21 LOVE and Money

I started my first job with a Delhi based research organisation and my first project was 'Juvenile Delinquency and impact of mass media.' And as part of the project, I alongwith my colleagues went to a Remand Home and met a number of juvenile delinquents. But my purpose here is somethingelse... i am not writing about jobs here actually I am going to write about those days of when getting the first salary was equivalent to having a feeling of freedom. It's sweet taste that lingered in the mouth. And i still remember the thrill of depositing the cheque and subsequently taking a bus and going to Connaught Place. I bought my Kodak Korma for Rs 1500 from Studio India. The handsome elderly gentleman said to me loveingly “May you have years of exciting journey with this one.” Thirteen years have passed on and I still have that camera.Though I must add that my husband has changed more than six cameras in last three years. With the remaining money, I bought casettes of Scorpion (those days everybody sang 'Winds of Change').
More than a decade long, money was never much . And even when I changed my job to the country's leading agency, the money was not at all impressive from any point of view. We used to call ourselves 'Moongphali patrakar.' Moreover, finding a flat in South Delhi was not an easy task with limited money. But somehow we sailed through... a part of it goes to sheer luck also. But looking back, I think qualitatively my life was better. I am not the one who romanticises poverty. I personally feel poverty is the greatest curse on earth. Not being able to buy the medicine you wanted to buy for your loved one can be soul destroying. It can hurt you, it can shatter you, it can traumatise you forever.
But looking back, I feel that those days I alongwith my friends had no concept of saving. Anybody who had a little more than Rs 5000 in the bank (in our friend circle) was envied!!! And when I had saved Rs 10,000 in the bank, I happily booked a second class ticket in Tamil Nadu express and travelled all alone from Delhi to Kanya Kumari. In 1995, credit cards were not popular. So, I had taken my money in Travellor's cheque and I must say that I had my share of savings. The pleasure money gave those days were pure, unadultered. When we had less, we lived for the moment. When we have more, we live for tomorrow. And sometimes tomorrow extends to day after tomorrow, a month and a year.
The 21 love ice-cream or the Manhatten Mania at Nirula's were relished with the joy of a child having a cardbury chocolate. And when we felt rich we used to go to Golden Dragon in Panchsheel Park for its Golden Dragon special Fried rice, and chilly chicken.If money was little more, emporiums were the place we went for shopping.
It's a different story now. Money has different connotations. Now it means mutual funds, savings certificates and fixed deposits. And it has also meant long dark hours in the office. And need I say I miss my 21 love and Manhatten Mania of Nirula's. More so when I am in Ahmedabad---!!!!!
PS: I read somewhere that when gypises curse a person they say that “MAY YOU WIN A LOTTERY.“