This is article for Indiblogger contest on We Chat App. It is a fictional discussion on money with Bill Gates, Nita Ambani, Shyam or Common Man, A Grandmother, bemoneyaware and kids on bemoneyaware camp.

“Ok that wraps up today’s session on money”, I said, “So far We have learnt about Indian currency, currency of world, banks, rich people of India and world. Tomorrow we shall learn about credit card,cheques, interest, mythology and money. Please go through your worksheets. If you have any doubts or questions, please don’t hesitate to ask. Remember questions are NEVER stupid, answers might be?”  as I wrapped up the money awareness activities for the day.

“Why do our parents hesitate to talk about money? If we are smart enough to operate a smartphone aren’t we smart enough for money discussion?” asked Rahul, the quitest kid in the class.  Akash,  Ridhi quipped, “People don’t talk about money at all “. Shrey replied, “It’s because money is evil said my grandmother.”  “How ?”, asked Rahul. “She said that money is only made by greedy and dishonest people. I am confused ” said Aakash. “So am I”, said Ridhi, Ankita, Jaisal, Jatin. “We need to have a no-hold discussion on money, could call some guests but how  ?” I scratched my head thinking about the various biases,  that we grow up with and pass it to our children. Money is evil, Money is dirty, Money corrupts, Happiness and Money make poor bedfellows,“Hey Aadi what are you doing, I had requested for no mobile phones being used in class?”, I enquired.

“Maam, I am sending a message on WeChat. In bemoneyaware class right now. Shall call you back later“,He said, “I love Hold To Talk and Emoticons of WeChat,” seeing my confused look he expanded “WeChat is a mobile phone text and voice messaging communication service developed by Tencent of China. It’s an app, available on all mobile platforms, a mini-social networking site coupled with a messenger that allows us to connect with friends. Facebook is a passe maam, people are moving to such apps. ” Ankita added Maam you would have seen Varun Dhawan and Parineeti Chopra WeChat television ad They rock na!”  “As it was free after seeing the ad I downloaded the app and now I am Just loving it“.  Rahul continued “WeChat service has crossed 300 million users globally on January 15, 2012. Out of this, 50 million users are outside China. It was launched in India in July 2012. WeChat is currently the most downloaded application“. Aadi added  “And Hold to Talk allows the users to send voice messages. Remember Parineeti singing Acha tu hum chalte hain?”

“Maam let’s use WeChat to have a chat on money. We can call people we know“, said Aadi.  “That’s interesting though. Let’s do it“, I said I couldn’t hide my excitement. “Whom should we call?” I asked “My Nani(Grandmother)?” replied Aakash. “That’s great idea. Who next?”  Rahul got up “Let’s use Drift a Bottle, Just like old times, we’ll throw a bottle into the sea with text message or voice message of Join our WeChat on money in India. Someone, from anywhere in the world, can pick it up! Once collected, the user can read or listen to the message in the bottle and reply back to that person – or throw it back out to virtual  sea of  We chat messages!”  So we drifted the bottle wondering who will pick it up. Aadi started shaking his phone. “Why are you shaking your phone Aadi?” I enquired. “Maam I wanted to try Shake it feature. By shaking the phone WeChat connects random people in the world that are doing the same action at the same moment.  

Can’t believe it Nita Ambani shook the phone just now” Aadi shouted  “You mean wife of richest Man in India, Mukesh Ambani. Send Greetings to her, let’s invite her after all it’s chat on money” Ridhi said. “ I feel uncomfortable talking to people globally. I want some local friends” said Richa. Pat came the answer from Rahul “That’s simple. Select Look Around under the Social tab to see who are nearby, and send your greetings by simply one click.”  “What will I tell the parents“, I said to myself, raising my voice I said ” PLEASE USE THESE FEATURES WITH CAUTION, use it in presence of your parents only. World is full of good and bad people. We don’t want you guys to meet Big Bad Wolves?” Aadi started jumping “Guess what’s better than having wife of richest man in India” he asked. We were blanked out ” Having richest man in world” Rahul replied . “How did you guess that Bill Gates picked up our message we sent in using Drift a Bottle and he wants to join us.”  Yes Yes Yes screamed the class. 

So we had a group chat with Bill Gates, Nita Ambani, Shyam or Common Man (who we found through Look Around), Aadi’s grandmother , me(bemoneyaware) and our class for a discussion on money.

Kids: So what do you think of money?

Bill Gates : I’m certainly well taken care of in terms of food and clothes,Money has no utility to me beyond a certain point. Its utility is entirely in building an organisation and getting the resources out to the poorest in the world.

Nita Ambani : I cringe when the subject of money comes up. I feel like diving under the table. So we have It used to bother me, when I first got involved with Mukesh’s projects and people in Jamnagar would talk behind my back… wait for me to leave, hoping I wouldn’t come back and ask too many questions. It hurt to be treated like a rich man’s wife.Same thing happened when I started my school. People only talked about the 27-crore building. They didn’t expect me to succeed. You see, I take my work very seriously . Money is Lakshmi but Lakshmi without Saraswati doesn’t mean much.

