$$$ *MONEY FOR THOUGHT* $$$

So here’s definitely a pun intended at the clichéd “food for thought”. As life progresses at a fast pace, we are constantly looking for a change- a change for the better; the best. Few of us like to tag along with the present situation and indeed a very few turn around to see the past beckoning at them.
One wonders what this ‘pace, 'progress', and ‘life in the fast lane’ is all about? Starting from a rather humanly natural need of earning pennies to buy bread in the evening or to save for the rainy days, it’s become a rat-race to the top of social hierarchy. To earn as much as possible, to hoard, to accumulate, by hook or by crook-any possible means available – that’s the order of the day.

Specifically coming to the eastern side of the globe, the sub-continent infact, the 20-something generation is quickly hopping on to the joy-ride to a foreign country which they spent their entire teenage fantasizing about. Becoming oh-so-frustrated of their country’s under-developed state of affairs resulting from a poor infrastructure,(road, rail networks), water-sewerage problems, load shedding, corruption, population, bad sanitation, illiteracy and other evils so to speak that haunt them continuously. Hence they move abroad in search of greener pastures. Little do they realize that the “grass always looks greener on the other side of the fence”. Green card, green money and a rosy future ahead. Wow! Isn’t that exciting?

Before I start a written massacre of this rosy notion, let me first award a consolation prize to the lonely dreamers left back in the country whose dreams never see the daylight and they are left to doom(according to them) in their backward country forever. If they belong to the lower-middle or lower class their mornings are spent running away from their government schools to eat out or laze around with other bunkers and the entire evening playing ‘dabboo’(snooker type game), card-games, or video games.

Eventually they flunk in their final exams every year –each time strengthening their resolution to go abroad to earn. Then there’s an endless series of calls to the ONLY (bechara) uncle abroad who can do something for the Visa of his nephew and find him any job(as low as that of a dish-washer or pump man)- no problem at all. Now this uncle himself went abroad as an illegal immigrant, hasn’t gotten nationality till now and just keeps on showing a thumbs-up to his family about his standard of living to save himself any embarrassment.

Coming to the other end of the social spectrum; the bourgeoisie and the elites. Well, they have all the money to live a king-size life in the posh localities of the city, but they take it for granted and nothing seems to satiate them which leads to another evolution of mankind into these ‘burger’ wanna-bees. Even after getting educated in the best of English-medium and grammar schools, they still lag behind in studies. The common excuse that they churn out is that their teachers aren’t good enough, the marking is strict, they can’t stand the school rules and they would seriously study only when they go abroad.

One wonders how these couch potatoes suddenly start working at their level best once they study abroad in high schools. Had they worked so diligently over here they would have excelled academically, been good in their careers and brought good will to their country’s progress. However they work like asses in any unknown high school abroad, do job in low positions and enjoy the night life while still in their teenage. Once they are professionally settled, they never do look back to settling in their own country, creating a dire brain-drain in their homeland.

Once again I move towards the verbal massacre of a rosy future in the foreign land first dealing with the less-privileged Raju-ban-gaya-gentleman type whose uncle did finally send him the Visa. So the Raju or Pappu (or whatever) ends up as a waiter in a fast-food joint or a hawker, a pump-guy or even a bouncer because Asian males are pretty sturdy (and cheap) for this job. Whichever way n whatever amount he earns, the first money draft that reaches home sends his sister n mother running around trying to find the most beautiful, educated, modern (yet submissive) Bahoo for their handsome prince abroad (ya-ya the same dark, fat, oily-haired guy with a sloppy accent) , rejecting girls on the slightest of pretext..

This starts yet another web of lies to portray Pappu as having a grand living and promising a maharani-type life to the parents of the poor girl who gets to see the groom only on the wedding night and becomes yet another commodity that eastern parents sell for green.

Ummmm… massacre I said in the beginning? Well that’s quiet a blood shed I created. I need to revert back from the gory details (can’t help it, truth hurts after all). Why is money running our lives- be it green or red- like a hard task master? To what end does a man or woman spend his 8+ hours at work sometimes doing overtime and mostly called on holidays to finish up some deadline. What exactly do we want? No one ever sits back to note down the priorities of life that take a back seat in the heavy bargain that is driven to attain the luxuries of life.

Elaborating on the subject of ‘luxuries’ if one has the newest car model for his family’s comfort as a status symbol, how many hours each day does he spend in it traveling with his family? 3-4 in a week? Sometimes weekends are so hectic to drive you would rather spend it at home than trying to jostle up in the heavy traffic jam which is also an end-product of at least 2 cars per family in the metropolitan.

The husband, the wife and the children have memberships of gyms and clubs and they go their at separate timings. Consequently the children have a distinct, more outgoing and broad-minded lifestyle than the parents(family) which gives way to an ever-widening generation/communication gap between the 2 generations. They turn to their parents for money and turn away rather defiantly if they get advice in return. They refuse to go to their relatives, attend weddings, family functions etc because all they recall their relatives with is ‘dotty aunt Zubaida’, ‘pestering cousin Saad, and the ‘boring uncle Hamid’.
The couple themselves, woven into the wedlock after a love affair, see the moments of affection flying out the window as quickly as they get ready for breakfast each morning before going to their respective jobs. They have their own social circle, friends and weekend priorities ranging from an annual dinner to a colleague’s engagement ceremony. They still sleep in the same bed (probably at different times), but hardly get the time to sit together, have a candle light dinner, watch a film snuggled in blanket on a cold night, go for a walk down the beach with a cool breeze blowing through the hairs and all the other joys life has to offer without a ‘cent’ spent. But, alas they don’t get the time for it in their full-luxury accommodation with the newest gadgets to embellish their status with. They still have a hope chest filled to the brim, but it’s never opened to let a romantic dream or two see the daylight.

While far away from all this hustle bustle of life was the couple who just went on top of their single-storey cemented house to enjoy a heavenly summer downpour, with their 6 kids playing in the streets. Oblivious to the prying eyes of the neighbors they hugged each other in an eternal embrace. And in those few moments they lived another life, another lifetime…away from all the troubles that any financial insecurity threw their way. Guess they really ‘saved the best for the rainy day’- saved their joys, their romance, their love, the passion in their souls…

The elites of the city were ready to bid the highest to buy these intangible luxuries of life that they could only dream of!

To sum up this whole article I would quote this beautiful sms a student of mine sent me.

‘Someone once asked an angel “What surprises you most about mankind??”.

The angel replied “Those who lose their health to make money and then lose their money to restore their health. By thinking anxiously about the future they forget the present. Such that they neither live for the present nor for the future.”
Its time to rethink our priorities in life’ !!
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