What my granny did not teach me:

Sundry times, I have listened to people passing nuggets of experience and wise info to others stating that their granny told them so. Each time I heard someone mentioning one's mom-dad or granny/grandpa, I went into retrospection.

My mom died when I was 4. I did not live with my dad, and hence that takes away another cardinal relation out of my scope of life. I have been brought up by my maternal granny (Hindi: naani), maternal auntie (Hindi: mausi), and maternal uncle (Hindi: maama).

My family was a typical lower middle-class family. The members were no great people, pretty ordinary folks. They did not have talk about great values, great *sanskaar*, and all related stuff. They talked about bread and butter, study, relatives, etc. Bottom-line: I don't have anything great to share about my family. Err, hang on, I actually do have :-).

As I said, my family was (or rather, is) a lower middle-class family, and like all such desi families, the issue, most often, was the moolah. We had a decent life, and were darn happy. Much to my disappointment now, the only talk-of-the-town under our roof at that time was money. Not that we cribbed about lack of money, but definitely, we all wished if we had more money.

However, in retrospection, I believe that the money-crunch was the biggest experience of my life. When I started working, I essentially became a miser. I just hated the thought of pulling out my wallet, and spending money I explicitly recall an instance when my 3 flatmates (Samip, Faisal, and Bikash) and I went to Priya Cinema in Delhi for a flick and food. At that time, a McD's burger costed Rs 85. I reminisce perusing over whether to eat the burger or not, and I finally declined. What followed was an emotional melodrama between me and my friends. Unsavory episode!

I have grown better over the years. Yes, I love to earn more money, add more assets to my portfolio, save more and more money... but importantly, I have learned to spend money (although I am still far away from being a thrift).

I don't know whether this is a positive or a negative in my personality, but this is a part of me. My task is to vigil over this personality trait, and maintain a proper balance.

:-)