What Did Money Give You?

So, let me pose you this question.

“Why do you travel?”

Or let me ask you, “Why did you buy that expensive camera, even though you knew you aren’t going to use it professionally?”

Or for that matter, “Why did you get a new car, even though you were getting a used car at half of the price of the new one?”

What extra do they give? And what extra did you get?

Team-BHP, being about cars, travels, photographs al, those above questions are typical about our forum. But the bigger question, I tend to believe, is a lot more generic actually. Why does man indulge in such purposes or activities from which he seems to get nothing concrete in return? A return that cannot be qualified as a tangile product or a service that cannot monetarily measured.

Now, I am not talking about spending money for tuition fees for the child or his vaccinations or the daily bazaar or paying the servants salary. No, dont get me wrong. These are certain things which you *need* to do to sustain yourself in a civil, social society. Neither am I talking about heartwarming purchases which have an outright return - the “Good EMIs” so to speak like purchasing a house for example or investing in a mutual fund.

Someone was arguing the other day: An upper middleclass man earns a lac a month. But can save only 1000 at the end of the month due to his ever growing EMIs. Whereas a rickshaw puller in Calcutta typically earns 10000 a month, and even he saves 1000 at the end of the month. Who is poorer amongst the two? Well, this guy who made the statement made an excellent observation. And he even went on to conclude that the rickshaw puller was the richer man because of his high percentage of savings. But what he did miss was the "quality of life" - the various intangibles which money can’t measure. The richer man could have sent his son/daughter to a government school, but he didn’t do that.

A few years back, my uncle was struck by a deadly disease. The doctor said he won’t survive more than 1 year if operated and 3 months if not operated. Well, what did we do? We spent 5 lacs and went onto operate him. And some will say, "So, you spent 5 lacs for some extra 9 months of life?” Well, we did it right. And we will do it again, provided we have the resources.

And so, I return to the question that I asked previously. It is the cause of larger concern.  Why does man indulge in such purposes or activities from which he seems to get nothing concrete in return?

So, my counter question to is - What are you looking for a return. What do you expect from a travel? Or from the photos of a high end camera? Or the earth shattering acceleration of a highway cruiser motorcycle? Or an extra 9 months of life of a loved one?

"In the end, it is about money.", I know you are going to argue. And that is what pisses me off. Money. The prospect of an almost zero bank balance doesn’t make me happy.  It, infact, makes me feel miserable. In fact a thick wad of cash, without a shred of doubt, gives peace and sanctity. But, we are thinking beyond that.

Are you looking for anything tangible in return? I think you should not, for there are certain things which money cannot buy. Money after all is a commodity which you can buy, invest and grow.  But even if you had enough money you know that you cannot buy a lot of things with money. You cannot go to a store and say, "Give me X amount of Joy. I am paying you Y amount of money".  And I am glad that you still cant.

On a moving motorcycle, I smile like a child inside even when the sun is parching my skin or the rain is washing me down. There is a happiness I feel when those distant, shimmering lights create a perfect bouquet behind the portrait.

Before I close down this rant, heres a last one.

A longtime back, when someone asked George Mallory, "Why do you want to climb Everest?"

He replied, "It is of no use. There is not the slightest prospect of any gain whatsoever. Oh, we may learn a little about the behaviour of the human body at high altitudes, and possibly medical men may turn our observation to some account for the purposes of aviation. But otherwise nothing will come of it. We shall not bring back a single bit of gold or silver, not a gem, nor any coal or iron... If you cannot understand that there is something in man which responds to the challenge of this mountain and goes out to meet it, that the struggle is the struggle of life itself upward and forever upward, then you won't see why we go. What we get from this adventure is just sheer joy. And joy is, after all, the end of life. We do not live to eat and make money. We eat and make money to be able to live. That is what life means and what life is for.” 

I hope you get the drift. Money is not the point. It never was.

And so, we travel!