Ayn Rand says “money is the root cause of all good”. Indian philosophy says ‘money increases desire – and like ghee and wood to a fire – increases desire and misery’. Immaterial of whether you take the western view or the eastern view, all of us have at some point chased money, have we not?

Some of us (and I know many people) realised that after all money is a commodity and you should have as much as you can use. Beyond a particular level it does not add to your happiness! It is like health- those who have it, take it for granted. But if you ask those who do not have it know its value.

This post is about a person whose daughter is a good friend. She was cribbing about her father (let us say net worth of Rs. 10 crores, so it actually does not matter whether it is Rs. 22 crores by the time he passes away or at Rs. 220 crores. However at age 70 years he goes to the office every day, and slogs. Of course like every body else he says he is ‘busy’ earning money – to buy things he does not have time to enjoy, give it to his children who do not want it, and for that he is willing to give his time (which is in short supply!!). This to me is not surprising! I see many people like this!

These are victims of ‘boredom’ of knowing what to do with their time!! They need to get out of the house, travel to the office – make a couple of calls, have meeting, forget to eat medicines, run up sugar and BP – and pretend that they are earning money for their grand children.

My question to them is simple. Let us take this man’s example. If he leaves Rs. 21 crores to 7 grand children each one will get Rs. 3 crores each. On the other hand if he decides to spendRs. 21 laksh in taking all his grandchildren on a world tour – will they remember the good time they had with the family for a week/ forthnight or will they be happy that they got Rs. 3 crores (instead of Rs. 2.97 crores!)? I do not claim to provide answers on my blog, only questions for you to ponder.