Exploring the meaning of my life!

The more I think about me and my life, I usually get a new understanding of my self, or an aspect of me. So, it's a work in progress. I have been trying to understand the meaning of my life, what really matters to me, what makes me truly happy, my duties and responsibilities, my strengths and weaknesses etc. The more I think about it all, the more overwhelming it is. But then, I think it is a meaningful exercise. Because with every passing day, I believe I am getting more and more clarity.

All the above questions have been constantly redefining my life these days. I am convinced of the existence of our creator, his magnificent creations, and the enormous fortunes and blessings he has showered on us all. I am also humbled by the fact that, despite all the small setbacks I have had in my life, how fortunate I am in terms of all the wonderful things that I have been blessed with. I truly believe that our life is very important; and with the fortunes, power and free will we have, puts on us a lot of responsibilities, whether we take it up or not. And that leads me to realize that, despite all the 'misfortunes', 'fortunes' and 'injustices' we see in this world, this world is ultimately fair and just to all its creations. To sum it all, borrowing from a movie dialogue: "With greater powers, comes greater responsibilities!". Adding to that "With greater fortunes and blessings, comes greater responsibilities"

I feel bad about the fact, despite all the advancements in Science & Technology and all the comforts that it has brought to our lives, billions of people in this world are still struggling to make their ends meet. Poverty and hunger is still very much a BIG reality in this world (Not just in Africa, but in our own country, the "shining", "nuclear" India). Access to education, healthcare and sanitation are denied to a lot of people. Can I put all the blame on the so called "corrupt" governments for their sufferings, and sit back and relax?? Then, what about our country, India??? I am not as saddened by these facts as I am to the fact that the "modern" India (including all of us who browse the internet, watch TV, writes blogs, spends time socializing in internet) does not even want to think about it as a reality.

We have all been shying away from these hard truths, and pretending that everything is fine (because of course it doesn't affect us, right?). Forget helping them out, but how many of us have at least accepted that this is THE reality??? How many of us have taken the effort to volunteer for any of these charities? How many of us have pledged a small amount from our pay checks for these suffering people who are our neighbours? How many of us have thought to come out with a solution that will help at least some suffering people??? Statistics says that, in the last 10 years, though the GDP of India has been growing fantastically, the lives of millions of poor and suffering people has become worse-off (Simply put, social inequality or social inequity has increased)

As I told you earlier, the more I think about it, the more overwhelming it is. But I am convinced that it is criminal to ignore these truths and realities of our MODERN world. I think we should be careful in our actions, thoughts and streamline them to do something meaningful in life.

Of course, I or you as an individual cannot solve the whole of the world's problems; But if everyone uses that as an excuse for inaction, then the world will be a much worse place to be in. In the contrary, if all of us put our best efforts by making some small sacrifices, the effects can be exponential. And I am confident, our lives will become a lot more meaningful and we will experience a new true happiness. Of course it is our money, our time, our relatives, our health etc, and of course we need to have a "good" quality life. But for all the useless excuses of "subjectivity" of "good", any small deed or small sacrifice we make will go a long way to make this world a better place to be. I think, any excuse or argument we come with, we should always ask "Am I being true to myself and my conscience? Am I trying to shy away from the truth? Am I pretending that the reality is different from what it really is? Am I using excuses for inaction?"

I am putting Mahatma Gandhi's Talisman below:

"I will give you a talisman. Whenever you are in doubt, or when the self becomes too much with you, apply the following test. Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man [woman] whom you may have seen, and ask yourself, if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him [her]. Will he [she] gain anything by it? Will it restore him [her] to a control over his [her] own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to swaraj [freedom] for the hungry and spiritually starving millions? Then you will find your doubts and your self melt away."

Let us look at all the statistics, and realize how true and applicable this talisman still is... in this "modern" world!

Or should we continue with the debates of bidding for Olympics in India in 2020, which cost China more than $50 Bn ($50 Bn=2,30,000 Crore Indian Rupees)(Oxfam’s report has disclosed that only US$3 billion is needed to provide food for more than one billion who are in dire need if they are to survive for the future); or about Vijay Mallya's plans to bring Formula One to India, which again costs Billions of Dollars worth investments??? I think the answer is obvious, unless we pretend it to be otherwise...

The other perspective: Why did Congress win the Indian Elections 2009?

