Quote for the day..........
Ambition is a poor excuse for not having enough sense to be lazy
Yesterday evening I was watching this programme in NGC titled “Filthy Rich” and it left me with a temporary feeling of mediocrity. All those million dollar Yacht’s they own...All those Swarovski’s they wear. All those Armani’s. All those fine Swiss watches... It came as a rude shock to this “Idli-Vada, Bajaj chetak, buy one get one free” small town guy like me. My mundane vijaynagar was no match for the ravishing French Riviera (where my protagonist stays)!!I feel awfully short of dough in comparison with these well heeled obscenely rich high society folks!!! Yeah some time it strikes you that you are just one of em...the ordinary folks!!
Hey but u all filthy rich kids out there…
Should say you are missing out on a lot other things… …
You were born with the proverbial silver spoon and never got to see other real world...
You never had the pleasure of buying a cycle first. And then a bike...And then a small car. You never had a chance to dream big!!!! You never might have had Cold buttermilk after a sweaty bus ride! You ll never brave a queue for that ticket in a movie house and give a hurrah after managing one. Please don’t misunderstand this as any sort of self conviction or “running away from the truth” like many would like to put it as…
I ll probably remember my first plane ride because it might be my last as well. I ll be a mouth wide opened guy when I see a 100 storied skyscraper because I have never seen any with more than 20 before...I ll probably name my kids Appu or Anju rather than Phinnaeus or Apple (what weird names these Hollywood stars give)…I ll probably take a vacation in Ooty or Coorg rather than Malibu or the Venice…I ll definitely get worried about the two rupees hike in petroleum prices and shortage of onions in the market…I never knew there were so many kinds of coffee until I ventured of my lil home where I had only the plain humble “kaapi”…My friends say “Capachillo” never come close to our “kattan” (Black coffee we have back home)..I can’t but nod in agreement...
Weird games are the vogue these days… There are events in Uncle Sam country where people compete to eat the highest number of hot dogs...And its aired primetime…Inflated people rummaging in a basket full of hot dogs and gobbling em obscenely like mad dogs. And the junta out there was applauding the guy who just gobbled 54 hotdogs…Sad when I just couldn’t help thinking about the less privileged poverty struck people in Africa and Asia….Wish people were more considerate and sensible while showing such yucky programmes...
Its not that I have anything against the Rich. After all we all aspire to be that quintessential rich kid of the block. The trouble lies when wealth is flaunted nonchalantly without any consideration for fellow beings...When monstrous amount of money is spent on ridiculous things!! Am talking about those rich Arab lords who can put the devil himself to shame...Hey you rich folks listening!!
Am not advocating frugality...it’s just that why cant folks be considerate at times. Warren Buffet did a really admirable job when he put his money in charity. ..Wasn’t that a great thing he did? It takes a brave man to part with his dough. Wish if all those listed in the Forbes did the same, the world would have been a better place to live…Yeah it wont happen though...still….
Meanwhile I wrote this because am absolutely peeved by people who show off!!
P.S On a lighter note if anyone got trouble spending money you know whom to ask for!! ;)
15 years ago
37 comments:
and wat if someone got trouble earning money??? may b they shud know whom not to ask, eh?!!
Very nice post. As a kid I asked my Catechism teacher, Sr Mary... that if there was God then why he made some poeple rich and some people poor. And she replied that God people rich to help the poor, strong to help the weak, brainy to help the not so brainy etc. But nowadays people use their special abilities to look after ONLY their own ends and not the less privileged. That made a lot of sense to me and put a lot of things in perspective for me.
The rich have to help the poor as we live in a world where money defines a lot of parameters.
Really good thoughts.
The rich get richer and the poor remain poor. Sometimes I think God id unfair.He should have made everyone rich or everyone poor. What did the poor people do to have to suffer and live.I always question God on this. i dont have answers.
@Dew drops
Lol!!..That was wicked.Please dont rephrase things..Let me put it the way that suits me!!! ;)
@Aqua
Yeah it may not be their fault that they were born rich..But have you noticed our own travancore king who is reasonably rich and yet
his decorum is humbling!!..
Yeah its definitely hard to escape the lure of these status symbols..
nice thoughts buddy!!..
