You read my mind.....

The Terrible People
-Ogden Nash

People who have what they want are very fond of telling people who haven't what they want that they really don't want it,
And I wish I could afford to gather all such people into a gloomy castle on the Danube and hire half a dozen capable Draculas to haunt it.
I dont' mind their having a lot of money, and I don't care how they employ it,
But I do think that they damn well ought to admit they enjoy it.
But no, they insist on being stealthy
About the pleasures of being wealthy,
And the possession of a handsome annuity
Makes them think that to say how hard it is to make both ends meet is their bounden duity.
You cannot conceive of an occasion
Which will find them without some suitable evasion.
Yes indeed, with argumetsn they are very fecund;
Their first point is that money isn't everything, and that they have no money anyhow is their second.
Some people's money is merited,
And other people's is inherited,
But wherever it comes from,
They talk about it as if it were something you got pink gums from.
Perhaps indeed the possession of wealth is constantly distressing,
But I should be quite willing to assume every curse of wealth if I could at the same time assume every blessing.
The only incurable troubles of the rich are the troubles that money can't cure,
Which is a kind of trouble that is even more troublesome if you are poor.
Certainly there are lots of things in life that money won't buy, but it's very funny --
Have you ever tried to buy them without money?

Of Obscene Wealth and Superstar India....

A super rich person like Doctor (apparently, he gets super-duper pissed if you don’t refer to him as Dr. which although not earned but gifted does indeed display his intellectual ability….so there you go, Doctor….no less no more) Vijay Mallya with an empire that feeds off people’s vices, two airlines (one, the epitome of cheap air travel and what often comes with it…. inefficiency and the other, the symbol of glamour and good travel), a failed cricket team, two rival and fairly successful football teams, the Kingfisher calendar (for the uninformed, the Indian equivalent of the Pirelli calendar and any man’s fantasy desk adornment), etc etc etc…..is not exactly my idea of a role model for superstar India, to use the dame's words. Nor is Donald Trump for that matter with his loud-mouthedness, Trump this and Trump that, Apprentice, pink ties and not to mention, the inimitable hairstyle or a really bad wig..whatever that is!! Watching Mallya or Trump speak fills me with a sense of immense hopelessness…as we get richer, what kind of people are we becoming or aspiring to become and what kind of entrepreneurship/business leadership are we promoting?

With one business launch after another, Dr. Mallya has not learnt that there is humility in accepting defeat. Whatever Dr. Mallya does, he does it big. Not only does he sack the team’s CEO in violation of the ‘sportsman spirit’ that we so often talk about and lambast and very publicly at that, everyone who he thought was responsible for the team’s dismal performance, including captain Dravid and coach, Venkatesh Prasad; he goes ahead and claims his part ownership of the best performing team in the IPL, not because they are great but because they are sponsored by him. So, in effect, the performance of the Chennai, Delhi and Chandigarh teams are of little relevance beecause they are not screaming “HAIL MALLYA’ on their jerseys. Even praise, therefore, is associated to ownership and profit. If it is mine and doing well, it is good..otherwise, no comment! One wonders why Kat Kaif was not sacked as team ambassador because even her pretty presence failed to revive a nosediving Royal Challengers (Oh..I forget, she is a young woman, a pretty one at that..one of Mallya’s many weaknesses, after his shameless pursuit of wealth, of course). And all this is referred to as the ‘killer instinct’, ‘perform or perish’ or the attitude of a true winner in some circles!!

There is always the nouveau riche attitude of not knowing what to do with suddenly acquired wealth. Tasteless spending or over-spending on things of limited importance screaming “I have what you don’t” is on the rise. Look at the wedding industry in India. It's booming (for crying out loud) In fact, a person who earns well but lives modestly (by modest, I do not mean lives in a hut and survives on fresh air) is termed a miser in our modern, progressive scheme of things. Parsimony and prudence is looked down upon. Wastage and obnoxious ostentation are encouraged. Seriously, since when did saving money become a crime??

Perhaps, I don’t earn enough to know what it feels to be rich and powerful but I know a whole lot of people from the earlier generation who have earned and spent in moderation and you know what…they are neither unhappy nor dissatisfied. As someone once said, money is the petrol that runs the car that is life. The importance of money cannot be undermined but to make it all-important is probably a mistake. But what do I know? With television channels like NDTV Good Times (sponsored by the King of Good Times himself) airing programmes like “Limited Edition” (on luxury brands in India) and “Best Spas”/Best Hotels”; Shobha De’s path breaking treatise on modern India making it to the best sellers list and popular opinion caring a rat’s ass for anything beyond their bubble, India’s rich-poor divide will further deepen and Mallya will be King….who knows??