- An Indian professional met a Swiss retiree who shared his work and retirement lifestyle in Vietnam
- The Swiss man worked long hours but considered it a balanced work-life routine, unlike India
- Post-retirement, the retiree doubled his leisure activities like golf, gym, and travel
An Indian professional received a reality check on how to live life after encountering a Swiss tourist during his recent trip to Vietnam. Manuraaj Garg, an investment professional, detailed that he was waiting in his hotel lobby in Hanoi when an older European couple sat beside him. Garg quickly struck up a conversation which opened up his eyes regarding how European nations and their people approach work, leisure and retirement.
The European couple was in their late 60s and on their 15th or 16th trip to Asia. The Swiss elderly man revealed that he was a corporate lawyer in Germany who had worked all his life and retired at 55, which he described as 'quite late'.
"Very hectic, most days. Seven to nine hours of work. Some days, I was working even past 5 PM. I could only manage golf once a week. Gym three times. Barely seven hours of sleep," the man told Garg.
While the foreigner described his 'hectic' schedule, Garg kept a straight face, as it sounded like the perfect work-life balance that most corporate employees in India craved.
"I kept a straight face. I didn't have the heart to tell him that in India, this hectic, exhausting life he was apologising for - we call it work-life balance. We put it on job posters. People switch companies hoping for it," said Garg.
The Swiss retiree added that his routine had changed considerably after retirement and he had doubled the frequency of gold, gym, sleep as well as travelling.
"Then he asked how long we were in Vietnam. "Three weeks," I lied in half-shame. It was four nights. I had a job to get back to," said Garg, adding that the man told him to make the most of his 'pretty short break'.
"I smiled, and checked the email that had just buzzed on my phone. He sipped his espresso slowly. It was 9 AM. He had nowhere to be," he said.
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Social Media Reactions
As the post went viral, social media users agreed with Garg's assessment, highlighting that Indians are conditioned to accept the hustle cultitre where leisure is frowned upon.
"A few things come to mind. Price of nationality, the invisible wage gap, quality of life arbitrage," said one user, while another added: "Quite surprising how easily we considered the struggle of work-life imbalance as our fate."
A third commented: "Some cultures know when to stop chasing money and start chasing life. Indians have lost the ability to decide. We are fine-tuned to over-optimise for risk mitigation. Again, part of the cultural evolution. By the time we conclude the risk is totally mitigated, we are probably over 70."
A fourth said: "Have we lost the ability or just that we do not have the luxury? We do know about the corporate culture in India. I feel it's just a necessity for a lot of us to keep grinding."
