It's a hot Saturday afternoon but 53-year-old Vinod Saxena is full of energy. He has just received a call from the producers of a well-known TV reality show that crowns the best young Indian singer every year.

They want his help to unearth fresh, young singing talent. For Saxena, based in Gurgaon, who took voluntary retirement in early-2005 after being an executive with an insurance company for 21 years, this is another recognition of him as a singer and teacher of vocal music.

Music was always Saxena's first love having received formal training from the renowned Pandit Som Dutt Battu of the Patiala Gharana and having performed on the radio during his teens. But lack of career opportunities in music took him into insurance. In the years that followed, Saxena grappled with a dichotomy that many accomplished urban Indians commonly face—what you do for a living is not what you love to do.

"I constantly felt that my musical talents were getting suppressed," says Saxena, who kept performing at office and other functions, nursing his musical ambitions. Then, in late 2004, Saxena's company offered a generous voluntary retirement scheme that gave him five years' salary, mandatory retirement benefits of provident fund, gratuity and earned leave encashment along with an inflation-linked pension.

This meant a monthly income marginally less than what he was receiving. Saxena immediately chalked out a plan to pursue his interests in music. He figured that if he taught music in schools and took private tuitions, the fresh income, along with his educationist wife Rashma's salary, would keep them financially sound.

It helped that he had his own home and that their elder son Anubhav, then 18, was all set to take up his first job, while younger son Aakash was well provided for.

Now, four years later, Saxena's decision to retire early is vindicated. He teaches in schools and provides private tuitions for 5-6 hours a day. He also gets to perform regularly on stage, which gives him increased recognition and a chance to interact with other music professionals. "Today I am more satisfied than ever before," says Saxena.

Even as Saxena's story of a happy renewal at 50 plays out, many others continue to grapple with the dichotomy that Saxena once faced.

Hectic schedules, long work hours and a mythical work-life balance make many long for a life where they have more control over their lives and time, and are able to fulfil unrealised ambitions. While thoughts of early retirement cross the minds of many, only a few manage to make the move successfully as there are formidable challenges to an early retirement (see Early Retirement: Pros & Cons).

Breaking ties

Many things tie us to a stressful and unhappy present-the money and the social standing that our current professional disposition gives us. And then there is the question of what exactly we want to do with the rest of our lives. So, is the thought of an 'early retirement', defined broadly as withdrawing from regular work life well before the regular retirement age of 58 or 60, destined to remain a pipe dream for most of us?

No, because our growing economy allows us to acquire wealth faster than ever before. Along with this, unique skills are letting us conquer roadblocks in the way to a more fulfilling life. In fact, money can become the least of the problems, if we plot our future well.

"If I die tomorrow, what will I be known for? Have I been born just to accumulate money and sell my time?" These were some of the questions confronting Nandini Gulati in 2003. Now 40, she had a coveted job as the head of marketing communications in Europe for Coca-Cola, great work content and pay, and sound investments. And yet she wasn't happy. "I felt I was on a treadmill going nowhere," says Gulati.

Apart from a hectic work life, there were also transfers to different locations around the globe. "Being single, it was easy to move, but difficult to adapt," she says.

Those who have studied management would view this from the prism of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, where after your basic needs such as food and home are met, you look forward to meeting higher needs in life such as social recognition or doing things that make you feel more fulfilled.

In his seminal tome Man's Search for Meaning, Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist Viktor Frankl had used his experience as a survivor of a Nazi concentration camp to show how people who had a larger meaning for their lives saw through horrific experiences. In Gulati's case the death of her father in 2003 only exacerbated her situation.