Common Man : Money! it makes the world go round. I worry about money all the time, food, school, kids. I wish to have enough of it, Enough to buy that dream house,car or simply enough so that I don’t have to think about what I’m spending on.

Grandmother : Money is the root of all evil.

BeMoneyAware : Aunty,  quote is Love for money is the root of all evil. Money is a concept. Money is neither Good or Bad, neither friend or foe. We deal with Money every single day yet we don’t learn about money. We do not allow people to drive without a license test but allow them to enter complex financial world without much financial education

Kids: What do you feel about education ? To Bill Gates, do you encourage kids dropping out of college.

 Bill Gates : Education is fundamental.If you think your teacher is tough, wait until you get a boss. He doesn’t have tenure. Coming to me, I loved college. It was so exciting to have conversations with lots of really smart people my age and to learn from great professors. It was a hard decision and I know my parents had their concerns.  My advise to you is unless you have a very unique idea that you are keen to work on and are confident will materialise into something, you should not think of dropping out.

Nita Ambani:  It’s so important to have equity in education. No country can grow without it. We need good teaching colleges and teachers. I keep reminding my teachers that I don’t remember any lesson I learnt in school, except maybe in passing, but I remember special moments with teachers when they moulded me in the right way. Everyday classroom teaching is not what children will remember, but how you made a difference in their lives. That is something all of us need to work.(kids cheered)

Common Man : My father doesn’t own a business or money which I can inherit. Education is my only passport to earning. But these days cost of education, school education and higher education is just sky-rocketing. The amount my parents paid for my full education, I have already spent on teaching my kids and they are not even in class III. But I will make sure that my kids get the best education.

Grandmother : Kids don’t want to study. With everything  just a click away, who wants to struggle to understand the concept. These kids don’t have time also, long school hours, extra curricular activities, facebook, chat.

BeMoneyAware : Education is important. But it should not be endless lists of spellings, facts rules and tests. Focus should be on learning. Being hands on is so important. As Mrs Ambani said special moments with teacher shape us up. It is so important to have good teachers.

Kids : Leaving large amount of money for kids?

Bill Gates : I think a kid should grow up knowing that they’re going to have to make their own way in terms of finding work and that they won’t be giving out sums of money or just have all the money they’ll need. I do think that having kids receive large sums of wealth actually has been more negative for them than say positive, particularly if their friends think that.

Nita Ambani : My children got only Rs 5 each as pocket money and are not unfamiliar with public transport. Mukesh and I want them to pursue their dreams. We have given them roots and values and we are sure they will find their way and acquire their own wings. We are particular that they should earn the family legacy in their own right, through hard work and dedication. On the whole, we would like them to enjoy what they do and do that to their fullest potential.

Common Man : Hoga tu chodoga na(If I have then only I can leave it for them) . I have few dreams,give my kids good education so that they can find a good job, get them married and save for retirement. I don’t want to be a burden on them, main apna Sir utha ka jeena chahta ho (live with my head held high)

Grandmother : We have a saying poot kapoot to kyon dhan sanchay karen, poot sapoot to kyon dhan sanchay. It means if your poot ( son ) is sapoot ( good one ) then why you are collecting for him , he himself will earn well. And if your poot is kapoot  not sapoot ( he is ) then you need not to collect wealth for him , because you leave so much of money , even , if he is a bad son , he will spend it in no time.

BeMoneyAware : I agree with everyone. With education, comfort we need to make ours kids  aware of money, learn difference between needs and wants, learn how to follow their passion and control their debt.

Kids : What dream do you want to achieve?

Bill Gates:  Smallpox is the only disease to have been eliminated by human effort,When polio finally gets eradicated sometime in the next six years, that will feel extremely good. There are now only three countries – Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria – which are still affected by the disease.t’s going to take a lot of money to finish it, about $6 billion more.

Nita Ambani : We are working on world-class multi-disciplinary university where liberal arts will be given equal importance — similar to a Bharatnatyam scholar being treated at par with an engineer.

Common Man : One foreign trip.

Grandmother : My children remain safe, happy and satisfied.

Bemoneyaware : To spread awareness of money as awareness empowers!

“May I come in?”, we heard a knock and saw Rahul’s mother,  “We were wondering Will it take long…?” I replied, “No No. Just give us few  moments. Today’s session was awesome. Thanks for taking out time Mr Gates, Mrs Ambani, Shyam(Common Man) and Aunty. Thanks everyone. ” “Maam can we have one photo to remember this occasion. Everyone check out the Moments (similar to Facebook timeline)” As kids ran out, I thought Technology is making the world smaller, idea of sending voice messages is nice (parents would love to it!) , I must ask my daughter to download WeChat on my mobile.

Reference : Interview of Bill Gates Telegraph,DailyMail , Nita Ambani’s articles Part I and II  on bemoneyaware

This is article for Indiblogger contest on WeChat The New way to connect. You can checkout WeChat on Youtube which has videos of Stars of Himmatwala, Kai Poo Che, Tutorials, Indian and Global ads of WeChat and much more.