One thing I realized during my stay in India for the last few weeks is that the value of money has decreased but its need and importance have increased a lot. Things are getting expensive day by day. Real estate prices are increasing every minute in some big cities like Pune and Mumbai. There seems to be a race to earn money in whatever way one can. The competition is so fierce and tough that people don't even have time to relax and think which way they are going and what will be the consequences of their actions. India is known for spirituality, its simplicity as well as poverty. One can clearly see the effect of globalization on the Indian economy and its people. Things are changing and they are changing very fast, many things have improved, and at the same time, many have deteriorated. One can notice the speed of development by the amount of construction work going on around the Pune area. Huge multistory buildings are being constructed and trees are vanishing fast because of that, even beautiful hills are getting occupied by bungalows, and even after so much construction demand for apartments and land has not decreased a bit. I don't know if anyone has time to think about the environmental impact of this speedy development in Pune.
Many software firms have emerged and also many other private industries, this has created a huge job market for skilled workers. Government jobs have lost their status and importance. In my student days most brilliant students used to strive for careers in the government sector, because those jobs were considered secure (with all the extra money they could generate apart from their salary). The emergence of the private sector has changed this scenario completely, these jobs offer very attractive packages and this resulted in a change in the lifestyle of the middle class of India. The point of telling all this is that money has become a very essential commodity in India now, it's not like it was not but there never used to be such a blatant display of money in Indian society which we can see today. This development and uplifting of the middle class is very good, but at the same time disparity between rich and poor has become big. The gap has widened even more, there is only a certain class which is getting benefitted because of all this development. Along with these big apartment complexes, slums are also growing. Villages are shrinking, cities are growing beyond their capacity, they are overcrowded and all this is happening without any proper planning. This is what bothers me, it's all happening 'without any proper planning'. Currently, everyone is busy reaping the benefits of this phenomenon and is not bothered about its long-term effects.
People are feeling the need for money to match the lifestyle of other people around them. Competition is tough, pressure is immense and people are busy. It's good to compete but it should be a healthy competition, not a rat race where everyone is chasing others without knowing what the ultimate target is. One example of senseless competition can be seen in the car market. Today almost all major car manufacturers have their shops in India and one can see almost all expensive cars on Indian roads except hybrid car models. This is because it's not cool to have hybrids yet. BMWs, Mercedes, and Audis are status symbols and people like to have them but not the hybrids. No one even thinks about the environment while buying a car. This consciousness about our surroundings, about the impact of our actions on the environment should come along with the development of sustainable growth. Street vendors are still there and they still sell very good stuff but many people buy the stuff from malls, use of public transport has decreased significantly. All these social and economic changes have made people feel the need for more money even more.
Having the desire to earn money is not bad at all, living a comfortable life is good but it's also necessary to be conscious about energy consumption. The importance and need of money can not be denied or ignored but its necessity beyond certain limits can definitely be questioned. Everyone has to decide their own limits and work towards it, it can not be uniform for everyone. Pursuing our dreams is necessary, but we should check from time to time whether the dream we are pursuing is our own or forced on us by society. If we do this reality check from time to time then we all will realize the real value of money and can make our lives much more happy and comfortable.
Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.
Many software firms have emerged and also many other private industries, this has created a huge job market for skilled workers. Government jobs have lost their status and importance. In my student days most brilliant students used to strive for careers in the government sector, because those jobs were considered secure (with all the extra money they could generate apart from their salary). The emergence of the private sector has changed this scenario completely, these jobs offer very attractive packages and this resulted in a change in the lifestyle of the middle class of India. The point of telling all this is that money has become a very essential commodity in India now, it's not like it was not but there never used to be such a blatant display of money in Indian society which we can see today. This development and uplifting of the middle class is very good, but at the same time disparity between rich and poor has become big. The gap has widened even more, there is only a certain class which is getting benefitted because of all this development. Along with these big apartment complexes, slums are also growing. Villages are shrinking, cities are growing beyond their capacity, they are overcrowded and all this is happening without any proper planning. This is what bothers me, it's all happening 'without any proper planning'. Currently, everyone is busy reaping the benefits of this phenomenon and is not bothered about its long-term effects.
People are feeling the need for money to match the lifestyle of other people around them. Competition is tough, pressure is immense and people are busy. It's good to compete but it should be a healthy competition, not a rat race where everyone is chasing others without knowing what the ultimate target is. One example of senseless competition can be seen in the car market. Today almost all major car manufacturers have their shops in India and one can see almost all expensive cars on Indian roads except hybrid car models. This is because it's not cool to have hybrids yet. BMWs, Mercedes, and Audis are status symbols and people like to have them but not the hybrids. No one even thinks about the environment while buying a car. This consciousness about our surroundings, about the impact of our actions on the environment should come along with the development of sustainable growth. Street vendors are still there and they still sell very good stuff but many people buy the stuff from malls, use of public transport has decreased significantly. All these social and economic changes have made people feel the need for more money even more.
Having the desire to earn money is not bad at all, living a comfortable life is good but it's also necessary to be conscious about energy consumption. The importance and need of money can not be denied or ignored but its necessity beyond certain limits can definitely be questioned. Everyone has to decide their own limits and work towards it, it can not be uniform for everyone. Pursuing our dreams is necessary, but we should check from time to time whether the dream we are pursuing is our own or forced on us by society. If we do this reality check from time to time then we all will realize the real value of money and can make our lives much more happy and comfortable.
Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.
(Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing)
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