Give & Take!

You thought people invest in materialistic things…! 

I met this old friend of mine and during a candid discussion asked if he is seeing any girl. “Oh yes, I was. But recently had a break-up,” he said. He is quite younger to me and so showing my concern I asked the reason. He continued, “I invested 6 months in her, took her for movies, lunch, dinner, gave expensive gifts, but she was never into me. One day I asked her to stay overnight at my apartment so that we could spend some quality time and she refused. Come on what a Sati Savitri. My 6 months were wasted.”

I was dumbstruck. My friend with such sick mentality! I confronted him. And here was his reply, “Come on! Even girls do that. They go around with a guy for free gifts, treats in big restaurants, daily movies and the list goes on. It is a selfish society we are living in. You can expect me to be Gautam Buddha.”

So, his investment in that girl did not give him expected returns. I am sure, however, that some guys get good returns. And then? Do they stay or move on? The question remains!

I was not convinced however that even girls make such investments, till I met by cousin, 5 years younger to me. “See, every girl knows what a guy expects from them. So, all we need to do is play safe and smart,” she started. “Their first step is to try and impress us, so we play innocent and go around with them for movies, meals, drives etc. Most important- we take gifts smartly as if we never wanted them but taking them respecting the emotions involved. So, yes we do invest in such guys. And as we feel they are now moving towards the second step, we start ignoring them. We do things that irritate them. And finally they buzz off. Soon, we look for a new investment opportunity,” she said bluntly. Both the giver and taker know what the deal is all about and it is a mutual understanding they share in name of love and friendship. Quite interesting!

No, this was not a love-lust ‘masala’ angle that I was trying to put across. This was for sure an important element of the new day investment, but we have other components as well.

This colleague of my younger sister, quite intelligent and good looking man, is investing in impressing his boss for a good promotion this year. “Yes, he has taken a new flat in Chembur (a prime location in Mumbai). So, now he needs a good salary increase,” said my sister. “He reaches office before time, does overtime, gifts wine bottles to the boss, if he is busy- picks his children from school and once even delivered groceries to his house,” she added on.

I was amused. This form of investment appears more smart :P Yes, this again is a very clear deal where the boss would have easily figured out the motive of his employee! But ok, he is also benefiting from it.

Another angle! My neighbour’s daughter recently got married in a well to do house. “Yes, she is very happy,” said her mother when I recently met her at a morning walk session. “But yes, she has to work hard to impress her mother in law. She gets up at 5 daily. They have 3 cooks, but she prepares tea, breakfast, lunch, dinner all by herself. I know she is smart. She has to show she is the best daughter in law of the house so that her mother in law is more favourable towards her,” she kept going on. “What do you mean by more favourable?” I interrupted, though I had guessed what it meant. “See they are rich people. If my daughter invests in impressing her mother and father in law, she would certainly get a big share of property,” she revealed.

Ohk! That again sounds entertaining!

I realize that all this is not easy. These sort of investments require lot of patience, smartness, planning and involves lot of risk.

Relations, all kind of acquaintances, demand a certain type of investment. A dealing which people on both sides know about…still they let it happen…they let it grow. Because people on both sides profit from it! Yes, there can be cases where one person is genuinely involved and the other one is just investing. In that case, once the work is done, the investor moves on for another venture…and the genuine one gets a good lesson.

Quite possible that sometimes an investor, even after the work is done, stays back. This can be out of gratitude, some genuine feelings taking over the fake ones, self realization or similar reasons.

I wonder if this is a new development...a new society-new generation with open proposals we are dealing with? Or is this something that has always been there… since ages!