RETIRED But Definitely Not Expired

RETIRED But Definitely Not Expired

We all think that once a person gets to be 60 plus and retires from his job – in Corporate or in Government, it is time for him to hang his boots, call it a day, start a new chapter in his life – relaxed, laid back, easy going and enjoying the time available to pursue his interests in life.

We were curious to know what were the future plans of Sanjay Sarda whose story of embarking on a Musical Journey after a successful Corporate career, featured in the Forbes India September, 2020 Edition and how the Musical Journey was going so far.

So, we touched base with Sanjay Sarda, who turned 60 last year and received a characteristic burst of fresh energy and enthusiasm. We knew that he had retired after 38 years of working in senior positions in Ambuja Group, Dalmias, Jindals, AVBirla Group amongst others and was on a Musical Journey. We found his enthusiasm and plans of looking ahead and doing new things quite infectious. Here are some excerpts from our discussion with him:

He believes that the Purpose of Life is to have a Life of Purpose. And his purpose is to spread the message of Positivity by making Musical Videos on relevant topics with impactful content.

He and his team have already made more than 100 videos on topics like Addiction, Spirituality, EQ/SQ, Beauty of Nature, Ikigai, Mental health, Street Performers, Lawn Tennis, Food Wastage, Immortal Painters, Community Living etc and many of these are seen on youtube channel  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCV857XRlU55DaAtzZobavxg

Now Sanjay Sarda & his Team are seeking collaborations with organizations such as Cancer Societies, Old Age Homes, Alcoholic Anonymous, Student bodies, Retired Army Personnel, Resident Welfare Societies, Blood Banks etc who have a need for conveying a message to their respective target group. Sanjay Sarda & Team will understand the narrative required, create videos in the required frequency (weekly/fortnightly/monthly) by their talent pool and once approved, circulate it amongst the respective target Groups. All this is being done free of charge.

The Content & Music creation of the videos is the passion driving this unique initiative. He hopes that interested organizations/societies/groups/clubs who can benefit from this initiative, will get connected to him.

In addition to this, Sanjay Sarda is presently advising many young entrepreneurs as a Management Consultant and helps them in their entrepreneurial journeys for converting their dreams into reality. He believes that he is in a unique position when he is old enough to know better, young enough not to care and experienced enough to do it right.

He believes that there is no dearth of brilliant young entrepreneurs, with great passion, good ideas and with genuine good intent. What is lacking in many is “Implementation” and it is this specific area that Sanjay tries to address. He tells jokingly that why is it that at 60 plus when he supposedly knows everything, the world wants him to forget all? This is the time to give back –to value-add, to make a difference.

He strongly feels that all the 60 plus professionals have huge potential which is sadly unrecognized by Corporates, Governments, Societies and very sadly even by Families. This talent is labelled as “Expired” and removed from the shelfs of active working life. This is a huge loss to everyone and a colossal waste of existing opportunity. By more awareness, improvement in health care facilities, more responsible lifestyles, the active age of everyone is way beyond sixty – let us not put any number to it. Let the individual decide for himself/herself.

This is not to say, that accommodating this Group will be at the cost of any younger Group. It is the matter of opening new areas of opportunities for the 60 Plus Groups. So, rather than avoiding them as “Expired” or exploiting them by forcing them to work at ludicrously low amounts, we need to tap their experience, create new avenues for their value-adds.

Finally, when asked what he would like to say to his 60 Plus Gang, he has a mischievous smile and a glint in his eye when he says that everyone knows everything. He just wants to reinforce the thoughts that we should Live our life take chances, be crazy, why wait, because right now is the oldest we will ever be and the youngest we will be ever again. The key to aging successfully is to pay as less attention to it as possible. Age is an issue of mind over matter. So, let us just not mind and it will not matter.