Saturday, December 29, 2007

Money matters


Sometimes I get worried about the money power that is so visible in India today. In the times of changing values money has become the king. Make the moolah no matter how and one has steamrolling power. The clout is used in many ways.

Businessmen grease palms with money and get things done which ordinary citizens find impossible, and politicians use money to buy or liquidate their opponents. No political party can survive without funds of different hues. And so on.

‘Quotation Raj’ (paying a price to beat up or kill a man or torch his house or kidnap someone) rules the day. The goon world is used even by the major banks to twist the arms of, say, a poor citizen who defaults a Rs.10,000 installment on a house loan.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has recently brought in regulations to control such criminal methods used by financial institutions, but how effective they would be remains to be seen. This might sound pessimistic but the banks could even offer ‘bill collection service’ to its customers at low charges. After all, they already have the infrastructure.

It is good to have money. Like these anonymous lines say,

‘Money is honey, my little sonny,

And a rich man’s joke is always funny.’

But what prompted me to write this piece was another poem. Though it mentions England, it has universal implication:

Wealth, howsoever got, in England makes
Lords of mechanics, gentlemen of rakes;
Antiquity and birth are needless here;
‘Tis impudence and money makes a peer.

This was written three hundred years ago by Daniel Defoe (1660 – 1731).

Ends.

Also see: Tax savings & doing good

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

"And a rich man’s joke is always funny."

very sad that people always try their best to keep a rich man in good humour. they go to any lengths to do so. they do not mind looking follish in otehr's eyes. perhaps they believe that the rich man would make a mention of them in his will!

"Antiquity and birth are needless here;
‘Tis impudence and money makes a peer"

you say that this is a 300 yr old line! so we can imagine that money has always ruled people's decisions in making friends! very sad.

as mr ram said in one of his comments on my blog, people need to see life beyond money. yes, only then can people enjoy peace of mind. perhaps there are only the chosen few!

Unknown said...

empoweringall, thank you for the pertinent comment. Ram is absolutely right in saying that people need to see life beyond money.