Living in the countryside can be relatively easy financially for a senior citizen with a monthly pension, good health, and some activities to keep themselves busy. At 5 am daily, Taranisen Das, 76, cycles some 16 km to and fro from his home near Solmara bazaar in Assam’s Nalbari district to keep himself physically fit. This soft-spoken septuagenarian receives a monthly pension of Rs 25,000, just enough to meet his daily expenses, and he spends time doing social work and writing articles and poems about local history and culture. Das’ modest lifestyle should inspire others as it demonstrates that they may not need a large corpus for a happy life.

Das retired from his job in the Assam government’s Embankment and Drain Department (E&D) after turning 60 in 2009. Retirement for him was a natural conclusion to a long, backbreaking work, braving the rain and shine, at the flood-prone E&D subdivision of Nalbari district, some 70 km from the state capital Dispur. Due to the nature of his job, he had to be in difficult and dangerous places when the rivers rose in torrential rains and barely had time for anything else, least of all retirement planning. Das’ everyday struggles up till now perhaps reflect the life of most ordinary people and how they survived with resilience and grit through the years.

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Laying The Ground Work

Das lived with his parents and three brothers in his paternal home in Solmara village, a few kilometres from his current residence. He attended Solmara High School, the only high school for 14 other villages at that time. After passing his Class X board exams in 1965, Das stayed home for some time helping his parents on the farm before joining the E&D department in a junior post in 1970. He didn’t want to burden his parents financially, so when the opportunity came knocking, he quickly grabbed it. A government job meant financial security for life. From then on, there was no looking back for Das as one thing led to another for the better.

After a few years on the job, he purchased a plot near the Solmara bazaar, where his family lives now. Soon after, he built a “Kheri Ghar” on the plot—a low-cost house with a perennial cogon grass roof, locally called Kher. Meanwhile, the job kept him occupied. He didn’t pursue further studies as he had to support himself and his parents financially. His brothers also eventually got self-employed. Das married late as he wanted to establish himself properly before marriage.

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Starting A Family

Says Das, “I had very little money to spare from my small salary as I had to manage all the household expenses after marriage. Bank loans never interested me because I wanted to stay debt-free, and taking a loan would have meant unnecessary complications and repayment pressure.”

The couple gave birth to three children, two daughters and a son. And he took great care in raising them. Their education continued past his retirement in 2009. Fortunately for Das, his efforts paid off well, as all his children found teaching jobs in government schools.

His eldest daughter, Nirmali, has an MA degree and works in a primary school in Nalbari. She was earlier posted in Nowgaon. His son, Nilomonisen, is a BA graduate and works as a teacher in a lower primary school. About three months ago, he was transferred close to his home in Nalbari town from Dhubri district. His youngest daughter, Himashri, has an MA and a B.Ed. degree and has been working in a higher secondary school since starting the job in Nalbari.

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Walking The Financial Tightrope

Das walked the tight financial rope between meeting the needs of his children and building their house, brick by brick, over a long time, as he could afford only a part of the materials at a time. Das says, “The salary was insufficient, so I used all the money to care for the family’s immediate needs, children’s education, etc. Thankfully, I built the house during my service years when the material costs were still relatively low. The land cost was also cheap back then.”

A few years before his retirement, Das bought two life insurance policies from the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC). Both these policies had a 15-year maturity period, and he redeemed them a few years after retirement. Says Das, “Those were the only policies I purchased in my lifetime. I spent all the money I received from them and the funds at retirement on my family.”

Das also had a small farm where he raised dairy cows and goats while on the job. “I closed it down due to lack of farmhands and the little income it generated compared to the hard labour that went into it,” he says. Das married off his daughters in 2015 and 2021, years after his retirement, and he used some of the funds he had saved from his retirement payments for their marriage.

Life Comes To Full Circle

“My only wish was to give my children a proper education so they don’t have to toil like I did; it was physically demanding and tough. I dreaded the thought of them working in the same department,” he says. Fortunately, Das has a monthly pension to fall back on, and at 76, life has come to a full circle for him. “I don’t have any financial issues. My children are working, and my pension is sufficient,” he adds. His unmarried son also helps him financially.

These days, the septuagenarian spends most of his time in social works and writing articles and poems about the local culture and cultural and social icons of his time, like singer Bhupen Hazarika and educationist and social reformist Bishnu Rabha. For his social work, he has been honoured with many awards by local organisations, like the Gopinath Mahaprabhu Udjapan Committee, Solmara Bazaar Committee, Dharmapur Anchalik Rongali Bihu Committee, etc.

To sum up, what starts well ends well! Das’ humble journey represents the life of most ordinary citizens in the country. Although Das had a plan, he could have better leveraged his income to reach his goals on time. More importantly, when efforts are focused on the right areas, in Das’ case, to build a house and children’s education, solutions will come, even though they may seem impossible initially.