The Biggest Addiction in this World – Our Paycheck

We all talk about addictions in our daily lives and how they are bad for our health and social well being. Alcohol, gambling, smoking, drugs and sometimes even Apple products and internet find a mention in the list of addictions. But there is one addiction we miss, and once which can keep us enslaved all our lives. We will do things we don’t want to do, and not do things we so much love to do. What is worse is that we will find reasons to prove to ourselves (and to others) that why what we are doing is the right thing to do? It is like we are trapped in an illusion. Sounds familiar? Yes, it is the case with every addiction. But this time I am not talking about drugs or alcohol, but your paycheck.

How many of us are in this situation?

How many of us are in this situation?

Work = Money is NOT the only way
Right from our childhood we have been taught that work equals money. You do some work, and you get paid for it. And that is a fair deal. If that would be the case, why would 99% of the wealth in this world would reside with 1% of the population? It is the same reason why 99% of the population work for 1% of the people. The work = money philosophy says that as long as you work, you get paid but nothing in the future. What if there is a crises, or you just simply don’t want to work? Or what if we want to do something where our income is independent of the daily labor we put in? If I am not in the mood to work for a few days or weeks or months, it should not affect my income if I have done a good work before the break, and am ready to do good work after it. Don’t we all deserve this freedom?

Capital Gains is the Alternative
If you start thinking, you will find enough reasons to disprove of the above paragraph I wrote. After all, 99% of the people are working to prove that. We have invented schemes like pension and insurance to give us a safety net, but only after we spend our best years working so that we can relax and enjoy our freedom when we are sixty. Do you REALLY want to do that? An alternative is to do something today which is not only work but also an investment which can be reaped in the future. Entrepreneurs and artists (or the people in 1% of the positions) do that, they put in their work and get rewarded for life, in the form of stocks, royalties or any other form of capital gains. It is the same when you spend money in schools and colleges for education, for returns which will come in the future. But why do we stop doing that once we finish school and start working?

Creativity > Work
Some five or six years ago, I attended a conference at the FMS Delhi, which is one of the leading business schools of India. There were corporate honchos and some of the best leaders India has produced at the conference, and I very distinctly remember what one of them said. He said, “These so called success stories of India like Wipro, Infosys, TCS are destroying the talent and creativity of our young population by hiring them in big numbers and paying them good salaries. By giving them a comfortable life, they are killing their creativity and spirit. India has traditionally been a self-employed and entrepreneurial society, and such an attitude is discouraged when you have a stable job with limited growth and learning.

Every time money is injected into our account (like drugs in our body), we feel high and confident which eventually fades away by the end of the month. Stress makes a comeback and we start counting the days to our next salary, which once again creates euphoria and the cycle continues. Nothing can be worse when you show up for work which you don’t like just for the sake of getting the salary on the 1st of next month. Or ask yourself – Would you still work here if you don’t get the regular salary every month?

 

Can we break this addiction, and own our salary rather than ending up being owned by it?

Oh God Make Me Holy, But Not Today

Use your power wisely

Use your power wisely

It is the time of election,
You’ve got to vote for someone!
None is purer than Satan,
It’s a shame, but it’s got to be done!!

They give money and freebies,
And try to buy our voting power!
Only when you sell it for few rupees,
The servant becomes the master!!

Occupying the highest office,
They do nothing but promise!
They must say when they pray,
Oh God make me Holy, but not today!!

Messenger of hope

They have ignored us, had their share of laughs and now they are fighting us, Victory is near

They have ignored us, had their share of laughs and now they are fighting us, Victory is near

The whole country has come together,
As people fast with their countrymen!
Anna Hazare’s fast is getting bigger,
For all our dreams about India, Amen!!

The World Cup win united us,
As people came out on the roads!!
Corruption is something serious,
It is high time public anger explodes!!

It is only an act of sacrifice,
No point in just being angry!
A small act of yours will suffice,
For one day, just stay hungry!!

Make the people around you aware,
And let the corrupt see we are awake!
Let them find a place to hide somewhere,
To their activities let us put a brake!!

It is our country, our money,
Will not let it go down the slope!
Let us all support Annaji fully,
For he is our messenger of hope!!

Let us Walk

Working hard all day,
We all earn whatever we do!
Every month we get our pay,
Where it goes do we have any clue?

A big part is deducted as tax,
To be used to run the country!
While we sit back and relax,
Our money becomes a mystery!!

It is meant to be spent on the needy,
And to build roads, bridges and dams!!
Instead it fills the pockets of the greedy,
Leading to frauds, rackets and scams!!

