I had a couple of telephonic calls after my article was published on the Management Lessons from Munnabhai MBBS enquiring about the queer looking "Retreaded" at the end of my name. "Surely, it must be a typo (typing mistake in printing jargon) and should have been "Retired", in relation with the prefix, Lt. Colonel?" they mused. There was a reason behind me using that odd-looking word, which I told the inquirers. It may be a good idea to share this reason with the readers of this blog.
Somehow, the word, "Retired", irks me. For me it means ‘tired again’ or ‘doubly tired’! (Assuming you were tired once before that. If it is so, there should be a stage in one’s career when he/she is ‘tired’ and then ‘retired’. Like after 25 years of service, one will be ‘tired’ and after 35, will be retired!) Possibly, this was a good word when an individual was proceeding to the "Sanyasashram" as per the Hindu mythology. Retired or renounced the word. Or even for some one with 30-35 years of service, it may not be too far off the mark. That individual may not pick up another job for remuneration. Think about those who have completed pensionable (around 20 years generally) service and then taken premature retirement. (Think of me!) They will have to work for another 10-15 years, normally, to fulfill their liabilities. And what about a short-service officer in the army who would have put in 10 or even 5 years in the army and will be required to work for another 25-30 years in the civil career? Wouldn’t a suffix ‘Retired’ in the name of a 27 year old army captain look misplaced? Actually it means ‘retired from the army’, but it is generally taken as ‘retired from the work’. I do not know about others but I am not happy with it for sure.
Seeing my discomfort with the suffix (Retired), a friend suggested why use the prefix (Lt. Col.) at all; then the suffix would not even be required! On this, the soldier in me (as the ‘janwaar’ in the hero of Hindi movie "Virasaat") sprang up. Why should I disown the great organization, Indian Army, which has given me so much? In fact, I do take pride in the fact that I had been an army officer. Besides, this rank is rather useful when one gets into a bit of a problem in civil (Small traffic accidents, wrong parking, getting licenses etc.). Just telling the police chap on duty that you are a Colonel suffices at times. So the prefix part had to be there. Name, obviously. And surname? Well the hard work of my ancestors (remember Amitabh in Mukkadar ka Sikandar?) cannot be done away with! Even if ‘Deogirikar’ can be construed as DEO (God) GIR KAR (fallen from grace) INSAAN (Man) BAN GAYA (became), it has to be there. That left me with the choice of replacing the irritable suffix," Retired".
Here the army came to my rescue. Gave me an idea to use another word "Retreaded". Once that was done, everything fell in place. How? Let’s examine the word "retreaded’ which is widely used in army. Treads are those protruding rubber portions of a tyre that come in contact with the road and give a grip to it. As the tyre gets bald, (just like an individual does), a fresh layer of rubber is pasted on the bald surface and this process is called "retreading" (again, almost like an individual getting a wig for himself once he gets bald!). This gives an expectation of some mileage from the retreaded tyre (or for an individual to get some ‘mileage’ when confronted by the fairer sex, if the wig is in place!).
Hence, I picked up this word which means ‘ready for another battle’ or in the popular Cricket parlance, ‘ready for the second innings’. One, naturally, has to take a fresh guard for this innings. I took a ‘civilian’ guard, as against a ‘military guard’ earlier! Not that I did badly in army, but I expect to do better in civil. Mind you, Indians play second innings better!
Taking another liberty from the game of Cricket, I could think of a ‘retired hurt’ option in matrimony.
No, I don’t want a divorce. I simply want to "retire-hurt’ from
the marriage ; hurt by her extravagance and indifference!
Frankly, my wife has been nothing other than a strong support. She has been the inspiration for such (wonky) ideas. Other than the ‘wig’ suggestion, she had another brilliant substitution suggestion. She calmly said, "Don’t be confused between ‘retired’ and ‘re-treaded’; why not ‘Retd.’ denote ‘Retarded’, instead!"
