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For the last few days, I have been bombarding people with one big question: When would you say you’ve arrived? If you didn’t know, arrive — a verb that signifies achievement, promotion, capital gains — has attained a new meaning and flavour in 9.4 per cent India.

It means non-stop growth. For instance, if you had bought a flat for, say 80 lakh, in my neighbourhood Khar (W) around 2005, you would have arrived on July 29, 2007.

With a non-negotiable sticker price of Rs3 crore, you would be able to nourish your family tree for the next 300 years. And, if you hang on to your investment until Diwali next year, you may be able to add another crore to your price.

Well, realty-raj was not the only subject of my survey. Of course, everyone appeared to have invested in a flat, a penthouse, a golf-course studio apartment or switched from IT to realty scrips.

So, I asked the next big question: “Now that you have arrived with a 3 BHK, a penthouse, and a largish equity fortune, when would you arrive next?”

The answers reflect the present mood. A friend said he arrived when he got a 30 per cent increment. Another said 30 per cent forced him to depart to another organisation.

And only after jumping from organisation to organisation, and finally returning to his first, did he finally arrive. He managed to up his salary five-fold, became a veep, and was profusely thanked for returning to the fold.

Bosses believe they arrive when they hire the right people. In a skills-starved economy, forget multi-tasking. You’ll be lucky if you get hires with quarter-skills.

So, as some recruiters have realised, it’s better to focus on feel-good factors when you hire. Just how does this work? First, if a candidate has a smiley face, hire him asap. Second, if Smiley looks Busy, give him a double promotion. Third, if Busy Smiley speaks cool, then add on a massive sign-on bonus.

With the speed at which the economy is chasing China’s, even if a handful of Cool-Busy-Smileys perform, it’s fine. They will ensure that all jobs, including the boss’s, are secure. So much for productive mediocrity.

The web has created its own arrivés. A senior executive in an entertainment business believes he arrived when his departure from one company to another is adequately covered by media websites exchange4media.com and agencyfaqs.com. “Influential people now reside in their mailboxes. They read, see, breathe, ideate, hire in their mailboxes. All you need to do is land into one”, says the executive.

But what does all this add up to? As your online social network will tell you, this is the era of realty foreplay, scrip-tease, obscene emoluments, sexy deals, and dirty profits. Greed’s not just good, it’s great.

Every mail that lands in your mailbox is a happy letter, every SMS is an adrenaline-booster, every social interaction ramps up your private network, every investment you make is insightful. Indeed, happiness in Realty Age resembles joy in the Stone Age, when man invented fire.

Nobody calls it speculation anymore. Still, here’s what John Kenneth Galbraith had to say about speculation: “No one wishes to believe that this is fortuitous or undeserved; all wish to think that it is the result of their own superior insight or intuition.

The very increase in values thus captures the thoughts and minds of those being rewarded. Speculation buys up, in a very practical way, the intelligence of those involved.”

So, are we seeing a feel-good, feel-dull or a feel-speculative era? A Gurgaon broker had an amazing take on that: “Herds breed speculation.

Now’s the time to move away from the herd. The best buys today in the National Capital Region are the sub-2000 per sq ft flats, and you can grab them in Faridabad. If you get bored with them, sell them back to me.”

There’s no doubt that speculation creates contrarians. My colleague sees the 541-point dip in the 15,000-plus Sensex as a mere 3.4 per cent blip.

Mt Sensex, like Mt Everest, inspires awe and risk. That’s the beauty of speculation. It’s the romance of having arrived. It’s a legit feeling.

After all, ‘tis better to have loved and lost than never to have sensexed at all.

Email: vinaykamat@dnaindia.net