-turned-horticulturist, has this theory that we need a second career in our 50s. This is just to keep ourselves intellectually alive and active. God forbid, what if we actually live till 80? We would be bored stiff, either carrying on with the same work, or doing nothing... Secretly, I'm scouting around for other challenges :-) Sooner or later, I hope to run into them. There's no fear of "retirement" then. Donkeys, and journalists, they say, never retire. Thank god! FN-- FN* फ्रेड्रिक नोरोन्या * فريدريك نورونيا +91-9822122436
Re: [Goanet] Retire with Grace
What is more apt? Retire with Grace or Retire with grace? LOL. FN On Tue, 26 Jan 2021 at 12:35, Tony de Sa wrote: > Regarding this subject, I am sharing an article that I wrote under the > theme, "The New Normal" to the Goa Writers group of which I am a member. -- FN* फ्रेड्रिक नोरोन्या * فريدريك نورونيا +91-9822122436
Re: [Goanet] Retire with Grace
Regarding this subject, I am sharing an article that I wrote under the theme, "The New Normal" to the Goa Writers group of which I am a member. TLJ The New Norm -Tony de Sa In *ilo tempore, *in those days when the Covid-19 did not run its writ, I’d ride in to Mapusa several times a day for the flimsiest reasons. No errand was too small and no excuse was trivial. Mapusa and I were in a relationship. One of the many tasks that I carried out in Mapusa was to buy my *poies. *I have a favourite baker. Yes, Babaji’s – the favourite rendez vous of amorous Mapusa college students - purveyors of cold drinks ice-creams and snacks – also make fabulous poies. Well what’s so special about selling *poies *you might ask? Dozens of shops and bakeries sell *poies. *Well Babaji’s *poies* are special because they are large in size, have more whole wheat in them compared to the others in the market and have a great flavour and taste. With the lock down and now the pandemic scare, my visits to Mapusa are severely curtailed. In fact, you can count on the fingers of one hand, the number of times I’ve been to Mapusa since last March. So that puts the Kibosh on *poies *from Babajis. I’m not so sure that they still do bake them, given that the demand must have plummeted. Whole wheat bread is something I am obsessed with for dietary reasons and the local *poies *that we get are simply refined flour *poies *that are dipped in rice/ wheat bran to give them the *asli *look. With no other alternative, I have been living on the ersatz stuff and that was making me miserable. About a little over a month ago, while surfing Youtube I came across “Atta and Bread Makers.” Well that sounded interesting. So I started digging in more. I discovered that an Atta and Bread maker is capable of making bread for you using a “fill it, shut it, forget it” principle. That is, you dump the ingredients into the machine, flip the switch on and hey, presto, a loaf of bread awaits you at the end of the designated time. Exploring further, I discovered that I could make no less than seventeen different confections using the Atta and Bread Maker, (hereinafter called bread maker). Some interesting stuff like chapatis, brownies, cakes, puddings, pizzas and even jam. So I trundled off to Amazon on my computer and a week later, I was the proud possessor of a Kent Atta and Bread Maker. Yes, Kent – the R.O water filter people. Because of the pandemic and a belief that the virus can survive for up to 3 days on plastic wrapping, true or not, I tend to keep all my Amazon purchases in my balcony for a period of 3 days – I fondly call my balcony my Amazon quarantine. As soon as the machine’s quarantine was over, with great fanfare the machine was unveiled and the booklet hurriedly read. Basically, it was just like a washing machine. Turn the machine on, shove your clothes in, select your programme and wham! Punch the starter. Now for my first venture. After listening to my wife’s advice, I decided to make a loaf using all purpose flour – *maida. *The process was simplicity itself. 3 cups (provided with the bread maker) of flour, One cup water, I spoon instant dry yeast, 1 spoon salt, 2 scoops oil. All I had to do was to arm the bread maker. Which consists of fitting the bread pan in the machine, and fixing the mixing paddle). In go the liquids and the solids, shut the machine, power on, select the programme, decide the colour of the bread – light or dark and mashing the power switch. After three odd hours, there was a lovely loaf of bread. The success was beyond my expectations. Nevertheless, home-made bread is something to look forward to. After my initial successful foray, I decided to be more adventurous and settled for a whole wheat loaf of bread. Now, I was stunned to discover that whole wheat bread isn’t necessarily whole wheat. It contains a good bit of refined flour because a whole wheat bread when baked will fall on itself unless it has gluten from refined flour to support it. My effort at making a whole wheat loaf was successful but not entirely satisfactory because the surface of the loaf was pitted and though it tasted good, it was not aesthetic in appearance. My third attempt was a disaster. The loaf turned into a biscuit. This was, as I later discovered, because I had not proven the yeast which in this case was active dry yeast, whereas previously, I had used instant dry yeast. My next loaf was accidentally the best I had baked. It happened quite by accident. I had decided to use 2 parts of *maida *to one part of* atta. *While preparing the ingredients, instead of my usual 500 g loaf, I measured out ingredients for a 750 g loaf. Unexpectedly, it turned out very successful. It was spongy, had a great golden crust, the top was smooth and the bubbles evenly spread. My quest for the perfect whole wheat loaf goes on. I have bought ‘bread stengthener’ – vital wheat gluten to bring perfection to my fully whole wheat loaf, but
Re: [Goanet] Retire with grace
One of my favourite poems, it's a villanelle, which is "a lyrical poem of nineteen lines. A villanelle is structured with five tercets, that is to say a three-line stanza, and a quatrain, a stanza consisting of four lines, at the end." Each tercet expresses a distinct sentiment and seems to stand on its own, all tercets being nicely wrapped up in the final verse, the quatrain. You don't get the full effect without the necessary pauses between the tercets and the concluding quatrain. Another villanelle worth checking out is William Empson's Missing Dates.
Re: [Goanet] Retire with Grace
Retirement at 62, 60, 58 (or whatever age the political class of the day decide to make us redundant) is too early! Btw, I retired at 32... the age at which I gave up (voluntarily) my full-time job, and never regretted that decision for a single day of my life. So far. (Apart from the fact that some snarky Goanetters would wonder how I made a living, and though there was something fishy about it!) Of course, "retirement" is more of an emotional thingy. We feel redundant and useless after this "milestone" is crossed. I've never worked as hard, partly because I needed to make it work (no going back), but also because I was "in control" (more or less) and enjoyed the creativity that flowed out of it. My friend, Dr Ajit Shirodkar, the US-educated chemist-turned-horticulturist, has this theory that we need a second career in our 50s. This is just to keep ourselves intellectually alive and active. God forbid, what if we actually live till 80? We would be bored stiff, either carrying on with the same work, or doing nothing... Secretly, I'm scouting around for other challenges :-) Sooner or later, I hope to run into them. There's no fear of "retirement" then. Donkeys, and journalists, they say, never retire. Thank god! FN -- FN* फ्रेड्रिक नोरोन्या * فريدريك نورونيا +91-9822122436
Re: [Goanet] Retire with Grace
This was a Frank Kafka aphorism (pithy observation containing some truth) written during his recuperation from tuberculosis. Later turned into a children’s story by Carl Fagan about a cage looking for a bird, getting rejected by many birds who preferred to be free and finally finding one who wanted a cage. The story later became an lower elementary text book. Roland. Toronto. > On Jan 25, 2021, at 12:24 PM, E DeSousa wrote: > > The following lines I can remember but not the name of the author. It is > indeed difficult to remember names after 70. > > "I am defined by what I do > Said the cage in search of a bird > > and when I am empty > I am absurd!" > My suggestion to you Nelson Bab, is take up painting, perhaps. > You could follow Bob Ross
Re: [Goanet] Retire with Grace
Nelson Lopes writes: After retirement one feels low, unwanted and discarded in the dustbin of History . During employment ,the position, power and influence, we wielded, makes us intoxicated with nostalgia of our great worth If it is the chair and position you nurtured with pride then the world around you will collapse like a deck of cards. --- The following lines I can remember but not the name of the author. It is indeed difficult to remember names after 70. "I am defined by what I do Said the cage in search of a bird and when I am empty I am absurd!" My suggestion to you Nelson Bab, is take up painting, perhaps. You could follow Bob Ross tutorials on YouTube. You may yet find excitement! Borem Zaichem, E.