How long will we be silent,
Till when can we shut our eyes?
Its time to stop acting decent,
Like the phoenix let us all rise!!

Let us be a little mad,
Nothing wrong in being angry!
All our money if we add,
Can feed all who are hungry!!

It is time to rise from our sleep,
And demonstrate we will take no more!
They have burnt our pockets deep,
This is our time to show them the door!!

Together if we all stand,
We can give them a big shock!
So holding hand in hand,
Let us walk, let us WALK!!

Dandi March II against corruption

Dandi March II - in more than 50 cities on 26 March

Five reasons you should join the Dandi March II walk in your city

81 years after Gandhiji did the Dandi March to shake the British Empire, it’s happening again. Concerned citizens of India all over the world are marching in over 80 cities against corruption in India. Corruption has become the new colonialist in India. The politicians, bureaucrats and other officials are engaging in corruption without fear or shame. They have exploited the democratic system and the huge poverty in India to their advantage. It has become almost impossible to remove them from their offices, leave alone punish them or recover the money lost due to corruption. The demand and objective of this Dandi March 2 is to pressurize the Indian government into enacting the Jan Lokpal Bill‘ which has been advocated by noted social activists like Anna Hazare, Kiran Bedi, Arvind Kejriwal, and others.

Walk together against corruption

Walk together against corruption

Dandi March 2 is happening all over the globe. Check out here and find out if it is happening in your city. If not, you can take the lead in organizing a small march in your own city. Remember, it is the collective intention of Indians marching in different cities that will help put pressure on the government to take action. Here are five reasons why you should join the Dandi March II walk happening in your city –

1. Enough is Enough
While you have been busy eating popcorn and watching that latest movie on television, our politicians have been eating our hard earned money we have paid as tax. They have sat in parliament, assemblies, offices and framed laws and made systems which make it easy for them to continue their brazen acts of corruption. They have neglected the complaints which few people have raised against them, and used the law, the police, and even the mafia to deter and scare such people. It is time that YOU wake up and demand accountability for YOUR money.

2. Sheer volume of corruption
The 2G scam has rocked the telecom ministry in the Indian government, and even the Indian Prime Minister has taken a flak from the Supreme Court. The amount of Rs 1,76,000 crore which the exchequer lost due to the 2G scam is mind boggling. The Commonwealth Games last year became a game of corruption with the whole international media being witness to the ‘tamasha’ going on. This has brought India widespread negative publicity and shame all over the world. It’s time to reclaim OUR pride from these looters.

3. Gandhi’s dream

Corruption is everywhere

Corruption is everywhere

Gandhi did not only dream of an Independent India, but also an India free of poverty. He dreamt of an India of equal opportunities to one and all, and equal right to justice irrespective of one’s social standing. Now our politicians, bureaucrats and babus ask for and take bribes openly sitting in a room with Gandhi’s portrait hanging there. It’s time we realize why we call Gandhi the Father of the Nation, and what we all owe to him, our Independence. Go ask your grandparents what it was living in an India which was not free. Just as a child can never repay his parents for showering him/her with life, we can never repay our freedom fighters what they have given us, our Independence. It is time we demand OUR Independence from corruption.

4. We live in a democracy
In the last few months, we have seen public protests uprooting governments in Islamic dictatorship nations of Tunisia and Egypt. These were countries where such mass protests are not allowed by law, but they could not stop people to get out of their homes for change. In our country, we are bestowed with a system to register our protest with the government under law. We have a moral obligation to go out and demand what is rightfully ours. It is also our duty as model citizens to put brakes on this practice of corruption which is eating our country from the inside. It is time for CHANGE.

5. The Future
I have always believed that this world is something we have borrowed from our next generations and before going we have to return it back to them. We should ought to return it back better than we inherited it. This was the vision every great mind has been inspired for. Gandhi dreamt for a free India for us. He himself lived only a few months in a free India before being assassinated. Many freedom fighters didn’t even see an Independent India when they died. They died for us. They struggled for us. Similarly, it is the future of a corruption free India which we have to see. In our vision, in our dreams, for our children and grand children. We have to get inspired from the dream of our future generations living in a just society. It is time to STAND for that dream.

We Indians do for our children what no other country or society does. Our parents sacrificed a lot for this future of ours which they saw back then. We will do the same for our children. We don’t want them to ask us later that – Why did you not give me education? Why did you not give me values to stand in this world? Let them not ask us – Why did not YOU leave me a just and equal society to live in?

It is time to hear that question NOW. It is time to STAND UP. It is time to WALK for the FUTURE.