Let the young lead, let the old guide Let the young lead, let the old guide

Let the young lead, let the old guide  Let the young lead, let the old guide 

STORYBOARD ARUN RAM 2.9.24 

What happens when a 73-year-old makes fun of an 86-year-old over his age? Mostly laughter, but when actor Rajinikanth took a swipe at Tamil Nadu water resources minister Duraimurugan, it triggered a spat. Speaking as the chief guest at the release of the book ‘Kalaignar Ennum Thaai’ by Tamil Nadu PWD minister E V Velu, Rajini likened Stalin to a class teacher handling old students who refuse to leave the class even after getting high ranks. What could’ve ended as a playful jibe turned serious when the actor took Duraimurugan’s name. Prodded by reporters later, Duraimurugan hit back, saying some old actors with falling teeth are refusing to leave the profession, denying youngsters better opportunities. 

The two have since patched up saying they are good friends, but what Rajini said about super seniors refusing to make way for the next generation is a topic of an old debate that remains young in not just politics and movies. So, should old people move out to give space to the young?

 Well, yes and no. Seniors should indeed let younger people rise to leadership roles, but it isn’t necessary that the older ones stop working. Spain and Italy have retirement ages fixed at 66 and 67. In the US, the number of 65-plus workers doubled between 1988 and 2023. India has one of the lowest retirement ages in the world. Here, govt employees retire between the age of 56 (for the old pension scheme) and 60 (for the new pension scheme). It isn’t very different in the private sector, though ‘critical resources’ remain at work as consultants for long (a policy that the govt, too, has of high courts demit office at 62, and Supreme Court judges at 65. 

In the US, it’s the other way around: Judges of the appellate courts in 32 states (and the district of Columbia) retire at 70, but trial courts have a much higher retirement age; some of them have none. 

Cameroon president Paul Biya at 91 isn’t the best example of geriatric excellence, but at least 10 heads of state in the world are in their late 80s, probably the youngest among them being 83-year-old Italian president Sergio Mattarella. Being young or old hasn’t proved to be an asset in Indian politics. The oldest person to be elected President of India was K R Narayanan at 77; Droupadi Murmu was the youngest to be elected President in 2022 when she was 64. Morarji Desai, who became Prime Minister at 81, was not the best for the job; neither was Rajiv Gandhi, who was 40 when he took over after Indira Gandhi’s assassination in 1984. 

We need to get used to the idea of youngsters with new ideas leading seniors with experience. Elders can remain advisors without veto powers (there will be exceptions such as Warren Buffett, who remains the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway at 94). In Indian politics, the older one gets the more difficult it becomes to remove the veteran from positions of power. In movies, if an older actor such as Rajini still keeps the box office ringing – and fans cheering – why not let the septuagenarian knight in shining armour rescue the damsel in distress? 

And when a younger hero emerges, let the market decide the fate of the older. History shows how those who play age-suitable roles don’t just age gracefully but also shine in the twilight. What we need in all fields is a judicious mix of experience and enterprise, erudition and energy, young and old. As the 2015 Hollywood movie ‘The Intern’ (Robert De Niro plays the 70-year-old protagonist) drives home, experience never gets old. But senility does._ arun.ram @timesofindia.com