EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY

25/9/09 (Day 30, Retirement)

Today is exactly a month since I retired. It is a milestone for me and probably for my wife too. You might say it is ridiculous to call a month, a milestone but if you take the analogy of a new born baby it becomes obvious. For the parents, a week, a fortnight, a month, all become occasions to celebrate. And the retirement is like a new baby! Delighted to have it but a source of anguish none the less.

I have to be really very watchful; otherwise my physical activity level will rapidly fall down below the critical line. This is because of my inborn aversion to unnecessary & unpleasant physical activity. Before retirement I had to walk a lot, stand a lot, just as a part of the job, but not now. Now I can easily spend the whole of the day just reading, watching tele or surfing on the net. I am fully aware that this will be extremely counterproductive to my health and hence to my plan to draw the pension as long as possible. But apart from that I also feel psychologically unwell when I spend the day without any physical exercise. So with great effort I try to do at least an hour of yoga with an in built physical exercise programme.

Why is physical exercise necessary when it is really no longer needed by the modern life style? I am not talking about obvious physical health problems to my cardiovascular or musculoskeletal systems. I know them well. What I am talking about is the feeling or the sense of being unwell. I have been searching the internet for the enlightenment. Where else? And I think the answer is in Evolutionary Psychology (EP). I came across this term as I was looking at today's news headlines at BBC website. The news was that there will be more spiders this year due to favourable breeding conditions caused by temperate summer. There was a link to arachnophobia on the page and from there another link and so on till I reached EP.

Just as Darwin's physical evolution which selects certain physical attributes which are advantageous to the organism during a prolonged period of particular environmental pressures there is psychological evolution, whereby a set of necessary psychological adaptations to combat the recurring pressures of prolonged ancestral environment becomes part of the developmental nature. A good example of this is fear of spiders or snakes. A recent study from US published in New Scientist remarked that women have a genetic aversion to dangerous animals such as spiders. Spider phobia is much more common in females than males. This is because their ancestral role as a new born protector. Overtime they developed a natural aversion to any animal which can sneak in and may be dangerous to their baby. Baby girls showed this as early as 11 months of age compared to baby boys. EP also explains why men and women look for different attributes in choosing a life partner.

This feeling of being unwell is also due to ancestral pressures during a period when not being able to do strong manual tasks was fatal. Overtime our brain developed in a way that it automatically creates an unpleasant sensation when you do not do the minimum required physical activity.

Well that is what I think anyway. And now I have to go to do my yoga which I conveniently forgot this morning. I am looking forward to your thoughts. Bye for now.

FERMAT'S LAST THEOREM

18/09/2009 (Day 24: Retirement)

 One thing I love about being retired is that I can read as late in the night as I please. Previously even if I was at a cliff hanger moment in a book I had to stop and try to sleep. Otherwise I would not be in a fit state to go for work in the morning. I do not mean the physical act of going but performing at a professional level at work.

I stayed quite late last night till 2am and finished Stieg Larsson's book "the girl who played with fire". The end was quite unexpected, exactly as a good crime book should be. Then I finished my coffee and went to bed. I got up late today and that too with quite a bit of effort and felt tired. But by the time I had three cups of tea and reviewed all the daily papers on the net, I was feeling much better and ready to face the challenges of retirement.

I forgot to mention a peculiar coincidence. The book I read before the one I finished last night was a sc-fi novel "the last theorem" by A.C. Clarke. Both these books are as different from one another as possible, in style, in content, in location and were published years apart. But the main protagonists of both the books loved Mathematics and were naturally very good at it. And both were fascinated with Fermat's Last theorem. Both Clarke and Larsson explained it well in layman's language. I have heard of this theorem before but never understood why it fascinated the mathematicians all over world since mid 17^th century. Now I do. But I do not think I will get the bug to find a proof for the theorem. At the moment my math knowledge is being used to calculate simple and compound interest rates on savings and mortgages to make good the drastic shortfall in the income and satisfy the equation " x = x/4 " where x stands for monthly wage till last month.

I am sure there is a way to do this. Just give me some time.

See you.

ANTHROPOMORPHISM

Sunday, 13 September 2009 (Day19: Retirement)

Sun today was out, but very feeble. As the next 7 days have been forecasted to be cloudy with rain, I thought, I must avail the sunshine today. Even though it was a bit windy I spent most of the day in the garden. Not doing any work but reading a nice thriller "the girl who played with fire" by Stieg Larsson, a well known Swedish writer. He has been quoted as 2^nd best selling author in 2008. The book is very engrossing. After about 100 pages I got up to get some tea. When I came back I noticed a green leaf has fallen on my book. I was sitting very near the hedge, hoping that it would be less droughty there. Usually like most of the people I would not have taken much notice of the leaf. Who looks at a leaf when there are so many gorgeous flowers in sight? But the book must have put me in a state of mind where I was sympathetic to a lowly, unglamorous, victimised (snatched by the wind from the parent plant) leaf very much like its' protagonist..

