THAT APPETITE FOR A FREE LUNCH






Jio may be a smart – rather ‘clever’ – business idea. But, ‘Jio free-lunch’ mindset is not. The old wisdom applies here: ‘There is no free lunch in this world’.

Somebody, always, pays for your free lunch… Often, it is you who pays for the free lunch without you knowing about it!

Weeks ago, Tarun*, one of my eleventh-standard students, argued with me for over fifteen minutes over the Jio free-offer. “Sir, you should go for it… What is wrong with you?”

“Nothing wrong with me beta,” I convinced my student, “I am happy with my Vodafone.”

“But, sir, why don’t you grab what is free?” Tarun pressed, “Why pay when you get it free?”

“There is nothing free in this world, dear,” I tried playing a philosopher, “Someone pays for it.”

“I don’t care who pays for it, sir,” Tarun was clear about what he was talking about, “as long as I don’t pay for it.”

That was weeks ago, when Jio was sending everyone dizzy… Now, after crossing - what Mukesh Ambani proudly claims as - 100-million-subscribers mark, yes, now, it is told that they are going to stop the free lunch from coming April… only a little subsidy here and there… but, free? NO!

“What are you going to do, Tarun?” I asked my student, this morning.

“Stop it!”

“Stop what?”

“The free lunch!”

“Wow, a smart boy,” I exclaimed, “after taking full advantage of Mukeshbhai’s free-lunch, haan?”

“Whoever it is, sir!”

Nobody gives anything free, never, ever… let alone someone like Reliance. They know how to do a profitable business more than any one of us here do. If this much cannot go into our heads, our heads are filled with bullock’s dung and not brains!

The craving to get things ‘free’ in life, in my view, is a bad mentality. If you are enjoying a benefit, you better appreciate its value and pay for it. And, if they say ‘it is free’… I suggest, you stay away from it…

That appetite to fill your stomach with a free lunch is not a healthy appetite… Taken to the extremes, it makes you an unhealthy human being… Even a langar in a temple or a gurudwara should be accepted with a mind and heart worthy of receiving it. Else, what is the difference between a beggar and a devotee?

Harsh words?

Mukesh Ambani is a hardcore businessman… He knows what his Jio is up to… My 17-year-old student, Tarun, too, is a hard-to-crack customer…

What about you?

I, for one, have stayed away from the free lunch, you see.

 * Name changed

GERALD D’CUNHA
Pic.:  The People's Cube/Internet

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