Warrier's Friends' Collage February 2026 : I

Welcome To Warrier's Friends' COLLAGE, February, 2026 Part I A Editorial Warrier's Friends' Collage As some of you may be aware, Warrier's Collage was a daily message from me to my contacts during the pandemic circa 2019-21. The target age group was 18 to 90's (Yes, we had 5 or 6 recipients who were waiting for Collage in the mornings, one of them, who was in US, delaying his dinner by half an hour to one hour on days Collage was late to arrive). My collection of information and sharing with others had a humble beginning during the late 1980's. After passing 12th from KC College, my son got admission in an Engineering College in interior Maharashtra where his stay was in the College Hostel. To keep in touch I started writing weekly letters which I called "My Page" and in addition to usual letter, I started writing something about current affairs, history or whatever came to my mind and sometimes annexed some relevant clippings from newspapers and magazines. Over time My Page travelled through different avtars in Social Media space etc and from now onwards it's Warrier's Friends' Collage, hopefully appearing once or twice every month. Happy reading 🙏 M G Warrier M 134 B From Archives https://www.warriersblog.com/2013/08/m-g-warriers-my-page.html C Sunday Special Is it okay to be ambitious? By Duvvuri Subbarao 👆 Once I finished reading "Is it okay to be ambitious", I felt I was coming out of a motivation class. Like good and bad cholesterol, the existence of two opposite types of ambition was itself a new idea for me. I first thought of first going back to something like "Advaita" philosophy and convincing myself that even if, initially, the two types of ambitions may look like parallel, ultimately both will converge. Even if my thoughts may be rational, I am too lazy to research for acceptable reasons to back up my argument. In such situations, better to accept something in between. The grandmother's advice on fixing a goal to play in World Cup Cricket 🏏 and the 'good ambition' this article is trying to sell in a predecided proportion. Sometimes, one's goals are influenced by circumstances. By the time I was born, the country and my maternal and paternal ancestors had mismanaged a rich heritage to make me eligible to get a "Zero Income Certificate" from the Village Officer to obtain a small assistance from the "Poor Students' Aid Fund" So my short-term ambition was just to pass exams and become eligible to apply for a government job when I was 18. My ambitions had a fertile environment when I landed in Thiruvananthapuram, when I was 18, with a job on a pay scale of ₹ 110-3/7-131-4/11-175-5/1-180.(I joined service in 1963 and would have reached the maximum of the pay scale by 1982.) Within a year I started working, I was lucky to be in a sharing accommodation where around 12 inmates pursuing different jobs in government, quasi-government and private sector organisations were staying. I got inspired to : 1) Think of writing Civil Services Exam 2) Get registered for pursuing the Associate Membership Course of the ICWAI 3) Applying for any new job which offered a higher salary than that the Regional Provident Fund Commissioner paid me. The efforts paid off : Within a year I could move on to AG's Office where I received a 30 percent rise in salary. After 4 years, I shifted to RBI. In RBI, whatever happened benefited me. To cut the story short, I could voluntarily retire from RBI after appearing for the selection interview for the the highest level in Officer's Grade (Grade F, which comes just below Executive Director). D Fun Time The other day I played a trick with myself. Would like to share the results with you. Post-retirement, during the last 22 years, in different contexts I had to answer questions like : 1) Why didn't you "work" after retirement? 2) You were publishing articles in the media. Now I don't get anything in the mainstream media. Why? 3) Last week my doctor also asked : "Warrier, what is your daily routine for timepass?" Interesting questions to ask. But when someone expects an answer in one sentence, for me, it's a bit difficult. This morning I ventured a Google Search with search words "Knowing when to stop/M G Warrier" Sharing below 👇 the response I received. I agree with the content : "Knowing When To Stop! And Make A New Beginning" is a theme explored by M.G. Warrier, a retired Reserve Bank of India (RBI) officer and financial commentator, focused on life management, retirement, and continuous growth. Based on his writings, here are the key takeaways regarding knowing when to stop: Active Retirement: Warrier argues against forced, early withdrawal from active life if an individual remains physically and emotionally fit. He advocates for continuing a purposeful life as long as the mind and body cooperate. Reinvention: The focus is not on stopping entirely, but on knowing when to stop one phase (e.g., a formal career) to make a new beginning (e.g., consulting, writing, social work). Never Stop Learning: Warrier emphasizes maintaining curiosity and continuously learning, even after formal retirement, suggesting that age should not be a barrier to pursuing new interests. Purposeful Living: He highlights that many individuals in history remained active until the end, with age only being an "obstruction once in a year as Birthday". Compassion in Professional Life: He advocates for maintaining a human approach in business and professional interactions, taking time to connect with people at all levels (e.g., service staff, drivers) to maintain balance and perspective. M.G. Warrier is a regular contributor to Moneylife and the Times of India blog, focusing on banking, social issues, and personal growth.