Hi Guys,

Wish all of you have the blessings and mercy of almighty god. I have not been blogging for a long time... But thanks to Sudheesh, my good old friend, I am back again. This post is in reply to his blog entry: The future of BJP. Well written buddy! Thanks for the post.

Disclaimer: The following is a very quickly written blog, written as it flowed to my mind, and hence apologies for any formatting or other errors!

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Hi Sudheesh, read your blog... I agree with your views regarding Hindutva and how it has not worked for BJP, and why you don't like BJP for its pro-Hindutva stands, And how Narendra Modi and Varun Gandhi Factors helped the Congress. However; At the risk of being labelled pro-Congress or anti-BJP, let me put across my views while trying to be as unbiased and objective as possible! Being a humble follower of Indian politics, I do not agree with many of your views.... Or I feel you have missed on many real issues.

Answering your post, I would like to comment on three important points:
1.) Why I feel Congress is a much better party in terms of structure/Discipline etc
2.) Answering the allegation of Congress being Family Run
3.) The reasons for BJP's defeat in 2004 and 2009.

Firstly, I would like to humbly disagree with your statement: "BJP is a much better party in structure and functioning than Congress." I think it will be unrealistic to believe this with the kind of infighting going on in the BJP now, and in the last many years (eg: uma bharati, and many many others)? I will elaborate a little further.

Congress is a much better party in terms of Structure, Discipline, Policies, Talent (Undoubtedly!), Succession Planning etc. You feel that Gandhi Family is the problem of Congress. In contrast, I feel it is the advantage of Congress. They have a clear leadership. No one dares to fight or think about getting the top job. Everyone accepts it. Because of that, so much of energy, time and resources are spent on actually doing things, than at the petty political matters and mad rush to be on top (Just contrast this to the BJP, its very easy to understand). Even when Advani was the Opposition Leader, there was a lot of fighting for the top job (eg: Rajnath Singh). Also, there is a lot of infighting and interest groups among the second rung leaders after this humiliatinjg Poll debacle (like Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Murali Manohar Joshi, Yashwant Sinha). Again, in this succession race, Congress is much better placed. They have already projected Rahul Gandhi as the next heir to the post (whether that is democratic or not, I do I care? I don't think do the poor people of India, as long as he is good and does good), and everyone in the Congress has accepted it that way.

I do not expect any infighting in Congress when it comes to who is next? Even the second generation leaders are well managed and groomed by the Congress, whether it is Jyotiradhitya Sindhia, Sachin Pilot, Jitin Prasada, Milind Deora, Priya Dutt or others. They have been given due importance, and they in turn acknowledge the fact that Rahul Gandhi is going to be the next PM. And again, I would rather believe, all these are not things that just happened accidentally; I strongly believe, these are strategies carefully planned and executed by the Congress (Every statement by leaders in the Congress party is, I believe, well planned & controlled. Eg: Statements from Congress about Rahul being the next PM, or the party men clamouring for him to take more responsibilities etc). Rahul Gandhi’s power and influence has been steadily increasing inside the congress, with his involvement in Youth Congress and the recent UP election victory. To such an extent that people have started telling that he DESERVES to get more posts. I doubt whether even the BJP can make it an issue when he is projected in a higher post sometime soon. Also, Rahul Gandhi has started the process of Internal Elections in Youth Congress, an achievement considering the complexity and magnitude of the problem. And have clearly stated that his next target is Indian National Congress itself, and about how he feels the youth & educated should get into Politics. In short, what the critics of the Congress say are its weaknesses, are in fact, in my opinion, the strengths of the Congress.

Also, another sign of a weak BJP; about managing the allies: Within the NDA, the number of BJP allies is now down to 8 (or even less than that), from 24 some few years ago. Moreover, to put the question back, who can deny the fact that BJP's top leadership is appointed by the RSS?? (Eg: What happened to Advani after the Jinnah Controversy? How was Rajnath Singh 's'elected as BJP president? How do you think is the next BJP president going to be elected?)

