By Carey Suante

The Wonder Years:  This is in part finding my own self, as much as learning more about how experiences and incidents in one’s life shape him to become the man he is today. And, hopefully, those of you still in High School and College will learn from my mistakes and other experiences!

As I said previously in my first post of Wonder Years (although the heading was kind of irrelevant to the content; that’s one reason NOT to write an article in 20 minutes and publish it!!) on attitudes childhood experiences are powerful stuff. They can and do change your perspectives and opinions.

Let’s travel down South, to Bangalore, shall we!

My most impressionable (two) years were spent in Bangalore where my father’s further studies and research took our family for two years.

We were allotted students’ apartments at Nandidurg Road in Benson Town, and THAT helped shape a lot of my opinions and perspectives on life in general.

You see, this was the first time ever I’d come so close to rich folks and middle class Indians! Being from a small family, and father being a pastor – who were paid just enough to get by – such living and lifestyle I saw in our neighbourhood was a distant dream for me.

In particular, a Muslim business family right across our entrance gate and a Hindu IAS officer to the right opposite across the road were a big revelation for me then! This Muslim family has at least 5/6 cars, one for each member of the family, with a driver each! The IAS officer has two cars – one Maruti 800 and a nondescript Fiat so old it might shatter if you as much as point your finger at it!

What’s so earth-shattering about that?

Well, I always thought, up to that point in my life, IAS officers were the epitome of high living and class!

You see, in High School when teachers who are bored and can’t think of any other way to pass the time they ended up asking their students the cliche question – What will you be when you grown up? or one of its variants!

The cliche chorus of answers is IAS officer, or, a vague one like, to be an officer! Because, to become a high-ranking officer is prestigious, but more than that for a child in my class it was more about the pay! Yes! Many would not admit but their dream of becoming an officer is a dream of job security and financial security. They are ultimately looking for security.

Coming back to our Muslim family and Hindu IAS officer, I realised a few things; the IAS officer must be a really honest government servant as his house is a single-storey brick building with simple architectural designs. On the other hand, the business family across and several others in the locality have luxurious houses – stone facade with granite slated floors! The IAS officer was the poorest guy in the locality!

This reinforces my opinion that one becomes an officer like IAS with a genuine interest for serving the government and the citizens of a country. You don’t become an IAS officer to become rich, you are, after all, a servant of the government.

Since then, I have met a few businessmen. I have come to understand a bit about them and their philosophy. I respect businessmen for they built their own lives with their own hands and brains. I find them resourceful and brave. They are risk takers; instead of looking for bogus securities like job security they take calculated risks. The only security they want is financial security. They are masters themselves; employers. They don’t answer to anyone but themselves.

Takeaway points:
If you want to be rich – work for yourself!
If you want to service society – serve the government!

Don’t try to do both, please. It’s because people want to serve the society AND be rich that there is so much corruption in society!