What are we selling???

A couple of weeks back, I was waiting in queue at the Dominos outlet in DLF, to place my order for lunch. Two nicely dressed gentlemen from some foreign country were standing just behind me. The customer in front of me was arguing with the store waiter at the counter, about an order and some confusion in their billing. I was hungry and was getting impatient, but watched on with the hope that the argument would end soon. After just around 5 minutes of waiting, the man behind me shouted in an irritated and bossy tone "What on earth is happening there? Could you just move??" and mumbled in a lower voice, "Fucking Indians"!

His last statement incensed me and my impatience boiled out into anger and I turned to him and said "Maybe it’s time you showed some fucking respect"!! The guy was a little shocked and taken aback that someone actually used the language back at him and he said "Excuse Me?" and looked at me with surprise and shock.

I replied back to him, "We sell food here, not respect. So either be patient or walk off"

He was too taken aback to reply and I didn’t wait for it either. I gestured to the counter and asked another person to take the order at the other counter that was free. We both eventually did eat there and walked out without any further exchanges, but what disturbed me and still does, is the alarming lack of respect for Indians. We sell service yes, but we do not have to sell our respect along with it. My reaction was not just because of this one isolated incident. It was a collection of one whole week of unpleasant happenings. Our labor is cheap and it is common knowledge that countries abroad use our services to the fullest. But do we really monitor the thin line between using our services to exploiting it?

I am still asking myself some troubling questions.  Why do we tolerate disrespect? Why we do not make it clear that it is only our products/services that are for sale and NOT our self esteem? What would actually happen if I went to an alien country like America and shouted “F*****G Americans”? Would they remain silent? No they wouldn’t. Why is it that we Indians alone bear this disrespect?

We Indians are a warm bunch of people, extremely proud of the work we do. We are immensely talented at what we do and the world will fall flat on its face if we Indians stopped working for others. The world knows it and yet, we are trodden upon by many. The reason is that we tolerate disrespect and just move on. We do not retaliate enough. Actually, we do not take enough efforts to keep our self esteem high! Would these gentlemen shout again the same way anywhere else here on? I doubt it!

It’s time we took it upon ourselves to change the way the world treats us. And it’s also time we realized how people should not be treated and refrain from giving this treatment to those working for or with us too! 

Money! Money!! Money!!!

Money has become the most inevitable entity for a human being’s life on earth. Money has enormous reach and it can move mountains, literally. From being just a tool that empowered man to now being the force that literally makes the planet rotate, money has grown; a little too fast. Humans are fascinating animals, we think and we adapt. Our reactions to situations/crisis/problems are what make us unique. When money was just a basic tool we gave it just the respect it deserved, we respected people more. The skills, capacities and talents of people were valued more. But today those who do not have money are trodden upon. Money goes into places where even air and light do not. It doesn't matter these days if people have unique talents; it only matters if they have enough money.

The world around us has changed dramatically. These days no one asks you or checks if you have talents, if you have potential, if you have what it takes to reach the top and stay there; all that one needs these days to journey to the top is money and more money! Look at the power wielders - politicians, actors, entrepreneurs and even sports administrators – everybody comes from money. Being rich is the ladder that will take you anywhere. I am not sure if this is the scenario worldwide but I am sure this is how things are today in India.

Money is like self confidence. When you are confident about your own self you perform well. But when your confidence crosses a line and becomes too much, or even too little, you begin to fail. Depending on which end of the spectrum you are in, you either turn arrogant or depressed. Money has turned all of us into what we never thought we will be. Excess money makes a man arrogant and too little of it makes him an outcast. Somewhere along the line we failed to actually use it properly. How many of us actually think money is to spend/use? Do we use money to buy stuff or do we lose our sleep over accumulating more of it? Money is but a tool that helps us satisfy our desires. It should have just been the yardstick that tells us where we belong and what we can aspire for.

But our ever growing desire and an inherent nature that never lets us be satisfied with what we have has turned the tables. When we have 10 rupees, we yearn for 20 instead of thinking we could spend 6 and save 4. What you could buy and use with 6 rs will give you more peace and happiness than what you would get by having 20! I am not saying that money is not important, nor am I saying that we can live without money. All I am saying is that if all of us started using the money we have instead of hankering for more all the time, life would be a lot more peaceful.

The recent betting scandals in cricket have left us all fuming. Skeptics have started saying they knew from the beginning that the game was corrupt and those of us who are still passionate about the game are fooling ourselves and so on. As a cricket lover, what pains me is not that the game is being criticized but it is that the people who have been arrested thus far are by no means the ones who were badly in need of money or fame. Every individual caught in the net is rich, influential and popular. One wonders why they did what they did. The answer though is pretty simple, GREED. 

Money works in strange ways. Money makes man dance differently. When we have a lot of food, we eat as much as we can and either give away or throw the excess; when we have too much water we drink as much as we can and store some and give away the rest; when we have too much love we share it with others. But when we have too much money, we only try to accumulate more!

The universe always balances out eventually. Someday the value of money will come down to dust and people and relationships will mean a lot more. But life could be a lot better if we put things in perspective ourselves and used the money we have instead of yearning for more and more! Life is simple, let’s keep it that way!