Secondly, I am not contesting the fact that Congress is a family run party. That is not my point. But my point is, how does it matter to you or me, or the people of India, if it is the Gandhi family running the Congress or someone else, as long as the leadership is good? DOES it Matter? Why should we care? I think it is much more important about "WHAT they do" rather than "WHO runs the Congress". Why should I care who runs India as long as it does good, have good policies etc. But does it mean that leadership doesn’t matter? No, the leadership does matter, and I truly believe Congress party cannot and will not continue with a bad Leadership for long. It will have to self-correct itself before long. If Sonia Gandhi was not good, she would have been gone long back. Likewise, if Rahul Gandhi is not good, he will not be there on top for long. Ultimately, politics is all about power, why will the congress party members keep Rahul in the top post if that doesn't get it power? If you remember, Sitaram Kesari was the congress president and was ousted in March 1998 for the same reason. It was the then Congress leaders who convinced Sonia Gandhi to take Congress Presidentship. Also, remember, it was not the first time Sonia Gandhi was asked to take the leadership of Congress. Even in 1991, when Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated, she was asked by the Congress party to take up the role. She refused, and only then did Narasimha Rao took over as the Congress President and subsequently the PM post. So, if the party itself feels that she is the best person to be the Congress president, don't you think that is democratic? Just because she is from a Gandhi Family, doesn't mean it is an ineligibility for being in politics!

I think you have just fallen in to the media hype created by the BJP against the Congress about the Gandhi family issue (they tried to raise the issue of Sonia Gandhi's Foreign origin issue in last elections (2004) and failed miserably, this time I should say they have failed miserably about the Gandhi Family issue). If you look back, the whole issue of Mr. Manmohan Singh as a weak PM was actually an attack on the Congress party effectively saying that PM's office is remote controlled from 10, Janpath (Sonia Gandhi's Official Residence).

I should say, the majority of India have rejected the whole hype created by BJP against the dynasty rule in Congress, which many of us 'urban' people have fallen for. I think we urban people, who should be objective and logical, should reject the idea as well. I better have a PM or party president who does good & 'not really democratically elected internally', rather than have a person who is not good & 'really democratically elected internally'. I think this election was a clear victory for Congress in this aspect. eg: the victory in UP, even the BJP gives credit for Congress' UP victory to Rahul Gandhi. People of India have liked the Gandhi family earlier, and they still do. But whenever, they did gross mistakes, they have been punished as well. Indira Gandhi is a classic example for both. I have heard that Congress still gets votes from very poor rural people in the name of Indira Gandhi. People genuinely liked Indira Gandhi (Remember, she came to power 3 times consecutively from 1966 till 1977). But after the Emergency, she was ousted out of power. But again, just 3 years after that, she came right back (thus a total of fifteen years as PM) with a landslide majority of 374 seats in LS(up from 189 seats in 1977). And I think, that speaks a lot. In short, so for all the urban middle class people who still says about the dynasty politics in Congress, or questioning the very existence and history of the Congress (Like Gandhi wanting to dissolve Congress etc etc) or BJP (the Jana Sangh story), I would humbly ask them to think:

"Does it really matter?",
"Why think about their past too much, when we are concerned about the present and future?",
"Are we getting a little too obsessed about the whole dynasty issue?",
"When we invest our money in a company (Say Wipro=Azim Premji, Reliance=Mukesh/Anil Ambani, Birla, Tata, or Chrysler or many other family-run businesses globally), do we look whether it is a family run business or whether there is a democratic process in place? Isn't the priority on what return we get on our investment, how good the leadership is? What are the policies the company have etc?"

Dwelling more into this issue, I think we will have to have a debate on whether too much of a democracy is good (Like we have in BJP)! And might take us to the merits and demerits of having a Presidential System (like in the US) Vs a Parliamentary system of democracy.

Thirdly, Congress won this elections, primarily because they did some good work in the last 5 years... Let us not forget the many good things they did... The Right to Information Act, The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (Also known as NAREGA), the reservations for OBCs in higher education, the Huge Farmer's Loan Waiver, the surprisingly huge reduction of Income Tax etc etc. I am not saying all these projects were implemented perfectly. There were lapses. But all these initiatives, were directly targeting the poor and middle class of India, and arguably so was the Indo-US atomic deal. But no one can deny that these did help the Congress during this election. Can even the critics of Congress say that Congress did not do anything for AAM AADMI (their poll slogan in 2004 and 2009). I don't think so. Thus, in Congress, we had a government which realized the ground realities of India and the people felt were sincere.