Realising my train of thoughts I laughed. I was humanising this inanimate object. Hold on, there is a jargon for it: anthropomorphism. Anyway while having my tea I kept on looking at the leaf and took a picture of it laying on my e-book. It looked so pretty. When was the last time I looked at a single leaf for this long time with such intensity? Why am I entertaining this question even?

While looking at the serrated edges of this green leaf I suddenly remembered. Yes, that was it! The leaf was associated with a very beautiful lady, my biology demonstrator in the Science College where I did my pre-medical study ( equivalent to final year of the A level here). She was holding almost exactly a similar leaf and showing us how to describe the characteristics of a leaf. The different shapes, the different margins, the different textures, different tips and so on. It was so boring but no one was yawning or sleeping. It seemed everyone, even the girls were very attentive to what the lady was saying but in fact all eyes were glued to her face. I know now it was not just the book, there was this something else which was the cause of my sudden interest in the leaf. I am sure the psychologists will have a jargon for this type of association. May be I will look up on the web. If you know, please e mail me. It amazes me how the mind and memory works!

Or is it just that now I have the

luxury to spend time to explore the memory loft!

RETIREMENT: JOY & SADNESS

Day 15, retirement

Yesterday evening Bibha and I went to a Mediterranean restaurant “Petra”. It was a sort of get-together and farewell party, more of the former than latter. Ten of us were there, good food and good company. All familiar faces from Christie hospital where I worked before I retired 2 weeks ago. Seeing them I did feel as if I have not retired. At work, everyday I interacted with them, sometimes even on the weekends.

Half way through our dinner, amidst the jokes and laughter, I suddenly felt rather sad and pensive. I realised that I was no longer an integral part of this team. Yes I was enjoying my retirement, particularly relishing the freedom and lack of stress but at that moment while I was sitting in middle of all my close colleagues it did feel like betrayal on my part. Thinking now, I know it was not. I had to retire, if not now then in a couple of years. Anyway I soon regained my old self and enjoyed the party.

I will be seeing some of them on Friday at one of the charity events organized for the benefit of children’s burns unit.

Today it was sunny and I had my morning tea in the garden. A great mistake! Grass has grown, needs mowing, almost all the dahlias need deheading and beans are ready to be harvested. I should have stayed inside. We spent whole day in the garden today. It looks in a reasonable shape now but I don’t.

I am going to have my evening tea now. Yes, in the garden as a bit of sun is still there.

Good bye

: JOYS OF RETIREMENT : COMMON COLD

Day 12, Retirement
I got up yesterday with a sore throat and instantly knew I am developing a cold. My wife had it last week and she is just recovering and so it was my turn now. Getting cough and cold is nothing unusual. I get it once or twice every year in spite of the flu jab. So why I am writing about it?
This is first time I am having this in retirement. And certainly it feels different. Previously I used to panic and stressed at the first sign of cold. As you know the common cold is not thought to be that serious that you need to be off work. And even if I felt like that I could not because I had patients booked in the clinic and in the operating theatre. Cancelling patients' operations, I felt like committing a crime. People had taken leave, made arrangements for the household affairs and above all mentally prepared themselves to go under the knife. They would feel so disappointed along with the anxiety that they would have to live with the cancer that much longer till the next appointment for surgery.

But now it is different. I have the cold, a bit of fever and headache yet I am not stressed at all. I can just lie in the bed without the guilt or panic. Bibha made some hot tea with ginger and I am almost enjoying my cold! She got better in three days, so I know I will be alright by Tuesday. And now if you do not mind I am going to have some more of that ginger tea.

RETIREMENT: WHERE IS THE TIME TO GET BORED?

Day 8, Retirement

A week has passed since I retired. Contrary to what I thought, I have been quite busy. Before, I hardly did any paper work and odd jobs around the house in the weekdays. It was always "I will do it in the weekend". That mental attitude has now completely changed. It just happened with no effort on my part.

Days are days. The distinction between weekdays and weekend is decreed by work. When you retire that decree looses its jurisdiction. I do feel liberated but with freedom comes the household chores! I have been to the post office, travel shop, bus office, photo booth, supermarket and the cinema, met the post man, window cleaner, gas engineer, and the builder. All this in one week!

Retirement is hard work. So how does it differ from the work as in employment? The big difference is lack of stress. You do this at your pace, at your terms. And if you so desire just sit in the garden, watch the squirrels or you can take a nap! And that is what I am going to do.

Bye for now.