Value For Money

Money sells. This is something that I am made to realise everywhere I go. Ambitions, alliances, art, activities - that's all of the words I could think of starting with 'A' - are all steered and driven by the paper that buys. Its presence is so pervading, at least in the urban population, that its impacts are no more disceranable. The present time, it seems, has put our minds on cruise control - we move on without even as much as thinking for ourselves.

In the Indian cities, at least in the ones I have been to, the masses are driven by a common goal to show off. The places you go are not the ones that interest you, the food you eat may not necessarily be what you like and what you wear is not what looks good on you. Places we go, clothes we wear and where (and not what) we eat, must qualify under the misconstrued category called 'cool'. Hence we have no choice but to 'hang around' in 'eating joints' wearing the 'popular labels'. And, surprisingly, no one realises - it's all so internalised.

One more way, for the booming IT fraternity, to be 'cool' is to hook an 'onsite trip'. I am not sure about the grass but, with US companies making up the majority of the parent companies/clients in the Indian IT sector, the money definitely is green. And it's all so easy - sit back while the company applies and sponsors your visa, go to the consulate for the stamping (with colleagues congratulating and relatives celebrating your 'success'), do some shopping from the foreign travel allowance and start off. The client takes care of most of your daily needs, so you don't need to worry about anything. Except, of course, your bank balance, expense reimbursements and money transfers to India. Just mention any number to an absent-minded professional and chances are high that he'd reply with a figure that's 45 times what you said.

I'm no ascetic who thinks money is 'maya', neither am I a spendthrift who leaves a trail of notes wherever he goes. Worse, I don't have a sharp mind for investments and returns. I just do not want to give it the unnecessary importance ahead of the simpler pleasures in life. If I am to do something I like, I wouldn't think about the money involved. But when it comes to spending for something 'cool', I don't ever have to convince myself to save. The answer is a clear NO from within.

It just stirs and makes me wonder when I see someone - who is making more than 7 times the money he makes in India - count single dollars or find convoluted ways to make more. The defining moment that left me flabbergasted was when one of my friends came to know the ticket price (after a 40% discount, though) for the Broadway show we are going tomorrow. If he said that the rates are far too exorbitant for his liking, I would be least thoughtful or bothered. But the first question he asked was 'How long does the show run for?' Either we like something or we don't - but liking something on the basis of amount spent per hour was something that made me think. Hence this post.