“I Shouldn’t Have Done It… Now I’m Completely Trapped!”
His voice trembled over the phone line. Having unexpectedly lost his job, my friend was forced to package his life into a few suitcases and return home. But it wasn’t just the sudden loss of employment that broke him—it was the agonizing dread of how he would pay off his house EMIs in the coming months. As I listened to him panic, I found myself completely speechless, at a loss for words to comfort him.
Throughout history, most of the grand structures built by human hands have been swept away by the merciless flow of time. Yet, while we are alive, many of us sacrifice the best years of our youth striving to realize a single dream: building a “Dream Home.” But in that relentless pursuit, how many of us stop to ask ourselves, “Do I really need something this big?”
Only those who have walked this path truly understand how terrifying it is to live under the crushing weight of unbearable debt—with the sharp sword of pending EMIs constantly hovering above their heads. Perhaps it is our expatriate community—the NRIs—who bear the brunt of this pain the most.
Toiling away in scorching heat and freezing cold, pouring their blood, sweat, and hard-earned savings into lifeless concrete walls, most people bury their entire fortunes in mortar and stone. By the time reality hits, time has often run out.
We are taught to believe that a house is our greatest asset. But in an unexpected financial crisis, when you desperately need liquid cash, how can something you cannot instantly convert to money be called an asset? When life comes to a sudden halt due to war, economic turmoil, or unexpected job loss, will anyone buy that mansion at the price you dreamed of—or even the price you spent on it? Will any bank show mercy in the face of those tears? The cruel truth is: No, they won’t.
The world of expatriates stands once again at the edge of immense uncertainty. Thousands are losing sleep, haunted by the constant fear that today might be their last day on the job. Isn’t it a tragic reality that despite seeing this cycle repeat time and again, we fail to learn the lesson?
Of course, everyone needs a roof over their head. But shouldn’t it be a roof we can actually afford? In our lush land of coconut groves, if we build a modest, warm home filled with love—like a cozy little weaver bird’s nest—would our happiness be any less? If we dump all our hard-earned wealth into cement walls without keeping a safety net for the future… how will we survive when the storm hits? True wisdom lies in asking ourselves these tough questions and finding honest answers.
Yes, it isn’t just the size of the houses we build that needs to change… it is the flawed mindset that society has quietly implanted in our minds.
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