Middle Class should learn to be Poor to become Rich

Middle class always have big dreams. To get a great lifestyle and recognition.

They are always so close to realizing their dreams that, they want to reach in to that category ASAP. Look at the situation - Rich people drive Merc, Middle Class drives Ford Ikon, Rich people go to 5 Star discs, Middle Class goes to an average disc, rich people have foreign destinations to spend holidays, middle class seldom does that or compromises with Indian destinations (not at all bad choice anyway).

So the line is not very thick and it is achievable.

Middle class is an intelligent group, we are hard working, rational thinking and stick to ethics (most of the time) right ingredient to make it big.

We are a large population; however, we haven't made it so far? WHY?

Why only few among us have been able to pull that up and follow their dreams?

On the other hand if you look at Rich people; they become richer and richer everyday .They take decisions and take risks because they don't have anything to loose.

Similarly the poor class people, they don't have anything - actually - to loose anything and hence are free to take risk. They are ready to do just anything at anytime and anywhere to make it happen. And lucky people do get there.

But what stops the middle class?

The risk!

We have a little bit of everything in us. We have a little money to makeour living, a little luxury to make our neighbours feel jealous, a little style to flaunt ourselves in misery. Even if we have a lot of knowledge and intelligence, we rather use that to save the other little things we have rather than maximizing them - We don't want to take risk.

Rich people have too much to loose anything and hence they don't fear, on the contrary, poor people have nothing to loose - so they are free to take the risk.

But the middle class, the fear of loosing the "little bit" we have, makes us fear doing anything.

We teach same things to our kids as well. We tell them to get in to a good college, get a good education, get a decent job, find a decent girl, get married and settledown, raise kids and teach them the lessons "we taught you"!

Our kids are not allowed to make mistakes which are human, we all believe in following the line.

I sometimes admire the Western culture - not for their "I don't care" attitude, but for their thoughtfulness in letting their kids make their own choices and take risks.

People in US like to work with start up firms rather than working with a great brands as there is more learning experience. But in India, we are deeply in love with the established brands - doesn't matter even if we are doing nothing there.

As soon as you get a job and your relatives come to know it, they will start pestering you to recommend their kins for jobs, even if they do not qualify for one!

For Heaven's sake, please promote talent - not tagging.

I spoke with many students recently who wanted to do engineering or go for some other "traditional" course. I asked them why they wanted to do that and was suprised by the answer!

"Just because their parents want them to do that. "

I have seen my colleagues, who after their graduation have changed their profession and some
even after job!

What a waste of time! This is an information age and if we cannot provide our kids necessary information - how can we expect them to make good decisions?

If we don't allow them to take risk, how can we expect innovation and creativity to grow in our country?

Sometimes it gives me a pain to think that, we believe a lot in FREE LUNCH.

Some great leaders gave us freedom and we want to enjoy that. Some visionaries thought of setting up industries, and we are happy doing jobs there.

Some creative American thought of outsourcing and we are looking for easy jobs to make our living.

When will we rise above this mentality?

If we always fear of loosing, when are we going to take the risk, wich is worth taking?

What is our future then?

If not, we should stop dreaming of becoming richer!

The Middle Class today should learn to be Poor before thinking of being Rich!

The Unique Sculpture

Once there was a sculptor, married with two beautiful kids. He was very talented artist and had power to mould ugly rocks into beautiful testimonies of his imagination. People liked him a lot and he used to amuse them with different designs and artifacts he created every evening. Every house in that area was heavenly decorated with creations of the sculptor. Be it any festival in the year or any special occasion, everyone wanted the sculptor to design things for them.

People came with their imaginations and raw outlines of what they wanted and the sculptor used to cast his imaginations to shape those outlines and fill with beautiful colors from nature inspiring life into the ideas. There was no one unaware of his capabilities and there were times when people got used to him. His work became more a lifestyle and habit than amusement. The town in which they lived was recognized by the unique creativity and blissful patterns.

