Power and Meaning

FORMER PRIME MINISTER Deve Gowda made an appear­ance at a rally of his party signalling that even at the age of 89 he is very much around in Karnataka’s political firmament and, especially so, given the coming election. There are not many professions in the world where people continue to be active into their 80s and beyond. Usually, the peak is sometime in the 30s or 40s. After that, for the majority, it is the long unwinding into retirement and obsolescence. Politics is different. The career is only begin­ning by the 40s, leading to interesting correlations. Politicians, according to some studies, live longer. For instance, one published last year in the European Journal of Epidemiology looked at 57,561 of them from 11 developed countries to compare their survival against that of the general population. The politicians led by four to seven years.

A number of reasons are adduced to explain this. Politicians will have better access to healthcare because that is just the way society is designed. Forget about the perks of the Members of Parliament, between a sarpanch and an ordinary villager in rural India, who has greater odds of access to a quality hospital bed and doctor? And people close to power usually also come from better socio­economic backgrounds, and that again makes for better health. This is, after all, a profession with no guarantee of a live­lihood and those who are already better off, find it easier to devote themselves full-time. For example, you will find that many of the leaders in the Aam Aadmi Party, the most recent successful politi­cal movement, have entered the field from other established careers.

By its very nature, politics involves making networks and connections. Social interaction is tied to better mental health because loneliness never made anyone, except ascetics, happier. It also means being part of communities and a support system. Power is also its own high. Chasing it obsessively as true politicians do, gives their lives a sense of purpose. As one grows older, it might even increase with them while for oth­ers, the direction goes in reverse. Take sportsmen who peak very early and then have no outlet for their exceptional abilities. They are left with no grand ambition. Bodies of the fittest go to seed, like Diego Maradona. Politicians aren’t prey to such existential angst because the next election is always coming and there is no age bar.

Ordinary folks can identify with aspiration for money because they need it but power being its own end is an alien idea to them. Politicians live for it but they are also willing and forced to be patient, often decades, to get it. Until then, they satisfy themselves with micro-doses, playing the game at whatever level they find themselves in. There is a lesson to be learnt from them if you want a fuller life. Have something to chase obsessively and don’t expect immediate rewards. Find your excite­ment in the journey. This is even more important once you retire. Delaying death and having a purpose to life are both two sides of the same coin.

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