Arundhati Roy on Her Money

From an interview in Tehelka, "the people's paper" of India (Nov '05):

Arundhati Roy: As for money, I have tried to take it lightly. Really, I have tried to give it away, but even that is a very difficult thing to do. Money is like nuclear waste. What you do with it, where you dump it, what problems it creates, what it changes, these are incredibly complicated things. And eventually, it can all blow up in your face. I’d have been happier with Less. Yeh Dil Maange Less. Less money, less fame, less pressure, more badmashi. I hate the f***ing responsibility that is sometimes forced on me. I spent my early years making decisions that would allow me to evade responsibility; and now…

Tehelka: You gave your Booker money to the NBA. Your Sydney prize money to aborigine groups. Another award money you gave to 50 organisations who are doing exemplary work ... You gave away your money ... Very few people do that ...

Arundhati Roy: Well, I haven’t given it all away. I still have more than I need. If I gave it all away I might turn into the kind of person that I really dread — ‘the one who has sacrificed everything’ and will no doubt, somewhere along the way, extract a dreadful price from everybody around them. I’ve learned that giving money away can help, but it can also be utterly destructive, however good your intentions may have been. It is impossible to always know what the right thing to do is. It can create conflict in strange and surprising places. I am not always comfortable with what I do with my money. I do everything. I give it away extravagantly. I blow it up, extravagantly. I have no fix on it — it comforts me, it bothers me, I’m constantly glad that I can afford to pay my bills. I’m paranoid about its incredible capacity for destruction. But the one thing I’m glad about is that it is not inherited. I think inherited money is a curse.

Giving money away is dangerous and complicated and in some ways against my political beliefs — I do not subscribe to the politics of good intentions — but what do I do? Sit on it and accumulate more? I’m uncomfortable with lots of things that I do, but can’t see a better way — I just muddle along. It’s a peculiar problem, this problem of excess, and it’s embarrassing to even talk about it in a land of so much pain and poverty. But there it is…

Comments

[Namit]

Ms. Roy is right -- the impact of one's charity is frequently unpredictable. But after reading this, a comic thought crossed my mind: any number of tightwads would now derive solace from her words ("giving money away is dangerous and complicated"). Yeah, it's against my political beliefs too! That's why I refuse to write checks to them educate-the-children and feed-the-abandoned-old-widows schemes! :-)

This is only an interview and she no doubt expresses only a fraction of her thoughts on this topic -- writing is a far better vehicle for such ideas. Still, she is quite candid and direct about her feelings on an inherently complex topic. But I thought there is more to it. It made me wonder: how would I respond to the same topic? Here is an attempt.

I'd begin by saying much of what she says. But I would say more (I expect some of this applies to Ms. Roy too). The reluctance to give more is not just due to external factors. The reluctance is also internal. I'm afraid of losing the security and comfort and the distance and leisure and the power and opportunity that money creates for me. I'm afraid of getting too embroiled with others and their demands on my time (esp. when the giving is not anonymous). And besides, truth be told, my concern for strangers has its limits (shocking!). Further, my fear keeps enlarging my idea of a "reasonable safety net" as I grow older. I have even learned to rationalize this as part of a normal self-preservation instinct in today's world and I find it hard to snap out of it. Not pretty, but there it is...

I did find odd her put down of inherited money. Is earned money more deserving? Does it not depend on random, lucky, time-and-place factors? I'm quite aware of this in the world of Silicon Valley stock options and dubious "new economy" skills that pay absurd amounts. There is often no higher justice in money distribution, even the earned kind -- that's simply how it is (surely Ms. Roy would agree). Inherited money is just another lucky break one gets, like a lucky prize. Why single it out as a curse?

[Lapika Mandal]

There goes another socialist hypocrite. Every effing human likes money, and this chick is exception. It's not that she doesn't want to give away money for the fear of destruction it causes but it's because she loves money too much, way too much. It's funny how all these commies come up with creative ways of fending the question of "giving" when it comes to them. And what an irony, most of these commie windbags tend to be way above average in income levels.

What a joke this piece of crap is...