Money, money happy returns

Window Seat

“How much money did that state government give Neeraj Chopra?”

“4 crore rupees…BCCI also gave him a crore, it seems?”

“And one more state also gave…Manipur? Wait, I can’t remember.”

“Oh, 6 crores?!”

“But, for him, it’s all worth it, leave it.”

The aunts’ group-call that happens on the dot at 5 every evening ever since lockdown was buzzing with news that each of them had read or viewed from the prestigious educational institution called WhatsApp University. Neeraj, the world’s new javelin-king, had no doubt brought pride and joy to Indians for getting home India’s first-ever Olympic track-and-field gold. Alongside, how much cash prize, what gifts, what kinds of cars, what else did the dashing Armyman get -- were also among the top-interest topics on the internet.

What’s new? As a race, we are curious about money, especially other people’s. What could be our neighbour-couple’s total take-home pay? How much money do film actors, sports stars and politicians make? The last category, especially more suspect. Even if an elected leader is honest, in the public mind, s/he must be making beyond what they are paid. Kannada has two words –sambala for salary, gimbala for the extra money made ‘under the table’. When it comes to players, everyone knows cricketers get loads of money, thanks to IPL. The crores each player is ‘bought for’ is in the public realm; money-envy is now legit.

Even when traveling in places where you are known to none, it is not out of place to be asked ‘Kitna milta hai?’ (How much do you earn?) by a friendly stranger next seat, after three sentences of conversation. Monthly wages can make or break matrimony, if not cause it. The ‘Brides Wanted’ columns in newspapers flaunt ‘salary in six figures’ of their sons, not the six-pack figure they may have or lack. The girls, you would think, prefer the latter? That myth broke for me when a cousin’s daughter, smart and ‘hands full of salary’ from her IT job, declared she wanted an arranged marriage. The parents were under pressure due to the only condition she had laid down -- that the “boy should earn more than me…at least a rupee more!” That a young person should place money over any other trait in a life partner was disappointing to me, but the reality is that respect does get tied often to the one who earns better, than one who is better.

Earning, or making wealth a life goal, is not bad actually, though some may see it as a conflict when Artha, that stands for commerce or money, is behind Kama (Desire) or Moksha (Salvation) in the order of goals as laid down in our ancient texts. That would be a flawed interpretation, but generations of Indians simply know that being pious is preferred to being paisa-chaser. The delicate balance of Indian life is to therefore earn, and earn well, while not flaunting those earnings. That means: get rich enough to buy an aeroplane, or start an aircraft business, but don’t pose with a fleet of models standing next to one. Money that is earned and spent on common good earns public respect; money squandered, even if it is private, evokes public anger.

Some communities of India have done exceptionally well in this. The Marwaris, the Parsis, the Shettys are examples of those who look at money and trade in rational terms. Unlike many who think money is bad to be discussed at home, there are traditional families who teach the basics of business, sales, negotiations to their kids, who then grow up having a more practical approach towards money than those who are conflicted and mix emotion with income. As a result, they exult with ego when they earn more, and they lose themselves totally when they lose money. To detach one’s worth in money from self-worth is the bigger journey.

Today, when India needs more wealth-creators and entrepreneurs, we need to remove the taboo around talking money. Health is wealth for sure, but the right attitude to financial wealth could also be a path to health. And a healthy-plus-wealthy javelin thrower is nothing less than an “Asset” to the whole country.