@Alexis
True..
Thats the most difficult part..
A healthy blend of flaunting it frugally...tough but possible..
cheers buddy!!
@Silverine
That sister said a simple thought thats so relevant nowadays...Unfortunately many things in life just remains good on paper(in this case in bits and bytes)..Its so easy for me to to write this and yet a mountain to see it in practice..
thanks for the comments buddy!!
You have never sipped into a 'Sip-up' while walking in the rain..
You have never played Hide&Seek when u were 23 yrs 'young' and fought over who said "SAT" first..
You have never climbed trees to steal pacha manga from ur neighbours garden..
You have never dozed off in your grandmother's laps listening to ridiculous stories..
You have never dreamed of being 'Yourself'..
Coz u just dont have the time for the small things in life.. the things that truly matters..
:)
..Me
mathew, lets leave the rich where they are...
if we say that they have not experienced what we have, so will they say.isn't it?
if they have the money, they have worked hard for it..now that they have it, why not use it...
but yes, i agree with u on the show off part...use ur money...just don make a show of it!!
@Starry
But then it becomes a catch 22 situation..If everything was perfect in the world..it would be a really really bland place to live..Someone has to fall on either side of the fence..
@Rose
nice additions..!!high fives!!!
Hey but never tried sip-up when its raining!!! :o
cheers..
@Neha
yeah..i accept the experience part of it!!..Its just that we crave for what they have experienced and not the other way around!!
My point is all about unhealthy way of spending money..
thanx for the comments btw!!
cheers..
Oh, you shud try it then..
The best ever is getting totally drenched in the pouring rain, while walking bare-foot and splashing water at each other, all the time licking into a bar of ice cream..
:D
..Me
...not forgetting the pleasure in paddling the finely chiselled 'Kothumbu vallam' through 'kuttanadan' backwaters, instead of those yachts.
yuck !
I am sure, everybody, rich or poor has experiences that they treasure. Its how well you use what you have that matters rather than how much you have.
Hi, Came to your blog thro Sumi's , well written. Rich or poor all of us have our own life experiences. The rich struggle with the title,"rich" and "spoilt". I have friends who were from extremeley rich families, but very humble & never showed that they had the money..so it all depends
I have never ever missed being filthy rich, actually. Probably coz I get to see lotsa people around who are quarter as fortunate as me everyday. :) And I guess, as u pointed out, if one is content at having enjoyed the absolute pleasures of life that seem pleasurable in one's modest purview, nothing else matters. :)
BTW, ~Idli-Vada, Bajaj chetak, buy one get one free small town guy like me~ Add me to the club??? ;) :)
ur right...most rich kids r missing out on real life. SO damn true.
Keshi.
@Rose
You have a nice imagination!!! ;)
Btw its raining today..lemme try out then!!
@Jac
Love kuttanad...Really unspoilt place..Although paradise is in our own background we hardly get time to enjoy them!!!
@Suji
Exactly!!..That was a nice summarizing!!
@Shankari
Thanks for visiting my blog.Yeah then your friends are of a rare breed..They are admirable..
But does the tag "Rich and spoilt" harm them anyway??..Seen many folks who love carrying that tag!!
@Velu
High fives!!!! ..hehehe!!
if one is content at having enjoyed the absolute pleasures of life that seem pleasurable in one's modest purview, nothing else matters.
you cant put that better!!
@keshi
Someone has to be in the either side of the fence..You cant blame anyone!!
Mathew I feel it is all very relative...we the lesser privileged feel sorry that they lose many of the simpler happiness of life and they in turn might be feeling the sympathy for what we are missing.....Basically happiness is a very relative concept...kattan might be our pleasure whereas cappuccino cd be their pleasure...bt u r absolutely right that there's a lot of shallow shameless show off by the rich and the privileged....there is a regular TV show which UK TV airs called Extreme home make over...I watch it to just admire the architectural expertise of the Americans and everytime the show ends leaving the feeling 'what a criminal waste of money!'...Wasting money and showing off in the name of charity...sillly silly reasons...and the team feels extremely sorry for the family,the family is sent for a mind boggling expensive vacation and in a week a huge huge mansion with unbelievable gadgets and decor and a lot of other trappings and donations for the survival of all their generations is showered upon them as a great surprise!!...I feel so sad tht these people r so ignorant abt the rest of the world which rummages the dirty bins for morsels of food...With that money they spent on family they cd feed 1000s of people!We live in such a world Mathew.Isnt it shameful and sinful?
