Independently wealthy

After my Mitsubishi experience, went back to USA – Berkeley, considered to be a liberal town. Didn’t have a job, and what job will I get, after wasting 6 years at Mitsubishi Electric.

At that time I remembered Rajiv Bhateja. He was nice to me at IIT Bombay, was wealthy, had studied at UC, Berkeley and was living in Palo Alto.

So, went there one day. He lived in central Palo Alto, has a house very big, I remember the big hall, he was talking of getting it refurbished perhaps at millions of dollars, and he welcomed me.

First he asked me where I was and have I made my billions already. That is the standard questions IITians face on a daily basis – where did you make your billion (of dollars). I felt guilty and meekly said, I have no job. Silence from him. At that visit or next, I met a neighbor. She asked me, “What do you do?” and I answered “Nothing.” She replied quickly, “Oh, independently wealthy.”

I didn’t know what that meant. Later asked Bhateja, and he explained, “Made enough that there is no need to work in life anymore.”

Now, since 2003-4, have been living in India, first on my savings, and now on my SS pension, and live a very comfortable life, and am living an independently wealthy life. Reduced my desires, that was easy, and made me automatically wealthy. I might be one of the lowest paid independently wealthy now.

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