Also, I disagree with the reason you mentioned for BJP's defeat in 2004. I don't think it had much to do with Hindutva (though journalists who got all the exit polls & predictions completely wrong, had to do some face-saving post mortem and FIND some reasons to keep their credibility, did come out with a lot of such theories). Do you really think BJP would have come to power if they had stuck with their core Hindutva agenda, and built the Ayodhya Temple or implemented the uniform civil code??? Far from it, I think, they would have just lost more seats (like it happened now: eg: Varun Gandhi, Narendra Modi Issues). I believe, the BJP's defeat of 2004 was a total rejection of BJPs economic policies, its "India Shining" campaign. Basically BJP has a Right-ist ideology. While the Congress has a (and has been following for a long time) a left-o-centric ideology. That ideology of BJP was what was rejected. Poor rural Indians could not associate themselves with the "India Shining" campaign, atomic tests, the Golden Quadrilateral, the North-South, East-West corridors, FDI relaxations or divestments.; when the more than 77% of Indians who are poor still had no access to drinking water, sanitation, proper housing, healthcare, electricity etc etc. What they really wanted was those basic necessities.

Basically, BJP forgot that India is a country where most people are in rural areas, and that they are very very poor by any standards. Also, this election again showed the arrogance of BJP and its leaders. Remember, the Congress kept a low profile campaign, and never claimed "they did these these these things, and now things are great"; Instead they said "We have done these these these things, things are still bad and a lot of work needs to be done". There is a great Psychological difference in the minds of people, between these two approaches. One of the main reasons why the "India Shining" campaign failed. In contrast, BJP during this year's election campaign & even until the results were announced, thought that they will automatically get elected back to power (The statements from the BJP leaders such as Ravi Shankar Prasad, Arun Jaitley etc during all those Election Debates in the media). The statements that came out immediately after the poll defeat from BJP's fold and Congress' should be contrasted. The Congress party (which could have easily shown some pride), on the other hand, kept a low profile during and after the elections. Even after the elections, Congress just kept thanking people and not even attacking/ridiculing the BJP, while BJP was still arrogantly saying that it was not a defeat of BJP, but that of the left etc etc etc. I appreciate the fact that the Political observers and journalists did make a note of it.

In conclusion, Congress party has been realizing what/who the real India is, and has a well disciplined and structured heirarchy; And BJP is still in a dreamy/illusionary land, Not to mention the many internal, organizational issues it has!

I know, sadly, this account I have written above, has been a one sided affair against the BJP. But I think the fact of the matter when it comes to Indian Elections 2009 is, it really was!

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Notes: To quote "The state-run National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector (NCEUS) said 77% of the population live on below Rs 20 per day, and most were from the informal labour sector with no job or social security, living in abject poverty.". In the above post, whenever I have mentioned the people of India, I meant the whole of India, including the 77% of people under utter poverty; and not just the "people" who come in our News channels these days. Something BJP missed out (and many so called "urban youth" forget), and Congress worked and concentrated on during the last 5 years.

Why I stress this more and more is, again the fact of abysmally low polling percentage in urban areas! The real India, atleast the real India who votes these governments to power, to me is the poor/middle class rural population.

I would have loved to write more (on other aspects which played a role in this elections, such as Secularism, Negative Campaigning, What exactly does BJP mean by 'Hindutva', and some interesting outlooks on why BJP has been talking too much about bi-polarity in Indian Politics etc), but the 12000 words of assignments due next 3 days is looming before me!
And sorry once again... The long standing criticism against me, about me not being concise! I failed miserably yet again! Brevity, that’s it... Surely next time ;) ;)
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End Notes: I could state some examples I heard from a Journalist friend of mine, about how Lalu Prasad Yadav got votes in Bihar in 2004. In short, it was just about letting poor people know about the "India Shining campaign" and how untrue it was. That was all it took him to get all those votes.

Also for this elections, about the "Jai Ho" song Congress licensed from A. R. Rahman. Even though they started using it in the initial phase of the election capaign, they quickly abandoned it in the later phases fearing that it might create the same effect the "India Shining" Campaign had for the BJP.

My Oxford Said MBA Interview...... A nice experience....

