"Love like you have never been hurt,
work like you don't need the money,
and always dance like no one is watching !!! "
......... Expru's email signature.
Like the intermissions of meaning less hindi movies, her signature remains the best part of her emails. It had always struck my eyes, and today it had struck my heart. Its because of the second phrase in it , "Work like you don't need the money".
About 2 years back , dad's old friends visited us one evening. After all of them became happy ( it required two pegs of scotch whisky and uninterrupted stories from their good old days ), one of the Gulf-Returned uncle , asked me ...
"Given a choice , what will you take ? Job that offers better salary or one that offers better social life ?"
Its a tough question to answer, when dad is sitting right opposite. Especially when he had been directly and indirectly pushing the need for me to search for "better" job. Mustering all my courage , I replied ..
"Uncle ( read Ankilll ) , I'm all for a job , which keeps me happy ."
Dad just looked straight at me. " The guy is in office 24x7 , visits home rarely , never makes a phone call , doesn't have a single penny as savings.... and says his job keeps him happy ", he might have thought . But before he could open his mouth to voice his thoughts , the dear "Ankilll" declared ..
"This is the new generation. Kids who are not ready to slog it out in the deserts of gulf, sacrificing the comforts of being at home , or being with family. Kids who don't run after money."
"What have we done in our life ? We worked in the hot sun, worked dusty deserts and worked like pigs... and got a lot money. At the sametime , I never saw my kids growing , I was not around when my parents fell ill. These new gen kids are smarter, they are not ready to sacrifice their happiness and family life."
I stood up , paid my respect to the Ankill for saving my evening, and sneaked away as the old buddies continued their stories and drinks.
Today , the same question came in a different bottle, "Would l prefer a higher salary or better living comforts ?". My answer was prompt , "Salary... is only secondary . Give me more comforts and I would be even more happy. !!!". Expru's signature line was there in my mind , "Work as if you don't need the money ".
I asked the same question to few of my colleagues who curiously replied in the same tone , "Money" . I twisted the question in many different ways, but the answer remained the same .. "Money". I felt that, these kids are crazy. Kerala literally lost a generation, who went after Gulf money . And these kids are following their footsteps . Uh !!!!
Back in the flat , sitting all alone , I thought about this all over again. Many want a job which gives higher salary. Sojish , does not require more money. That I'm sure of ....But why ?.
Because I can live my life with whatever salary I get .
So that pretty much takes care of my bike trips and occasional feasts.
Because I don't have any liabilities.
I'm not buying anything for home ( other than the aromatic Palmolive Handwash which we don't get in TVM) .
Because I was always over-confident,
Dad can still look after me even if I don't have a job.
So, I'm what I'm because my dad literally slogged it out in deserts. On a hindsight, I now realise that it was just because of that generation who were ready to sacrifice their comforts , that we the present X Gen can live the life the way we want it.
I stand up once again. In love for my dad. "Dad , I'm so lucky to be born as your son."
The question still remains , what should one select ?
Higher Salary?
Better comforts?
I guess , for happiness in job its needs lot more than comforts and cash ... like the values, ethics , dreams , passion, sharing....
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