I am sure most of you know this by now: A Gujarati diamond trader, with a billion-dollar empire spanning continents, sent his son during his holiday in India, an MBA student in the US, to go and find out the tough side of life.
The young man went to an unknown city, reportedly got rejected from 60 jobs and, in the end, did several odd jobs to survive and earn a living.
The news made headlines all over the world and, while some have sneered at this, calling it an ingenious PR stunt by the diamond merchant to grab global headlines, I am inclined to look at the slightly less cynical side of the episode, simply because the young boy actually had to go to a brand new place and eke out an earning, facing the harsh realities of life -- a never-ending ordeal for millions of working class people.
Well, maybe he knew he would not have to live on his own for too long but the lesson which his father reportedly wanted to teach him about the thorny side of life will be instilled in the young man for good.
The point here is: When the boy did not have to undergo any difficulty in life at all, he chose to accept a challenge thrown at him that would take him into unknown waters.
Usually, when children studying abroad come back home, the treatment is that of ultimate mollycoddling, with every whim catered to.
This is even more of a fact for wards of wealthy families returning home from overseas. Of course, there is nothing wrong in treating one’s own blood with all possible comfort but in a world where the crevice between the affluent and the struggling is becoming a crevasse, it’s a moral duty for all the privileged to try to understand what existence for the masses actually entail.
These lessons are essential also because as a social being, an understanding that a hundred dollars for a pair of shoes is equivalent to a whole month’s food budget for a lower-middle class family, is necessary.
One may ask: What will that realisation do in practical terms? Well, firstly, this awareness leads some to philanthropy but in most cases, it often makes a lot of privileged people courteous towards the ones who toil day and night to make ends meet.
Would I be wrong to state that understanding the social condition of a variety of people make us more appreciative of what we have, implanting in us the capacity to look at the world from someone else’s perspective?
Well, in a selfish world, where ruthless consumerism seems to have got most societies in a stranglehold, there may be least worry for the other person, though the Gujarat tale sets an exception.
Awareness leads some to philanthropy but in most cases, it often makes a lot of privileged people courteous towards the ones who toil day and night to make ends meet
There are of course a lot of other things to learn from the young boy’s experience of being turned down from many places. The reported rejection from almost 60 places has been mentioned to show how difficult it is to land employment, but there is also another inherent message here: In the current employment scenario, unless one has a reference, employment based purely on skill-set of someone becomes almost impossible.
Of course, in the end, the young man got some odd jobs, making a meagre living which is normal and perhaps never changing for millions.
Obviously, he won’t have to go back to the streets asking for work, though this example can perhaps be emulated by many well-off families to instill in their children the actual value of money, and how hard it is for a lot of people to earn a rudimentary livelihood.
In Bangladesh, we have seen such events taking place only in movies. In the late 70s and early 80s, a common film template showed the young son of a landlord father leaving home and luxury to find a livelihood either because he wanted to pursue an artistic vocation or, because he had the temerity to fall in love with someone deemed socially inferior.
As most film plots went: In the end, the cruel arrogant father, fallen on hard times due to the shenanigans of one of his close aides is helped by the son and maybe the daughter-in-law to regain the family honour plus wealth.
Whatever the case, in real life, we hardly hear of young sons or daughters from rich backgrounds sweating it out like all others to learn the often unpalatable realities of life.
The MD’s son or daughter is inevitably the DMD, or one of the directors straight back from university education, who has little or no idea about the ferocious competition others have to face to even become a senior executive.
As a full-time journalist about a decade ago, I remember the son of the chairman of the media house which I was visiting as a guest, entering the office premises with a spanking new SUV with cavalier disregard for the fact that the beleaguered employees of that house had not been paid for three months.
In private organisations, there is a trend to make the worker remain at the workplace for longer hours without any specific reason because the common culture states that staying in the office longer is the mark of loyalty.
That thing called work-life balance is mostly unheard of -- after all, the top honchos never faced any problem in their own lives.
Only when someone suffers the same fate as thousands of others, will that realisation that an employee also has a family, comes.
Realistically speaking, I do not expect any of our top business people to say to their luxury-addicted son: To deserve the keys of the BMW, try driving a CNG for a week and come back with the earning. Nor do I expect a daughter of a similar background to conceal her identity and take up the work of a sales girl at one of the many shopping malls in the city.
Just as a suggestion: Maybe, your search for true love that is not after the dough may just come true.
You never know what surprise waits out there. Just think, what a script for a film that would be.
If that doesn’t happen, well, at least you can boast with your conscious untainted: I have been part of the other half and seen life as an individual without the help of family connections.
Towheed Feroze is a journalist working in the development sector.