I WONDER WHAT ANTS DO ON RAINY DAYS

"I wonder what ants do on rainy days?"

― Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood

It's raining relentlessly outside. Like Haruki Murakami, I, too, wonder what ants do on rainy days!

Two days ago, while I was teaching Sharan, my eyes fell on his smartphone...

 "New one?" I asked Sharan, feeling the beautiful baby in my hand.

"Yes Sir," Sharan replied.

"What is special about it?" I asked not realizing, that I was exposing my lack of general knowledge.

"Sir, you don't know about this phone?" yelled Varun, Sharan's friend, almost mocking at my ignorance. "It's the latest Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus... It has five cameras... It can charge your phone just by placing yours on its back... etc. etc.," the young gun kept blazing.

"How much did you pay for it?" I asked Sharan.

"Sir, everybody knows about its price," Sharan said, "It starts from 80,000."

"So, you paid one lakh?" I asked.

"Very close to it," Sharan replied.

Well, if you do not know who Sharan is and who funded his new baby, let me introduce him to you. He is a  S.Y. B.Com student. God has been kind to this young man, so far... His parents are doing well financially... His father did not want Sharan to waste his time, and, hence, got him a job as an intern in one of the multinational companies pulling his strings. After six months or so of internship, Sharan was absorbed by the company as a full-time employee. Even though the job-profile  was a basic one, the salary was not... It was close to forty thousand per month!

It's interesting to see how a young man - the kind made 'notorious' by our Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, recently' - deals with such a windfall! Our Sharan had decided to spend close to a lakh on latest S10 Plus and another forty thousand or so on a wrist watch...

Tomorrow is another day, Sir! Who has seen the 'tomorrow's sun', any way?... Yes, Kal ka suraj kis ne dekhaji?

I remembered 'the King of Good times', Vijay Mallya and 'the Dream Merchant' Nirav Modi. I, also, remembered watching on social media  the recent Ganeshotsav glittery at Mukesh Ambani's palace, Antalia... and, of course, the inimitable wedding celebrations of his son and daughter some months ago... 

I only said, 'I remembered'. I shudder to question them... Whose money is it, anyway? They earn it, they spend it. Therefore, who am I to raise my eyebrows or  finger? 

I, also, remembered Mukeshbhai's younger brother Anilbhai... and their late father, Dhirubhaiji,  who was a petrol-pump attendant before he started it all...

I remembered my mother. When I was a litlle boy, back in our village, we had no electricity... The firewood was, always, stored in advance for the 'rainy days'. Not just the firewood, the onions, red-chillies and many other necessities, too. Money was hardly there to save for the rainy days. But, some coins, always, made their way into the dumb boxes... The ladies of the house quietly  hid some here and there, you see!

I remembered my another student, Kiran. He is presently in twelfth standard. Some months ago, when he had to be enrolled in my class, his elder sister, Simi, had come along. I had taught Simi, too. some years ago. After completing her graduation, last year, she had taken up a job. That morning, she drew three cheques from her salary account to pay for her brother's fees. (In three installments). By the way, her monthly salary, I learnt, was around one-fourth of Sharan's monthly salary!

I remembered my own situation. Last week, I bought an earphone and a small portable speaker from one of the local showrooms. Together, they caused a hole of 'rupees 5,859 and 50 paise only' in my pocket. When my wife saw these new 'luxuries',  she gave me a long sermon about the 'rainy days' and my 'reckless' spending! 

I shared my shaadi-ka-laddoo experience with Sharan and teased him, "Baccha, bach ke rehna!" 

Incidentally, today, I was teaching Sharan the concept of Pay-back Period from the chapter, Capital Budgeting. "If you invest one lakh in an asset which is expected to bring you an even cash-inflow (Cash profit) of Rs. 20,000 per annum, in how many years will you be able to recover the initial investment amount?" I asked Sharan.

"In five years," answered Sharan effortlessly.

"That's what the  pay-back period means," I explained to Sharan. Then, I pulled his leg: "Beta, can you calculate the pay-back period of your one-lakh investment?"

I asked Sharan one last question from outside our syllabus: "Can you tell me what ants do on rainy days?"


Hello, a Millennial's economy seldom slows down!

GERALD D'CUNHA

Pic.: Pixabay

Note 1. Students' names changed

Note 2. I have not cross-checked on the prices of the phone and the watch mentioned in this story (This is students' version!)

Disclaimer: 'Any Resemblance to Actual Persons, Living or Dead, is Purely Coincidental'!!!