Kyon paisa paisa karti hai?

As idealistic as this might sound, I have always viewed money as a means to an end and never the end in itself. It is the reason why I didn't mind taking my first job that paid me peanuts but gave me a learning that I knew would equip me for the rest of my career; or leaving my first job without another job in hand when it became nothing more than a mere political game that started to feel like I was working for Sonia Gandhi; or starting my own company that gave me the job satisfaction I now envy, even though I counted money for the roadside chai!
Money doesn't satisfy my hunger for living the one (and only) life that has been given to me to make a difference to myself, the people I love and those who are lesser privileged than me.
I also hate the stigma that comes with following your dream if it means giving up a stable, corporate job. Why does that have to be? Does dignity of labour mean nothing? If I choose to give up consulting because I enjoy giving people haircuts more, why is that blasphemous? Or to be a mechanic? Or to design shoes?
I want you to look back at the whole reason why money came into being. It was primarily a replacement for the barter system - it was a mere medium of exchange. If I gave you financial advice and you cooked for me in return, we'd be even. Alternatively, if I gave you financial advice OR you cooked for me and in return we gave the other $100, we'd be even. Because financial advice AND a meal would measure equally in value depending on need! In an ideal economy, that's how it was supposed to work!! But like the concept of god and religion, this too got grossly misinterpreted with time and evolution (!). One profession began to be considered more valuable than the other. Soon people were being engineered to run the rat race and follow the 'more valuable' proposition than follow what they were good at! Of course that began to mean that the fish that were trying to climb trees instead of swim the oceans were getting stressed out and under-performing; and people started working for the jobs that paid better even though they might not actually be "better". How twisted. How unfair. And how stupid.

Cut to Australia : a place where dignity of labour exists. A plumber earns as much as an equity analyst...meaning they are in those respective professions solely because they enjoy being there! No false sense of ambition or need to fill our pockets with as much cash as can be.

I hope I never let go of these ideals... because, honey, I don't care too much for money coz money can't buy me love :D

Amen.