If I Were A Millionaire

If I Were A Millionaire

We have often heard old people advise the young ones not to indulge in wasteful talk about the past and future by quoting the following lines from H.W. Longfellow:

“Trust no future, however pleasant,

Let the dead past bury its dead.

Act, act in the living present,

Heart within and God overhead.

But there will hardly be man or woman who has never indulged in day dreaming. It may be a sheer wastage of time but this at least shows some of the ambition of a man.

If I were to become a millionaire, I shall use the money in my own way. Do you think that I shall have a luxurious air conditioned bungalow to take repose in, a big limousine to take me from one place to another, several servants to attend to me and be at my back and call every moment? My answer to all this would be an emphatic “No.”

India is a poor country. There are many people in India who can’t get two square meals a day, not to mention the comforts and luxuries of life. They don’t have even a very small room where they can find response. They don’t have clothes to perfect themselves from the chilly winter. Though the Government has opened a few night shelters, they are insufficient; therefore I will open more night shelters.

I find that many people still die for want of proper medical aid. I would therefore open a dispensary for the poor. This will save them from the jaws of death.

Many people particularly villagers have no means of recreation. I will open sociology cultural centres at such places for their recreation. I will open orphanages and window houses for the orphans and windows. They will live and work there in an honourable manner. Through the Government has tried its best to open secondary and primary schools in almost every village of the country, little progress seems to have been made in the direction of adult education. It is a Herculean task. I will close three or four villages for this purpose. I would provide necessary establishment there and intensity the adult literacy programme. 

There are still certain villages where the villagers have not yet been able to free themselves from the clutches of the village money lender who always charges an exorbitant rate of interest on the money he lends to them. So I shall start a co-operative society to feed a few villages which are situated near to each other. The Society will lend money to the poor farmers. Besides money it will supply them with good manure and fertilizer.

This is how I will make use of my money if I become a millionaire. There will be people who will jeer and mock at me for my foolishness of spending my money in this manner but they perhaps do not realize that the inner happiness and man gets out of helping the poor and needy is something which is far more valuable than the sensual pleasures that a man can purchase from the money he has.