‘Money indeed bought me happiness’: This Indian-origin Australian exec’s story will move you to tears

Getting your first job is always a special feeling and being able to buy gifts for parents, friends, and family with your first salary is a surreal experience most professionals can relate to. Head of Supplier Management at Australian retail chain Coles, Baishakhi Connor said in a LinkedIn post that she bought a saree for her mother with her first income, which her mother still has after almost 22 years. 

Connor mentioned her first job offer nearly tripled the income of her household. Connor, who served as the director of budgeting and business planning (APAC-South) at Australia-based Carlton & United Breweries, also stated in her post that she saved the “safety buffer” when her parents asked her to do so. 

She wrote, “They’d then accept the little bit I could send home each month. Sending a check home, or later hitting on that bank transfer, brought me joy like nothing else could.” Connor further noted that she called a restaurant to make a booking when her parents travelled interstate to meet her, and that the family never saw a proper restaurant until then. 

She added she also bought a shirt and a pair of glasses for her father that year, which he thought were the most stylish that he had ever worn. Just like most fathers out there, Baishakhi’s father was also unwilling to let her spend her hard-earned money but smiled ear to ear as he tried his new gifts. 

Later in the post, the Indian-origin Australian executive recounts the time she brought the first-ever car in her family while adding she drove her parents around Bengaluru herself. Connor further recounted when her parents came to meet her in Australia in 2007 and the fun time they spent witnessing snowfall in Australia, collecting seashells, and seeing kangaroos and koalas among other animals. 

Going ahead, Connor recounted her neighbours were shocked at the amount she spent on her father’s treatment and that she was shocked to the core at seeing how her neighbours lived life. The Coles Head of Supplier Management reminisced that after her dad passed away, she quit her job and travelled the world with her mom and husband including a cruise trip. 

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While her mother flew business, Baishakhi did not and both of them had a laugh about her mother’s posh-ness. They also discussed how her father would have reacted on seeing mom trotting to Italy, Albania, Greece, Hong Kong, Malta, and Australia all in one long trip. 

“People say money can’t buy happiness. I think that’s a sentiment spoken from an enormous place of privilege. Money has literally allowed me to create memories, spread joy, have freedom, have choices, to buy security, and remove the worry from life… Money has indeed bought me happiness,” Connor said while signing off.

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