The Race for the Greenback!!!

When I was a newborn, my parents used to take care of all my needs. I didn't really know at that point of time what I needed but parents were the best judge. As I grew older my demands started increasing. Sometimes my demands were such that my parents were not willing to fulfill. no more chocolates, no new bicycle, no more playing in the sun and so on. I had to adapt to the situation and act accordingly. Usually a little wailing and throwing tantrums used to do the trick in those days.

In most cases my parents used to relent. My dad would take me to the market and get me whatever I wanted just to keep me quiet, even though for a while only. Then I started seeing the transactions happening. I wanted something, so I fought for it and shifted the status quo a bit. Seeing the status quo shifting, my parents acted to restore the balance. But restoring the balance comes at some cost. I saw my dad giving some little pieces of green paper to the shopowner in return for my chocolate. At first I wondered, is the shopowner crazy?? Why is he giving up chocolate just for some green paper. Clearly he didn't realize the value of a bar of chocolate. Then I started realizing that for everything I wanted from the market - bicycle, toys, ice creams... - people used to ask for this green stuff they called money. My curiosity aroused, I started following this green stuff. I saw that most of the times people were happy carrying around this green stuff in their pockets. So I concluded that it's probably gives you a fun feeling to carry around this stuff in your pocket. Maybe it's more fun than even eating a chocolate!!! But I was denied this pleasure by my parents at that time, no matter how much I wailed. That made me want this green stuff even more. I even tried to make some of this green paper using my color pencils and drawing book. I kept it in my pocket for some days but didn't feel anything. No fun at all. I thought maybe it gives fun only when you carry around the real thing.

Couple of years later, when I was old enough to go to school on my own, my parents gave me my first greenback. I was so thrilled that day. I thought now I would know what all the fuss is about. My parents said the money was to be used to buy some food from the school canteen, in case I felt hungry. Well, that day I did feel hungry in school but the green stuff had become too important for me to give up just for some food. I was still waiting for the pleasure which people seemed to get by keeping it in their pockets. Couple of days passed, nothing happened. On the third day, I felt really hungry in school. I thought what the hell, maybe I'll feel the fun some other day. I went to the school canteen, and there I saw it. My favourite chocolate! I had the green stuff with me, I didn't need my dad now to get me the chocolate. I didn't think twice and gave up the green stuff for the chocolate. It felt so good. I had got my first chocolate without the help of my parents. I had become a "big boy". Then it struck me "Ah!! so people keep this green stuff in their pocket so that they may get whatever they want, whenever they want by using it." That, my friends, was one of the greatest self taught learnings I have ever had.

From that day onwards I have had it clear in my head, I want more of this green stuff. So I took whatever direction it was considered socially acceptable to get more money. When I finished school, people said do engineering from a good college, would ensure you a good career and financial stability in the future. So I did that. After engineering, my first job was a decent one, the money was not much by my today's standards but satisfied all my needs at that time. After some time I decided, I need much more money than this. So MBA was the next step. After my MBA I thought that I have got what i wanted. A job that paid good money, an amount of money with which I thought I could live happily. But soon this notion was disproved. I saw people around me earning more money. I started looking for further avenues of increasing my paycheque. I had a comfortable life and the money I was making was sufficient to sustain it. But still I wanted a job that earned me more money. I wanted to earn more money for ..........well.......... just for the sake of earning more money. Of course I had fantasies of owning a big villa in the south of France, and a yacht and all the stuff people buy with big money, but I knew it for a fact that I could still do without them.

Earning more and more money has just become a social status symbol for most of us and nothing else. We spend more time trying to earn more money than we spend to enjoy it. Sometimes I feel what is the point of earning more, if the process of earning itself denies me the time to enjoy what I have earned.

Well this doesn't mean that I am out of the race for the greenback, am still in it full throttle. But still trying to figure out why am I doing what I am doing.

P.S. Just a thought. Don't take it seriously. Am not the one to renounce everything and head towards the jungle. Or... am I?? ;)

...... And the Pack disintegrates!!

I have had some real good friends. Friends whom I did not have to care about, friends whom I could even forget to wish on their birthdays but they'd still remain the best of my friends. I could just call them at anytime for anything and they were there for me, and I was there for them. We were a pack, moving and "hunting" together also fighting, but still relying on each other. The bonds forged during the formative years in college hostel had stood all the tests of time and distance. It seemed that these bonds would last forever.

But if they can get noble gases to make compounds (there I go geeky again!!), surely God has created ways of breaking these strong bonds too. Slowly and slowly my friends started getting hitched, was still tolerable when they had only girlfriends. But problem really started when girlfriends became fiancees. Now whenever I call them, their phone is busy. Whenever I want to meet them for a beer, they already have "plans". I can't even be sure who am I talking to when I ping them on FB or Gtalk now (Man!! talk about handing over your life, literally).

Still I did not lose hope. I still try to be a part of their new found happiness. But are the committed guys really being part of each other's happiness. At a wedding of one of the friends, I thought the whole pack would come together and we'd relive our glory days. However as destiny would have it, one other guy had to give his engagement party the same day and the others, even though they were at the wedding, were busy exchanging sweet nothings with their better halves on phone. That's when I realized, the inevitable is finally happening. The Pack is disintegrating.

This marriage thing is spreading pretty fast in my age group, and it's changing much more than just the marital status of people. But I am still holding my ground. I am still the Lone Ranger, The last of the Mohicans, The last man standing (ok, that was a bit too melodramatic). Undoubtedly, the pressure from parents for marriage is becoming unbearable. Everytime I call them up, the topic of marriage is inevitably raised. Parents are like "Get married son, you're already pushing 30". And I'm like "Mom, 30 is the new 20". One time I bet my mom that she couldn't have a single conversation with me without raising the topic of marriage. Well she did accept the challenge. But my mom is too cute. The next day she asks me "How would a "person" with such and such education and working in so and so company be like?". I mean could they be more blatant than that?

Thankfully for me, my parents criteria are stringent enough, so that very few prospectives get filtered down to me. So still holding high the flag of bachelorhood, and hope I continue to do that till my next post too. Adios!!

PS: This blog post is written in jest. Hope none of my friends' better halves mind it. Please note, I don't give a damn whether my friends mind it or not. ;)