Re: [Goanet] Retire with grace
Dylan Thomas - Always famous for his word imagery, this is one of his best works. However his rostering, boisterous nature will not sit well with our gentle, respected Nelson Lopes. Roland. On Mon, Jan 25, 2021 at 11:55 AM Linken Fernandes wrote: > Do not go gentle into that good night, > Old age should burn and rave at close of day; > Rage, rage against the dying of the light. > Though wise men at their end know dark is right, > Because their words had forked no lightning they > Do not go gentle into that good night. > > > -- Roland Francis 416-453-3371
Re: [Goanet] Retire with Grace.
RIGHTLY SAID... On Sunday, January 24, 2021, 11:27:12 PM GMT+4, Roland Francis wrote: Nelson you are completely right in what you say, but there is no need to feel helpless and sad at one’s situation. Here are a few ways you can combat it. 1. Stopping running around to fulfill your children’s family needs. No babysitting (you have long completed that part), no doing their odd jobs because they do full time jobs and think you have time on your hands. 2. Get out of the house daily on any pretext and meet for breakfast or otherwise with a group of same age, like minded spirited friends who like to have a laugh and don’t relapse too much into their medical problems. 3. Go for every event you can. With your wife if she wants to, alone if you have to. Church feasts, cultural events, musical shows, village celebrations are all fair game. Do the small things you wanted to do for which you never had the time. 4. You have an in-hand voluntary project in P.C. Trust. Take it in new directions, bring in young volunteers and scholarship beneficiaries to do the physical work. You concentrate on the new creative ideas, delegation and direction. These activities will dispel all your feelings of being made to feel redundant, unneeded and will bolster your self esteem. Roland. Toronto. > On Jan 24, 2021, at 9:12 AM, Nelson Lopes wrote: > > After retirement one feels low, unwanted and discarded in the dustbin of > History During employment ,the position, power and influence, we wielded, > makes us intoxicated with nostalgia of our great worth If it is the chair > and position you nutured with pride then the world around you will > collapse like a deck of cards.
Re: [Goanet] Retire with Grace.
Nelson you are completely right in what you say, but there is no need to feel helpless and sad at one’s situation. Here are a few ways you can combat it. 1. Stopping running around to fulfill your children’s family needs. No babysitting (you have long completed that part), no doing their odd jobs because they do full time jobs and think you have time on your hands. 2. Get out of the house daily on any pretext and meet for breakfast or otherwise with a group of same age, like minded spirited friends who like to have a laugh and don’t relapse too much into their medical problems. 3. Go for every event you can. With your wife if she wants to, alone if you have to. Church feasts, cultural events, musical shows, village celebrations are all fair game. Do the small things you wanted to do for which you never had the time. 4. You have an in-hand voluntary project in P.C. Trust. Take it in new directions, bring in young volunteers and scholarship beneficiaries to do the physical work. You concentrate on the new creative ideas, delegation and direction. These activities will dispel all your feelings of being made to feel redundant, unneeded and will bolster your self esteem. Roland. Toronto. > On Jan 24, 2021, at 9:12 AM, Nelson Lopes wrote: > > After retirement one feels low, unwanted and discarded in the dustbin of > History During employment ,the position, power and influence, we wielded, > makes us intoxicated with nostalgia of our great worth If it is the chair > and position you nutured with pride then the world around you will > collapse like a deck of cards.