I had my Oxford Said Business School interview with Dr. Eamonn Molloy.... I kept trying him exactly on time, and he picked it up after 2-3 attempts. There he was, a very friendly voice. He asked me from where in india are you from ? Followed by the weather in oxford and mine... Then he told me... In a very friendly way..."We have a interview scheduled now... So let us start...?" and then…

"Okay, now tell me why do you want to be here ?" and then he quizzed me on social entrepreneurship, abt my plans, vision.... He really got involved in the topic and asked me a lot ( I really mean "a lot") of questions like why? How ? Why not like this? Suppose I am...? Suppose you are...." etc etc... But I should tell you, he was very very friendly right from the beginning till the very end…. One thing to note, he knew a lot about India and Indian Companies... So, don't think you can fool him with any data or facts...

Once or twice when he was not convinced abt my arguments, and he told me that immediately; and then I told another argument, followed by him saying "now I get what’s in your mind..." . In a way, I felt that it was better that way, Coz you get a second chance to correct yourself. And finally when the allotted time was over, he said "do you have any questions for me ?"..... Infact, I was not at all prepared for this very much expected question (which I should have), but at that moment, I took the oxford brochure, looked at a particular topic, and asked a question.... Which fortunately he said he liked very much... And he repeated that for some time… and he said it is a difficult question…? But he tried to answer in his own style….

In the end, it was more than 35 mins of interview, and I can tell you I found the whole interview quite strange in that most of the expected questions were not at all asked, except "why oxford?". In end he said, the next procedure is for him to make a recommendation about me to the admissions committee and they will get back to me within 2 weeks.... And he told me he really liked talking to me... And I said the same as well.... It was indeed a very nice experience, and I repeat, the interviewer was very very friendly..... Even though I am keeping my fingers crossed.... Just the feeling that you have spoken to a revered faculty of one of the best b-schools in the world, in itself, makes the whole experience a lot satisfying.....

I wish all Oxford Said applicants all the very best.... Hope to meet ya all there…..

An event in life that has changed my way of thinking in a significant way...

There are many events that have changed my way of thinking in a significant way. I would like to mention one such instance that happened when I was working in the Sales & Marketing Division of Mahindra International Ltd, a Joint Venture company between Mahindra & Mahindra, the largest Utility Vehicles manufacturer in India, and International Trucks, USA. I was given the task of understanding the customer expectations of trucks that we were developing for the Indian and Asian markets. For that we had to interact with the truck drivers of various parts of India.

We traveled extensively to parts like Mumbai, Pune, and Hyderabad etc and interviewed the drivers, owners, small and large fleet owners, and other users from a wide range of industries like Cargo Movers, Petroleum, Frozen Foods, Couriers, Steel, Mining etc. I was very fortunate to have worked in a company that gave us a lot of freedom to learn from real life experience; a company which believed that making mistakes is not a sin.

I was of the impression that developing the most technologically advanced vehicles was the most important thing, and that we could do it sitting inside the company. We had many impressions and ideas that we thought would be so useful for the customers. But when we talked to the customers, especially the truck drivers and others, we were startled to hear that many things that we thought were important to them were not important. Likewise, many things we had ignored were given high importance by them.

In fact many of them, the so called illiterate and not-the-techno-savvy-types came up with great ideas and suggestions that they felt would help us make a better truck than that was available in the market. We realized that they knew much more than we about various trucks and the problems/complaints/defects associated with each company’s trucks, although they expressed those in their own colloquial terms. Many of them took us in their trucks and gave us a real feel of the problems during actual usage. Some of them had made some modifications to their trucks themselves, which was something many engineers in the company could not have even thought of, unless they faced it practically.

We brought along these suggestions back to the company, and our management was very eager to look at each of them very carefully. We had brain-storming sessions with the Research & Development (R&D) teams, and many of those suggestions were implemented. To cut costs, some of the features that the customers felt unimportant were dropped.

The above experience changed my entire view about the importance of customer feedback. I realized that customers are the most important part of a business, the process should start and end with the customers, i.e., we should develop the product keeping customers in mind; quality has to be ensured keeping customers in mind. Same was the case with after-sales-support, warranty policy, pricing, advertising, and every aspect of business. I realized that big ideas might actually come from even the so-called illiterate people. There is nothing that can compensate for the practical knowledge and experience that they had.

This experience changed my thinking significantly. It has taught me the great lesson that we need to listen to the feedback and suggestions of our customers-prospective and existing. We need to open our minds to criticism, complaints about our products because, in this flat and globalized world, constant innovation and improvement is a must. We should be ready to interact with all kinds of people, because, we never know who has a great idea. Since this experience, I make use of every opportunity to interact with as many people as possible.

