Staging a comeback
The stages she dances on aren’t adorned with ornate paraphernalia; instead, they feature simple lighting and are traditionally set up. What, however, leaves the audience dazzled is Gayathri Vijayalekshmi herself. Her refined elegance fills the space she dances in, but what lingers long after her performances is her enthusiasm — especially since she took up Bharatanatyam after her retirement, when many would choose to wind down, finding age as an excuse to stop dancing. Gayathri, 62, served as head of the department of electrical and electronics engineering at TKM Engineering College, Kollam.
“Life was tough, and I didn’t have time to even think about dance after I stopped it after my studies,” she says. “Then, at 52, I once danced for my students. I felt a happiness and confidence that probably lay dormant within me. It was a kind of self-discovery.”
Gayathri began taking classes under her guru Mydhili V after retirement in 2018. I started performing solo from 2019. “Since then, I haven’t had to stop. Last year alone, I performed on 26 stages,” she beams.
So far, she has performed on over 140 stages. She danced during the ‘Murajapam’ held once in 12 years at the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple, and her schedule is packed during occasions such as Navaratri.
In January 2023, she was one among the few dancers to per-form at Sabarimala temple. “That was my 100th stage. It’s not officially announced, but I may be the first adult woman to have danced there,” she says. Gayathri, who continues to train regularly with her guru, credits her family for the unwavering support. “That is a great blessing,” she says. Aside from her dance career, Gayathri is also known for her role as Vijay Yesudas’s mother in the movie ‘Class by a Soldier’. She has also acted in a short film and an ad. “This is my second innings in acting as well. I had acted in the first drama of Doordarshan, ‘Oru Mannamkattiyude Katha’. I was also a Doordarshan announcer in its initial days,” she reminisces.
— Aparna Nair
From sarkari service to literary exploration
Retirement brought the freedom to rekindle her passion for writing, something she had set aside during her 34 years of service in the revenue department. “Writing has always been my true calling, but I had forgotten it amidst the busy schedules of work,” says E V Suseela, 66, who retired as an additional district magistrate (ADM) at the Thrissur Collectorate.
She initially worked as a teacher before joining the revenue department. Over the years, she rose through the ranks, and served as deputy collector for nearly six years.
Since retiring, Suseela has published three books, including her service memoir, and continues to write poems and stories in both English and Malayalam. Her daily routine revolves around her writing — after completing her household chores in the morning, she dedicates the rest of the day to her creative work. “Writing has become my greatest joy; it’s the most fulfilling way I can express myself,” she says.
Currently, Suseela is working on a children’s book while continuing to craft poetry. Having written 25 English poems, she is on a literary exploration, finding happiness in every word she pens. “Retirement has not only given me the freedom to write but also the opportunity to express my thoughts and experiences like never before,” she smiles. — Parvana K B
Art for heart’s sake
For N Nandhakumar, a 67-year-old cancer survivor, retirement marked the beginning of a deeper exploration of art. After spending decades in the pharma industry, the Thiruvananthapuram native revived his passion for creativity, transforming his retirement into a period of artistic fulfilment.
His love for art began as a child in Bengaluru, where he would craft small elephants from spilled tar. His passion blossomed during his education at MCC Tambaram. Despite a successful corporate career, his artistic pursuits always lingered in the background, whether through sketching or capturing landscapes with his camera during work travels.
However, it was only after retiring in 2017 that Nandhakumar could fully immerse himself in art. “Art has been my constant companion, but while working, I could not give it the time it deserved,” he says.
Now, free from professional obligations, Nandhakumar finds joy in both painting and photography, rediscovering old skills and developing new techniques. During the pandemic, he exhibited his paintings online through Chitra Santhe and became an active member of Urban Sketchers Thiruvananthapuram, documenting the city’s architecture and landscapes. Each of his paintings is accompanied by a story.
As a cancer survivor living with Parkinson’s, Nandhakumar uses art as a form of healing as well. “Passion is a powerful healer. It gives you the strength to fight the hardest of battles,” he says.
He now plans to hold an exhibition, with proceeds benefiting cancer patients,. Nandhakumar has a message to those entering retirement or facing illness: “Don’t let age or a diagnosis define you — let your passion lead the way.” — Parvana K B
Wheels to reels
George Mampilly, a retired automobile engineer based in Kochi, has an extraordinary hobby: collecting original versions of Malayalam songs and converting them into MP3 files. By “original”, George refers to the first renditions of songs – including tracks extracted directly from the original spool. For example, he has the first rendition of ‘Alliyambal Kadavil’ from the 1965 film ‘Rosy’, sung by K J Yesudas.
