WHAT GOES UP MUST COME DOWN

 



“The best security is invisible.”

Bruce Schneier

 

In Feb., 1991, I was 32 and still single. Though I was at the peak of my career, and though I taught my students ‘Commerce’ subjects, I was poor in managing my own finances. I had started The Dawn Club barely two years earlier, and I spent my earnings gladly on activities, which others would chide as unprofitable and unwise…

I still remember the face, though not the name,  of this particular T.Y. B. Com student of mine. One day, after the class, he approached me and pleaded: “Sir, I have just become a LIC agent… Please take a small policy to help me complete my minimum target.”

The young boy made me buy this ‘Jeevan Dhara’ policy with an annual premium of Rs. 3,000. I had to pay it for 17 years. At the end of its term, I had the option to withdraw the ‘Give Amount’ (approx. 1,45,500) or opt for a monthly pension of Rs, 1,455 for my entire life. I opted for monthly pension… which came to a savings account I had opened with New India Co-operative Bank. I opened a Recurring Deposit account with this bank with a monthly deposit of Rs. 4,000, which would become around 1,17,000 or so in some 27-28 months… The bank, being a poor man’s bank, proudly called this scheme as ‘Lakhpati Account’. For the last 16 years, my humble monthly premium, with a little addition from myside, put into RD Lakhpati scheme, continued … Every 27-28 months, I used this maturity amount for a short family vacation or some family function etc. The present edition with this bank would have made me a Lakhpati, once again, on coming April-Fool day. But, as you must have guessed it by now, the Bank has plunged into a deep trouble and RBI has barred it from all further activities. This means, I have to wait and watch, whether my lakh will come back to me or not… When, how much etc., the more I asked, I would lose my sleep…

I would rather abide by the good-ole Zen advice: “If it comes back, it’s yours; if it doesn’t, it never was”…

So much for the security - those chhoti si ashas of people like you and me - you see…





My student, who made me buy his first policy, I am sure, must have gone places. I don’t know, whether he had put a lot of his money in share market… Well, there has been a bloodbath there at the Dalal Street, I heard…

I am not affected, directly though, by the bloodbath at the Dalal Street. Nor am I directly affected by these bizarre things Donald Trump is presently doing, from the sunrise to the sunset, every day…

But, yesterday, when I saw the tense showdown between him and Ukrainian President, while the whole world watched,  one thing I was sure of: All the money in the world, all the arsenal at your disposal, and every visible ‘safety thing’ under your belt – yes, they can never give you the feeling of true safety and security in life…

The sense of power, that the President of the mightiest nation derived, sitting there in the Oval office – yes, it’s just an illusion…




Banks collapse… Nations collapse… All visible things do… While you feel the quiet presence of security within – regardless of the ups and downs – the rises and falls – of the illusionary stuff of the world around…

 

GERLAD D’CUNHA

Pic’s: pixabay/ 1. desdelafe.mx.

Video: Justh

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