“Money, get away

Go get a good job with more pay, and you're okay.” 

Alright, I’m kidding. Nobody starts a written piece with a quote. At least, not anymore. Maybe they should. But I digress. 

When Shreyas and I were discussing themes for Humanise, we wanted to ensure that they would remain abstract enough to bring different perspectives, but focused enough to relate to people. For example, we rejected ‘Salaries’ because it was too narrow, while also rejecting ‘Rewards’ because that could mean anything. 

Money, on the other hand, fit the bill.  

For starters, it’s a complex subject on its own. Our relationship with money could be one of scarcity, or greed, or if borrowing from the minimalist school of thought, the root of all evil. It influences our upbringing, our relationships (whether we like it or not), and our ambition. In many ways, our relationship with monetary value is a character trait in itself. 

Now throw in work. All of us work for money. Some of us work for it. For others, it’s a bonus. It’s a very vocal elephant, irrespective of which room you’re in, be it water coolers, community, or family dinners. 

And yet, there are a million different threads one could unravel. 

It’s a world of contradictions. 

Our relationship with money is forged by the time we lived in, which you will explore first hand in Rohit’s piece about how different generations of working Indians treat money. 

It’s influenced by our background. Take Sarthak’s piece, for instance, where he writes about how our privilege determines the careers we forge. Money makes our careers, as much as careers make us money.

This privilege means different things. For some people, it’s a lack of resources. For others, it’s the privilege of a stereotype. And that is exactly what Harnidh posits, in her piece about how women have been conditioned to play defence with their money, irrespective of their financial background.  

But it’s also about trade-offs as much as it is about our history. Ria’s piece explores scenarios where money isn’t the be all and end all, and why it’s okay to walk away from a bigger paycheck sometimes. Similarly, in a world obsessed with savings and nests eggs, Dravisha writes a refreshing piece on trading your bank account for experiences you’ll cherish the most. 

These are five different stories, yet interconnected. You’ll see snatches of Dravisha’s lived experiences in Harnidh’s piece, the same way you’d see Sarthak’s conversations find spacein Rohit and Ria’s stories, and the same way you’d see instances of all these stories in your personal experiences.  

I don’t think you’ll find answers to the questions you might have about money in these stories. But I hope this helps you come to terms with your relationship with it. 

Open to feedback, as always. Drop me a note.