I have the whole world with me, but i do require the stipend!

I personally feel that having a good family to support you, good friends to stand by you and most of all an open mind to the world will make u a happier person than anything else in this world. Ofcourse money plays a major role in it. But it is definitely not all about money, I know many people would agree to that. Nevertheless it is strange that we tend to respect people with wealth more than a wise and honest man under poverty line. There is this song in tamil- "oruvan oruvan mudhalali", Muthu, which has lyrics about money and man. It goes like this-"If money is not your servant, it will be your master. The covetous man cannot so properly be said to possess wealth, as that may be said to possess him". All i have learnt regarding money till now is, when a person's stomach is full, it doesnt matter if he is rich or poor. I have never wanted money in large amounts. It was just to satisfy my basic needs, but sometimes i feel those needs are needs of a rich guy when viewed from a poor's point of view. I can have 3-4 meals a day, sitting in a lab with ac, while a person below poverty line has to work his ass off to earn a single meal for himself and his family. Now we can see why Gods(if at all they exist...) take the sides of persons with wealth. If he had created us so that we could peacefully co exist, he should have given equal priority(=money+happiness) to all of us. But then again if he intended us mankind to sort out that difference and help each other, then man he has no brains! If he wanted us that way he should have induced such thoughts in us rather than making us so materialistic and money-craving barbarians. That makes us feel that we do what we want to do going against anything and everything if need be. Man is made by his belief, as he beleives so he is. (a quote from Gita... I am not religious nor god-loving, and neither do i believe in destiny) .Not many of my friends are interested in literal money. But come on tell me how many of us wont take up a job that offers twice as much as what we get now? Though we perfectly know that we have been living with this amount till now, and we are well off with this amount, we want more. Why? What for? Money was one of the reasons that forced me to take up this PhD. These thoughts come to us only because there are different strata of people when the society is characterised based on money. People from villages yearns to live a city-bred life. People from city(In India) want to live like someone in USA. How many of us have cousins and friends married to people in USA and other countries? Why? Is it because the guy is super brilliant? No , its because he has lots of money to sustain both of them and probably their off springs too. This kind of divide came up only because concept of money came in. Why is earning money given such prime importance in this world? I sometimes wonder, we never should have interrupted nature in any way. That is a different kind of thought process, coming back to the money mindedness of humans like me...
After a long wait by me and hari, the much awaited stipend came by today. And i should say the excitement has not settled down yet. It is probably because this is the first salary we have ever earned till now. Like all, i thought i too would make a list of things i am going to buy( consumerism...), how much i will send back home and of course not to forget the social responsibility of charity. I will be very glad to send money back home. My parents are everything for me. They never denied me anything.I used to demand stuff and get it done. They have sacrficed many of their needs just for the sake of us children.. I am what i am because of my parents only (and friends of course).I also would like to help few friends whom i feel require monetary help.But i have a strong feeling i should do some charity in some sense.I always wanted to do something for the differentially-abled. My dad is massively involved in this blind organisation for quite a while now. I could do something for it. But it is not sinking in, probably because they do get a lot of attention these days. I want to do good to some portions of the society that hitherto have been touched. I want to see somebody happy(and happy is definitely not just money, it is a feeling that there are some people who care about the fact that they exist and look upon them as equals) at the end of the day, and it should be routed through proper channels. If you guys have any suggestions i am ready to take it up. Just leave a comment. Of course I have not decided on how much i will be giving, but i thought let me at least start this process... I maybe wrong in many of the views i have put forth till now. My way of thinking and analysing things might be very irritating to some people, but i know one thing for sure, being money minded is not me!. Hari was telling me that day (quoting from a book -Phantoms in the brain), being morale, kind and loving is there in our neurons, not many realise it, its there in our genes. Finally for what have i been writing about all this? I need some change in my thought process. I need to realise the more i get richer the more somebody is getting poorer. In control systems for any system to be stable(bare with me i am an Electrical Engineer), there must be a feedback, more importantly a negative feedback. Similarily in life we need to have this negative feedback, for the whole world to be stable, and that is by sharing the things you have , losing something you have more(could be money..)and being open to everything and most of all being a human!

me@ntu.edu.sg

Someone had said, "In the book of life the answers are not in the back", but i say at least the hints are there in the back. I am here at NTU (Nanyang Technological University), Singapore, and I will be spending the next 5 years of my life at this place. I reached singapore on 17th morning at around 9 am. After nature calls and calls to india me and hari got out of the changi airport at 10 am and took a cab to NTU. We reached the International House, Students service centre, NTU and we were humbly overwhelmed by the hospitality here. The student volunteers took us through everything we needed in the beginning. We had to pay the fees for accommodation and fill up certain forms. We both got separate apartments at Nanyang Heights, and were dropped by a mini excursion bus to the apartment.
My apartment had 5 Single rooms, a kitchen(an oven, a refrigerator, and an electric heater), a dining hall( with a dining table),a hall , a washing place(with a washing machine) and 2 bathrooms( in one there is a jacuzzi). The room allotted to me was SR 1(Single room). It was a capacious room with a writing table and a showcase attached, a cot with mattress and a cupboard which was pretty spacious. I kept my stuff and took a bath.
After taking bath and getting freshened up we had to run to the NTU medical centre where we underwent medical tests like eye test, blood test, urine test and chest x-ray. After that I had nothing to do but explore the place. And me and hari walked a lot that day and got some necessary stuffs. Singapore is so neat and clean. People who litter the roads and spit in india dont even think of doing that here.Its because they will be fined if caught littering, which brings in a fear not to do it. India is one place where anything and everything can happen. This is what people from abroad think. If we want to change it we should learn from these people. I was talking with the Cab driver on the way to NTU, and i just said the roads are so clean and neat here. He replied in his crisp malay accent, "Oh Yes! People pay a huge sum as road tax so people except better roads. Every 6 months its digged up and new roads are laid, And watering the plants and trees on either side of the road is one inportant thing". We too pay Tax( Although some do not), but we dont expect anything from the government. We are submissive to everything. We get easily satisfied and adapted to any situation and condition. If at all we can change the plight in India we should demand. There might be people asking me who are you to say that? You are not even in India,You went out of India and are cribbing about the conditions back home. I have just got one answer to them, Yes I am outside India but that does not mean I am not an Indian. And i have come abroad just now, there is lot of time left. Time will tell those people if I come back or not. I am not telling them sternly i will come back after 5 years for sure, They would retort back saying everybody says this. Anyway coming back to me at singapore..
One more thing i noticed here was consumerism. Although not as much as USA, but still people equate happiness with material possessions. There are lot of entertainment centres and food courts. Tonnes and tonnes of cash and electrical power is being used up. All the transport systems, MRTs(Mass-Rapid Transit)(Metro trains), buses and taxis are air-conditioned. For a country which is smaller than Chennai probably uses up almost thrice as much power. Thats because people demand and want such conditions. Thats why probably developing countries are still developing. Its not like there are no plus points about this place, its jus that everything here is almost perfect. They do not probably realise how much this affects a farmer or a normal person in under developed countries. These people s demands will get satisfied and supply will increase. A typical case of rich get richer and poor get poorer...And being perfect is not my cuppa tea!