An unforgettable experience from college life... "its never too late"

I would like to share an experience that I will, hopefully, never forget in my life. It happened when I was in my Engineering School, CUSAT doing my undergraduation. We had a very difficult course to do. It was Heat & Mass Transfer. The syllabus was tough and it was a subject newly introduced for our batch. Even the faculty could hardly complete teach just 3 out of the modules. Hence, when the exams drew nearer, we were completely in fix on how to prepare for the exams. We had no previous question papers to refer toNo one had a clear idea. And on the previous night of the exams, I found myself in a situation where I had completed just one module out of the 5 modules. Same was the case with most others.

We had only two options. One was to leave this exam and concentrate on the next exam that was scheduled to happen within 3 days. Among 25 of us, almost everyone opted to leave this exam, and only 3 of us - Hari. S. Nair, Vipin Viswas and me - decided to give it our best shot. We went to a separate place, with all books and laptops, and started learning each module very slowly, but in a thorough way. Each of us tried to learn a different module, and whenever we completed a topic, we shared that with the other two. During preparations, we three used to keep asking each other "whether we will be fools, or those who left". Coz, most of them had left the exams and had gone for a movie, and yet some others had started preparing for the next exam. Where we stupid enough to try to crack one of the most difficult subjects in our engineering course, just by studying at night ?

We didn’t sleep that night, and finally when it was morning, we had somehow gone through the 5 modules, covering just the most important topics, and topics that we thought were important. But our confidence was very low, but the sportsman spirit in us was very much alive. We decided to fight. No matter what the result is. All that mattered was that we tried. And we tried our best.

We wrote the exam, trying to solve as many questions as possible. I remember, I rewrote many answers for a single question, because midway an answer, I doubted if it was wrong. Finally, when the exam got over, we knew we had done our best. But we were still not confident about the results. Because, we were not at all sure whether our answers were right.

Finally the results came after a month, and we were jubilant. The three of us had passed. And we did not pass just by a small margin, we had scored above the average marks. Our marks were high compared to other students. Among the nearly 25 students that day, only we 3 had passed. Even the toppers (read North Indian Buji's) managed to get very low marks. We were very triumphant that day. The exhilaration was evident in our faces. We had written many exams where we had scored more, but this was much more special. This was a thumping victory of our willingness to try our best till the very end, and not give up. Whenever I face a difficult situation in my career or personal life, this incident comes to my mind. And I most often take the same decision, TO FIGHT LIKE A SPORTSMAN.

This experience has actually helped bond the friendship between the three of us. It has been nearly 1.5 yrs since we left college, but still whenever we meet, somewhere in between the chat this experience crops up. And whenever we see a junior leaving any exam, we earnestly ask him/her to fight like a bull... "its never too late"

A million dollars or knighthood: what would I choose and why?

This is a question I have thought many times in the recent past.... so I thought I ll enter the world of bloggin just by trying to scribble my thoughts here....

If faced with a tough choice, I would choose knighthood over a million dollars every time!

A knighthood is one of the highest titles an individual can hope to achieve. A knighthood cannot be bought with money, but represents an idea and a thought. It is an honour bestowed for good deeds or abstract qualities that represent the finest aspect of human endeavor. Anybody can get one million dollars through hard work, but knighthood is awarded only to a very select coterie.

A million dollars, also, I suppose, can win me a lot of things. Some of them would be worthwhile---such as philanthropic activities or charity works for the poor and the needy. I would still have some money to improve my own quality of life. I can probably invest it in profitable ventures to generate jobs and wealth.

But what I will not get with a million dollars are much, much more! Money is transitory. It would never achieve me the honour, prestige and freedom to make a limitless positive impact on society.

Knighthood would be the reward of an innovative idea that would help me to blaze a new trail, or lay out a path for coming generations. I can build on the recognition and try to do even better things. Knighthood may not directly provide me with the money I require for charity or a luxurious lifestyle. But with a title, I would be able to fight against evils in society such as corruption, bribery and inequalities. I would be able to persuade wealthy people to donate to the poor, provide education, and help people to enhance their skills.

Thus, both wealth and knighthood can help me to win limitless accolades, but knighthood would confer the extra edge that wealth can never buy.