Just two days back I was waiting for a bus to go to Mendipatam at the bus stop outside IIIT. It was around 12:30 in the afternoon. Two heavily loaded buses had already passed by. There were around 3-4 people on the bus stop, then one old man joined the crew. He was an old person with a TEEKA on his gleaming and big forehead. He had a mild smile on his face and was very simply dressed with a simple white shirt and black pant. I thought he might be in Infosys. After some time one auto rickshaw walla came shouting “Mendi Patanam”, “Mendi Patanam”, we rushed towards that auto and secured two seats for us. Just after few meters had passed by, I asked him
“Are you in Infosys ??”
He said “NO, actually I belong to Chennai, I came here for seeing my flat which I have bought in one of the buildings behind IIIT”. “Ohh !! okk” I said.
“What do you do ??” He asked.
“I am studying at IIIT Hyderabad and I have completed my 3rd year.”
“how are the facilities in IIIT ??”
“They are fantastic. We have single seated, well furnished, and very comfortable rooms and Wireless LAN facility. Facilities are really awesome and they are better than even IITs.”
“Then fees must be high ??” he asked.
“Yes that is, it costs around 1 lack per annum.”
“My son also did engineering.”, He said.
“Ohh !! Great, from where ??”, I asked.
“He did his B.Tech from IIT Chennai in computer science branch.”
“Fantastic !! so what is he doing now ??”
“He is doing job at MSR Redmond. Last year I was also there.”
“What?? MSR Redmond !! thats really great. Is this his first job or ??”
“No, first only. He was planning to do MS but when he got job in Microsoft he changed his mind. He was here in Hyderabad branch previously; later on they sent him to MSR Redmond.”

I was thinking that this person must be proud of his son. I was saying the facilities of IIIT awesome which are incomparable with the facilities at Microsoft.

Journey went by and we reached Mendipatanam. From there we both had to go sec bad. We took 49M.

He was about to pay for me also, but I stopped and paid for myself.

“Is this the first time you are in Hyderabad??”, I asked.

“No, actually I have been here for a long time. I worked in BHEL for 12 years then I started my own company.”, He said.

Then I realized that he is a millionaire. Person who goes Redmond for summer holidays, his son is doing job at MSR Redmond, he himself has his own company, but still he never let me feel that I am talking to such an experienced and rich person. His behavior was very simple and he was very humble. You can always notice a mild infectious smile on his face.

My destination was near so I was about to leave the bus. I got up and a one boy with sloppy dress took up my place. That man gave him the same smile and was talking to him.

I have heard people saying that money, status, power etc. develops big ego and makes a person arrogant. Now I feel that it is not true. These things just provide a surface; it depends on a person’s true character that what he will ultimately become. Power just unmasks a person. A very rich and powerful person can be very humble and can be very arrogant too. It just depends on a person’s true character which is revealed after getting the power. A modest person will be modest anyhow, but a person who is not modest and pretends to be modest before getting the power, you can easily figure out the changes in him after getting the power.