Recently I had the good fortune to spend some time with one of the branch heads of Axis Bank. I say good fortune because I have in the recent years not met another person who is so patient and so committed to not only the job but to the person sitting across her table. The challenges I had been facing for the many months prior to my visit with one of my accounts were sincerely addressed and a process was put in place to get the resolutions within the next few days.
We got talking about life and its daily challenges and listening to her I soon realised that the people in corporate jobs don’t really have a life. Her typical day starts with leaving home at 8.30 am. So the hour before that is spent in preparing to leave. Her husband also leaves for work at the same time. In essence morning is not a time for them to converse or engage. They leave their young child with her parents, who luckily live in the same building. Can’t imagine what it would be like if they lived at some distance. The work day generally finishes for her not before 8.30 pm. Oh and I missed mentioning the commute time from home to work; about 25 minutes. Again she is lucky for such a short commute in a city like Mumbai. Not so easy for her husband, also in the banking industry. His office over an hour away, at Nariman Point, and he has been allotted clients as far away as Vasai, Thane, etc. So the travel can be gruelling. And don’t forget the wastage of resources. Doesn’t somebody at corporate and planning level care about the impact of the travel footprint.
So in essence it is only Sundays. And two Saturdays a month now, being in banking. This is all the time she can get for family, for life’s little chores, for managing the house, for shopping, and above it all perhaps some for herself and some with the man she loves. Surely it must affect that all so important intimate time with her spouse.
This ignites the thought in my head that in trying to pay for life and in trying to create wealth we are actually not living at all. Work was to be a means to an end and not the end in itself. Life has to be fun. We cannot be found to be running at the same spot and getting old.
Often I tell my wife that life has been designed completely wrongly. We should be having fun when we are younger and fitter and working as we get older. Someone, somewhere has to re-think this life format. We have to stop governments from taxing us and controlling us all the way from birth to death and in many countries even after death. Like in Monopoly we should all be given some financial credit and over time we can consume that and once that is getting over we can start working more and more seriously.
Why bother with legacies, and stamp on society when we actually never lived at all. Never saw the sun set. Never got to walk on the beach regularly. Never got to actually speak with the people around us. Never actually made an effort to make the world a better place.
“Legacy is a stupid thing! I don’t want a legacy.” — Bill Gates
In any case the current attack on humanity has brought home the point that we need to stop. Need to stop the damage. Need to stop and think. Need to reset our lives. Need to give the planet a chance to reclaim itself. Need to spend time with the people we love. Need to stop the needless and mindless pursuit of wealth. Need to look after the most vulnerable.
Written By Mohit Gupta
Week 13, March ’20
