Headline Dec 22, 2014/

''' GETTING RICH : 

A SURVIVAL TACTIC '''

O'' TERRIBLE THORNS..........why dos't these petals tremble?

Your stem -the suffering path......... in so shrivelling a   nestle!

First and foremost,  !WOW!  is setting in motion a plan, to save and preserve the names in SAM Museum of History,  -of all the students who left for their heavenly abodes.

Students Mariam, Rabo, and Dee honour the effort. And I thank all of you -by hundreds and thousands of you,  the world over, in sharing and joining us in mourning.

The scenes, the grief,  and the suffering overpowering. God help us all, as I return to the writing: 

THERE is a lot of money to be made in rising Asia.

This is indisputable.

How to make it is less clear. In the West  prospectors turn to consultancies and hedge funds.

In South Asia the ambitious read books with titles like:

'' Get To The Top ''  and  ''The Habit of  Winning. ''

Mohsin Hamid's  third novel has a similarly unambiguous title : 

''How To Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia''. 

You, an unnamed protagonist, are born in a village a few hours away from a growing metropolis, which also remains nameless.

Thanks to your parents you take the firststeps to wealth.

You  ''move to the city'' , where you get an education and ''avoid idealists''.

But other advice is harder to follow,  ''Don't fall in love'', the book instructs, but you find your story entwined with that of   ''the pretty girl''.  Still money remains a priority.

You  ''learn from a master''  and start a water-business so you can  ''work for yourself''.

But to bridge the gap between moderately successful and  filthy rich,  you must ''be prepared  to use violence''  and    ''patronize the artists of war''.

In just  12 crisp chapters, you go from a diseased rural nobody to the model of self-made success.

It is quiet a journey. 

Yet  ''you''   are not the focus of  ''How to get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia''.  ''You''   could be anybody and have started any business. Nor does it matter which particular city  ''you''  live in, -

For South Asia's metropolises are united not just in their extreme wealth and poverty, but more fundamentally in their heartbreaking aspirations and naked ambition.

It is the  ''rising Asia''   rather than the  ''filthy rich''  of the title on which Mr Hamid focuses his considerable literary talent. 

In cities where the most awesome luxury imaginable is  ''when you turn the tap'', you'll be able to drink what comes out of it''  the rich are not shielded from the realities of life.

The world outside forces itself past shuttered windows,  bringing violence, despair and   ''airborne particulates   that cause you to wake wheezing in your bed''. 

Deploying this second-person narrative with astonishing skill, while writing at the same time with a rare quietness, Mr Mohsin Hamid depicts a land where getting rich is not so much a luxury as a survival tactic.

***Even that,  as many of the new rich eventually discover, is often not and never ever enough***.

With respectful dedication to all the entrepreneur students, in the world. See Ya all on !WOW!   -the World Students Society Computers-Internet-Wireless:

''' YOU AND YOURS '''

'''Good Night and God Bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless