In the last one week, I met two amazing individuals. Both have been known to me for over a decade, or close to two decades but this was the first time I had the opportunity to meet them at leisure for two hours.
One is a retired IPS officer, a thoroughly fine, refined  and gentle human being. The other is at the top echelons of the one of the country's foremost corporate group. Both are in their mid-sixties and settled in family duties. While one continues to work but in a way that work defines pleasure for him even after forty years, the other is gainfully pre-occupied with contractual obligations outside government and other intellectual pursuits.
What was so refreshing and reassuring about them was their outlook to life and their total lack of whine about it. I'm sure it gave them lots of complain about - like it does to everybody else. But they appreciated the beauty of life, took its challenges and pain in their stride and found interesting ways to resolve them.
The retired IPS officer was bed-ridden two years ago when he saw Baba Ramdev on television demonstrating exercises that could be done lying down. In two months, he cured himself of a terrible sciatica condition that had immobilised his right leg.
From then on, he has stuck to his daily regimen with a child-like enthusiasm which radiates on his face as well. He wakes up at 4, does his yoga, picked up from various schools after keen and careful observation, makes tea for him and his wife, and then gets on with his day just as he would have 40 years ago as a young officer on a field posting in rural Maharashtra.
He looks nothing of the archetypal burly cop. With kind and gentle eyes and a smile playing on his lips, his face sparkles with compassion and sweetness. Blessed with an intelligent sense of humour and impeccable manners that can make you nervous while dealing with him (if I wasn't thick-skinned enough, I with my journalistic brusqueness would have scrammed long ago), he appreciates the small and big things in life, is open to new ideas and thinking, and is generous to a fault.
He hardly talks about himself, but is a walking encyclopedia on policing and reads copiously. The Mantralaya mandarins havent been unkind to him but havent exactly venerated him either. Once, in a weak moment perhaps, I was complaining to him about how one suffers for having integrity, and he calmly said, "Seema, that's the price we have to pay." It occurred to me at that point that he too may have felt at some point that he deserved better but he slept on it.
Sure, he could have made his millions and got quoted in the press every second day, like some of his illustrious colleagues. But THAT thought must never have bothered him. What mattered to him was his peaceful sleep and a collected conscience.
To be fair to his political and policing bosses, he certainly got a good deal right till his retirement and was hugely respected. There was a time when he was given a huge responsibility and he was in the papers every day. He may have given in to the temptation of indulging the media every day but the fact was he simply had no such temptation. He did not once call me to ensure his name in the papers. In fact, whenever he did talk to me, it was always about information - he would devour information - and not about him.
A little bit of lobbying would have ensured him the topmost job that every police officer covets (quite without  reason actually because it is a ceremonial post and a boring one too. All it does is get you the salute of every policeman in the state). But he steered clear of nudging the men who mattered. Karmanye vaadhikaraste, maa phaleshu kadachana.
This brings me to the other protagonist of this piece, who quotes this line from the Gita as his guiding principle in life. The corporate bigwig is a simpleton at heart. A very savvy customer in the wheeling-dealing of his world, he however refused to be bogged down by the sinister manifestations of human nature around him. He looks as fit as he did a decade back, even though he is definitely putting on in years as the rest of us.
"What is past is gone, what is tomorrow is  not known. So why get into either?" is his simple but impossible-to -practise take on life. This would sound perfect coming from a saint but loses value in the thick of boardroom intrigues and colleagues pulling you down wherever possible. Sure, unlike my retired IPS officer friend who remained meticulously honest and clean all through his career, he must have pulled a few tricks of his own too. But none of his professional persona percolates to his core. With a friendly face, he remains pulsatingly positive about life and holds no grudges.Even today, he steps into the Byculla market to buy his weekly supply of fruit and when he gets to his 2500-sq feet home in his plush sedan, he is reassured that he will live. "If you can survive that market, you can survive everything, " he grins. He is a rare breed in his class who keeps a ear to the ground. He has made some (not much) sartorial concessions to his calling, but likes to stay grounded by roughing it out in small hotels and walks when necessary without much ado. "To keep in touch with the pulse of the people," he says. He knows he belongs to the 5 per cent of society that makes it easy for him to cut off from the rest of the world. But he wont. And to prove it, he has a hardy stomach that digests sugarcane juice off the street.

When I met him, the idea was generally to touch base with him as both of us had the time to spare.
I came back with the feeling that not life's imperfections nor mine mattered.

When the retired IPS officer, with his extremely likeable and lively wife, visited my place last week, I had looked forward to a nice, cosy meal with some intellectual stimulation  and warmth. What he and his wonderful wife left behind was a positivity and feeling of satiety that endures.



Most men cant handle retirement. Especially government officers who suddenly get stripped of their status, sheen and glory in one fell swoop. They end up living in the past. I have seen IAS and IPS officer who talk endlessly of all the milestones and  events in their career. They can be pardoned for being that way as it is tough.

Here are two individuals who have stayed strong, fair and fresh all through life's tugs and pulls, leading the Gita way by example.