George’s collection is remarkable, with 30,000 songs stored on his laptop. “The total number of songs Malayalam cinema has produced will be about 31,000,” he smiles. “My collection spans from 1941 to 2024, with Yesudas alone accounting for over 5,000 tracks.” If not spools or vinyl records, George extracts old classics from cassettes. Like the seven songs from the 1962 film ‘Swargarajyam’, which he had been searching for and finally got from a cassette gifted by his friend.
George also collects film reels to extract songs from them. “That’s how I got ‘Mattuvin Chattangale’ from ‘Abhayam’ (1970),” he recalls.
George rues that he couldn’t access songs from the first Malayalam talkie, ‘Balan’ (1938) as its spool is unavailable. “I managed to collect songs from the second film, ‘Gnanambika’ (1940). My collection includes songs from that era to the films released yesterday,” he says.
This unique hobby takes George to studios, old cassette shops and record collectors across the state. “If you want pristine quality, you should listen to gramophone records,” he adds.
George devotes about eight hours a day to his hobby. “This is my retirement plan,” he laughs. “I took it up seriously after I hit 10,000 songs. I have now approached the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy to contribute my collection.” — Swathy Lekshmi Vikram
Policing to power play
Right from early teenage, P J Varghese had an affinity towards sporting events that would enable him to showcase his strength. That eventually led him to take up bodybuilding.
However, the allure of accolades, including ‘Mr Ernakulam’, faded after he encountered unfair practices in the sport, prompting him to step back. It was then that he found his true calling in weightlifting.
“From a competitive standpoint, weightlifting offers a genuine display of strength, and competitors are judged fairly,” says Varghese, 77. This newfound passion not only earned him a gold medal but also secured him a position with the Railway Protection Force. Balancing his job with his dedication to weightlifting, Varghese faced a life-altering challenge during one competition.
He lifted an impressive 142.5kg but blacked out mid-lift. The weight crashed down on his left leg, resulting in a serious injury that left him sidelined for six months. “That incident left a scar on me. A lingering sense of fear followed, and having to walk with a steel rod in my leg affected my confidence,” he says.
Subsequently, he migrated to the UAE, where he joined the police. Varghese found it challenging to pursue weightlifting actively. “Not a day went by in those four decades that I didn’t think about dedicating myself to the sport full-time,” he recalls.
After returning to Kochi in 2010, he started training and competing again, earning gold medals at various masters’ national championships, and a silver at the Asia Masters’ Games in 2018.
George’s most recent win was at the masters’ nationals in UP this year, where he secured a gold. Since 2010, he has bagged nine gold medals — five in weightlifting and four in powerlifting.
George views his passion as a way to maintain his vitality and well-being. “I wake up every day with the happy thought of lifting weights at the gym,” he smiles, adding that his dream is to win a gold at the world masters’ competition.
“Besides daily workout, I adhere to a healthy diet and eating schedule. It feels great to be young at the age of 77.” — Mahima Anna Jacob
Mission Millet
On the request of the Indian government, the UN declared 2023 as the International Year of Millets. The move had several goals. The most prominent one was to raise awareness on the nutritional benefits of millet and to increase its production and consumption.
In Cheranalloor, a suburb of Kochi, Philomena Varghese, then 67, hadn’t even heard that word before. “But I was curious. I wanted to know what all the buzz was about,” says Philomena.
The opportunity came soon enough when the All-India Radio’s Kochi office launched a promotional series on millets — what it is, its benefits and how it could be adapted to our cuisine.
“That was an eye-opener. I went to a shop and asked for millets. I wanted to see what they looked like,” Philomena says. It was then she learned that there are several kinds of millets, such as ragi, bajra, and jowar. Subsequently, Philomena planted some sorghum seeds in her backyard. “At first, my aim was to tend to my husband, who’s a diabetic,” she recalls.
“Just days after starting this new millet diet, his sugar levels dropped. That’s when the idea struck me. Other diabetic people in the neighbourhood might also want to try a millet diet. So I started buying sorghum in bulk, grinding and drying them, and selling them in small packets.”
What began as a slow second-revenue stream has quickly flourished into a brisk business. Now Philomena and her husband Varghese get invitations from across Kerala to attend melas and food festivals. So much so that Varghese has dropped his painting work to concentrate on his wife’s millet mission.
Now, on the back of this success, the former Kudumbashree worker-turned-millet-entrepreneur has also done a few workshops on how people could begin their own businesses. “The trick,” she says, “is to stay engaged and thus young at heart. I still believe I’m 18, and this spurs me on and helps me put behind my ailments.”
Her next stall will be set up at the Town Hall on October 6 during the annual meet of the Ernakulam District Residents Associations’ Apex Council. — Ronnie Kuriakose