A Rich Man's World

I'm a very messy person. And it's not really laziness, I just don't think cleaning is a very productive activity. I mean, I will [happily] cook for fifty, just don't ask me to clean up -before or after! Of course that doesn't endear yours truly to mum too much, but for the most part, I'm allowed to wallow in my mess as long as I keep it to my room. 

Which, by the way, is totally acceptable to me =D

My Red Goluck. I love red.

Think of my room as a relief in multiple mediums. There are heaps of clothes, heaps of books, heaps of cosmetics, heaps of jewellery, and so on. But it is organized chaos, for the heaps are divided into sub heaps: a heap of clean clothes, a heap of dirty clothes, a heap of winter clothes to be folded and packed for the season, a heap of winter clothes to be sent to the dry cleaner, a heap of clothes to be ironed and hung... You get my point?

So anyway, onto my actual story. This story begins with the heap of old, but well-loved, books in the north-east corner of my room, where I also 'kept' my old goluck. A goluck is an earthenware round money bank. I had had this one for ages, and it had been quite some time since I had last put any money into it. It was just there. 



She doesn't look so evil right now, but she is, I promise!



Well, one day, I notice that it has been broken open. Probably the handiwork of the Snowball The Evil. Of course I don't pick it up or anything. That wouldn't be like me. It just sat there for days, broken bits of pottery all around it.

Until the day I decided to take photos of it.

Now I've had a tough couple of months financially, and I've been perpetually whining about it. My dad decided we didn't know enough about money management, and imposed a strict budget. And i don't mean pocket money, i mean an honest to goodness budget. We have to manage ALL our expenses. Clothes, shoes, cosmetics, everything. Scary, isn't it? So yeah, I was having a little trouble.

While taking these photographs, I got thinking, though. This goluck has been lying, open, in my room for days. I could see the money inside. There had to be at least a few hundred. And i had not bothered to check it out, even while i was cribbing about lack of funds all the time!

I was being so ungrateful! I created a cash crisis for myself, and was so down about it, when, to be honest, had it actually been that bad, would i not have used the money that was lying right there in my room? What needs of mine were not being fulfilled? I was being dishonest to myself!

I dumped the goluck's contents into a bag and handed them over to Akash. He's a little [six-ish, I would say] boy from a family of eleven siblings, who live in the small christian colony near our house. He comes (uncalled!) every morning to ask for odd jobs, and usually spends the morning at our house. Whatever you ask him to do, he does it conscientiously. He sells boiled eggs at the bazaar every evening too. He's trying to collect enough money to get new clothes for his uncles wedding in May. My mum is playing bank, and he brings her all his money to keep safe. It's been at least two months, and he hasn't spent a single rupee.

He's the one who should be whining, not me. But he isn't. This little kid is just trying to make ends meet, and he's doing it honestly too. His "goal" isn't so big, at least it wouldn't be to any of us. But it's pretty difficult for him, what with his family barely getting enough to eat even with two working parents.

Makes you think, doesn't it?