910603234300000

No, this is not someone's phone number or mobile number or a bank account number. This is, apparently, the total amount of money that the country has lost due to corruption at a larger scale. The figures may vary but we cannot dispute the fact that this is a significant amount lost for the people - money that could have been put to a good use for our betterment, if not for the greed of a few people.

At the cost of sounding unpolitical and making a drastic statement, I condone but understand the small time corruption of a few hundred rupees done by the policeman for letting you go for a traffic violation or the clerk for making your file 'move faster' but I don't understand the multi-crore rupees scam that a few people indulge in! I do agree that at one level its the same virus of corruption albeit at a much larger scale but don't the people who initiate these kinds of scams realise that the fallout of that is immense? Yes, for every few scams unearthed and the people caught, there could be many more still hidden in our country but isn't the whole media glare and ignomity of being paraded naked of all reputation enough for the others to get scared? Or is the lure of immense wealth so strong that people still indulge in these scams? Have scams become a part of our culture? And have we as people become immune to it?

Didn't this clerk realise that he would get caught or did he think that if he did he could 'bribe' himself out of it? The other thing that I find difficult to fathom is that these indivuduals who scam the government and us cannot enjoy their money openly anyway! If they do, they risk getting caught - so what fun is amassing wealth that you cannot use? Is it for their children? And when they get caught and their reputation is tarnished? Would their children be happy? I guess the question is how much is enough? Once the corruption virus enters your psychology when does it let go? Or does it at all?

I guess the DNA for people who are corrupt and aren't is different. We must aim to inculcate some simple values in our children - in the next generation.

• Money is not everything - its just something to help you live the way you want to happily.
• Having more money does not mean that you are smart. Give them examples of Harshad Mehta, Telgi, Katta, Kalmadi.
• Money cannot buy you respect. That has too be earned and you earn it by doing the right things.
  

I read this brilliant article in HBR - Money and the meaning of life - that reflects a lot of thoughts that I have about the importance of money in ours lives. Greed should not be the motivator for money.