'Paisa-paisa karte ho, tum paise pe kyon marte ho?'

By Swadeep srivastava

No doubt money is a very important ingredient in our life...see how much "fuss" is made about it these days! 2G spectrum scam which got unearthed recently is more than 1.70 lacs crores (!!), A former chief minister in Andhra Pradesh left behind a legacy of more than 2.0 lacs crores mining scam (not fully unearthed yet), Satyam Raju 'corporate scandal' we all are well aware off.

And comes the new LIC scandal and what if a Babu sitting next door to Home Secretary GK Pillai was running a 'sensitive information racket' worth few crores.

And Mumbaikars have not even got over Adarsh society scam and the big-big Lavasa city scandal, which is all set to rock and roll for next few weeks.

What was worth noticing was 2 clarifications been published as Advertisements in leading dailies across the country--

1) the Chief Minister Yedurappa clarification from Karnataka appealing to the public to not fall prey to 'false negative publicity generated against him to spoil his image' (of an honest CM) complimented with news items of Yedurappa asking his one son and daughter to walk out of his home (to project that he is cleaning his own house first!)

2) Sahara India Group pulling out full page advertorials criticizing SEBI and other authorities to not allow them to come out with two major IPOs they had planned in infrastucture and housing segment (poised to be the largest IPO till now)!

So first there is this age old trend of moneyed people keep running after money (how much is too much) and for whom there is no end to money making process, unless they are caught (for those who are really caught) in a situation when there is a scandal/ scam unearthed and then end up losing everything (hopefully)- name, reputation, status as well as freedom (as most of them land up in jail and keep fighting court trails for many years till their hairs turn grey).

Take the case of Ramalingam Raju-- he started the corporate fraud at Satyam after making his millions through successful entrepreneur ship (till he decided to launch a parallel firm reversing Satyam's name and Mayatas was born). He slipped off into a dirty game after achieving success through corporate/ professional means, just for the sake of making more money...more wealth...more power...etc.

Any sensible person would say-- what a pity? Why did he do so? His advisors were so foolish? And finally-- jab gidarh ki maut aati hai to jungle ki taraf bhagta hai!! Etc., etc.. But this is 'dilemma' of life, that most powerful men and women (take the latest case of Niira Radia--after achieving reasonable wealth and success, just few years back she put 'ii' in her name and changed her--to aspire for more wealth and success-- to fulfill her never ending desire!) have the tendency to slip even when they have achieved so much and are enjoying best of their life, they tend to loose control of their GEAR...NO..their BRAKES!

So now this new trend, as if 'corruption is the word do', even if you are exposed to be involved in corrupt practices (with all proofs) but you are able save your skin anyhow (by virtue of being an important political leader or one of India's leading Corporate honcho), the task is how you should salvage your image and bring it back to track so that you continue with your business/ politics (read one) with same vigor and zeal as earlier, as if nothing had happened (you know public memory is so short)!

So my dear friends, now what is important is whether you have capability to fight back in life or not, just being proved to be corrupt is passe'! So what is important that even if you are exposed for doing wrong (earning money by corrupt means), you should keep your fighting spirit alive and your art is how you are able to chart your 'reverse course of life' so that everything gets back to normal, as public memory is very short!

But this may not be totally perfect, history knows that those who have just been running after money (with NO BRAKES) have definitely met with accident at some point of time--some with fatal accidents and few with multiple injuries confining them to bed for life long.

Satyam Raju is one of them, Lalu Bihari Prasad is the latest one and probably Niira Radia would be one in near future worth following.

So when my wife jokingly said during a recent train journey that if I win this bet..you will have to pay me Rs 1.0 crore (!), I bounced back to her that...'paisa-paisa karti hai to paise pe kyun marti hai..'. It was just a very light conversation which took the turn when she pointed that--'money is important in life and every 1st week of the month you realize the most when all vendors start asking for payment at home!'

(An old joke goes that--once a husband asked his wife that - 'Agar main tumhe mahine ke kharche ka paisa is baar nahin doon to tum kaise kaam chalaogi?' Wife promptly replied..'Nothing much! Doodhwale ko flying kiss de ke, akhbar wale ko puchchu de ke, etc., etc..' SO HERE MONEY BECOMES MORE IMPORTANT!)

It also reminded of a similar conversation in office just recently when a very responsible colleague of mine also pointed out the same thing--'sir kuch aisa kiya jaaye ki khub paise aa jayen ViaMedia mein...', such a noble thought...but it also made me think...think that are we supposed to just run after money, can money be the only motivation in life and career, does it help in achieving everything in life? Then the archaic thinking (!)..does money ever give happiness, can it give peace?

Such a debatable subject (I believe this debate would have been going from ages), but one thing I feel sure of that...'Money cannot be an the key motivation to build an organization, though it plays and important role in bringing in stability and prosperity (rather show off), but unless you have brotherhood, emotional connect, team orientation, job satisfaction, growth prospect and so many other ingredients, you cannot have enough dedicated people to help the organization grow to new heights year on year.

So by this formula, for me, money just becomes one 'ingredient' amongst so many others to achieve success in life and career.

Eminent Indian Historian Pawan K Verma in his book on India writes that, 'In India dhan-lakshmi is given so importance that 'lakshmi mata ki proper puja ki jaati hai (probably that's first of its kind in the world) and so much that there is an 'aarti' which says, "jis ghar mein tum rahti, sab sadgud aata; kaam safal ho jaata, man nahin ghabdata. Om jai lakshmi maata...Khan paan ka vaibhav sab tumse aata. Om jai lakshmi maata..."! This was probably written by a 'dharmik kavi with baaniya lineage'!!!

So guys, very confusing at the end, but one thing is clear...don't just keep running after money, focus on your work and take your work to such a level that money starts following you. Do not let 'money guide you', make your pathway such that money has no alternative but to keep crossing your way, inadvertently!

This is what we aspire to achieve at ViaMedia, with you.

What say? Money baba...