Money and Status

Susmita was considered to be the virtual head of the spices company run by her husband Soumyashri Pradhan. Soumyashri was a typical Odia entrepreneur who maintained regal airs and seemed to be convinced that every worker employed by him was bent on cheating him. Their two children knew their parents were rich. They had three costly cars. A Range Rover,A BMW and a Mercedes Benz! They had gone to each boy's head. Their parents were ultra rich and it was necessary to maintain their distinctive airs. Susmita was a paragon of unparalleled beauty. Each member of the family including the children possessed an iPhone of the highest quality.

I am an English tutor and had the misfortune to come in contact with this rogue family. My supreme concern was monetary and I tried to pay no attention to their hubris and hauteur. I started teaching them and when I smelled something unacceptable in their behaviour, I began worrying. The worst of all was, I didn't get my monthly payment regularly. I had to remind the good lady about it in the humblest possible way. After that she made the payment not quickly but after a little bit of delay. Sometimes if she happened to see me she pretended she had not.  

I have made disastrous visits to many a big man in the city of Bhubaneswar. They usually as a rule have made it a point to make each and every ordinary visitor wait for them at least 15 minutes.  

These rascals have a conviction in their cheap hearts that a certain distance from the masses is bound to produce some positive effect. The boy and the girl were clever cheats. They seemed not at all concerned about their future prospects.

(Here let me tell you that I also avoid people who try to ingratiate themselves with me with an evil purpose. 10 out of every 10 of them are gay. Even when you tell them you are not gay, they leave no stone unturned to say to you," I love you. " The latter sentence is the one I hate the most of all things on earth. I think 99 percent of youngsters today are gay. My hatred for gay people is intense and strong. I call them "dogs. ")

However, one day the children's father approached me and gave me a piece of coconut that had been offered to Lord Ganesh. He did a good deal of talking. I thought he was the best man on earth.  

But the next time I visited him he refused to look at me. I offered him a "Namaskar Sir. " He resolutely rubbished my greeting. These rascals are in fact unpredictable. The boy Ajatasatru Abhigyan and the girl Soyamsiddha Suvarna gave me a good deal of trouble. None of them had the patience to sit for even thirty minutes. Both were in class nine. Despite my best efforts they did badly in the final exams.

Both the children frequently used the term "entrepreneur" when I allowed them a little 

leisure. Their parents shifted the entire blame to me and a companion of mine who taught them mathematics and science. They had just managed to pass their exams securing terrible marks.  

Each of them scolded me personally inviting me to their house. They seemed to think a good teacher has magical powers to infuse knowledge and wisdom into the heads of asses and 

donkeys. The woman and the man had asked me again and again where I lived. They had told me to return the entire amount of 72 thousand rupees they had paid me over a twelve month long period. . . . ! My wife had argued with them about returning the amount and had tried to din into them the truth that if the students were totally indifferent to their studies, no teacher, not even God would be capable to help them score well. There were some hot exchanges between the children's father and my wife. I was roused but my wife had silenced me saying that they were rich and had money and they could do anything to ruin us. A lot of years went by but I had not forgotten the incident.  

Now my wife and I were earning together enough to live comfortably. She had become the Principal of a prestigious public school and I had ten of my books of poetry and fiction published. The days were happy and pleasant. One afternoon she called me when I was having a siesta after a heavy sumptuous meal. She told me watch a well known news channel.  

I watched the channel on YouTube and was poleaxed to see the photos of the spice merchant and his wife. They had been caught red handed in a case of drug-trafficking. The police had seized cannabis worth nine crores of rupees. They had a plan to send it all to Kashmir.

That night when we were seated on the floor of the dining room to eat, I raised the topic. Let me tell you that my wife, my daughter and I always sit down on small mats on the floor to have our meals. I really love eating sitting on the floor. I have a fierce dislike for phrases like "dining tables," "sofas", "air conditioning", and "costly clothes," "fashionable shoes ,etc. I strongly hate these things because it's manageable to avoid wasting money on them. I tell you all this because I want to highlight how the rich foolishly waste their money to show up and I had seen them all in that drug dealer's house.  

The rat-race for money making is hundred percent inspired and motivated by the evil and conceited desire to project oneself as better placed in society than the others. Whenever I see a man in a BMW or Mercedes Benz I consider him no better than a thief. Only a lesser human with an unfeeling heart does waste money even when he knows people around him are diseased and hungering.

I wanted to have some fun and dialled Soumyashri Pradhan's personal number. He disconnected my calls twice. He received my third call. I said, "How are you Sir? What about Madam? "

"Who are you? "he asked dryly.

"Sir,you have forgotten me?I am Chitta Sir. . . . I taught your children English when they were in class 9. Can you remember me?"

"O shit. . . . " came the reply. Though caught with proofs, they strongly denied the charges. After a month they went to jail. The politician who had been fighting for them had died an unpredictable death.