'Investing' in the rat race

India is a budding nation, all right. Compared to some of the Western oldies we are but a child, in terms of of our age (we only recently turned 63), but at the same time we need to agree that we have an advantage. In that, we dont have to re-invent the wheel, and can take cues from developed nations, on different subjects.

We are one of the foremost economies in the world right now, and only getting better by the day. Talks are more about when India would economically overtake the USA and not IF. But despite all our wealth and despite all the education, we the privileged people in our society - software engineers, doctors, pilots and who not - fail to play a role in public welfare. Rather, many of our actions easily can be classified as so greedy and selfish, that they leave in their wake, an army of people that want to imitate us, thereby just creating a very bad cascading effect.

Think of it. The one strata of society that has risen from laymen to princes in a trice, is the breed called  'Software engineer.' Now, people belonging to this group came into a lot of money overnight, went abroad frequently and with such ease that such a glamorous profession was unheard of in the annals of the Indian labour industry (maybe barring the film industry). 

Now, as a group, this lot of people had two choices - Be down to earth, spend sensibly, save the money and invest wisely for the future. And if possible, even spread the wealth around a bit. And the other choice - unfortunately also the chosen one by many of us - is to spend ostentatiously and with scant respect for the greenback. (I probably should be calling it differently, but considering that this trend mostly started with inflow of dollars, greenback is technically not wrong). While I am not a detractor of spending and living a comfortable life, when these become the sole ideals of one's life and when people spend all their time on researching on new ways to earn more, it creates a dangerous trend. One of greed, one where it becomes a dog eat dog world and power struggles and peer pressure strangles everyone.

Across our country, services are being charged more than what they are worth. Be it trips in an auto that used to cost Rs 15 but now cost Rs 30, or be it that apartment complex that should cost Rs 30 lakhs (considering old fashioned factors in determining house prices) but now touch half a crore, this trend is because of us that are ready to shell out more just because we have enough, regardless of whether it is justified or not. We do it only because we CAN.

If you thought this was bad enough, then there is the aspect of land hoarding. Many of my friends bought multiple pieces of land or a few houses spread all over the country, wherever they could lay their hands on, through friends, relatives, even brokers. They usually made tons of money in these deals, returns that were very very lucrative. I was kicking myself for not cashing in earlier and wondered why my money making skills were so poor. But in hindsight, I am thankful to have not done that. 

I presume - correct me if I am wrong here because I am not an expert in this subject but just thinking with common sense - that in doing this, we only jack up land prices all around us. True we earn some dough in the bargain, but if that poor police constable wants to buy a piece of land for his family, I think we would be helping him do that by controlling our hoarding tendencies. 

I could not resist but give this example. TATA launched a  low cost housing project called Shubh Griha in Mumbai. It was obvious that the project was aimed at people that could not afford tens of lakhs of rupees for a house, but had the dream of living in comfort and in a new house. A friend of mine was suggesting to buy property there for 'investment' purposes as the value is bound to spike up in a few years. Now, does that not defeat the purpose of those houses? Agreed, TATA did not mean to be an angel in building those houses, they are probably still ging to land in the hands of people who are out to make money, but since when did the thing that everyone wanted to do become the right thing? 

Do I sound like a communist? You economists and market analysts out there would know better. But unless someone gives me a convincing argument on why my presumptions above are wrong, I think controlling our greed for the sake of overall societal growth is very important. We should invest in that beautiful house, but stick to just one and not go for one each on the names of each of the household members, for the sake of 'investment.' We must buy that beautiful car, but stick to one or as many as truly necessary, and not go for one each for each of the kids for the sake of  maintaining societal 'status'. Once we as a society begin to think this way, and become sensitive to the layman's dreams and ambitions, we would all grow together as one. And that, my dear friends, is my vision of 'India Shining'.