Why did I do that...!!

In my last blog, http://ggnath.blogspot.com/2010/07/who-devil-is-ggnath.html I had mentioned the incident where I stamped my feet on my first ever salary cover. Let us start our discussion on that.

My friend 'Subbu' Subramanian has disagreed with that. You may read his comment on the same page. This blog is more of an explanation of what I think about money, and why I did that act.!

First, 'Subbu' is right in his mentioning that Money is just a tool. Its only man who adds value to it. But, he contradicts his own expression when he earlier said, money along with sex and love as the greatest virtue.

Lets just draw the distinction here, shall we? First, Sex. Sex, as a biological necessity is to be respected. And cherished. But, when it comes to partner....!!! The fight between two or more members of the species to mate with that one attractive member is what makes the matter complex. In all the other species, the alpha male has to prove its superiority over other members to attract the 'mate', by whatever way works for that species. In Humans, we found a way around. 'Marriage'. Its an ingenious way to solve the issue for stone age people. Unfortunately, we are still having it. Will talk about this more elaborately in the future blogs.

Next, Love. Love is just an emotion like any other. But, its completely exclusive of 'altruism'. People give more respect to love than it deserves. And I believe people confuse love with lust, desire, passion and greed. I will define this later.

Now, to the topic I want to discuss here in this blog, Money.

Will start with history. In the earlier time when humans (especially homo sapiens - not homo erectus and homo neanderthalensis) were just "hunter - gatherers", there was no need for a tool for transaction of value. They all lived together, with the strongest of the members going for the hunt and feeding the young and women. Then as evolution history goes, we developed intelligence, and used that to hunt, by building tools. Even then, humans lived in close groups. Within the geographical limit they covered, they never had the need or chance to interact with other groups. (It is still a mystery to anthropologists as to how human species spread across the globe) They kept moving in groups for food, and when encountered threat or competition from rival groups for land which offers better food, they started to form a close bond within their group and hatred with anyone from rival group who competed for food. This in-group versus out-group rivalry is a very common feature in all species. At that time, any mouth competing for the food available was perceived as a threat to your own survival.

Then came agriculture and better survival tools. Man was able to defend himself from other animals by these tools. (See, Engineers like me, saved the world then too ) Agriculture made sure that humans survived better and also made sure that food was available throughout the weather cycle, come rain or shine. This prolonged human's ability to live longer. This, and the advancement of human language and other reasoning abilities, led to civilizations settling down along rivers building a substantial settlement. This led to work other than hunting, and not everybody can hunt. But, some were good at tool building and other stuff, rather than hunting or agriculture. Now, with growing population, you need to ensure that evrybody puts efforts for their food. But, now comes the question. How do you define, who deserves what, for their work? And watch out here..... Until this time, the tool of transaction never occurred. It was only about food and survival, and what you can do to get your food. So, at this time, based on the complexity of your work, and exclusivity of your skill, you can trade with the farmer. (I am still not sure, how they worked out, who owns the farmland and how they defined land ownership, and inherited it) The chain went like this.... Some brilliant guy worked for a farmer on other stuff like building him a house, or providing him farm tools, or defense tools and got paid in food grains. Then another less brilliant guy worked for this brilliant guy for some less complicated tasks, like carrying the tools around for him, or fetching raw materials for his tools and got paid from this brilliant guy in, again, food grains.

Even when money in various forms (peg, shell, coins, promissory notes, et al....) is used in place of 'barter' system for several thousand years, it was not until recent centuries, that 'commodity money' is used for trading. This 'commodity money' is valued (typically) against Gold reserves and its demand. And this value is set as a relative value for all the commodities to be traded. This is where all the problem began.

When humans were trading under 'barter' system, they only traded what they had in hand. For example, I would trade a food crop, only after I cultivate it. So, the actual value of trade depended on the value of the produce traded. When 'money' is involved, future is involved. A future with uncertainty. With speculation. And promises (sometimes unfulfilled).

Of all the species in Earth, humans are the only ones with a clear vision of future. We are the only ones, who do things, which are not necessary for survival. This idea of future is involved in money. So, rather than thinking about what to have now, to survive now, we started thinking about, what should we need to have for an uncertain future. This uncertainty has triggered humans to do things differently. Rather than trading what they actually have, humans started bargaining on promises. Of course, this has driven the desire to have better future and has accelerated growth in terms of luxurious and easy living.

This is what I tried (and still do) to avoid in my career. For a promise of better pay, I wouldn't let my decision waver. I am now making enough money to have a decent living, though I have not paid a single penny to my parents (until I write this very sentence). But, earning for my living is not a primary concern in deciding my career path. I wanted to be sure of, not let the idea of a better future influence my career decisions. I am a big spender of course. Until now, my bank savings account always read zero balance on 18th of every month (bill payment day for my credit card.....). But, if I start to make compromises for a better pay, one day I will end up at a point of regret in my career. Even after staying a bit stubborn, and switching many jobs, I haven't achieved what I set to achieve in my career. Had I compromised for a better pay, I won't be able to forgive myself when I look back from my deathbed. That's why I pledged myself on my first salary cover, stamping on it, reminding me of the actual value of that paper currency.

And I am happy to state that, so far I have not been running after money, and keep money, and the desire to earn under my control.

When last year I had a job offer for almost double the amount of my then salary, with more perks in a Texas, U.S. based job, I rejected it, since it didn't meet my career interests. When casually mentioning this to my friend, he advised me that, I should have accepted that offer. His argument? "Anyway, its more or less the same job profile you are having now (which incidentally, I hate), with double the money, additional perks along with U.S. stay, then what's the problem...?!". To which I stunned him with a spur of the moment comment (which I later regretted, since there was a chance of him taking it personally, but luckily, my friend understands my passion for machines).

And the comment, (Content warning!!!!!!!)

"Just because you are raped once, it is not okay to do prostitution, no matter how good the money is"