“Your balance is Rs. 108.84
Regards **** Bank.”
I stare.
I swallow.
I mentally try to remember where I spent money (was it the ice-cream or the movie?).
I have a mock conversation with my mom in my mind.
I blame the fiscal deficit (even though I have no idea how that is responsible for the Rs. 108.84 in my account).
In Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Charlie’s grandfather says, “Money! There’s plenty of money in the world. Why would you throw something so rare away for something as common as money?” And little Charlie nods his head and gets a Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory in the end.
Plenty of us get the old man’s thought but here lies the problem – where’s my chocolate factory?
I don’t care whether the government’s in debt. Or the short-tempered ministers in the Parliament can’t decide on the budget. Or that the FDI didn’t work out. The ordinary citizen does not really give two winks about those things. The housewife cares about the prices going up and the college student worries about the buses striking because of that which makes him spend more money on transport for just one day. The man behind a desk at a bank cares about his kids’ rising school fees and then there is the parent who leaves his/her home hoping a different currency will simplify the numbers in the ledger book.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that the budget is unimportant or the government being in debt is not a thing to worry about. They are news for concern but the question is – when you balance you account book at the end of the month do you blame yourself for the expenses and where all you could have pinched OR do you blame the government for its losses?
Everybody at the end of the day is selfish. We accept that. And then there is our never satisfied sense for showing opulence. We buy certain things for the sake of buying and then grip when we’re short of money for buying things we actually require. But hey, the budget is to blame, so bite me.
We say there is corruption in the country and undeserving people get the money. Do they take it because of need or greed? Lame question but really, what is the answer?
Am I ranting? Yes, kind of. Why? I don’t know. I don’t think blaming my bank balance for fits of anger is very mature. But then again, the government’s in debt, so yeah.
