For the love of money...

I haven’t written in a while. It’s not because I don’t have anything to write about. Rather, I appeared to have too many things on my mind for me to write about any one idea coherently.So today I write about money and the lessons learnt on account of having it and not having it. Life is not only about lessons learnt, it is mostly about how you apply those lessons. I was thinking of the years long ago when my husband was heading a company at the age of 32. We both had attitude. We knew there was money. There was respect. We never had to think twice outside our own bubble of comfort. We never partied or splurged in the conventional sense because our son had a tough time with noise and crowds when he was little. But we also did not save money because we were rather too cocky for our own good.

Fast forward to a few years ahead with most of our savings invested in our own venture. We learnt the value of a rupee in a very real sense. We didn’t shop unnecessarily. We didn’t change our car because it was 3 years old. We didn’t change the furniture that the kids had gleefully left their imprint on. We took the bus to work. We learnt to reuse. We also learnt to manage our finances in a more intelligent form. Of course we were still under the delusion that a few years of this struggle would see our path would become thorn-free again.

Move the timeline again to the recent past and cast the spotlight on what was arguably one of the toughest years I have ever encountered. It tested me mentally and physically in ways I cannot describe. It changed me irrevocably in a way my normal little mistakes in trusting people hadn’t. The lessons I have learnt now have a lot to do with understanding the role of money in life. People give too much importance to money and not in the right manner. I know better than most people around me the value of monetary security but I don’t need money in the way these very same people need it. I don’t need it to prove a point. After this past year, I can now feel gratitude for having the strength to tide over difficult phases. I am not praying for an easy life. I only pray for the courage to face anything head on and to never say no to a challenge. Life can take whatever turns it wants – I have the lessons I need to survive.

Money is terribly important I agree but when it turns out that it is a means of discrimination instead of upliftment; I wonder where the rapacious greed rampant in the world around us will take us eventually. Use money wisely but don’t let it rule you so that it defines who you are. Let your humanity define you. Let people matter more than what they can pay you. Let the change you bring about be the legacy that speaks for you.