The sculptor had everything he wanted, food, shelter, clothes and sweets to treat his family quite often; until one day, a fellow town citizen came asking to design a lamp carved in a stone which would act as multiple light sources through the pores specialy designed in it. The sculptor took the challenge as he knew he could do it. Weeks of diligent hard work made him create a unique design which no town around has and he was very happy to see the results. However, beauty lies with the person who sees it. The fellow citizen never liked it – as it was too heavy and could not see the brilliance he expected. The sculptor was taken aback – as this was the first time his work was questioned. Soon, this became a news in the town and everyone was amazed for this incident without giving him a second chance. Although, people never questioned his talent, but they got this strange feeling that how could this happen?

The sculptor was depressed and not happy with what happened. He put another few weeks on redesigning the lamp and finally presented the second copy to the fellow citizen. This time it was light weight and produced more brilliance. The fellow citizen was surprised – and apologized for all bad things he said to the sculptor. He paid him heavily for his brilliant work and offered some traditional gifts to please him. The sculptor gave him a pale smile and took the presents but he did not appear very happy about it.

The sculptor was hurt to his self-respect as no one ever questioned his work before. So he took an oath that he will prove to the town that he is and will always remain the best sculptor around and create a Unique Sculpture.

Next day, he left early in the morning from his home and started walking towards the barren lands where usually heavy rocks were lying. After a days walk, he could identify a huge rock which was unimaginably big and immovable. Suddenly, something clicked in his mind and he decided to start his work on that. He was frustrated and fuming to show his vim to his town’s citizens.

He took out his scalpel, hammer and other crafting tools and climbed at the top of the rock. With the Sun exactly over his head, he hit the first hammer towards proving his verve.

Days past, nights awake, thirsty evenings and hungry dawns – he forgot everything but the Unique Sculpture. His family was worried and so were other people in the town, they tried to find him everywhere but nowhere they could find him.

On the other end, the sculptor was busy carving his Unique Sculpture, he slid all over the rock to carve every corner and hit every hammer with precision and care. Weeks after the work, he was still frustrated as he was lying over the rock and continuously hammering. He did not even see how his work was shaping up – he was just too involved and angry.

Many weeks past a passerby spotted a man climbed on a massive rock and hammering and scalping continuously. When he reached closed to it, he was flabbergasted to see the beautifully crafted portrait of the Queen. The portrait was embellished with carefully polished stones which resembled the precious jewelry of the Queen. Her hair touched her face and eyes looking straight in to eyes of its people leaving a lasting majestic impression. Every feature of her face was so detailed that one can easily imagine the portrait speaking any moment and deliver a command. The portrait was so unique as it appeared as an emblem of Royal Command.

The passerby who was heading towards another town for business suddenly started running back to the town and informed everyone about the Unique Sculpture. Everyone including the Queen herself was curious to see the sculpture and they started moving out of the town to see the sculpture.

The sculptor was busy giving finishing touch to the sculpture and suddenly he could hear thousands of footsteps coming closer. He tried to take a look at what is happening and was surprised to see so many people coming towards him.

He quickly came down and stood infront of his Unique Sculpture while other reached near him.

From the crowd, the security personnel of Queen cleared the way for her and the Queen came out and stood right infront of the sculptor. The sculptor bowed in respect and touched her feet.

The Queen said, we are very proud to have you in our State and we are announcing so much money and all luxuries of life that can make living for your family through their lives. Moreover, from now on you will be recognized as the best sculptor in the history and your Unique Sculpture will be placed right in the center of the town. The gates will be open from visitors from the world to visit to your creation and appreciate it.

The sculptor was still amazed as he could not understand what is happening and looked at the Queen with surprise. The Queen asked him to turn around. He did, he was shocked to the deepest part of his body to see what he has created, astonishing, magnificent, breathtaking symbol of power, hard work, dedication, passion, devotion and righteousness was engraved before him. He could not believe himself.

He was happy, as he was rewarded for what he deserved and that his hard work paid well one day. Although his was work was not ignored even before but people got used to his work and that he had to come out of his comfort zone and doing same work again and again.