Not a figment of my imagination at all.. Me and a bunch of my cutie pie friends have done just that.. a number of times..
So speaking from experience, u cud have one hell of a time..
:)))
..Me
@Indianadoc
Exaclty..happiness is relative..Happiness at the cost of fellow being's survival is contemptable...Just cant fathom the mass hysteria in competing to gobble food for record sake!!
@Rose
Should be defintely tryin out sometime buddy..Folks may lable me insane if I do that in office.. ;)
@Shakhi
Bingo..Reminds me of some name president in philippines who had this 2000 pairs of sandals..that's profligacy at its best..
nowadays who cares for this give n share concept...
Hiya, you live in Mysore, now if you were in Delhi you would be royally pissed off! It's as if the show-offs of the world congregate there to gloat over their "merseediz bunz" and chandini chowk hole in the wall. Oh..and if I ever earned my millions, the milk of kindness doesn't run deep, I will keep it all to myself ;) No magnanimous gestures for me thank you..
u rock man ! u seriously do .. dont forget to remind me why i think u r one of the best !
way up in ur league !
very true all u wrote ....but is there much difference in real sense??? they miss the simple pleasures of life and we the exquisite and the filthy rich life!!!
both in the same boat i should say........we miss things each others things RATHER!!
@Mellowdrama
Lol!!..merseediz bunz..
Okay..dreaming big..then i suggest u go for the billions..eh!!
@Deepz
heyya..am humbled..
So when is ur next off beat sojourns!!
@Preetha
Hey do they really miss the simple pleasures in life..thats debatable..
Ah Mathew, this post definitely made me feel so comfortable despite the deepest pocket i have.. deepest coz its got a hole in its end which gives a feeling of neverending depth :-)
and whatever happened to "you got it, you flaunt it" ?? :) but Matthew, quite a good writeup...! :)
Kewl!!! Lotssa Pleasure going thru this one!!!!....(,"
hey there!I totally get peeved by show offs' myself.They are the worst lot and they will try and say or do everything just to put the other person down completely.what a waste of life!
@Nagesh
Lol!!Deep pockets.mm..nice one!!
That feeling sucks!!
Thanks for dropping by..
@neers
hahaha..yeah flaunt it..but just dont feel like agreeing with it sometime..
thanx for dropping by..
@Abhi
thanx buddy..Please do visit again!!
@Maya
ejactly..Donno what pleasure do they get by that!!!
Since different professions have a different mkt profile, money cannot be a measure of a man's worth.
For better perspective, read "The millionaire next door"
true :)
Keshi.
hmmm :) thanks matthew
@Hiren
okay dude..will grab the book nxt time i see it!!>.money is never a man's worth..unfortunately thats not what the world thinks!!
thank you!!
@Keshi
:)
@Gaurav
Thanx for droppping by here..
Exactly u hit the nail..these shows are ridiculous!!
@Bhavana
Thanx for dropping by!!..I wrote this at the spur of the moment!!
@neers
:)
i'd put a comment here...i cant find it now :(
Matt,
പുതുവത്സരാശംസകള്!!
:)
hey really nice post.
true that there really is an aweful lot that the rich kids miss out in life..simple things that make it worthwhile!
but then, i dont see the rich giving off their money to poor as a solution either. that way, the poor are in a way getting stuff easy right?so wats they are gonna become just like the rich kids.
u cant understand the valure of something that comes to u easy.
@bvn
ayyo..guess blogger is slightly drunk these days..!!
@Velu
Same with u Velu!!..Onam is getting me excited..comin home after 3 months..wow..
@Moontalk
ejactly..u hit the nail..its not abt rich giving away money..its about how to get the best of both capitalism and socialism...tough call though!!
very nicely said...
and somehow these small moments of happiness are there in plenty in our lives and make the day worth living than waiting for that ever elusive big royal moment of " my dream came true"...
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