I am no Einstein! There have been times when people have called me that but I guess they were just exaggerating, being nice , wanted something done or all of the above. Why did Einstein come into my consciousness today? It’s like this. I wanted an opening for my thoughts on money and I realized for me the importance people place on money is relative. Relative. Relativity. Einstein! Pretty lame right? But atleast I am honest and it gave me a chance to brag about myself. So ,no regrets.
Now, I might be paraphrasing here but it seems he said that sitting with a pretty girl for an hour will be like five minutes whereas sitting on a hot stove for five minutes will be like an hour, when he was asked to explain his theory. Anybody who paid the slightest of attention in their English class in their high school on a State syllabus would remember this and I am sure no guy will forget it because it is frighteningly accurate.
The same way I realized something! I am a scrooge when it comes to money! I try to avoid lending money to anybody. Not friends ,not my brother and not even my GF. Why? The simplest reason I can think of is that in my experience things that I have given in the past have never returned properly. A few years back I did not have money. All I had was stuff. Which was obviously bought with my fathers money but which I used to treat like mine like any other normal teenager. I must be cursed by an Egyptian pharaoh or probably somebody who does not like me has a voodoo doll which resembles me because when I lend my stuff to friends they had this mystifying quality of disappearing and never ever returning back to me. Sometimes this happened right before my eyes. So when I entered college I was this neurotic who lends a pen to his classmate and keeps a watch for the entire day to check whether he is keeping it safely! My poor classmates! They were so creeped out that at times they returned my stuff to spare themselves of the horror that is me. That worked well for me because I got my stuff back properly. Even then sometime they lost my caps! Really irresponsible! Even through college it was always stuff because I had no money on me. Sometimes even for recharging my phone I used to borrow money from a normal friend who had no trust issues and I used to pay him back in installments. The weird thing was I was not comfortable even when I borrowed. It was like an OCD thing. You know OCD right ? Jack nicholson in ‘ As good as it gets’? Oscar? Ok. It’s a stupid neurotic thing. Maybe you should look it up. So, this is what happens. Say I have borrowed hundred bucks from a friend. I am watching this movie in the theatre. Suddenly I have this urge to start doing calculations as to whether I really borrowed hundred bucks and when I will be able to return it and whether I will be able to return it. And it does not happen once or twice but every five minutes or so. My mind has a mind of its own. And this is worse when I have lent money to somebody else.
This is where the relativity kicks in. I have noticed that when I have a steady inflow of cash lending about around even 5% of that does not trigger my worries but when I have considerably less cash on me and when the chances of seeing the person again are very less this neurosis is at its height.
So to avoid myself from greying out my hairs, when somebody asks me for money I tell them I can’t give them any because I don’t think i am in a position to do so if it is not somebody close or of if it is considerably a lot, again a lot for my taste. But to be very honest I am comfortable borrowing in emergencies and I make it a point to return it before that somebody asks for it. So don’t worry about your money it will come back to you! Seriously!
Also I have seen friends who are carefree and lend money left and right to others during my two years of Masters. And I have only heard them tell woeful stories about how they don’t get it back when they need it. My ideology is that a Friend in need policy should work both ways. I am not saying that you need to lend him money because he lent you money but being friends you must atleast have the courtesy to return his money back. He is not your dad! He is just your friend.
To some extent a bitter transaction like this could change the way we see each other. After such a deal when somebody mentions your name after few years I will remember you as the guy who did not return my money until I asked for it. Not the room-mate with whom I shared everything except my Poombukar.
I would rather be remembered as the Scrooge than as somebody who did not trust his friend because that’s what one will be called when he asks for his money. Whether I become the scrooge or the good friend or the nag is relative to money! And thus financial relativity becomes relevant. Also something I realized just now is that having been able to survive two years on a net amount of two laks approx inside the Campus during my Masters I feel that earning around three laks per annum is more than enough to live a simple life if not a good one. But I saw people who were not very happy with this package (mostly Bachelors Students) and expected more. Much more in fact. Again this is relativity!
To summarise, money is relative and I prefer borrowing to lending. This is what I have been trying to say.
I am Krawida and I need 20000 bucks for a new phone. Anybody?
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