Rich man, poor man

The Spectator

I don’t know about you — but I’ve always believed that in most people, generosity — especially material generosity — is in converse proportion to wealth.

Simply put, I mean that the poorer you are, the bigger hearted you are likely to be — and the bigger your bank balance, the more tight-fisted.

Why on earth should this be the case? After all being blessed with largesse in their life ought to make the wealthy that much more liberal with their money, shouldn’t it? But, time and again, I have noticed how on occasions of charitable drives and office collections — it is the poorest who dig deep in to their pockets — and outdo their more prosperous colleagues.

I was once involved with a drive to collect money for the victim of a rail accident. People from all over Mumbai sent in donations to rehabilitate the girl. But what struck me was that most of the donations came in from the poorest areas of the city — not the affluent Malabar Hills and Juhu-Vile Parle schemes, but the shabby far-flung suburbs and the forgotten mill areas.

Of course, the sums sent from these areas were smaller — but to a man, they constituted a far greater percentage of the donor’s assets than the cheques that came in from the wealthy.

Of course, there could be many reasons why the affluent are tight-fisted. The most obvious one could be that that’s how they got rich in the first place. That their penny pinching approach to life got them their riches in the first place. A penny saved is a penny earned, remember — and ordinary folk like you and me, who like to splurge and spread it around, may have a happier life, but a smaller bank balance to show for it.

The rich are rich for a reason, they say. And that reason is that they respect money — and know its worth — which holds them back from being munificent.

The other reason for this anomaly of the poor being more generous than the rich with their money could be because the poor have a complex about their lack of riches — and so overcompensate when they are called upon to demonstrate their means.

I have often noticed how at restaurants when the bill comes around, it’s the poorest person on the table who insists he pay it — while the richer diners keep very quiet or excuse themselves to the loo. (There was a Maharajah I was acquainted with, who was famous for doing this.)

There could be a third reason for this behaviour: the rich, I guess, are so burdened with their riches and so afraid that people only like them and use them for their material wealth — that they try and make sure they will never be made fools of — so they too — like the poor, overcompensate by appearing to be meaner than necessary.

Strange business this rich/poor thing. The richer you get — the meaner you seem to become and the poorer you are, the more open-handed.

Try testing this theory out someday. Send the hat around for a good cause and observe how the cheques come in. Most likely, it will be those with humblest assets, who appear to have the means — with the most prosperous behaving downright mean!

Life’s so topsy-turvy isn’t it?

s_malavika@dnaindia.net