I was visiting the house of one of India's most successful businessmen. This man had won the President's award for being the country's leader in the seafood business. My neighbour in Kerala arranged the visit for some advise on starting a shrimp business and invited me to tag along.
We reach this building in one of the busiest parts of Chennai. This particular building was owned by the gentleman before being sold to a leading real estate group in Chennai. He still retains 4 floors in this building and stays on the 8th and 9th floors.
We ring the bell and are ushered in by a Butler who takes us through two living rooms before leading us to the master living room. The rooms had the beauty and elegance of the 90's I guess. It had chairs befitting royals and priceless furniture carefully arranged at different parts of the room. It looked real grande. If I close my eyes now, I can still see the arrangement of that house. Everything seemed perfect.
While awaiting this gentleman, my neighbour and I glanced around and we see this beautiful lawn and a tree growing out of the balcony. Wow!
In a few minutes our host arrived and we are engaged in this conversation. He seemed to be a good listener at first, and also slowly started sharing the success of his business. He shared that he would always handpick the best shrimps, package it neatly, charge it slightly higher than the competition and sell it. People recognize value and thus his business flourished.
All seemed perfect. I was telling myself 'Here I am, sitting with a man who has made it Big. Wow. He has tasted success. Pretty inspiring life!' All this happened in my head when slowly I notice our conversations take a different turn.
My neighbour started asking our host about his family.
We learn that he stays by himself. His wife and sons left him awhile ago. He said he gave them everything they wanted, but they weren't happy. His sons would bust lakhs in a single night. They somehow didn't seem to fit into his bubble of life despite his various investments in theirs. (Hmmn... wierd)
I am like telling myself - 'Poor man'.
He goes on to say that 'Everyone builds their house with a bulk of their savings. I have build mine with hardly a portion of my money.'
He shares that he owns about a lakh square feet commercial space in T.Nagar. Also has a Mercedes Benz parked in the house of his friend in Cochin exclusive for his use for his visits in Kerala' and la la la la...
(I didn't have an issue with him bragging because I am sure it took him awhile to be successful and now he is eating its fruits. For readers who don't know T. Nagar - it is the most expensive commercial space in Chennai, India)
We are then invited to lunch. I am sitting at the table when weirdness strikes.
We are having lunch and I finished my glass of water and tried to grab the Aquafina bottle for a refill. Before I could grab the bottle, our host turns to my neighbour who is gulping a glass of buttermilk and asks him if he is going to drink his glass of water. When he replied in the negative, this man poured the water from that glass into mine!
I was so dumbfounded. (Hello... I thought I was sitting in the house of a billionaire!) He goes on to explain - Water is so precious. Let's not waste water. ('Oh... you got a point! I understand.' - I said to myself)
So after washing my hands and thanking our host I walked with my neighbour to the second living room which was on our way to the exit. There was this grand piano in the room. I don't remember the name but it looked real grande - to the word!
My neighbour while passing by with his bag almost came as close to touch it. Suddenly our host who walked in goes like...
"Careful! Be careful! That piano costs 18 lakhs! If a scratch falls on it, it wont be even worth as scrap."
My God! I was seriously tickled. I was telling myself - Dude... It hardly even touched it. For all you know this piano may not even be tuned. What difference does this piano make if it costs 18 lakhs and is not even tuned!
Frankly, I was loosing it and was real humored by the man's behavior.
I stoop to pick up my helmet and walk by the corridor to the first living room. While passing by the corridor my helmet touched the wooden partition and the man goes like 'See. I told you. This wood is real expensive, if it gets chipped, I will have to replace the whole thing!'
By now, I was done. I started laughing. Seriously. I couldn't stand this man no more.
Seeing me laugh he said ' You think this is funny right. Wait. Let me show you something'. He took me to the main door and showed me three chairs that were placed outside the main door. He said, 'I have put the chairs outside the main door so that people can sit and remove their shoes...' Then he called me to the side of the door and showed me this oiled portion on the door and continued '... but everyone comes to the main door leans with their hands on the door and removes their shoes causing this oil mark. People don't understand at all.'
While walking down from that house that afternoon, I realised I had had the most weirdest day in my life. It really did shake me. I kept asking myself - Whatzup with this man? Every friend I met that day heard a share of my encounter with that man.
Seriously. I had just been at the house of a businessman whose estimated possessions are valued at over 400 crores. But, here he lives a life so caught up in his bubble, so lost worried about his possessions.
I asked myself... what kind of person do I want to be?
What do I value in life?
is it finding a real cool paying job??
is it the fact that I have a swimming pool on the 9th floor??
is it a big balance in my bank account?
Sometimes I can picture in my head what would happen if some of my hosts' grand-kids entered that house. Seriously. Lol!
Oh...isn't there more to life than what we have made or achieved?
Value Life. Value People.
