Oh Maria! Where’s Your CHAI?

Maria Sharapova – an icon of women’s tennis-recently admitted to doping. What a fall from grace. Is this happening for the first time?

Many Icons in the world of sport, business, politics & other fields have failed the ultimate test of ethics. As a result they lose CHAI in their life, at a very critical juncture. You have spent years to build up your career on a brittle foundation. You feel that the building is strong enough to last your lifetime. However, unfortunately, a weak foundation will always give way.

Life has placed me in situations where one has a temptation to compromise one’s ethics to get more of Ai & Pi. I must admit that at times I have fallen prey to these temptations. Ultimately it has resulted in lower level of CHAI.

Recently I was placed in a situation where I could get even with a co-professional. Rationally & even going by the letter of the law, there was nothing wrong in picking up the assignment. However, I did not strike even when there was an open opportunity. After this moral victory, I have been experiencing a different high. It is a spiritual high which has enhanced the CHAI in my life.

Ultimately it is all a matter of perception. One more assignment would have added to the Ai but I feel the decline in CHAI was not worth it. I let go!

Getting into the Rat Race

In the recent past, I have interacted with a few young souls who were determined not to enter the rat race at the start of their careers. They had romantic ideas about giving priority to Chai over plain Ai. Today they have sacrificed their romantic ideas for more practical Ai. What is it that makes people dream and then abandon their dreams.

Recently I got a message from my friend saying, “Life is a compromise of what your ego wants to do, what experience tells you to do and what your nerves let you do.”

May be the rat race has some attraction that people want to experience before giving it up, May be it could be a way of accumulating a war chest, before pursuing your dreams. May be a it is like taking up a challenge of entering the “maut ka kuan.” Kuch toh hai!

Well, all these experiences add on to make life interesting. One must experience the thrill of the rat race also! Remember one thing though, it will become more and more difficult to call it quits with the passage of time.

 

Giving – an art form!

There is a talk of money billionaires giving away large chunks of their wealth, either during their life time or after they pass away.

One needs to understand how a person who has spent his life in the race to top the list of wealthiest persons, then suddenly decides to give it up.

Religious scriptures have all prescribed the curative effects of charity on the soul. May be there is a great burden of carrying the load of wealth for a long time and hence finally one realizes the futility of it all and wants to reduce his burden. Yet, we have highly spiritual people like Steve Jobs, who openly said, “I do not believe in charity.” May be Steve, the maverick that he was, never felt the burden of wealth at any time!

A trust called “Dharma Bharti Mission” has a very interesting take on this. They advocate- “Begin with self, Begin small, Begin Today” and “Give till it hurts” – Very apt philosophy.

Why I am not willing to splurge.

I met a friend who happens to know a legendary investor having net worth of over a billion USD. With that kind of money, one would imagine that this guy would own a Rolce Royce and wear luxury watches, etc. However I was not surprised to learn that Mr. Money Bags prefers much lower brands – brands that one used to aspire for when one was in college with no money. Middle class guys would dream “Yaar, one day I will buy a new honda….”

So is he a miser? I don’t think so. It all depends on what gives you CHAI. He said that being driven around in a Rolce Royce is just not him. Once my client told me he would not feel like himself if he was in a Mercedes; his aspiration was maximum a skoda. So what is wrong in that?

It is because one who has worked hard for his buck feels the pain of spending it. This might be true to some extent. I know some rich Dads who have not provided any training to their kids and given them everything on a platter.

These kids blow away the wealth quickly- easy come, easy go. However at the same time, I know people who have lived in very dire conditions. As soon they start earning, they start living life king size.

So who is correct? Well I am not going to draw any valuable judgement. I’m just observing how people have different perspectives about money. Some people just cannot spend or rather splurge on big brands. As I said, wealth is not just science; there is a lot of psychology involved in wealth management.