Prof Bhaskar’s study explores the challenges faced by superannuated men in urban West Bengal, from identity loss to family dynamics, exclusively for Different Truths.
Man does not live by chair alone, but chair matters in life; that is well understood when the chair is no more. Who likes to leave the chair? Probably no one, unless he is offered the chance to occupy a higher chair. However, except for being in polity, all sellers of labour power must leave the chair at the end of the service tenure institutionally fixed.
What I present below are the instances of non-manual service providers in institutions who got superannuated in the not-very-distant past. The study zone was in urban West Bengal. The time of study was 2024-2025. The superannuated persons were elderly, aged above 60, and all males. All were established in their occupations, that is, drew a regular salary, seen as labour compensation. The size of the sample drawn was ten persons in the age range of 60 to 80. Those above 80 are super-elderly and were not included in the sample.
Let me first present, in the form of case studies, the facts as unearthed:
Case Studies
1. Two superannuated persons, each aged 70, with a background of higher education who spent their childhood in villages, decided never to come back to their roots that are now rurban; one of them was well established in the AG office in West Bengal, and the other was an engineer in Electronics Corporation (EC) at a high position and salary. They decided to live in comfort in ready-made flats, respectively, in New Town and Salt Lake of Kolkata – the village-converted rurban area seemed too small for them.
2. One person, age 70, with higher education, was confined to his house since his superannuation from the post of Barobabu (Head Assistant) in the Government of West Bengal. ‘Chair-lessness’ mattered, it seemed.
3. One corporate leader, age 72, with middle-level formal education, continued to harp on the same string post-superannuation: how busy he had been.
4. One top-level banker, age 65, with middle-level formal education, started travelling around post-superannuation and started posting statements that revealed some sort of identity crisis.
5. One person, age 71, got superannuation from a private jute mill in Kolkata and continued working as a jute expert post-superannuation.
6. One middle-level corporate representative, age 71, started rediscovering his gravity in public places and has been trying his best to find out if he was socially accepted. He started devoting his expertise to arranging the yearly Durga Puja in his locality.
7. One national scholar at the school level, age 71, could not succeed much in job life, but post-superannuation started advising some entrepreneurs on how best to do in their respective fields.
8. One bank employee, age 71, has been living in house arrest allegedly by his better half in the family lest that superannuated person gets a disease to approach early death. This followed COVID-19.
9. One employee of the local administration got his son settled abroad and living with his spouse, feeling often disturbed by the absence of regular friends. Though he bought a ready-made flat at Salt Lake, he did not leave his roots.
All these individuals were family-attached people. Some spent one-third to half of their active life on paid jobs that might not have been pleasant in the sense of ‘job satisfaction’ for all, though this point was not made loud and clear. In any case, it was not their own time – this time belonged to their employers or the companies/institutions where they were offered the privilege to be engaged for labour compensation. Post-superannuation, they expected to get rid of unpleasant memories, if any.
Implications
The above examples were a few of the explorable episodes of the superannuated people in urban West Bengal. These implied intra-family relationships are the following:
- Perceived dependency intra-family.
- Idle time.
- Seeking sympathy.
- Marginalisation.
- Illness.
- Authority lost.
- Identity crisis.
All the above may not work simultaneously.
What these examples imply in society are the following:
- Unwarranted curiosity of neighbours.
- Being questioned about loneliness.
- Inter-generational gaps.
- Culture gaps
All these may not come together for each one superannuated.
Unpredictable Anxiety
Most of the superannuated people, being elderly, had hardly any idea about the problems that they would face post-60. Some had engaged them with full loyalty and hard labour in promoting the corporate or the institution that they were engaged in. Time reminded them about their other tasks, like guiding in higher education and job searching for the next generation, participating in social rituals, unwell psycho-physical conditions and necessary curative health care, and so on. Some with adequate savings and assets, and some with a reasonable pension, could survive and complete these tasks even if delayed. Many, however, felt marginalised and started searching for any ad hoc jobs.
Unpredictable Superannuation
This was beyond my core sample. One type of unpredictable superannuation was the VRS (Voluntary Retirement Scheme). The other was the unpredictable closure of the mill/factory/company. In such circumstances, the person probably felt helpless.
Tasks of the Elderly
- Creative thinking-cum-writing.
- Peer group formation.
- Self-engagement, like teaching and homemaking.
- Friendship or collective life.
- Membership in cultural clubs.
- Travel.
The elderly people expect to be heard at home and outside, even if the value-addition of their opinions may not be instantaneously valued much by the other members. Human beings have existence value that needs to be respected. This is where the rest of the non-elderly society must ponder over how best to acknowledge the elderly in a civilisation called India, which is Bharat, and is less competitive and more sensitive.
Symbiotic Relationship
A society is not based on physical strength – it is based on interdependence, love and care, and fulfilling the needs of each. It may be that technological advancement and mobility create a distance between the elderly and the youth. The fact remains that the elderly were youth some decades ago, and the youth will be elderly some decades ahead in time – one shows a mirror to the other. If time is understood, then the conflicting intergenerational interests disappear.
What to do?
The first task is that of the state to provide a ‘social security card’ to the superannuated people, including the elderly couple, unless there is self-exclusion. This card may take care of food security and health check-ups for the elderly. The second is to organise subsidised group travel for the elderly and their stay in peace for a reasonable period, to be organised by the state or non-state actors.
Concluding Comments
Post-superannuation existence-value of an individual is basically his cultural value – value that he nourished over his past decades in his education and upbringing, in his job life, in his family life and in his social life. He dreams of being an elderly person from his past, which may not be possible because of social and economic dynamics. What is to be ensured for the superannuated persons is an anxiety-free, leisure-friendly life – they may be the guides of the generations to come. There lies their positive existence value.
Picture design by Anumita Roy
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