Journey is the reward

It was pretty dis heartening to read the story of the 'Slumdog' kid actors who returned back to the slums after their moments of fame in the Oscar wilds.

"I don't want to sleep on the floor anymore. I want a proper bed and live where the air does not smell of poo. I have seen what it is like in America. Here, there is garbage everywhere, people get angry, swear and shout. I have realised how bad life is here. I just want to get out." -- Slumdog Kids Back To School

On the other hand, you have someone who is the opposite of a 'slumdog' fantasising about life in the slums:

I strongly believe that the west has much to learn from societies and places which, while sometimes poorer in material terms are infinitely richer in the ways in which they live and organise themselves as communities - Prince Charles

Then, you have a self made man say this:

I was brought up to believe that there’s a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow – that you put your head down and work hard during the journey and then finally at the end there is comfort and wealth.

I disagree with all that now. I don’t believe there’s a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Even if you die with Rs. 1,000 crores to your name, you don’t take the money with you. So at the end you have absolutely the same you started with – zero.

Hence I now believe that the pot of gold is not the end of the rainbow – but that the pot of gold is the rainbow itself. All that we have is the journey. There is nothing else. - Mahesh Murthy