Pyramid Schemes: Stay Hungry Stay Alert

A few months ago, I got a call from my friend--a highly educated individual from an extremely well-to-do background. The conversation moved forward from normal curiosity about each other's personal life to professional life. Then he asked me what I am doing nowadays? I replied with an enthusiasm telling him I am working from home in the finance field. In my town, this is a relatively a very new concept quite unheard of. When I said 'working from home', it seemed he sensed an opportunity. He suddenly diverted the conversation and started talking about consumer inflation and the price rise. I got confused and asked why he asked so. He said in these days everything has become costly and the only option we have is to INCREASE OUR INCOME LEVELS. I said I agree and expressed in front of him my constraints as to how to achieve it. Now he virtually grabbed the opportunity and asked me to visit a cafe a few miles away from my home. I insisted that he should over the phone, but he said, IT'S A SURPRISE. Since I knew him from a long time, I didn't want to hurt him by saying no.

I walked into the cafe along with my spouse. The scene appeared very serious. A lot of round-tables with 4/5 guys and gals sitting on each table engaged in solid discussion. Extremely energetic body language and articulate sense. I could see people from all age groups, but most in their early 30s and 40s. Out of nowhere, my friend came forward to me and took us to the table where his wife was waiting. A formal introduction followed. His wife asked my consort what she is up to? My wife told with a smile that she is a computer teacher and gets an 'x' amount every month. After hearing about the monthly finances, their facial expressions were "wtf you guys are doing in your life " Then he slowly unfolded REVEALING HIS PLAN. He also quoted a few examples where their Demigods achieved everything in life and had OPTED FOR RETIREMENT in their 40s. The PLAN was to POUR/INVEST MONEY (around INR 125,000) and in turn get an array of products to chose from the company (based in South East Asia). It was technically PAYING IN ADVANCE to get merchandise and services in future. The goods also were so selectively picked where one couldn't ascertain the EXACT PRICE of the commodities.

Few days passed, and I started getting calls from this friend of mine. One fine day, he said, some XYZ has come from Delhi and is an IIT and IIM pass out. He told me that a meeting with this guy could 'CHANGE MY LIFE'. Reluctantly, I surrendered to his wish . When I met this fellow, he was sitting in a Rajinikanth style in a dark corner of the cafe. The only thing missing was a cigarette. Clean shaved, his clothes were reflecting the attitude of top-level brands. The first question he asked me if I HAVE A DREAM? I said yes very much like anybody else. He lowered down his head, looked straight into my eyes without ever blinking his eyelids and said, "you must chase your dream from right now ". I was aware of the business model. I asked three questions, 1. Why is the company not a public company? 2. Why the company hasn't any office nearby since it was also a company dealing with tangible goods?. 3. Why there is no proper hierarchy in the company? He couldn't answer these questions. In fact, he was completely speechless for the first two questions. After the meeting, I rang my friend and told him why he feels what he is doing is the RIGHT THING IN LIFE. He said he is getting regular cheques of the chain he has created with solid efforts and he isn't bothered at all. A lot of time passed after that discussion...

Recently, I came to know from our common acquaintance that this friend was duped and sold his house to pay-off the debts. Please understand, the pyramid structures work well till its growing fast. But when the growth slows down due to non-addition of new members plus something goes wrong at the top, it bursts. The WELL EDUCATED but TOO GREEDY individuals who invested in the scheme started pressuring on this guy who didn't have any option but to sell his residential home to clear the dues. This fellow started living in a rented accommodation. In that cafe, I saw very decent appearing people from an upwardly mobile families, who were THINKING of RETIRING after the financial target is met. Dear Folks, is it so easy to earn millions/crores of rupees in life with just INVITING ACQUAINTANCES into a NETWORK SCHEME??? it takes a village to raise a child. It's pathetic to see how even senior citizens in their 60s actually BELIEVE in all the stuff after having such a vast experience in life. So certainly, one thing is clear.... When GREED takes a front seat, RATIONALITY takes a back one. As long as humans are on this earth so is the avarice and so are the brains with an ability to fool others. Though Rashmi Bansal is absolutely right in her thinking, "Stay Hungry Stay Foolish", in a very different perspective, I would say, "Stay Hungry Stay Alert".