My Father’s Life After Retirement

My father retired from the Indian Army as a Major in 1985. He received four years of re-employment and finally retired in 1989 at the age of 56. His monthly pension was Rs. 950, and his lifetime savings from service amounted to Rs. 1.5 lakh.

At that time, there was a re-employment cell in Delhi to help retired Army personnel find civilian jobs. My father lived for another 30 years and passed away in 2019. During those three decades, he never received even a 15-paisa postcard from that office.

After retirement, our family settled in a small house in Mohali. The town was developing rapidly, with companies such as Ranbaxy and several factories operating there. Many of them recruited retired Army officers as Security Officers. My father visited numerous organisations seeking employment. Almost every employer gave him the same answer. They preferred Short Service Commission officers who retired in their thirties because they could serve the company for another 20 years. At the age of 56, my father was considered too old.

One hotel in Mohali offered him the position of General Manager at a salary of Rs. 1,200 per month along with meals. My father politely declined. He did not eat outside, and the salary did not justify the responsibility.

Later, one of my uncles, who had retired from a cement company, suggested that my father take a cement dealership. Mohali was expanding, and construction activity was increasing every day. My uncle introduced him to senior officials of the company.

A few days later, a truck loaded with cement arrived from Rajasthan. Labourers asked where they should unload the stock. Since my father had no business experience, he had never realised that a cement business required a godown, a shop and a sales system. The entire truckload was unloaded into the rooms of our small house.

Within a few days, the rainy season arrived. My father suddenly realised that if rainwater entered the house, the cement would be damaged. The next morning, he found a man constructing a large house nearby. He showed him the original company invoice and sold the entire stock at the purchase price, without making any profit. That marked the end of his first business venture.

He later rebuilt his life by becoming a Public Provident Fund (PPF) agent and later a deposit agent for private financial companies. This gave him the independence to continue working on his own terms until the age of 75.

When my mother passed away, he gradually lost interest in work. Much of his time was spent sitting in the neighbourhood park with other retired people. He passed away in 2019 at the age of 85.

Whenever I returned from overseas assignments and visited Mohali, I often found my father sitting on a park bench with retired professionals from different backgrounds. They had decades of experience, valuable knowledge and a genuine desire to remain active. Yet many of them struggled to find purpose, opportunities or support after retirement.

Watching them closely changed my thinking. In 2007, I created an online platform called Retired Sikhs to connect retired members of the Sikh community. I managed it successfully for more than ten years.

One day, I received a call from a young woman who had seen my interview in a newspaper. She said, “My father is retired and needs help, but I cannot register him because he is not a Sikh.”

Her question stayed with me. That conversation planted the seed for a much larger idea. Retirement has no religion, no caste and no national boundary. Every retired person deserves opportunities, respect and meaningful engagement.

That is how RetiredPeople.in was born. We are launching this platform on 1 October 2026, the International Day of Older Persons, with the vision of creating a global community where retired people can connect with one another, discover opportunities, access useful services and continue contributing to society.

This platform is the outcome of nearly twenty years of observing my father’s retirement journey, understanding the struggles faced by thousands of retired people and learning from real-life experiences.

My mission is simple. I do not want future retirees to face the same uncertainty, isolation and missed opportunities that my father experienced. Retirement is not the end of your contribution. It is the beginning of a new chapter. You possess decades of practical experience, wisdom and professional knowledge. These are valuable assets that can continue benefiting society.

The platform (RetiredPeople.in) is scheduled to launch on 1 October 2026, the International Day of Older Persons. Until then, I would be happy to hear from retired individuals, families, organisations and service providers who would like to become part of this initiative.

If you would like to connect or learn more about the platform, please feel free to get in touch.

Amrit Pal Singh

Founder, RetiredPeople.in

Mobile: +91 98766 25076

Email: MarketingStrategist.AP@gmail.com

Website: www.marketingstrategist.in