Anupam- The Dreamer

There are absolutely no free lunches in the world! Lunch here is just a metaphor for anything which is “supposedly” being provided to you for free. And if you are being offered something for free, then you have every reason to doubt the true intention behind that. Even in charity, people have their own self-interest in mind, i.e. it gives them happiness and some people even make it photo-op moment on social media. This is not to say that there is something wrong in doing charity, but this is just a warning that some things actually differ from what is being projected and hide many things behind a façade of doing good.

Let me narrate you an incident from my 1st year at IIT Guwahati, way back in September, 2008. In our college 1st year, the “facchas” (as we were commonly referred to, a short form of “first year bacchas”) were made to do the work of मजदूर/मामा/लेबर in the tech fest by our “beloved” seniors. This was done to save some money by not hiring actual labourers, as they were working on limited total budget because the number of sponsors were limited. We worked for 3 days doing all manual work like tying banners to the bamboos on the roadside, carrying chairs and tables around the campus, in and out of conference halls, shifting stuff from 3^rd floor to the ground floor in the evening and late night around 11 pm to 1 am.

One day, when we were relieved from our “duties” in the evening of the 3^rd day of the fest, one of the seniors came to us facchas and told that everyone will be given a “party” in the night for the hardwork that you all have put in during the 3 days. Facchas, being naïve and inexperienced, believed this “free promise”. So, all hardworking facchas waited near the Academic Building, after the evening hours. We were given some snacks and cold-drinks and that made us happy. But, then came the big surprise!!! As there are no free snacks, as the fest was wrapping up, so we were told that the “last task” of shifting chairs from the ground floor back to the conference hall at 3^rd floor is still remaining! And we thought “अरे यार, मर गए अब तो”! A few smart ones among us left immediately after the evening hours, as they were done with the bonded labour and they didn’t wait for the snacks! Then, we formed a chain running from the ground floor, all the way up the clockwise stairs uptil 3^rd floor, then to the conference hall. I think the chain was about 50 students long and we passed on the heavy wooden chairs from one person to another till it reached the destination. We paid the price of “free snacks” and some were thinking “20 रुपये के snacks के लिए 50 रुपये का खून जला दिया”.

This reminds me of an interesting story that I read in our 10th class Sanskrit textbook. In a kingdom, there were a lot of monkeys and a lot of sheep. The sheep were gullible to the sensual desire of having good food, which was cooked in the royal kitchen. So, they used to sneak in the kitchen and steal good food. Upon seeing the loot by sheep, the head chef used to pick up a burning woodstick (used as a fuel) and beat the hell out of the sheep. The leader of the monkeys was witnessing all this drama, and he being wise thought that this daily fights between the chefs and sheep is not in our interest and we should leave the kingdom. But, most of the monkeys didn’t want to leave the kingdom as they were given good food to eat by the royal prince. So, only some of the monkeys who believed in their leader left the kingdom, alongwith their leader and the rest stayed back. One day, when the chef hit a sheep with a burning woodstick, the wool of the sheep caught fire. The “burning sheep” ran off to the horse stable (where royal horses were kept) and started turning upside down to douse the fire off its wool. Soon, the stubble and the grass of the stable caught fire, which caused severe burn injuries to the horses. But, horses, you know, are important for fighting wars and transporting goods. So, the king got worried and called the “health minister” (Vaidya). Vaidya advised that the injuries to the horses caused by the burning can be quelled by applying the meat of the monkeys on their wounds. The king immediately ordered to capture all monkeys of the kingdom and do as the vaidhya counselled. As soon as the monkeys heard this news, they thought the same thing that we thought – “अरे यार, मर गए अब तो”! Had we listened to our leader, then our lives could have been saved today.

The same thing can be seen in the business world very easily. If some company is giving you mobile and talktime free for a few months, it’s a trap. Later, when you will become dependent on them, then they will charge you hefty, and you will say ” ये नाइंसाफी है “. And they will say, “beta yahi to business hai”. Similarly, if some company is offering you free or discounted goods, then also there is some strategy to burn a hole in your pocket in future. Even if a company offers you a “buy one, get one free”, then also it is an investment strategy for them to widen the customer base. Business is business, business can never be a charity! Period.

So, the moral of the story is that whenever a businessman, a politician, an entrepreneur, a manager or anyone tries to say to you that – “I will give this to you for free”, then your ears should get alert! Except for very few close relatives, friends and well-wishers, majority of the people who tell you this have their own vested interests. And if you fall prey to the free lunches/snacks/dinners offered by them, then you are doing at your own peril. You will have to pay the price, in some way or the other, sometime now or in future, but pay you must! “सावधान रहें, सतर्क रहें” 😀

Till next time….