Realising the value

I received my first pay check at age sixteen. It was a sum of Rs.500! I remember slogging the entire day, managing an event for a corporate get together. Me and three of my friends had been hired by an event management company-Childhood Relived, for a day for the said task. At the end of the day, holding the check, I was exhilarated. Although it didn't feel like we had worked very hard for  what we had earned(we had had too much fun arranging games, painting people's faces, making them dance etc.), it certainly was a great feeling to have actually earned an amount for the first time in my life. Returning home, I was advised by my ever sensible mother to deposit my first earning in the piggy bank and I did just that (although part of me was thinking of running out and buying the most fashionable pair of jeans in the market)

After that, my earnings continued. Rs. 500 for managing another event with the same company, another 500 for assisting a website building ( I still feel I did not deserve to be paid at all!), taking French tuitions of a girl in my building, working as an intern at a news channel during the summer....

And each time I got paid, I realised how important money really is and how difficult it is to earn. That was also the time I realised the amount of efforts my parents had taken to ensure a decent upbringing for me, fulfilling all my needs and many a times foolish extravagant demands too. Apart from food, clothing and shelter, they made sure I went to a good school, joined hobby classes, went on trips and travelled around, spent money on seemingly childish pursuits! All this made my overall earnings till that day appear so very insignificant. Of course there was the time factor to take into consideration, but I had a long way before I could boast of being financially independent.

I still do. As I stand on the brink of a bachelor degree, ready to step into the big bad world of employment and jobs, I have money playing on my mind. As much as I know how important job satisfaction and all that is, I do want to be earning a reasonably well fed pay check at the end of the day. I want to be able to buy my own clothes, pay for my own mobile and internet bills and watch my parents' delighted and proud faces when I sponsor a long, luxurious holiday for them-  all by myself!