Retirement?!

I do not know what came over me when I made a promise to my respected blogger friend, that I will write something on topic of retirement this time around. Maybe I was envious of his predicament(?).. Maybe my friend knew that I have a deep seated wish to have my own place where poor and needy children can improve themselves. Come to think of it I did talk to him the raison d'etre of my involvement with food production thingy that has more or less put me in a lot of heartaches.. to get a few acres of land for tahfiz and agricultural activities to co-exist in a symbiotic manner.

A few years before my 55th birthday (the day most of Petronas staff retires) two of my colleagues came to me( at different times and locations) to talk about retirement.

The younger one, albeit some seven years my junior, came up and talked to me on his retirement plan.. to retire from Petronas and become an unpaid mosque or surau caretaker and as always, Q & A session ensued:-

Me: " So you think you will have enough for you to retire gracefully then?".

Him: " If you want to talk about enough.. It will never be enough!"

Me: " Have you ever tried to stay in the mosque from dawn prayer to midnoon prayer?"

Him: " No, I have not but it would not be too difficult, would it?"

Me: " I have tried and failed miserably and I have yet to see someone who has successfully do that in this modern time, maybe those students in Tahfiz can easily succeed.. But try it first before rejecting an offer to work when your retirement time comes".

Him: "May be I should try to do that one of these days".

Me: " No harm checking to see whether you like the task you set for yourselves first before you embark on it full time, I heard it is easy to loose money when we retire and go into business doing something we are not familiar with.."

Him: " That is what I heard also and that why I want to quit and stay out of trouble.. Stay in kampung's mosque".

Me: " I heard a story that one successful businessment in KL who built a 200,000 ringgit bungalow in a remote fishing town.. And leave his business to his two capable and qualified children( after mentoring them for more than 2 years) just after his bungalow get completed and furnished.

Him: "Don't tell me he came back to KL again after that!".

Me: " After exactly two weeks of being a Tok Siak (caretaker) of the biggest mosque in the town ( a walking distance from his bungalow).

Him: "what happened exactly.. The kampung folks ostracised him?."

Me: " Nothing of that sort, he was treated like a big man.. A tan sri of sort treatment.. but the fishermen talk about weather, who catch most fish for the day, who was not able to go to the sea.. Those small talks, laissez faire life .. He can take it for a few days, but after a week, he started to miss his business friends, his mosque friends in KL, Those talks that he was used to.. challenging talks, technical talks, KLSE etc etc talks.."

Him: " Now what do you proposed..? " He sounded a bit exasperated....

Me: " It looks like you do not need so much money.. Come back and work as a geoscientist that you have always been.. Take half of your salary and you probably can hire more than 10 Tok Siak to do the work that you have set to do yourselves .. That way Petronas get to keep its experienced geoscientist.. You get the reward of getting more than 10 Tok Siak in more than 10 mosques.. Tok Siak job would then be a well paid job in the kampung etceteras.. And you get enough money to pay most of your bills"

Him: " hm.. Sound good but I am not sure that I will sacrifice half of my salary to get more than 10 Tok Siak.. Even if I want to"

Me : " That is a good problem to have.. non?,".

As for the older colleague, three years my senior.. He wanted to buy a taxi and be a taxi driver whenever he do not have golf games on..
He do not really need more money as he have been working oversea for quite a long time where he has been highly paid. As always, a Q & A followed:-

Me: " Don't you think being a taxi driver is a rather taxing job for a geoscientist that is used to work in an air- conditioned room looking at the desktop computer screens (geoscientists used high end computer with at least two monitor screens) all day long?".

Him: " Maybe tiring lah but that one is only a front.. to while away time waiting for my friends to finish their daily tasks and join me at the golf clubs".

Me: " Careful .. our mutual friend Encik A said that he get one invitation to join golf games a month when he retired from working as compared to more than ten invitations a month while he was working in Petronas ".

Him : " Oh what happened exactly?".

Me: " Nothing much.. But then people tend to forget you when you are not around or they thought you are enjoying retirement and do not feel good asking you out for a game of golf .. ".

Him: " Oh oh! then I might as well continue working if my service is needed".

Me : " I think I am also going to do the same..when my time comes".


I did advise them not to get involved in business sometime during the interactions.. and in contradiction I do get involved in one that is not my expertise... thinking that it is for the good of my country and my religion etcetera..

Ah by the way, I started the day with the good old ketupat palas goreng ( wrapped in Kelantanese style) and rendang ayam.. Daun palas was bought from Kuala Dungun wet market last week and our Chinese neighbour who is nearest to our kitchen get to sample about nine ketupat.. Mokwang thought that the smell might be too tempting for the family and the recipient later confirmed her thought.. Luckily our two Chinese neighbours, living on the right and left sides of our house, are out working;)

Have a fantastic and fabulous weekend / days ahead to all!