Manish Tyagi 

“Now Paul is a real estate novelist who never had time for a wife, and he is talking with Davy, who's still in the Navy, and probably will be for life,” -- the lines from Billy Joel's classic, Piano Man, articulates the stringent measures of the armed forces and the not-so-easy retirement. Davy was either broken or had unfulfilled dreams, but Manish Tyagi, 50, has a different story. A retired commander of the Indian Navy, he is now a stand-up comedian. He served for 23 years (1989-2012) before returning to what he did best back in college -- make people laugh. Tyagi is based out of Ghaziabad but is currently on tour. Excerpts from an interview: