a wise man once said "Hope... the quintessential human delusion".
Just FYI.. the odds of forced retirement by 45 is much higher than voluntary retirement by 45.
Any layoff after 40, one should be lucky to land another job. I have an uncle, who was a sales director for a GE subsidiary. GE sold the company. He was laid off. He was 49 at the time. He couldn't find another job. He was in a leadership level role. Gave up finding employment, thankfully had to right mind not to sell the village property when he was employed. Now he spends his time in the village. Cant say if he is happy or not, cant say if he is scared or not for his future. He has no choice now.
Welcome to india's "cost reduction" as corporate strategy Indian companies.